And this official
was stating his view of the case to the two detectives--conscious that
neither agreed with him.
"You can't get over the similarity of the markings of those rings!" he
said confidently. "To my mind the whole thing's as plain as a pikestaff--
the young fellow was hard up--he confessed he hadn't a penny on him!--he
went in there, found the shop empty, saw those rings, grabbed a couple,
was interrupted by the old man--and finished him off by scragging him!
That's my opinion! And I advise getting a warrant for him and getting on
with the work--all the rest of this business belongs to something else."
Ayscough silently glanced at the man from New Scotland Yard--who shook his
head in a decided negative.
"That's not my opinion!" he said with decision. "And it's not the opinion
of the people at headquarters. We were at this affair nearly all
yesterday afternoon with that little Jew fellow, Rubinstein, and the young
Scotch gentleman, Mr. Purdie, and our conclusion is that there's something
of a big sort behind old Multenius's death. There's a regular web of
mystery! The old man's death--that book, which Levendale did not leave in
the 'bus, in spite of all he says, and of his advertisements!--Levendale's
unexplained disappearance--the strange death of this man Parslett--the
mystery of those platinum studs dropped in the pawnbroker's parlour and in
Mrs.
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