The nervous little doctor hurried on before they could stop him.
‘Why, of course,’ he said, ‘I was forgetting. There must be a great many things that still confuse you. The exact import of the papers that you, Doctor Abbershaw, were so foolhardy as to destroy? Never revealed, was it?’
‘We know it was the detailed plan of a big robbery,’ said Abbershaw stiffly.
‘Indeed it was,’ said Whitby warmly. ‘Quite the largest thing our people had ever thought of undertaking. Have you – er – any idea what place it was? Everything was all taped out so that nothing remained to chance, no detail left unconsidered. It was a complete plan of campaign ready to be put into immediate action. The work of a master, I assure you. Do you know the place?’
He saw by their faces that they were ignorant, and a satisfied smile spread over the little man’s face.
‘It wasn’t my secret,’ he said. ‘But naturally I couldn’t help hearing a thing or two. As far as I could gather von Faber’s objective was the Repository of the Bullion for the Repayment of the American Debt.’
The three were silent, the stupendousness of the scheme suddenly brought home to them.
‘Then,’ continued Whitby rapidly, ‘there was Colonel Coombe’s own part in von Faber’s affairs. Perhaps you don’t know that for the greater part of his life Colonel Coombe had been under von Faber’s influence to an enormous extent, in fact I think I might almost say that he was dominated absolutely by von –’
‘It’s not Colonel Coombe’s life, Doctor Whitby, which interests us so particularly,’ cut in Martin suddenly. ‘It’s his death. You know as well as we do that he was murdered.’
For an instant the nervous garrulousness of the little doctor vanished and he stared at them blankly.