The Ringer, Book 1 by Edgar Wallace

Author:Edgar Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2020-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

Maurice Meister faced the Assistant Commissioner with horror in his eyes.

“The Ringer here! Are you serious?”

The Commissioner nodded.

“I repeat—he’s alive—he’s here.”

“That can’t be true! He wouldn’t dare come here with a death sentence hanging over him. The Ringer! You’re trying to scare me—ha! ha!” He forced a laugh. “Your little joke, Colonel.”

“He’s here—I’ve sent for you to warn you.”

“Why warn me?” demanded Meister. “I never saw him in my life, I don’t even know what he looks like. I knew the girl he used to run around with an American girl. She was crazy about him. Where is she? Where she is, he is.”

“She’s in London. In this very building at this very moment!”

Meister’s eyes opened wide.

“Here? The Ringer wouldn’t dare do it!” And then, with sudden violence: “If you know he’s in London, why don’t you take him? The man’s a madman. What are you for? To protect people—to protect me! Can’t you get in touch with him? Can’t you tell him that I knew nothing about his sister, that I looked after her and was like a father to her? Wembury, you know that I had nothing to do with this girl’s death?”

He turned to Alan.

“I know nothing about it,” said the detective coldly. “The only thing I know is that if anything happens to Mary Lenley, I’ll—”

“Don’t you threaten me!” stormed Meister.

“I don’t know what women see in you, Meister! Your reputation is foul!”

Meister’s lips were trembling. “Lies, more lies! They tear a man’s character to rags, these scum! There have been women—naturally. We’re men of the world. One isn’t an anchorite. The Ringer!”—he forced a smile. “Pshaw! Somebody has been fooling you! Don’t you think I should have heard? Not a bird moves in Deptford but I know it. Who has seen him?”

“Meister, I’ve warned you,” said Walford seriously as he rang a bell. “From now on your house will be under our observation. Have bars put on your windows; don’t admit anybody after dark and never leave the house by night except with a police escort.”

Inspector Bliss came in at that moment.

“Oh, Bliss—I think Mr. Meister may need a little care taken of him—I put him in your charge. Watch over him like a father.” The dark eyes of the detective fell upon the lawyer as he rose. “The day you take him I’ll give a thousand pounds to the Police Orphanage,” said Meister.

“We don’t want money so badly as that. I think that is all. It is not my business to pass judgment on any man. It is a dangerous game that you are playing. Your profession gives you an advantage over other receivers—”

It was the one word above all others that Meister hated.

“Receiver! You hardly realise what you are saying.”

“Indeed I do. Good morning.”

Meister polished his hat on his sleeve as he walked to the door. “You will be sorry for that statement, Colonel. For my own part, I am unmoved by your hasty judgment.” He looked at his watch. “Five minutes to one—”

He had left behind his walking stick.

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