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"Ah, Brisley!" he said, "I was looking for you. Are they still there?" "Probably, sir." Brisley licked his lips. "My colleague, Gunn, reports no one came out whilst I was away 'phoning." "But the whole thing seems preposterous. Are there no other offices in the block where they might be?" "I personally saw Mr. Gray, Sir Lucien Pyne and the lady go into Kazmah's.
Isaacs represented himself as a dealer in Covent Garden who was leasing the office for a lady friend, and who desired, for domestic reasons, to cover his tracks. As ready money in large amounts changes hands in the market, Mr. Isaacs paid ready money to the agent. Beyond doubt the real source of the ready money was Kazmah's." "But his address?" "A hotel in Covent Garden." "Where he lives?"
Monte Irvin was feverishly preoccupied with matters having no relation to dinner and the theatre. But his private suspicions grew only the more acute. "Then if the dinner is not off," he said, "may I come along and wait for you?" "At Kazmah's?" asked Mrs. Irvin. "Certainly." She turned to Sir Lucien. "Shall you wait? It isn't much use as I'm dining with Quentin."
"Not Sir Lucien?" "Oh, no. But both of them had been before." "What was Kazmah's connection with Mrs. Sin and her husband?" "I have no idea, Inspector. Kazmah used to supply cocaine and veronal and trional and heroin, but those who wanted to smoke opium he sent to Mrs. Sin." "What! he gave them her address?" "No, no! He gave her their address." "I see. She called?" "Yes.
A hopeless day and a pain-racked, sleepless night found Kazmah's unhappy victim in the mood for any measure, however desperate, which should promise even temporary relief. Monte Irvin went out very early, and at about eleven o'clock Rita rang up Kazmah's, but only to be informed by Rashid, who replied, that Kazmah was still away.
Rita nodded but did not speak. "Actually," Seton explained, "he instructed Mareno to go across the leads to Kazmah's directly you had left the flat, and to give you a certain message as 'Kazmah. He also instructed Mareno to telephone certain orders to Rashid, the Egyptian attendant. In spite of the unforeseen meeting with Gray, all would have gone well, no doubt, if Mrs.
"After all," whispered a voice within her brain, "Quentin is a man. Even if I took him to Kazmah's and he was in some way induced to try opium, or even cocaine, he would probably never become addicted to drug-taking. But I should have done my part " "Very well, Quentin," she heard herself saying aloud. "Will you call for me?"
"Ah!" said Kerry hardly, "I shouldn't wonder. And now" he thrust out a pointing finger "where did she get these drugs?" Margaret met the fierce stare composedly. "I have said that I shall be quite frank," she replied. "In my opinion she obtained them from Kazmah." "Kazmah!" shouted Kerry. "Excuse me, miss, but I see I've been wearing blinkers without knowing it! Kazmah's was a dope-shop?"
Thus she cleverly kept a firm hold upon the devotees of the poppy. Drug-takers form a kind of brotherhood, and outside the charmed circle they are secretive as members of the Mafia, the Camorra, or the Catouse-Menegant. In this secrecy, which, indeed, is a recognized symptom of drug mania, lay Kazmah's security.
He rarely entertained at home, and lived himself entirely at restaurants and clubs. The private entrance to the Kazmah house of business was the back window of the Cubanis Cigarette Company's office. From thence down the back stair to Kazmah's door it was a simple matter for Mareno to pass unobserved.
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