C.I.D.
New Scotland Yard, S.W.I.
“Oh, dear,” she said sleepily, “what an appallingly2 early visitor. Is the bath ready yet, Janet?”
“I'm afraid not,” replied the maid, a plain, elderly woman of the old-fashioned useful servant type. “Shall I take a kettle into the bathroom?”
“Yes—that will have to do. Tell Inspector Kerry that I shall not be long.”
Five minutes later Margaret entered her little consulting-room, where Kerry, having adjusted his tie, was standing3 before the mirror in the overmantle, staring at a large photograph of the charming lady doctor in military uniform. Kerry's fierce eyes sparkled appreciatively as his glance rested on the tall figure arrayed in a woollen dressing-gown, the masculine style of which by no means disguised the beauty of Margaret's athletic4 figure. She had hastily arranged her bright hair with deliberate neglect of all affectation. She belonged to that ultra-modern school which scorns to sue masculine admiration5, but which cannot dispense6 with it nevertheless. She aspired7 to be assessed upon an intellectual basis, an ambition which her unfortunate good looks rendered difficult of achievement.
“Good morning, Inspector,” she said composedly. “I was expecting you.”
“I think so. Won't you sit down? I am afraid the room is rather cold. Is it about—Sir Lucien Pyne?”
“Well,” replied Kerry, “it concerns him certainly. I've been in communication by telephone with Hinkes, Mr. Monte Irvin's butler, and from him I learned that you were professionally attending Mrs. Irvin.”
Margaret hesitated, glancing rapidly at the Inspector, and then down at the writing-table before which she was seated. She began to tap the blotting-pad with an ivory paper-knife. Kerry was watching her intently.
“Upon your evidence, Miss Halley,” he said rapidly, “may depend the life of the missing woman.”
“Oh!” cried Margaret, “whatever can have happened to her? I rang up as late as two o'clock this morning; after that I abandoned hope.”
“There's something underlying11 the case that I don't understand, miss. I look to you to put me wise.”
She turned to him impulsively12.
“Good!” rapped Kerry. “Now—you have known Mrs. Monte Irvin for some time?”
“For about two years.”
“You didn't know her when she was on the stage?”
“No. I met her at a Red Cross concert at which she sang.”
“Do you think she loved her husband?”
“I know she did.”
“Was there any—prior attachment14?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Mr. Quentin Gray?”
Margaret smiled, rather mirthlessly.
“He is my cousin, Inspector, and it was I who introduced him to Rita Irvin. I sincerely wish I had never done so. He lost his head completely.”
“She was always frightfully indiscreet, Inspector, but nothing more. You see, she is greatly admired, and is used to the company of silly, adoring men. Her husband doesn't really understand the ways of these Bohemian folks. I knew it would lead to trouble sooner or later.”
“Ah!”
Chief Inspector Kerry thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
“Now—Sir Lucien?”
Margaret tapped more rapidly with the paper-knife.
“Sir Lucien belonged to a set of which Rita had been a member during her stage career. I think—he admired her; in fact, I believe he had offered her marriage. But she did not care for him in the least—in that way.”
“Then in what way did she care for him?” rapped Kerry.
“Well—now we are coming to the point.” Momentarily she hesitated, then: “They were both addicted18—”
“Yes?”
“—to drugs.”
“Eh?” Kerry's eyes grew hard and fierce in a moment. “What drugs?”
“All sorts of drugs. Shortly after I became acquainted with Rita Irvin I learned that she was a victim of the drug habit, and I tried to cure her. I regret to say that I failed. At that time she had acquired a taste for opium19.”
Kerry said not a word, and Margaret raised her head and looked at him pathetically.
“I can see that you have no pity for the victims of this ghastly vice20, Inspector Kerry,” she said.
“I haven't!” he snapped fiercely. “I admit I haven't, miss. It's bad enough in the heathens, but for an Englishwoman to dope herself is downright unchristian and beastly.”
“Yet I have come across so many of these cases, during the war and since, that I have begun to understand how easy, how dreadfully easy it is, for a woman especially, to fall into the fatal habit. Bereavement22 or that most frightful17 of all mental agonies, suspense23, will too often lead the poor victim into the path that promises forgetfulness. Rita Irvin's case is less excusable. I think she must have begun drug-taking because of the mental and nervous exhaustion24 resulting from late hours and over-much gaiety. The demands of her profession proved too great for her impaired25 nervous energy, and she sought some stimulant26 which would enable her to appear bright on the stage when actually she should have been recuperating27, in sleep, that loss of vital force which can be recuperated28 in no other way.”
“But opium!” snapped Kerry.
“I am afraid her other drug habits had impaired her will, and shaken her self-control. She was tempted29 to try opium by its promise of a new and novel excitement.”
“Her husband, I take it, was ignorant of all this?”
“I believe he was. Quentin—Mr. Gray—had no idea of it either.”
“Then it was Sir Lucien Pyne who was in her confidence in the matter?”
Margaret nodded slowly, still tapping the blotting-pad.
“He used to accompany her to places where drugs could be obtained, and on several occasions—I cannot say how many—I believe he went with her to some den10 in Chinatown. It may have been due to Mr. Irvin's discovery that his wife could not satisfactorily account for some of these absences from home which led him to suspect her fidelity30.”
“Ah!” said Kerry hardly, “I shouldn't wonder. And now”—he thrust out a pointing finger—“where did she get these drugs?”
Margaret met the fierce stare composedly.
“I have said that I shall be quite frank,” she replied. “In my opinion she obtained them from Kazmah.”
“Kazmah!” shouted Kerry. “Excuse me, miss, but I see I've been wearing blinkers without knowing it! Kazmah's was a dope-shop?”
“That has been my belief for a long time, Inspector. I may add that I have never been able to obtain a shred31 of evidence to prove it. I am so keenly interested in seeing the people who pander32 to this horrible vice unmasked and dealt with as they merit, that I have tried many times to find out if my suspicion was correct.”
“Yes. I asked Rita Irvin to take me, but she refused, and I could see that the request embarrassed her. So I went alone.”
“Describe exactly what took place.”
Margaret Halley stared reflectively at the blotting-pad for a moment, and then described a typical seance at Kazmah's. In conclusion:
“As I came away,” she said, “I bought a bottle of every kind of perfume on sale, some of the incense34, and also a box of sweetmeat; but they all proved to be perfectly harmless. I analyzed35 them.”
“We could do with you at the Yard, miss,” he said. “Excuse me for saying so.”
“Now—this man Kazmah,” resumed the Chief Inspector. “Did you ever see him again?”
“Never. I have been trying for months and months to find out who he is.”
Kerry's face became very grim.
“About ten trained men are trying to find that out at the present moment!” he rapped. “Do you think he wore a make-up?”
“He may have done so,” Margaret admitted. “But his features were obviously undisguised, and his eyes one would recognize anywhere. They were larger than any human eyes I have ever seen.”
“He couldn't have been the Egyptian who looked after the shop, for instance?”
“Impossible! He did not remotely resemble him. Besides, the man to whom you refer remained outside to receive other visitors. Oh, that's out of the question, Inspector.”
“The light was very dim?”
“Very dim indeed, and Kazmah never once raised his head. Indeed, except for a dignified38 gesture of greeting and one of dismissal, he never moved. His immobility was rather uncanny.”
Kerry began to pace up and down the narrow room, and:
“He bore no resemblance to the late Sir Lucien Pyne, for instance?” he rapped.
Margaret laughed outright39 and her laughter was so inoffensive and so musical that the Chief Inspector laughed also.
“That's more hopeless than ever!” she said. “Poor Sir Lucien had strong, harsh features and rather small eyes. He wore a moustache, too. But Sir Lucien, I feel sure, was one of Kazmah's clients.”
“Ah!” said Kerry. “And what leads you to suppose Miss Halley, that this Kazmah dealt in drugs?”
“Well, you see, Rita Irvin was always going there to buy perfumes, and she frequently sent her maid as well.”
“But”—Kerry stared—“you say that the perfume was harmless.”
“That which was sold to casual visitors was harmless, Inspector. But I strongly suspect that regular clients were supplied with something quite different. You see, I know no fewer than thirty unfortunate women in the West End of London alone who are simply helpless slaves to various drugs, and I think it more than a coincidence that upon their dressing-tables I have almost invariably found one or more of Kazmah's peculiar40 antique flasks41.”
“You speak of patients?” he asked.
Margaret nodded her head.
“When a woman becomes addicted to the drug habit,” she explained, “she sometimes shuns45 her regular medical adviser. I have many patients who came to me originally simply because they dared not face their family doctor. In fact, since I gave up Army work, my little practice has threatened to develop into that of a drug-habit specialist.”
“Have you taxed any of these people with obtaining drugs from Kazmah?”
“Not directly. It would have been undiplomatic. But I have tried to surprise them into telling me. Unfortunately, these poor people are as cunning as any other kind of maniac46, for, of course, it becomes a form of mania47. They recognize that confession48 might lead to a stoppage of supplies—the eventuality they most dread21.”
“Did you examine the contents of any of these flasks found on dressing-tables?”
“I rarely had an opportunity; but when I did they proved to contain perfume when they contained anything.”
“H'm,” mused49 Kerry, and although in deference50 to Margaret, he had denied himself chewing-gum, his jaws51 worked automatically. “I gather that Mrs. Monte Irvin had expressed a wish to see you last night?”
“Cocaine was her drug?”
“One of them. She had tried them all, poor, silly girl! You must understand that for a habitual54 drug-taker suddenly to be deprived of drugs would lead to complete collapse55, perhaps death. And during the last few days I had noticed a peculiar nervous symptom in Rita Irvin which had interested me. Finally, the day before yesterday, she confessed that her usual source of supply had been closed to her. Her words were very vague, but I gathered that some form of coercion56 was being employed.”
“With what object?”
“I have no idea. But she used the words, 'They will drive me mad,' and seemed to be in a dangerously nervous condition. She said that she was going to make a final attempt to obtain a supply of the poison which had become indispensable to her. 'I cannot do without it!' she said. 'But if they refuse, will you give me some?'”
“What did you say?”
“I begged of her, as I had done on many previous occasions, to place herself in my hands. But she evaded57 a direct answer, as is the way of one addicted to this vice. 'If I cannot get some by tomorrow,' she said, 'I shall go mad, or dead. Can I rely on you?'”
“I told her that I would prescribe cocaine for her on the distinct understanding that from the first dose she was to place herself under my care for a cure.”
“She agreed?”
“She agreed. Yesterday afternoon, while I was away at an important case, she came here. Poor Rita!” Margaret's soft voice trembled. “Look—she left this note.”
From a letter-rack she took a square sheet of paper and handed it to the Chief Inspector. He bent58 his fierce eyes upon the writing—large, irregular and shaky.
“'Dear Margaret,'” he read aloud. “'Why aren't you at home? I am wild with pain, and feel I am going mad. Come to me directly you return, and bring enough to keep me alive. I—', Hullo! there's no finish!”
He glanced up from the page. Margaret Halley's eyes were dim.
“She despaired of my coming and went to Kazmah,” she said. “Can you doubt that that was what she went for?”
“No!” snapped Kerry savagely60, “I can't. But do you mean to tell me, Miss Halley, that Mrs. Irvin couldn't get cocaine anywhere else? I know for a fact that it's smuggled61 in regularly, and there's more than one receiver.”
Margaret looked at him strangely.
“I know it, too, Inspector,” she said quietly. “Owing to the lack of enterprise on the part of our British drug-houses, even reputable chemists are sometimes dependent upon illicit62 stock from Japan and America. But do you know that the price of these smuggled drugs has latterly become so high as to be prohibitive in many cases?”
“I don't. What are you driving at, miss?”
“At this: Somebody had made a corner in contraband63 drugs. The most wicked syndicate that ever was formed has got control of the lives of, it may be, thousands of drug-slaves!”
Kerry's teeth closed with a sharp snap.
“At last,” he said, “I see where the smart from the Home office comes in.”
“The Secretary of State has appointed a special independent commissioner64 to inquire into this hellish traffic,” replied Margaret quietly. “I am glad to say that I have helped in getting this done by the representations which I have made to my uncle, Lord Wrexborough. But I give you my word, Inspector Kerry, that I have withheld65 nothing from you any more than from him.”
“From the Home Office representative—before whom I have already given evidence.”
Chief Inspector Kerry took up his hat, cane67 and overall from the chair upon which he had placed them and, his face a savage59 red mask, bowed with a fine courtesy. He burned to learn particulars; he disdained68 to obtain them from a woman.
“Good morning, Miss Halley,” he said. “I am greatly indebted to you.”
He walked stiffly from the room and out of the flat without waiting for a servant to open the door.
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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appallingly
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| 毛骨悚然地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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recuperating
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| v.恢复（健康、体力等），复原( recuperate的现在分词 ) | |
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recuperated
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| v.恢复（健康、体力等），复原( recuperate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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shred
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| v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少 | |
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pander
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| v.迎合；n.拉皮条者，勾引者；帮人做坏事的人 | |
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writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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analyzed
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| v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wanly
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| adv.虚弱地；苍白地，无血色地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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flasks
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| n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 ) | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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shuns
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的第三人称单数 ) | |
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maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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cocaine
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| n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂） | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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illicit
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| adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的 | |
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contraband
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| n.违禁品，走私品 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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