No. 17

‘No ’arm, guv’nor, s’elp me!’ mumbled the man.

‘I didn’t say—’

‘Got in yesterday, guv’nor, ter git a bit o’ shelter, see? Didn’t mean no ’arm, guv’nor. Out o’ work, see?’

Fordyce nodded, and now he let the man go, but he watched him narrowly for tricks.

‘I see,’ he said gently. ‘Poor devil!’

‘That’s right, sir,’ exclaimed the man eagerly, somewhat reassured by the other’s attitude. ‘Poor’s right. Lorst me ship, guv’nor, and no fault o’ me own. Ain’t got no money. Ah, but I never murdered ’im! No, sir, I ain’t that sort, s’elp me, I ain’t!’

‘Who says you murdered him?’ retorted Fordyce, frowning. ‘If you say that any more I’ll begin to think you really have! Let’s get on with this. You’re an out-of-work sailor, I take it—’

‘That’s right. Merchant Service.’

‘Good. It’s noted. And you say that house is empty?’

‘That’s right. Hempty as my grave.’

‘Charming simile!’

‘Wot’s that?’

‘Never mind. Who’s in there now?’

‘Nah?’ said the seaman, staring stupidly. ‘Wot—nah?’

‘Yes, now,’ replied Fordyce sharply. ‘At this moment.’

‘Only—’im,’ muttered the seaman, with a shudder.

‘’Im? Oh, the corpse.’ An idea suddenly occurred to Fordyce. ‘Tell me, do you drink?’

‘Yus. No!’

‘Quite a Parliamentarian,’ observed Fordyce dryly. ‘What does that mean, exactly?’

‘Ain’t ’ad a drop,’ answered the seaman.

‘Honour bright?’

‘Ain’t ’ad a charnce!’

‘All right, I’ll take your word for it,’ smiled Fordyce. ‘Like a drop now?’

The sailor’s eyes popped. He eagerly seized the flask that was held out to him, and put it to his lips. When he judged the right moment had come, Fordyce took the flask away from him gently but firmly, and then proceeded with the cross-examination.

‘Now get on with your story, and be quick about it,’ he said. ‘Then we’ll have a look round—’

‘Wot—go hin?’ exclaimed the seaman, pausing in the act of wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

‘Yes, of course.’

The seaman shook his head very decidedly.

‘I ain’t goin’ back into that ’ouse, guv’nor,’ he observed, ‘and doncher think it!’

‘I’m afraid you’ll have to,’ returned Fordyce grimly, and seized the man’s collar again swiftly. He was only just in time. ‘Now, understand me once and for all, old son,’ he remarked, with quiet assurance. ‘It isn’t likely that I’m going to pass this house, after what you’ve told me, without going in. And it isn’t likely that I’ll relieve myself of your company until I have gone in. Struggling’s no use. No earthly. Have you got that? Don’t be a fool, and act like a criminal before anyone accuses you!’

‘I tells yer, stright, I ain’t goin’ back inter that ’ouse,’ muttered the seaman miserably. ‘It’s give me the fair creeps, it ’as.’

‘Creeps, eh? Well, of course, a corpse isn’t exactly lively company.’

‘Ah, but it wasn’t the corpse wot started it,’ explained the seaman sepulchrally. ‘I got the creeps afore that. When fust I gits in the ’ouse, sir, there ain’t nobody helse in the blinkin’ plice, see? S’elp me, there wasn’t. I goes hover the ’ole plice—leastwise, most of it—and there ain’t nobody. But, afterwards—I ’eard things. Gawd, I ’eard things!’