“Bravo,” Sharp said, with a show of enthusiasm.
Harranby shot him a nasty look. “Don’t be a fool,” he said, “we are little better off than when we began. The principal question still stands before us. What is there to steal in Greenwich?”
Sharp said nothing. He stared at his feet. He heard the scratch of a match as Harranby lit another cigarette.
“All is not lost,” Harranby said. “The principles of deductive logic can still aid us. For example, the crime is probably a robbery. If it has been planned for many months, it must figure around some stable situation which is predictable months in advance. This is no casual, off-the-cuff snatch.”
Sharp continued to stare at his feet.
“No, indeed,” Harranby said. “There is nothing casual about it. Furthermore, we may deduce that this lengthy planning is directed toward a goal of some magnitude, a major crime with high stakes. In addition, we know our man is a seafaring person, so we may suspect his crime has something to do with the ocean, or dockyard activities in some way. Thus we may limit our inquiry to whatever exists in the town of Greenwich that fits our—”
Sharp coughed.
Harranby frowned at him. “Do you have something to say?”
“I was only thinking, sir,” Sharp said, “that if it is Greenwich, it’s out of our jurisdiction. Perhaps we ought to telegraph the local police and warn them.”
“Perhaps, perhaps. When will you learn to do without that word? If we were to cable Greenwich, what would we tell them? Eh? What would we say in our cable?”
“I was only thinking—”
“Good God,” Harranby said, standing up behind his desk. “Of course! The cable!”
“The cable?”
“Yes, of course, the cable. The cable is in Greenwich, even as we speak.”
“Do you mean the Atlantic cable?” Sharp asked.
“Certainly,” Harranby said, rubbing his hands together. “Oh, it fits perfectly. Perfectly! ”
Sharp remained puzzled. He knew, of course, that the proposed transatlantic telegraph cable was being manufactured in Greenwich; the project had been underway for more than a year, and represented one of most considerable technological efforts of the time. There were already undersea cables in the Channel, linking England to the Continent. But these were nothing compared to the twenty-five hundred miles of cable being constructed to join England to New York.
“But surely,” Sharp said, “there is no purpose in stealing a cable—”
“Not the cable,” Harranby said. “The payroll for the firm. What is it? Glass, Elliot & Company, or some such. An enormous project, and the payroll must be equal to the undertaking. That’s our man’s objective. And if he is in a hurry to leave on Thursday, he wishes to be there on Friday—”
“Payday!” Sharp cried.
“Exactly,” Harranby said. “It is entirely logical. Yon see the process of deduction carried to its most accurate conclusion.”
“Congratulations,” Sharp said cautiously.
“A trifle,” Harranby said. He was still very excited, and clapped his hands together. “Oh, he is a bold one, our friend Simms. To steal the cable payroll— what an audacious crime! And we shall have him red-handed. Come along, Mr. Sharp. We must journey to Greenwich, and apprise ourselves of the situation at first hand.”
Chapter 37
Further Congratulations
“And then?” Pierce said.
Miriam shrugged. “They boarded the train.”
“How many of them were there?”
“Four altogether.”
“And they took the Greenwich train?”
Miriam nodded. “In great haste. The leader was a squarish man with whiskers, and his lackey was clean-shaven. There were two others, jacks in blue.”
Pierce smiled. “Harranby,” he said. “He must be very proud of himself. He’s such a clever man.” He turned to Agar. “And you?”
“Fat Eye Lewis, the magsman, is in the Regency Arms asking about a cracker’s lay in Greenwich— wants to join in, he says.”
“So the word is out?” Pierce said.
Agar nodded.
“Feed it,” he said.
“Who shall I say is in?”
“Spring Heel Jack, for one.”
“What if the miltonians find him?” Agar said.
“I doubt that they will,” Pierce said..
“Jack’s under, is he?”
“So I have heard.”
“Then I’ll mention him.”
“Make Fat Eye pay,” Pierce said. “This is valuable information.”