"I am, as you may all know, a writer of stories which depend fortheir success upon the creation and unravelment of criminologicalmysteries. The Chief Commissioner has been good enough to tellyou that my stories were something more than a mere seeking aftersensation, and that I endeavoured in the course of thosenarratives to propound obscure but possible situations, and, withthe ingenuity that I could command, to offer to those problems asolution acceptable, not only to the general reader, but to thepolice expert.
"Although I did not regard my earlier work with any greatseriousness and indeed only sought after exciting situations andincidents, I can see now, looking back, that underneath the workwhich seemed at the time purposeless, there was something verymuch like a scheme of studies.
"You must forgive this egotism in me because it is necessary thatI should make this explanation and you, who are in the main policeofficers of considerable experience and discernment, shouldappreciate the fact that as I was able to get inside the minds ofthe fictitious criminals I portrayed, so am I now able to followthe mind of the man who committed this murder, or if not to followhis mind, to recreate the psychology of the slayer of RemingtonKara.
"In the possession of most of you are the vital facts concerningthis man. You know the type of man he was, you have instances ofhis terrible ruthlessness, you know that he was a blot upon God'searth, a vicious wicked ego, seeking the gratification of thatstrange blood-lust and pain-lust, which is to be found in so fewcriminals."John Lexman went on to describe the killing of Vassalaro.
"I know now how that occurred," he said. "I had received on theprevious Christmas eve amongst other presents, a pistol from anunknown admirer. That unknown admirer was Kara, who had plannedthis murder some three months ahead. He it was, who sent me theBrowning, knowing as he did that I had never used such a weaponand that therefore I would be chary about using it. I might haveput the pistol away in a cupboard out of reach and the whole ofhis carefully thought out plan would have miscarried.
"But Kara was systematic in all things. Three weeks after Ireceived the weapon, a clumsy attempt was made to break into myhouse in the middle of the night. It struck me at the time it wasclumsy, because the burglar made a tremendous amount of noise anddisappeared soon after he began his attempt, doing no more damagethan to break a window in my dining-room. Naturally my mind wentto the possibility of a further attempt of this kind, as my housestood on the outskirts of the village, and it was only naturalthat I should take the pistol from one of my boxes and put itsomewhere handy. To make doubly sure, Kara came down the next dayand heard the full story of the outrage.
"He did not speak of pistols, but I remember now, though I did notremember at the time, that I mentioned the fact that I had a handyweapon. A fortnight later a second attempt was made to enter thehouse. I say an attempt, but again I do not believe that theintention was at all serious. The outrage was designed to keepthat pistol of mine in a get-at-able place.
"And again Kara came down to see us on the day following theburglary, and again I must have told him, though I have nodistinct recollection of the fact, of what had happened theprevious night. It would have been unnatural if I had notmentioned the fact, as it was a matter which had formed a subjectof discussion between myself, my wife and the servants.
"Then came the threatening letter, with Kara providentially athand. On the night of the murder, whilst Kara was still in myhouse, I went out to find his chauffeur. Kara remained a fewminutes with my wife and then on some excuse went into thelibrary. There he loaded the pistol, placing one cartridge in thechamber, and trusting to luck that I did not pull the triggeruntil I had it pointed at my victim. Here he took his biggestchance, because, before sending the weapon to me, he had had thespring of the Browning so eased that the slightest touch set itoff and, as you know, the pistol being automatic, the explosion ofone cartridge, reloading and firing the next and so on, it wasprobably that a chance touch would have brought his scheme tonought - probably me also.
"Of what happened on that night you are aware."He went on to tell of his trial and conviction and skimmed overthe life he led until that morning on Dartmoor.
"Kara knew my innocence had been proved and his hatred for mebeing his great obsession, since I had the thing he had wanted butno longer wanted, let that be understood - he saw the misery hehad planned for me and my dear wife being brought to a sudden end.
He had, by the way; already planned and carried his plan intoexecution, a system of tormenting her.
"You did not know," he turned to T. X., "that scarcely a monthpassed, but some disreputable villain called at her flat, with astory that he had been released from Portland or Wormwood Scrubbsthat morning and that he had seen me. The story each messengerbrought was one sufficient to break the heart of any but thebravest woman. It was a story of ill-treatment by brutalofficials, of my illness, of my madness, of everything calculatedto harrow the feelings of a tender-hearted and faithful wife.
"That was Kara's scheme. Not to hurt with the whip or with theknife, but to cut deep at the heart with his evil tongue, to cutto the raw places of the mind. When he found that I was to bereleased, - he may have guessed, or he may have discovered by someunderhand method; that a pardon was about to be signed, - heconceived his great plan. He had less than two days to executeit.
"Through one of his agents he discovered a warder who had been insome trouble with the authorities, a man who was avaricious andwas even then on the brink of being discharged from the servicefor trafficking with prisoners. The bribe he offered this man wasa heavy one and the warder accepted.
"Kara had purchased a new monoplane and as you know he was anexcellent aviator. With this new machine he flew to Devon andarrived at dawn in one of the unfrequented parts of the moor.
"The story of my own escape needs no telling. My narrative reallybegins from the moment I put my foot upon the deck of the Mpret.
The first person I asked to see was, naturally, my wife. Kara,however, insisted on my going to the cabin he had prepared andchanging my clothes, and until then I did not realise I was stillin my convict's garb. A clean change was waiting for me, and theluxury of soft shirts and well-fitting garments after the prisonuniform I cannot describe.
"After I was dressed I was taken by the Greek steward to thelarger stateroom and there I found my darling waiting for me."His voice sank almost to a whisper, and it was a minute or twobefore he had mastered his emotions.
"She had been suspicious of Kara, but he had been very insistent.
He had detailed the plans and shown her the monoplane, but eventhen she would not trust herself on board, and she had beenwaiting in a motor-boat, moving parallel with the yacht, until shesaw the landing and realized, as she thought, that Kara was notplaying her false. The motor-boat had been hired by Kara and thetwo men inside were probably as well-bribed as the warder.
"The joy of freedom can only be known to those who have sufferedthe horrors of restraint. That is a trite enough statement, butwhen one is describing elemental things there is no room forsubtlety. The voyage was a fairly eventless one. We saw verylittle of Kara, who did not intrude himself upon us, and our mainexcitement lay in the apprehension that we should be held up by aBritish destroyer or, that when we reached Gibraltar, we should besearched by the Brit's authorities. Kara had foreseen thatpossibility and had taken in enough coal to last him for the run.
"We had a fairly stormy passage in the Mediterranean, but afterthat nothing happened until we arrived at Durazzo. We had to goashore in disguise, because Kara told us that the English Consulmight see us and make some trouble. We wore Turkish dresses,Grace heavily veiled and I wearing a greasy old kaftan which, withmy somewhat emaciated face and my unshaven appearance, passed mewithout comment.
"Kara's home was and is about eighteen miles from Durazzo. It isnot on the main road, but it is reached by following one of therocky mountain paths which wind and twist among the hills to thesouth-east of the town. The country is wild and mainlyuncultivated. We had to pass through swamps and skirt hugelagoons as we mounted higher and higher from terrace to terraceand came to the roads which crossed the mountains.
"Kara's, palace, you could call it no less, is really built withinsight of the sea. It is on the Acroceraunian Peninsula near CapeLinguetta. Hereabouts the country is more populated and bettercultivated. We passed great slopes entirely covered with mulberryand olive trees, whilst in the valleys there were fields of maizeand corn. The palazzo stands on a lofty plateau. It isapproached by two paths, which can be and have been well defendedin the past against the Sultan's troops or against the bands whichhave been raised by rival villages with the object of storming andplundering this stronghold.
"The Skipetars, a blood-thirsty crowd without pity or remorse,were faithful enough to their chief, as Kara was. He paid them sowell that it was not profitable to rob him; moreover he kept theirown turbulent elements fully occupied with the little raids whichhe or his agents organized from time to time. The palazzo wasbuilt rather in the Moorish than in the Turkish style.
"It was a sort of Eastern type to which was grafted an Italianarchitecture - a house of white-columned courts, of big pavedyards, fountains and cool, dark rooms.
"When I passed through the gates I realized for the first timesomething of Kara's importance.
There were a score of servants, all Eastern, perfectly trained,silent and obsequious. He led us to his own room.
"It was a big apartment with divans running round the wall, themost ornate French drawing room suite and an enormous Persiancarpet, one of the finest of the kind that has ever been turnedout of Shiraz. Here, let me say, that throug............