The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-02-09
CONFIDENTIAL
REPORT ,. s"'s z; s sn.r.
BY Dennis wheatley 9 1897 ey
REcIN HERE TO-DAY

DIV UcnuD "Utaht'
BEGIN HERE TODAY
Boarding Carlton Roeksavage
Yacht, Golden Gull, off Miami, 4
investigate the disAppearsnee o
Boiisho Blame. British hnaneie'
and Roek,avage's chief eompeti
tor in world soap trade, Detective
officer Kettering finds strange
mark. on Blane's cabin earpe'
ard blood on the curtain.
Kettering examines all pa''en
gers including Nicholas Stodart
Blame, secretary; Roekssvags
and his daughter Ferri; Lad,
Welter; Reginald and Mrs. Joee,
lyn, Lady Welter's daughter and
,on.in.la~; the Bishop of Dude
Count Luigi Posodini and ino'
,uke Hayashi.
Kettering finds Roeksavage
sought a merger with Blanc to
ave his company; that Lady Wei
ter is heavily interested; that Ha'
ya.hi desperately sought to sell a
huge soap monopoly either to
Blanc or Roeksavage; that Poso'
DIM j, a con man; that the Bishop
bears some mysterious relation
ship to Roeksavage. This last he
learn, through letter from
Blame to Bishop. warning thar
strange things might take place
on the yacht.
>,oo "a, ,,ytru TIE STORY
CHAPTER MI
DETECTIVE OFFICER KETTER-
ines FOURTH REPORT.
| have to acknowledge your
memo. of today's date, together
with cablcd report from Scotland
Yard upon Mr.. Blame, the Bishop
of Dude, Lady Weller and Mr.. and
Mrs. Jocelyn: also about Mr.. hay
ASH from the japanese police; the
Identification particulars of Geo,
("Slick") Daniels, alias Count
Posodini; and the information
supplied by you about MIR, and
Miss Rocksavage. :.
Last night | decided that II
would be a good thing TO have a
talk with Nicholas Stodart In or
der TO find out from him as many
particulars as possible ABOUT
Blane's life and affairs. | there
fore suggested that he should JOIN
me for dinner as all my meals are
served separately in the small
writing room in which | am con-
Quoting my examinations. .
He agreed readily enough, but
the meal did not prove a particu-
larly happy one as Stodart has a
small abcess and, on account OF
this. is suffering somewhat with
his false teeth, which gave him
pain when eating solids. He is also
very distressed by his employers
death which leaves him without a
situation, and | gather, very little
money. He talked quite freely
however, and the following is such
information as l CLEANED from this
interview.
PARTICULARS C. A I II + K I. ID
FROM A TALK WI t II
BLAME SECRETARY, MICH
OLAS STODART.
Blame was a generous, but diff
ficult, employer. The work which
he demanded of his secretary was
light but. on the other hand, he
liked 10 have him at his beck am!
call the whole time, and part OF
the understanding on Stodart S
engagement was that except IN
very special circumstances. ne
would not be allowed any free
time off duty.
This suited Stodart as he is
quite alone in the world and has
no relatives or friends whom ne
wished to visit.
His history is as follows:-He
is IS years of age and was born
at Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.
His mother died at the time of his
birth and his father was employed
in the Indian forestry department:
During his early childhood
Stodart lived with a maiden aunt,
the sole surviving member of his
mothers family, to whom she had
come home when she was about to
have her baby. The aunt was
killed in a railway accident, how
ever, when Stodart was eight
years of age. and so he was sent
to a boarding school in Felix
stowe and he never saw his father.
except during four periods OF
leave at intervals of several years,
until he was sixteen. when he left
school and went out TO live with
his father in India.
For the next few years he
studied accountancy and, having
served an apprenticeship with
Messrs. Wayne, Robins & CO., OF
Calcutta, ne succeeded in obtain
ing a position with the Ranaga
Rubber company. His duties with
this company entailed visits to
numerous rubber plantations
owned by the company, where he
spent anything from week to a