"I arranged matters for him," he continued. "He took out a policy on his life with the Western Medical and Mercantile. I have the policy in my safe if you wish to see it."
"Of course you allowed a reasonable margin for contingencies, I suppose?" Flamborough inquired sympathetically.
"Oh, naturally I expected him to go on borrowing, so I had to allow a fair margin for contingencies. The policy was for £5,000."
"So you’re about £4,000 in pocket, now that he’s dead," Flamborough commented enviously. "Some people are lucky."
"Against that you’ve got to offset the bad debts I make," Spratton pointed out.
Flamborough could not pretend to himself that he had managed to elicit much of importance during his call; but he had no excuse for prolonging the interview. He rose to his feet.
"I don’t suppose we shall need any of these facts if it comes to trying anyone," he said, as he prepared to leave. "If we do, you’ll have plenty of warning, of course."
The moneylender opened a door which allowed a direct exit into the corridor, and Flamborough went out. As he walked along the passage, he was still racking his memory to discover who Spratton resembled; and at last, as he reached the pavement outside, it flashed into his mind.
"Of course! It’s the Chief! Put a moustache on to that fellow and dye his hair a bit and he might pass for Driffield in the dusk. He’s not a twin-brother; but there’s a resemblance of sorts, undoubtedly."
He returned to headquarters feeling that he had wasted his time over the moneylender. Except that he had now seen the man in the flesh and had an opportunity of sizing him up, he was really no further forward than he had been before; for the few actual figures of transactions which he had obtained were obviously of little interest in themselves.
As he entered the police station, a constable came forward.
"There’s a gentleman here, Inspector Flamborough. He’s called about the Silverdale case and he wants to see you. He’s a foreigner of the name of Renard."
"Very well. Send him along to me," Flamborough ordered.
In a few moments, the constable ushered in a small man with a black moustache and a shock of stiffly-brushed hair which gave him a foreign appearance. The Inspector was relieved to find that he spoke perfect English, though with a slight accent.
"My name is Octave Renard," he introduced himself. "I am the brother of Mrs. Yvonne Silverdale."
Flamborough, with a certain admiration for the fortitude of the little man in the tragic circumstances, made haste to put him at his ease by expressing his sympathy.
"Yes, very sad," said the little Frenchman, with an obvious effort to keep himself under control. "I was very fond of my sister, you understand. She was so gay, so fond of life. She enjoyed herself every moment of the day. And now——"
A gesture filled out the missing phrase.
Flamborough’s face betrayed his commiseration; but he was a busy man, and could ill afford to waste time.
"You wished to see me about something?"
"All I know is what was printed in the newspapers," Renard explained. "I would like to learn the truth of the case—the real facts. And you are in charge of the case, I was told. So I come to you."
Flamborough, after a moment’s hesitation, gave him an outline of the bungalow tragedy, softening some of the details and omitting anything which he thought it undesirable to make public. Renard listened, with an occasional nervous twitch which showed that his imagination was at work, clothing the bare bones of the Inspector’s narrative with flesh.
"It is a bad business," he said, shaking his head mournfully as Flamborough concluded. "To think that such a thing should have happened just when she had had her great stroke of good-fortune! It is incredible, the irony of Fate."
The Inspector pricked up his ears.
"She’d had a piece of good luck, lately, you say, Mr. Renard? What was that?"
"You do not know?" the little man inquired in surprise. "But surely her husband must have told you? No?"
Flamborough shook his head.
"That is strange," Renard continued. "I do not quite understand that. My sister was the favourite of her aunt. She was down in her will, you understand? And my aunt was a very wealthy woman. Pots of money, as you English say. For some time my aunt has been in feeble health. She has been going downhill for the last year or more. A heart trouble, you understand. And just a fortnight ago, puff!—she went out like that. Like a blown-out candle."
"Yes?" the Inspector prompted.
"Her will was in the keeping of her lawyer and he communicated the contents to myself and my sister. We were trustees, you see. I had a little bequest to myself; but the principal sum went to my sister. I was surprised; I had not thought that my aunt had so much money—mostly in American stocks and shares. In your English money it came to about £12,000. In francs, of course, it is colossal—a million and a half at least."
"Ah!" interjected Flamborough, now keenly interested. "And your sister knew of this?"
