"Yes, it was, sir; and I ran out to the kitchen to ask 'Tilda if she had noticed if the diamonds were gone when we came in first; for I was that flurried I didn't look for 'em."
"And does 'Tilda say the diamonds were gone?"
"Yes! I dessay the murdering villain who killed the poor dear stole 'em. I wish I had the hanging of him."
"Oh, you may assist me to put the rope round his neck," said Gebb. "Well, Mrs. Presk, I'll come and see you to-morrow, and you must tell me all you know about this woman. In the mean time, I think I hear the doctor coming."
The detective's ears had not deceived him, for the approaching footsteps were those of the doctor. Escorted by the policeman who had met Mrs. Presk, he entered in no very good humour at being knocked up at so late an hour. However, the looks of the corpse, and the appearance of the room both astonished and interested him; and he made his examination. It took only a few minutes for him to decide that the death had taken place shortly before or after ten o'clock, and must have been almost instantaneous. When the examination was concluded, Gebb and the inspector left the house in charge of the policeman, and returned to the station to make their report. While the prosaic Lackland set down the bare details of the case for the information of the authorities, Gebb mused over the events of the night, and pondered what was best to be done under the circumstances.
As yet he had gained no information from Mrs. Presk about her lodger, but intended to examine her on the morrow when she was somewhat recovered from the strain of the late events. In the mean time, Gebb fancied that the strange room, designed and furnished by the dead woman, might turn out a more important factor in the matter than at present appeared. Even if Mrs. Presk did prove to be ignorant of Miss Ligram's past--which was extremely unlikely--the strongly marked and eccentric taste of the lodger, as exemplified in illumination, colouring, and furnishing, might provide a sufficiently stable basis for operations. In a word, Gebb considered that the most promising clue to the mystery was the predominance of the colour yellow in the sitting-room. Criminal problems, as he knew, had been solved by slighter means.
As Lackland surmised, Gebb, being high in favour with the authorities as a detective of no ordinary capabilities, had little difficulty in gaining their consent to taking charge of the case. The inspector made his report, Gebb his application, and after the due formalities had been complied with, the detective found that the responsibility of tracing Miss Ligram's assassin lay solely on his own shoulders, which--as he comfortably assured himself--were quite capable of bearing the burden. He was the more pleased with his employment, as the Grangebury murder case promised to be one of those mysteries which he loved. A dead woman: a strangely furnished room: a pack of cards: these were the elements of the case, and, so far as Gebb could see at present, there was no clue--save the lavish use of the colour yellow--to the past of the victim, or the identity of the assassin. In Mrs. Presk lay his sole hope of gaining intelligence likely to lead to some practical result; so at eleven o'clock next morning Gebb, in an anxious frame of mind, was once more on the scene of the murder, and in the presence of his principal witness.
In the searching light of day Mrs. Presk was more uncomely than ever. Tall, gaunt, angular, and dressed in the worst possible taste, she presented few of the alluring graces of her sex. To have woo'd, and won, and lived with this strident Amazon, the late Mr. Presk must have been a suitor of no ordinary courage. However, she made an excellent witness, as her brain was clear, her courage high, and she had not a morsel of imagination. Moreover, her hysteria of the previous night had disappeared.
She answered Gebb's leading questions in a cut-and-dried fashion, without discursive rambling after her own private opinions: but with all this, the examination, and the details obtainable therefrom, proved to be anything but satisfactory. Considering the business-like instincts of detective and widow, a more meagre result can scarcely be conceived.
"For how long has Miss Ligram been lodging with you?" was Gebb's first question, put in a form which appeared to assume that the victim was still in existence.