Miss Scott did not know cook’s address. She believed the woman lived somewhere down near Reading, but more than that she could not say, except that her name was Jane Hudson, and that she was small and stout and lively.
French felt that if he wanted the woman he could find her from this information. He scarcely hoped that she would be able to tell him more than the parlourmaid, but thought that it might be worth while to have her looked up on chance, and he decided to give the necessary instructions, to one of his men on his return to the Yard.
By this time it was evident that Miss Scott had exhausted her stock of information, and he presently took leave of her, having asked her to ring him up if she heard or saw anything either of cook or of her former employers.
Returning to the Yard he rang up the Hatton Garden office, and having obtained Vanderkemp’s last known address, sent a cable to the United States police, asking that inquiries should be made as to the man’s whereabouts.
His next business was to find the man who had driven Mrs. Vane to Euston. A few minutes’ walk took him to Gardiner Street, and he soon reached the cab rank. Five vehicles were lined up, and he called the drivers together and explained his business. He took a strong line, demanding information as a right in his capacity of an officer of the C.I.D. It had immediate effect.
One of the drivers said that he and the man next on the rank were called to Crewe Lodge by a rather pretty girl about 4.30 on the afternoon in question. It looked as if the house was being closed. A lady, apparently the mistress, got into his friend’s taxi and was driven off, then the girl who had called him and a friend—he took them to be servants—entered his car and followed. He set the girl down at some street off Maida Vale—Thistle Road or Mistletoe Road—he wasn’t just sure, and took the other woman on to Paddington. The colleague who had driven the lady was not then on the stand, but he had been gone a considerable time and might turn up any moment. Would the Inspector wait, or should the man be sent on to the Yard on his return?
French decided to wait, and in less than half an hour he was rewarded by the appearance of the car. Taximan James Tucker remembered the evening in question. He had followed his confrère to Crewe Lodge, and a lady whom he took to be the mistress of the house had entered his vehicle. The girl who had called him from the stand had told him to drive to Euston, and he had started off through North Gate and along Albert Road. But when he had nearly reached the station the lady had spoken to him through the tube. She had said that she had changed her mind, and would go on to St. Pancras. He had accordingly driven to the latter station, where the lady had paid him off.
“Had she any luggage?” French asked.
Yes, she had two or three—the man could not be quite sure—but either two or three suitcases. No, there wouldn’t be any note of them on his daily return as they were carried inside the vehicle. The lady got a porter at St. Pancras, he believed, but he could not identify the man now. No, she had spoken to no one during the journey, and he could not suggest any reason why she should have changed her mind.
Inquiries at St. Pancras seemed to French to be the next item on his programme, and entering Tucker’s vehicle, he was driven to the old Midland terminus. Where, French wondered, had his quarry been going? With Tucker’s help he fixed a few minutes before 5.00 as the hour of the lady’s arrival, and then, after paying the man off, he went to the time-tables to find out what trains left about that hour.