Dr. Mabuse, master of mystery a novel
his name? Keep yourself in readiness to report again; do you hear? And
remember, not a word of this outside the official circle--not even to
your wife. Give me your word of honour!”
“Yes, indeed, sir. The other man’s name is Wasserschmidt.”
Wasserschmidt duly appeared.
“You arrested a woman to-night who was present when the two gentlemen
were attacked,” said Wenk. “Why did you do that?”
“I did it because constable Stamm said that one of the gentlemen,
before he became insensible, called out to him to do so, and my
colleague Voss gave me the order too.”
At this moment the telephone rang in the bureau of the Criminal
Investigation Department, where Wenk was conducting these inquiries.
“Who is speaking?” he asked.
“This is the night editor’s office of the Central News Agency. We have
just been informed of a murder....”
“One moment, please,” said Wenk angrily. “Who gave you that
information?”
“I can tell you that without betraying any editorial secrets, for it
was given anonymously, so to speak. Our night-bell rang, and as I went
to the window I saw a man going away. When I opened it and asked what
was the matter, he called out, ‘Look in the letter-box!’ Then I went
down and found a letter in the box.”
“Can you read me what was in the letter? The State agent for
prosecutions is speaking!”
“Yes, certainly, sir, one moment. The letter runs: ‘Edgar Hull,
Esquire, was attacked and murdered in the Jägerstrasse in the early
hours of this morning. The criminals have escaped. It appears to have
been an act of revenge, for the murdered man frequented gambling
circles.’ That’s all there is.”
“Does anybody in the newspaper staff know about this letter?”
“No.”
“Can you bring this letter to me yourself immediately? I will send a
Service car for you.”
“But, sir, that would be a very difficult matter. I am alone here, and
I must complete the Press matter.”
“What is your name?”
“Grube.”
“Well, Herr Grube, there’s no difficulty in the matter, when I tell you
very decidedly that your coming here is of the utmost importance, far
and away more important than that to-morrow morning every Tom, Dick and
Harry should be able to discuss such a piece of news while he eats his
breakfast.”
“But my duty is ...” he began, but Wenk interrupted him.
“Don’t take it ill that my time won’t permit of my saying any more now,
save that the police car is on its way to bring you here. The constable
is furnished with the necessary authority. Arrange your Press matter
so that the sheet can be printed without the information you have just
given me about a murder. Au revoir, Herr Grube. Ring off, please.”
Wenk sent off the car immediately.
“Well, now, Wasserschmidt, to continue. The lady offered resistance.
How did she do that?”
“She ran a few paces from me towards the wall of the Wittelsbach
Palace, to which the criminals had hurried, and then called out,
‘George.’”
“You heard that yourself?”
“Yes, quite distinctly, and she pronounced the name ‘Georsh.’ And as
she began to run towards the wall too, I did not wait any longer, but I
tied her hands together.”
“And what did she do then?”
“Then she became quieter, and let us take her away. As we were going,
she said again, ‘I shall certainly be able to speak to Herr von Wenk,
shall I not?’ ‘Well, you will have to wait till after he has had his
breakfast,’ I said. ‘Perhaps I could telephone to him?’ but I said that
wasn’t very likely.”
“And then later? Where is the lady now?”
“Still at the guard-room. She spoke quite calmly and said, ‘You have
made a very serious mistake, my good man; but I hope to be able to
set you right with Herr Wenk, for, after all, you are only doing what
you conceive to be your duty. I was with the gentleman who has been
attacked, and the State Attorney was there too, but he went home a
little earlier, or else he would have been in it as well.’ ‘Let us wait
and see!’ was all I said to that.”
“Did you happen to tell her _why_ you had arrested her?”
“No, not a word.”
“That’s right. Wait in the next room.”
Wenk interviewed others, and finally the assistant-editor arrived. He
protested loudly against this high-handed action of the authorities,
and said that his newspaper....
“If it is the duty of your newspaper to serve its readers up the latest
scandal, whether it be a murder or the unlucky ending of a love-affair,
merely because it is a scandal, in as hasty and disconnected a fashion
as it was reported to you ... you would be right to protest. But you
have no right to hinder the authorities whose duty it is to deal with
infinitely more important matters so that you may satisfy fools with a
thirst for gossip.”
“But,” stammered the editor, in an excited tone, “but you are trying to
stifle the Press. We are not living under the old system, you know. The
Republic will....”
“I have no time to bother about what the Republic will do. Be so good
as to give me the letter you telephoned me about!”
“I am sorry,” said the editor, with a confident and self-satisfied air.
“These are Press secrets.”
“Pardon my saying so, editor, but you really are very foolish. I
respect any Press secrets which protect the interests of the community,
but your refusal to give me this letter only injures them. Before I
take it from you by force (an action which would lay you open to a
penalty for resisting the law), I will tell you that this letter is
the only piece of evidence we have at present of an unusually serious
crime. Perhaps then you will become more reasonable, and not entrench
yourself behind the plea of your professional duty, which, as I have
already stated, I do recognize, though I place it far below the
interests which I represent.”
Grube felt uncertain how to act. Finally he brought out the document,
saying, “I deliver it under protest, and....”
“Did you see anything of the man who brought it? Could you recognize
him?”
“There was very little light on the street from my window. I could only
see that he was well dressed, and he certainly wore an opera hat. A
little while after he had disappeared from sight, I heard a car drive
off in the direction he took on leaving our office, and I imagine it
was his.”
“Herr Grube, you will be so kind as to leave this letter in my hands.
You will be an important witness in one of the most notable criminal
prosecutions of recent years. I beg you, upon your honour, to preserve
absolute silence about this letter and everything connected with it.”
Grube, under the spell of the horror which had seized upon him, now
became more pliable, and grew as eager about the affair as he had
previously been obdurate. He handed over the document, exclaiming,
“There it is then! I am quite at your service. That is a very different
matter!”
“My car will take you back to your office again. Please leave word that
I am anxious to see the editor-in-chief as soon as he is able to attend
upon me.”
The assistant-editor withdrew.
VIII
Wenk remained alone, inwardly cool. He had been able to suppress the
horror and dread which the crime had excited in his sensitive and
sympathetic soul. He knew the reason underlying this murder. It was
not revenge, but something far more dangerous and deadly. It was
terrorization! That was revealed to him by the letter to the news
agency, designed to give information about the murder other than the
police reports. It was the terrorizing of all who felt themselves
victims of that fair-bearded stranger who had appeared among them. How
much this gambler must have at stake, he thought, that he could thus
personally announce his crime, to give the affair the turn he wanted it
to have! How many people were in his pay that he was able to carry out
his criminal deeds in this fashion? What sort of people were they, and
what was the example such conduct would afford to those who were still
hovering undecidedly between good and evil? How many adherents might
not the announcement of this deed yet secure for him?
Hull had met his fate because he had revealed to the authorities, in
the person of Wenk, the history of the I O U, and because the pseudo
Herr Balling desired thus to give an example of what would occur to
those who stood in his way. Possibly, even probably, the attack had
also been directed at himself, and he had only escaped because his
indignation had driven him from the place.
Now perhaps it would be impossible, for strategical reasons, to close
down the “Go-ahead” Institute.... Like so many similar places, it might
serve as a trap.
“And what about Cara Carozza?” he said to himself. “Shall I be able to
get her to confess for whom she was acting as a decoy? What can she
confess, and whose name would she reveal? Even if a name and possibly
an address be furnished me, do I know the man’s secrets, and what
precautions he has taken against me? No, I will not go to see this
girl. I will leave her in custody and let her wait.... Then she will
realize that there’s trouble ahead of her. She is weak and vicious;
perhaps she will give in of her own accord.”
Finally, however, Wenk decided otherwise. He would take the exactly
opposite course. He would lull her suspicions by a friendly and
sympathetic bearing. She was crafty, but she belonged to the theatrical
world, and by his assumed friendliness and sympathy with her in the
circumstances leading to her arrest he might make her more ready to
confide in him. He therefore went at once to the guard-room, where he
found her seated in a small compartment. Wenk hastened towards her.
“But, my dear young lady,” he exclaimed, “how came you here? What have
they been doing to you? They have just rung up to tell me what has
happened. What a good thing you thought of me!”
“Oh, Herr Wenk, you come as an angel of light to me in my dungeon.
Let us get away from this place at once! Don’t lose an instant! I am
stifling here. I can’t breathe in these horrible surroundings.” She
hastened towards the door.
“Ah, but now I must prepare you for a disappointment, which is
unavoidable. You see, my dear young lady, we live under the State, and
every State has supreme power. It appoints officials, each of whom
carries on his own peculiar office, and they cannot encroach upon the
domains of others. The State has appointed me one of its Attorneys,
but I am only there to prosecute offenders, not to set innocent people
free.”
“Then what’s to happen to me?” said Cara, suddenly hardening her
attitude.
Her tone warned Wenk, and he came at once to the point:
“Your case does not come under my jurisdiction first of all, but
that of the court of inquiry, and you are bound to undergo an
examination there. It is troublesome, no doubt, but you must blame the
circumstances for that.”
“And what about your part in it?” asked the girl.
“Mine? I can do nothing but tell the examining counsel that we are old
acquaintances, and that I do not think you capable of taking any part
in such a crime.”
“Then why did you come here? You are not the examining counsel.”
Wenk realized then that she had seen through his ruse, and he knew,
too, that she had escaped the snare, but at the same time he was
convinced that she was guilty.
“I came here on account of a minor circumstance in which I can help
you,” he said quickly. “I understand that you resisted the constables?”
“What woman would allow herself to be attacked by coarse brutes of
constables without resisting?”
“Yes, of course; it was the circumstances which were to blame for your
behaving unreflectingly and forcing them to do their duty.”
“I am well known as an artiste. My name ought to have been enough for
them!”
“Did you give the constables your name?”
“Certainly I did, straight away!”
“It is strange that they should not have told me that. They mentioned