“We just made it, old man,” he said. “A day ahead at that. The station agent put us on the track. We got ’em all—Lunn, and the rest; all but Rook—”
He paused, at Annister’s inquiring look, turning his thumb down with an expressive gesture.
“We found him—strangled—in his office ... a queer business....”
Annister gave an exclamation.
“The Indian!” he said. “Well, Rook was the ‘Third Light,’ sure enough!”
Again he was seeing the lean, avid face in the vestibule of the smoker, the lighted match; himself, and the conductor, and Rook, the lawyer’s pale eyes brooding above the glowing end of his cigarette.... And again, as the picture passed, he was aware of the white face at his elbow as Mary Allerton, her hand in his, behind her the golden hair and the wide eyes of Cleo Ridgley, turned to Childers with a smile that yet had in it a hint of tears.
He that had been Newbold Humiston continued:
“The others—they’re quiet now. The guards have gone—to follow him—the others saw to that.”
He gestured toward the silent figure on the floor.
“His plan was worthy of his master, the Devil, because it was diabolically simple: Rook was his procurer and his clearing-house; you see, Rook found the victims, and cashed the checks that Elphinstone wrung from them; and then, when they had cleaned up, or when they deemed the time was ripe, the victims—disappeared. Rook’s secretary they kidnapped for revenge; Miss Allerton because she knew much; they suspected that she was in the Secret Service. And so—these others disappeared.”