Free The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer

and
of what I found, more anon.
    "In the first place," said Smith, "you say that you warned him.
When did you warn him and of what?"
    "I warned him, sir, that it would come to this—"
    "That what would come to this?"'
    "His dealings with the Chinaman!"
    "He had dealings with Chinamen?"
    "He accidentally met a Chinaman at an East End gaming-house, a
man he had known in Frisco—a man called Singapore Charlie—"
    "What! Singapore Charlie!"
    "Yes, sir, the same man that had a dope-shop, two years ago,
down Ratcliffe way—"
    "There was a fire—"
    "But Singapore Charlie escaped, sir."
    "And he is one of the gang?"
    "He is one of what we used to call in New York, the Seven
Group."
    Smith began to tug at the lobe of his left ear, reflectively, as
I saw out of the corner of my eye.
    "The Seven Group!" he mused. "That is significant. I always
suspected that Dr. Fu-Manchu and the notorious Seven Group were one
and the same. Go on, Burke."
    "Well, sir," the man continued, more calmly, "the
lieutenant—"
    "The lieutenant!" began Smith; then: "Oh! of course; Slattin
used to be a police lieutenant!"
    "Well, sir, he—Mr. Slattin—had a sort of hold on this Singapore
Charlie, and two years ago, when he first met him, he thought that
with his aid he was going to pull off the biggest thing of his
life—"
    "Forestall me, in fact?"
    "Yes, sir; but you got in first, with the big raid and spoiled
it."
    Smith nodded grimly, glancing at the Scotland Yard man, who
returned his nod with equal grimness.
    "A couple of months ago," resumed Burke, "he met Charlie again
down East, and the Chinaman introduced him to a girl—some sort of
an Egyptian girl."
    "Go on!" snapped Smith—"I know her."
    "He saw her a good many times—and she came here once or twice.
She made out that she and Singapore Charlie were prepared to give
away the boss of the Yellow gang—"
    "For a price, of course?"
    "I suppose so," said Burke; "but I don't know. I only know that
I warned him."
    "H'm!" muttered Smith. "And now, what took place to-night?"
    "He had an appointment here with the girl," began Burke
    "I know all that," interrupted Smith. "I merely want to know,
what took place after the telephone call?"
    "Well, he told me to wait up, and I was dozing in the next room
to the study—the dining-room—when the 'phone bell aroused me. I
heard the lieutenant—Mr. Slattin, coming out, and I ran out too,
but only in time to see him taking his hat from the rack—"
    "But he wears no hat!"
    "He never got it off the peg! Just as he reached up to take it,
he gave a most frightful scream, and turned around like lightning
as though some one had attacked him from behind!"
    "There was no one else in the hall?"
    "No one at all. I was standing down there outside the
dining-room just by the stairs, but he didn't turn in my direction,
he turned and looked right behind him—where there was no
one—nothing. His cries were frightful." Burke's voice broke, and he
shuddered feverishly. "Then he made a rush for the front door. It
seemed as though he had not seen me. He stood there screaming; but,
before I could reach him, he fell… ."
    Nayland Smith fixed a piercing gaze upon Burke.
    "Is that all you know?" he demanded slowly.
    "As God is my judge, sir, that's all I know, and all I saw.
There was no living thing near him when he met his death."
    "We shall see," muttered Smith. He turned to me—"What killed
him?" he asked, shortly.
    "Apparently, a minute wound on the left wrist," I replied, and,
stooping, I raised the already cold hand in mine.
    A tiny, inflamed wound showed on the wrist; and a certain
puffiness was becoming observable in the injured hand and arm.
Smith bent down and drew a quick, sibilant breath.
    "You know what this is, Petrie?" he cried.
    "Certainly. It was too late to employ a ligature and useless to
inject ammonia. Death was practically instantaneous. His heart…
"
    There came a loud knocking and ringing.
    "Carter!" cried Smith, turning to the detective, "open that