It will be
remembered that Mr. Garcia, of Wisteria Lodge, was found dead on
Oxshott Common, his body showing signs of extreme violence, and
that on the same night his servant and his cook fled, which
appeared to show their participation in the crime. It was
suggested, but never proved, that the deceased gentleman may have
had valuables in the house, and that their abstraction was the
motive of the crime. Every effort was made by Inspector Baynes,
who has the case in hand, to ascertain the hiding place of the
fugitives, and he had good reason to believe that they had not
gone far but were lurking in some retreat which had been already
prepared. It was certain from the first, however, that they
would eventually be detected, as the cook, from the evidence of
one or two tradespeople who have caught a glimpse of him through
the window, was a man of most remarkable appearance--being a huge
and hideous mulatto, with yellowish features of a pronounced
negroid type. This man has been seen since the crime, for he was
detected and pursued by Constable Walters on the same evening,
when he had the audacity to revisit Wisteria Lodge. Inspector
Baynes, considering that such a visit must have some purpose in
view and was likely, therefore, to be repeated, abandoned the
house but left an ambuscade in the shrubbery.
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