As soon as the housemaid had finished and gone, Hessel, who kept Mangane in the room to help him find his way about, took out his keys and unlocked the writing table drawers. It was at once apparent that Sir Garth had been an extremely methodical man. Each drawer was labelled to show the general subject with which it dealt. “Bank,” “Hospital,” “Private Accounts,” “Personal,” “Company Boards,” “Investments” etc., and in each drawer the different subdivisions of the same subject were filed in paper jackets. Quickly but methodically Poole examined each drawerful in turn; in that labelled “Company Boards,” he at once found a jacket marked “Victory Finance Company,” the concern which Mangane had told him had been the subject of Sir Garth’s investigations each evening up to the time of his death—investigations which his daughter had thought were causing him considerable worry. Poole said nothing about this jacket at the moment but passed on to another drawer until he had been through them all.
“He kept everything of importance in these drawers, did he, sir?” he asked, looking up at Hessel.
“So far as I can see, everything, except that there’s a certain amount of money, notes and silver to the value of £200 or £300, some old private account ledgers, and a bundle of private letters in that safe in the wall.”
Poole pricked up his ears.
“Private letters?” he said. “May I have a look at them?”
“If you like—or rather, if you must. They are all old letters; from what I could see they are all in the same hand—a woman’s—and the signature—a Christian name only—is that of Sir Garth’s first wife.”
Poole nodded.
“I see, sir,” he said. “Perhaps I should just look through them. It will take a little time; if you will just count the letters—initial them if you like—I will give you a receipt for them and let you have them back in a day or two. I need hardly say that unless they have any bearing on the crime they will remain absolutely private. May I also take Sir Garth’s private account book and those company jackets?—I will give you a receipt for those too. The Fratten’s Bank papers, I take it, are all in order, sir? You would know about that.”
Hessel smiled.
“Perfectly, I think, Inspector, but don’t take my word for it. You had better take them too—we shall have to get you a cab.”