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Page 89
"Odd character!" remarked Byner, when he and Prydale went away.
"Useful man--for a job of that sort," said the detective laconically.
"Now then--are we going to let anybody else know what we're after--Mr.
Eldrick or Mr. Collingwood, for instance? Do you want them, or either of
them, to be present?"
"No!" answered Byner, after a moment's reflection. "Let us see what
results. We can let them know, soon enough, if we've anything to tell.
But--what about Pratt?"
"Keeping an eye on him--you mean?" said Prydale. "You said just now that
in your opinion we should find him at his desk."
"Just so--but that's no reason why he shouldn't be looked after tomorrow
morning," answered Byner.
"All right--I'll put a man on to shadow him, from the time he leaves his
lodgings until--until we want him," said the detective. "That is--if we
do want him."
"It will be one of the biggest surprises I ever had in my life if we
don't!" asserted Byner. "I never felt more certain of anything than I do
of finding Parrawhite's body in that pit!"
It was this certainty which made Byner appear extraordinarily cool and
collected, when next day, about noon, he walked into Eldrick's private
room, where Collingwood was at that moment asking the solicitor what was
being done. The certainty was now established, and it seemed to Byner
that it would have been a queer thing if he had not always had it. He
closed the door and gave the two men an informing glance.
"Parrawhite's body has been found," he said quietly.
Eldrick started in his chair, and Collingwood looked a sharp inquiry.
"Little doubt about his having been murdered, just as I conjectured,"
continued Byner. "And his murderer had pretty cleverly weighted his body
with scrap iron, before dropping it into a pit full of water, where it
might have remained for a long time undiscovered. However--that's
settled!"
Eldrick got out the first question.
"Pratt?"
"Prydale's after him," answered Byner. "I expect we shall hear something
in a few minutes--if he's in town. But I confess I'm a bit doubtful and
anxious now, on that score. Because, when Prydale and I got down from
Whitcliffe half an hour ago--where the body's now lying, at the _Green
Man_, awaiting the inquest--we found Murgatroyd hanging about the police
station. He'd come to make a clean breast of it--about Pratt. And it
unfortunately turns out that Pratt saw Prydale and me go to Murgatroyd's
shop last night, and afterwards went in there himself, and of course
pumped Murgatroyd dry as to why we'd been."
"Why unfortunately?" asked Collingwood.
"Because that would warn Pratt that something was afoot," said Byner.
"And--he may have disappeared during the night. He----"
But just then Prydale came in, shaking his head.
"I'm afraid he's off!" he announced. "I'd a man watching for him outside
his lodgings from an early hour this morning, but he never came out, and
finally my man made an excuse and asked for him there, and then he heard
that he'd never been home last night. And his office is closed."
"What steps are you taking?" asked Byner.
"I've got men all over the place already," replied Prydale. "But--if he
got off in the night, as I'm afraid he did, we shan't find him in
Barford. It's a most unlucky thing that he saw us go to Murgatroyd's
last evening! That, of course, would set him off: he'd know things were
reaching a crisis."
Eldrick and Collingwood had arranged to lunch together that day, and
they presently went off, asking the detective to keep them informed of
events. But up to half-past three o 'clock they heard no more--then, as
they were returning along the street Byner came running up to them.
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