“Yes, I cut a duplicate of this for a tall, thin gentleman. He was a foreigner, I remember.” And he gave the date, three days before the disappearance of Enrico Rossi.
This was a very valuable link in the chain of fresh evidence, and the police very wisely allowed the supposed Venice banker and his wife to leave for Paris, entirely unsuspicious of the fact that they were being closely watched. The day came for the trial of Mrs. Priestley, but it was postponed.
Meanwhile two English detectives were in Paris watching Nocera and his wife, information from Venice concerning the “banker” having been the reverse of reassuring.
Within three weeks Superintendent Ransley’s expectations were rewarded. The man Zuccari visited them at their hotel in the Rue Castiglione!
From that moment Zuccari was never left, and four days later all three were arrested in the street near the Opera by six agents of the Sûreté.
Madame Nocera was released, but her husband, in order to save himself, made a statement to Inspector Peyron when taken to the bureau of police. In a great state of agitation he admitted that, while posing as a banker in Venice, the money he possessed belonged to the Austrian Government—in fact, he was the paymaster of the spies of Austria scattered through northern Italy during the war. He declared that he had had no hand whatever in the assassination of Enrico Rossi.
The French police were, however, far from satisfied with this statement, and pressed him, under threats, for further information. It then became apparent that Nocera and Zuccari had quarrelled over their share of the spoils, and in the end Nocera explained the ingenious plot to Inspector Peyron and the two men from Scotland Yard.
It had become known to Zuccari that Enrico Rossi was to be sent on business from the Coltano wireless station to England, and that he intended to call upon Mrs. Priestley, his old friend. The flat above the latter’s being to let furnished, the Noceras took it, and succeeded in cultivating friendly relations with the lady below. Then Zuccari arrived from Italy, and on one of his visits with Nocera to Mrs. Priestley, he succeeded in getting hold of the latchkey of the flat used by the servant. Of this he had a duplicate made in Lower Marsh, and then he waited in patience.
Enrico arrived in London and wrote to Mrs. Priestley. She quite innocently mentioned this fact to Nocera, and said that she could not see him as she was going away.
This was their opportunity. Entering the flat in Mrs. Priestley’s absence, Zuccari discovered Enrico’s letter, and his address at a small private hotel at Kensington.