Inspector Lestrade

“ Two or three days later, however, to Leander's secret alarm, he entered the shop. After all, he felt, it was hopeless to think of deceiving these sleuth-hounds of the Law: this detective had been making inquiries, and identified him as the man who had shared the hansom with that statue!
His knees trembled as he stood behind his glass-topped counter. "Come to make the search, sir?" he said, as cheerfully as he could. "You'll find us ready for you."
"Well," said Inspector Bilbow, with a queer mixture of awkwardness and complacency, "no, not exactly. ”

“ And now you’ve some other scheme for keeping a poor man from his hard-earned rest, eh?”
The Superintendent seemed to find the other’s easy familiarity out of place.
“Good-evening, Inspector,” he answered with official abruptness. “You know Dr. Jordan?—Inspector French of the C.I.D. And this is Mr. Orchard, a clerk in this office, who discovered the crime.” ”

“ The Inspector came in with a man whom neither Purdie nor Lauriston had ever seen before—a quietly but well-dressed man about whom there was a distinct air of authority. They walked down the room to a table near the counter, ordered coffee and lighted cigarettes—and the two young Scotsmen, watching them closely, saw that they took a careful look round as if to ascertain the strength of their forces. And suddenly, as Lauriston was eating his second sandwich, the Inspector rose, quietly walked to the counter and bending over it, spoke to one of the white-aproned men behind. ”

“ I quite agree with you, sir, the more we probe this mystery, the more and more complicated it becomes.”
“Well, Mr Barton?” I exclaimed. “Now, tell me frankly, what’s your theory. Why has Miss Lethmere disappeared?”
The inspector, one of the best and shrewdest officials attached to the Criminal Investigation Department, paused for a few moments and, looking me full in the face, replied:
“To tell you the truth, Mr Munro, I’m still absolutely puzzled. The whole affair seems to grow more involved, and more astounding.” ”

“ Terhune in their frantic endeavors to fasten the crime on the first unfortunate person to give them a shadow of an excuse would seize upon his senseless, incoherent words as evidence upon which to base an odious suspicion. You know as well as I do, McCarty, that the boy is utterly innocent, but after last night's travesty of an experiment and my discovery that the Inspector has deemed it necessary to place us all under surveillance I would believe them capable of anything! ”

“ Give it a cause, and it will espouse it. Give it a lead, and it will follow; but words--never!"
"Well, I hope to God no one will supply it with the wrong lead!" put in the police officer. "For the rest, we must hold the fort, I suppose. Inspector! when is the show--the miracle, I mean,--supposed to end?"
"Not till sunset, sir," said the man, salaaming.
"And it's now about six, I suppose. Eleven hours!" He took out his cigar-case and counted. "Yes! I'll last through. Inspector! Close your men in, and let them stand at ease. Captain Dering, if you can spare yours till then, I shall be obliged." ”

“ Marsland, and reported the matter by telephone to headquarters at Lewes, as you are aware, inspector. This morning I returned here to make a minute inspection of the scene of the crime and to prepare my report.”
“Is the body upstairs now?” asked Detective Gillett.
“It has been left exactly as it was found. I gave Heather orders that he was not to touch it.”
“What sort of a man was this Lumsden?” asked Inspector Payne. “Had he any enemies?”
“He may have,” replied the cautious sergeant. “There are some who bore him no good will.” ”

“ Inspector Whyland accepted the invitation, and sat down in the chair offered him. Mr. Ludgrove having pressed him to smoke, sat down in the opposite chair, and looked at him enquiringly.
“I daresay that you can guess what I have come to talk about,” began the Inspector, with a pleasant smile. “I may as well confess at once that I want your help. We policemen are not the super-men which some people think we ought to be, and most of us are only too anxious to ask for assistance wherever we are likely to get it. ”

“ Then he began once more: "There is nothing like swift and sure justice," he announced, "and there now remains in the Winters case only the formality of a trial. The work of the Inspector has left nothing more to be found out."
He would apparently have gone on in this strain indefinitely, had he not been interrupted by Littell, who had come in unobserved, and now quietly asked the speaker's opinion as to what the Inspector might have done with the other three fifty-dollar bills that had been left in the room. ”

“ A most obliging and ready permission being given, a certain evening was appointed with a certain Inspector for a social conference between ourselves and the Detectives, at our Office in Wellington Street, Strand, London. In consequence of which appointment the party “came off,” which we are about to describe. And we beg to repeat that, avoiding such topics as it might for obvious reasons be injurious to the public, or disagreeable to respectable individuals to touch upon in print, our description is as exact as we can make it.
Just at dusk, Inspectors Wield and Stalker are announced ”

“ You, both of you, of the War Intelligence Department and the Special Branch of Scotland Yard, have the facts before you—plain facts—the disappearance of Lady Lethmere’s daughter. When her whereabouts is ascertained then the remainder of the inquiry is surely quite easy. I am not an investigator,” I added with biting sarcasm. “I’m only an inventor, and I leave it to you both to discover why Miss Lethmere disappeared.”
“You apparently have invented something of which the enemy is determined, at all hazards, to learn the truth,” remarked Inspector Barton. ”

“ One of these ripples, penetrating into the grim fastness of the Criminal Investigation Department of New Scotland Yard, had the effect of ringing the bell of a telephone on the desk of Detective Inspector Joseph French and of causing that zealous and efficient officer, when he had duly applied his ear to the instrument, to leave his seat and proceed without loss of time to the room of his immediate superior. ”

“ For the next twenty minutes I occupied myself with straightening out in my head the exact date and sequence of each occurrence since my fateful meeting with Prado on the Embankment. I had determined to tell Lammersfield the entire truth, and I wanted to be able to present my story as briefly and crisply as possible.
I had just concluded this task to my own satisfaction when Inspector Neil returned.
"The magistrate has arrived," he said. "They are going to take your case first."
I got up from my chair. "I'm quite ready, Inspector," I said cheerfully. ”

“ I said dreamily.
“And you still refuse your address?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, then; we must find out for ourselves.” After a few words to the detectives in an undertone, he turned and said,—
“Inspector, you will charge him on suspicion of the wilful murder of the woman—and, by the way, let one of the men sit with him to-night. ”

“ Servants, he said to himself, were always ready to suspect any one they disliked; and in this case they were all strong partisans of Winter, and highly indignant at the share of their attentions which the police had bestowed on the men-servants at Liskeard House. All the same, the inspector traced the rumours to the chauffeur’s wife, and made up his mind to have a little talk with her. ”

“ In his pride of a trusted servant he was affected by the assurance that the rope was not shaken for the purpose of breaking his neck, as by an exhibition of impudence. As if anybody were afraid! Assistant Commissioners come and go, but a valuable Chief Inspector is not an ephemeral office phenomenon. He was not afraid of getting a broken neck. To have his performance spoiled was more than enough to account for the glow of honest indignation. And as thought is no respecter of persons, the thought of Chief Inspector Heat took a threatening and prophetic shape. ”

“ A gloved hand drew that bow. See here: this is an impression I obtained from the inner edge of the pedestal in question."
He pulled forward a small square of paper; the sewing of a kid glove was plainly indicated there.
When Stevens had gone, the Inspector exclaimed meaningly:
"Gryce! Name your man; we shall get on faster."
The aged detective rose.
"I dare not," he said. "Give me one—two days. I must have time to think—to collect my evidence. A name once mentioned leaves an echo. When my echo rings, it must carry no false sound. ”

“ In conversation, the Inspector’s words come short and sharp, in brief breaths of speech; and he has an uneasy way with him, as if always on the watch and impatient of inactivity. You feel, looking at him, instinctively that before you stands a man who is as incapable of a merciful action as he is of running away from an enemy,—a sharp, active, well-drilled man, who bites before he growls, and has led a life of wild exhausting excitement and danger for some years past. ”

“ I felt as one awakened from a dream. But on my way I passed the deserted motor-car. A constable was beside it, and I pulled up to speak to him. [97]
"Seen nothing of Inspector Forrest, I suppose?" I asked.
"Nothing," he replied.
I gave him good morning and got on. I made similar inquiries at Fenny Stratford, and again at Dunstable, still without result. I comforted myself with the thought that at St. Albans I should certainly hear news of him. But no. I found the police wild with excitement, but entirely without any information as to what had become of the missing detective. ”

“ French pointed to the open door.
“In here, sir, in your private office. Everything is still exactly as it was found.”
Mr. Duke moved forward, then on seeing the body, stopped and gave a low cry of horror.
“Oh, poor old fellow!” he exclaimed. “It’s awful to see him lying there. Awful! I tell you, Inspector, I’ve lost a real friend, loyal and true and dependable. Can’t he be lifted up? I can’t bear to see him like that.” His gaze passed on to the safe. “And the safe! Merciful heavens, Inspector! Is anything gone? ”

“ The Inspector seemed so convincingly right, and was so hopelessly wrong. "Why don't you simply say that I killed Ashton, and put the weapon in my dresser, and leave Miss Temple out of it entirely?" I said. "It's equally plausible."
"Possibly so, although that would account for neither the handkerchief, nor Miss Temple's leaving the house that morning."
"She has already accounted for the one: she can readily do so for the other," I replied.
"That we shall see," said the Inspector, rising from his chair. "We will go to Exeter at once, and question Miss Temple." ”

“ Next to the Commissioner and the P.M., the Inspector of Police is the biggest man in a country town or on a goldfield. He has a tremendous lot of power, and, inside of the law, can do pretty much what he pleases. He can arrest a man on suspicion and keep him in gaol for a month or two. He can have him remanded from time to time for further evidence, and make it pretty hot for him generally. He can let him out when he proves innocent, and nobody can do anything. ”

“ The inspector laughed. "I never said it was, that I know. The job I'm in charge of is a bigger concern than your trumpery ring, my friend."
"Then I don't see what I've got to do with it," said Leander.
The officer had taken his measure by this time; he must admit his man into a show of confidence, and appeal to his vanity, if he was to obtain any information he could rely upon.
"You're a shrewd chap, I see; 'nothing for nothing' is your motto, eh? Well, if you help me in this, and put me on the track I want, it'll be a fine thing for you. You'll be a principal witness at the police-court ”

“ The Ambassador frowned.
"Then he exceeded his duty," he said. "A package of such importance should have been handed to me personally. However"—he touched a bell on his desk and gave some order in Russian to the servant who answered it. "But your presence, Inspector, how is that accounted for?"
The Inspector drew out a cablegram.
"We have reason to believe, your Excellency, that the man who passed himself off as Lazaroff is an impostor. ”

“ His face grew darker as he read, and once he thumped his hand upon the table with a crash that set the china jingling.
“Well, Inspector?” he said at last.
The little detective's head shook out a negative.
“Perhaps you require an incentive,” he sneered. “Is it a matter of a reward?” ”

“ He took up his quarters on the ground-floor and at once instituted a series of the most minute investigations. He started the inquiry afresh, questioned the people in the neighbourhood, studied the distribution of the rooms and set each of the burglar-alarms going thirty and forty times over.
At the end of the fortnight, he asked for an extension of leave. The chief of the detective-service, who was at that time M. Dudouis, came to see him and found him perched on the top of a ladder, in the gallery. That day, the chief-inspector admitted that all his searches had proved useless. ”

“ The foreboding solemnity of my mood seemed to impart itself to my companions. We plashed and plodded along the field paths with hardly a word to exchange amongst us. Inspector Jannaway, it is true, had his own reasons for reserve. Holding the very tangible fact of a warrant for Mr Dalston’s arrest in his pocket, he seemed bent on leaving it to his Italian colleague to justify its production. “Let him have his head, gentlemen. He knows all about it. He’s agoing to prove the superiority of his system over ours. Very well; I’m not the man to interfere—not just yet awhile, anyway.” ”

“ It will help us, perhaps, to understand the difficulties under which they labor. It may help us to appreciate the silent unadvertised work of the police. The Inspector is a good sport who loves a race horse and a good glove fight as much as I do myself. ”