“There was a fire—”
“But Singapore Charlie escaped, sir.”
“And he is one of the gang?”
“He is one of what we used to call in New York, the Seven Group.”
Smith began to tug at the lobe of his left ear, reflectively, as I saw out of the corner of my eye.
“The Seven Group!” he mused. “That is significant. I always suspected that Dr. Fu-Manchu and the notorious Seven Group were one and the same. Go on, Burke.”
“Well, sir,” the man continued, more calmly, “the lieutenant—”
“The lieutenant!” began Smith; then: “Oh! of course; Slattin used to be a police lieutenant!”
“Well, sir, he—Mr. Slattin—had a sort of hold on this Singapore Charlie, and two years ago, when he first met him, he thought that with his aid he was going to pull off the biggest thing of his life—”
“Forestall me, in fact?”