Some third party--possibly the
"yellow man" of whom she had spoken--had in turn stolen it from
her, strangling her in the process.
The police theory of the murder (and I was prepared to accept it)
was that the assassin had been crouching in hiding behind or
beside the cab--or even within the dark interior. He had leaped
in and attacked the woman at the moment that the taxi-man had
started his engine; if already inside, the deed had proven even
easier. Then, during some block in the traffic, he had slipped
out unseen, leaving the body of the victim to be discovered when
the cab pulled up at the hotel.
I knew of only one place in London where I might hope to obtain
useful information, and for that place I was making now. It was
Malay Jack's, whence I had been bound on the previous night when
my strange meeting with the seaman who then possessed the pigtail
had led to a change of plan. The scum of the Asiatic population
always come at one time or another to Jack's, and I hoped by dint
of a little patience to achieve what the police had now
apparently despaired of achieving--the discovery of the assassin.
Having called at my chambers to obtain my revolver, I mounted an
eastward-bound motor-bus.
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