It was at this stage that Tombe's father began to make inquiries into his son's disappearance. He came to London. When, with a police officer, he went to the bank he found that cheques ostensibly signed by his son were still being presented.
But at the same time some more disquieting facts were discovered. Many substantial sums had been withdrawn and apparently Dyer had arranged that his signature on Tombe's account should be honoured as a partnership. At a later stage this had developed into a power of attorney.
Then the manager produced a document which Dyer had presented, authorizing the transfer of £1000 to Paris bank for Tombe's private use. The authorization was signed by Tombe and appeared to be in order.
It was to be expected that the Yard man would turn to the father and say, in effect, "Well Mr. Tombe, your son has for some reason best known to himself gone to Paris, and there doesn't seem to be anything we can do," a The father was still not satisfied. He felt convinced that whatever the motive for this curious financial transaction' his son would have found some way of assuring his parents of his safety. He decided to pursue inquiries. of his own.
Although positive in his own mind that his son had been the victim of foul play, he continued to receive evidence in the form of cheques that his son was apparently still alive.
Several months later, with the body at Henley still undiscovered, there arrived in Scarborough a Mr. James Vincent Fitzsimmons, He introduced himself as the son of a Carlisle magistrate who was also the proprietor of a wholesale tailoring business, and on whose behalf he proposed to open a local agency.
He inserted in a local paper an advertisement in which the police took a certain interest. The wording seemed to them very similar to that used in other advertisements which had been used to defraud persons in at least 20 other towns.
So as Mr, Fitzsimmons was taking lunch one day at the Bar Hotel, Scarborough, he was told that Inspr. Abbott of the local police would like io have a word with him.
Mr. Fitzsimmons was genial. He invited the inspector to have a drink and for a few minutes they discussed the advertisement, One or two of the explanations of Mr, Fitzsimmons failed to convince the inspector. who politely suggested that they should walk round to the police station.
"Do you mind if I just get a few things from my room?" asked Mr. Fitzsimmons. The inspector raised no objection, They mounted the stairs, but the inspector did not like the way his companion kept handling some bulky object in his coat pocket.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.