THE PLOT
We had been able to secure a key to the hotel entrance of the Old
Tavern, so that we felt free to come and go at any hour of the day or
night. We let ourselves in and mounted the stairs cautiously to our
room.
"At least they haven't discovered anything, yet," Garrick congratulated
himself, looking about, as I struck a light, and finding everything as
we had left it.
Late as it was, he picked up the detective receiver of the mechanical
eavesdropper and held it to his ears, listening intently several
moments.
"There's someone in the garage, all right," he exclaimed. "I can hear
sounds as if he were moving about among the cars. It must be the garage
keeper himself--the one they call the Boss. I don't think our clever
Chief would have the temerity to show up here yet, even at this hour."
We waited some time, but not the sound of a voice came from the
instrument.
"It would be just like them to discover one of these detectaphones,"
remarked Garrick at length. "This is a good opportunity. I believe I'll
just let myself down there in the yard again and separate those two
wires, further. There's no use in risking all the eggs in one basket."
While I listened in, Garrick cautiously got out the rope ladder and
descended. Through the detectaphone I could hear the noise of the man
walking about the garage and was ready at the window to give Garrick
the first alarm of danger if he approached the back of the shop, but
nothing happened and he succeeded in accomplishing his purpose of
further hiding the two wires and returning safely. Then we resumed
listening in relays.
It was early in the morning when there came a telephone call to the
garage and the garage keeper answered it.
"Where did you go afterward?" he asked of the man who was calling him.
Garrick had quickly shifted to the instrument by which we could
overhear what was said over the telephone.
A voice which I recognised instantly as that of the man they called the
Chief replied, "Oh, I had a little business to attend to--you
understand. Say, they got that fire out pretty quickly, didn't they?
How do you suppose the alarm could have been turned in so soon?"
"I don't know. But they tell me that Garrick and that other fellow with
him showed up, double quick. He must have been wise to something."
"Yes. Do you know, I've been thinking about that ever since. Ever hear
of a little thing called a detectaphone? No? Well, it's a little
arrangement that can be concealed almost anywhere. I've been wondering
whether there might not be one hidden about your garage. He might have
put one in that night, you know. I'm sure he knows more about us than
he has any right to know. Hunt around there, will you, and see if you
can find anything?"
"Hold the wire."
We could hear the Boss poking around in corners, back of the piles of
accessories, back of the gasoline tank, lifting things up and looking
under them, apparently flashing his light everywhere so that nothing
could escape him.
A hasty exclamation was recorded faithfully over our detectaphone,
close to the transmitter, evidently.
"What the deuce is this?" growled a voice.
Then over the telephone we could hear the Boss talking.
"There's a round black thing back of a pile of tires, with a wire
connected to it. One side of it is full of little round holes. Is that
one of those things?"
"Yes," came back the voice, "that's it." Then excitedly, "Smash it! Cut
the wires--no, wait--look and see where they run. I thought you'd find
something. Curse me for a fool for not thinking of that before."
Garrick had quickly himself detached the wire from the receiving
instrument in our room and, sticking his head cautiously out of the
window, he swung the cut ends as far as he could in the direction of a
big iron-shuttered warehouse down the street in the opposite direction
from us.
Then he closed the window softly and pulled down the switch on the
other detectaphone connected with the fake telephone receiver.
He smiled quietly at me. The thing worked still. We had one connection
left with the garage, anyway.
There was a noise of something being shattered to bits. It was the
black disc back of the pile of tires. We could hear the Boss muttering
to himself.
"Say," he reported back over the telephone, "I've smashed the thing,
all right, and cut the wires, too. They ran out of the back window to
that mercantile warehouse, down the street, I think. I'll look after
that in the morning. It's so dark over there now I can't see a thing."
"Good!" exclaimed the other voice with satisfaction. "Now we can talk.
That fellow Garrick isn't such a wise guy, after all. I tell you, Boss,
I'm going to throw a good scare into them this time--one that will
stick."
"What is it?"
"Well, I got Warrington, didn't I?"
"Yes."
"You know I can't always be following that fellow, Garrick. He's too
clever at dodging shadows. Besides, unless we give him something else
to think about he may get a line on one of us,--on me. Don't you
understand? Warrington's out of it for the present. I saw to that. Now,
the thing is to fix up something to call them off, altogether,
something that we can use to hold them up."
"Yes--go on--what?"
"Why--how about Violet Winslow?"
My heart actually skipped beating for a second or two as I realised the
boldness and desperation of the plan.
"What do you mean--a robbery up there in Tuxedo?"
"No, no, no. What good would a robbery do? I mean to get her--kidnap
her. I guess Warrington would call the whole thing off to release
her--eh?"
"Say, Chief, that's going it pretty strong. I'd rather break in up
there and leave a threat of some kind, something that would frighten
them. But, this,--I'm afraid--"
"Afraid--nothing. I tell you, we've got to do it. They're getting too
close to us. We've either got to get Garrick or do something that'll
call him off for good. Why, man, the whole game is up if he keeps on
the way he has been going--let alone the risk we have of getting
caught."
The Boss seemed to be considering.
"How will you get a chance to do it?" he asked at length.
"Oh, I'll get a chance, all right. I'll make a chance," came back the
self-confident reply.
It sent a shiver through me merely to contemplate what might happen if
Violet Winslow fell into such hands. Mentally I blessed Garrick for his
forethought in having the phony 'phone in the garage against possible
discovery of the detective instrument.
"You know this poisoned needle stuff that's been in the papers?"
pursued the Chief.
"Bunk--all bunk," came back the Boss promptly.
"Is that so?" returned the Chief. "Well, you're right about it as far
as what has been in the papers is concerned. I don't know but I doubt
about ninety-nine and ninety-nine hundredths per cent of it, too. But,
I'll tell you,--it can be done. Take it from me--it can be done. I've
got one of the best little sleepmakers you ever saw--right from Paris,
too. There, what do you know about that?"
I glanced hastily, in alarm, at Garrick. His face was set in hard
lines, as he listened.
"Sleepmaker--Paris," I heard him mutter under his breath, and just a
flicker of a smile crossed the set lines of his fine face.
"Yes, sir," pursued the voice of the Chief, "I can pull one of those
poisoned needle cases off and I'm going to do it, if I get half a
chance."
"When would you do it?" asked the Boss, weakening.
"As soon as I can. I've a scheme. I'm not going to tell you over the
wire, though. Leave it to me. I'm going up to our place, where I left
the car. I'll study the situation out, up there. Maybe I'll run over
and look over the ground, see how she spends her time and all that sort
of thing. I've got to reckon in with that aunt, too. She's a Tartar.
I'll let you know. In the meantime, I want you to watch that place on
Forty-seventh Street. Tell me if they make any move against it. Don't
waste any time, either. I can't be out of touch with things the way I
was the last time I went away. You see, they almost put one across on
us--in fact they did put one across with that detectaphone thing. Now,
we can't let that happen again. Just keep me posted, see?"
They had finished talking and that was apparently all we were to get
that night, or rather that morning, by way of warning of their plot for
the worst move yet.
It was enough. If they would murder and burn, what would they stop at
in order to strike at us through the innocent figure of Violet Winslow?
What might not happen to such a delicate slip of a girl in the power of
such men?
"At least," rapped out Garrick, himself smothering his alarm, "they
can't do anything immediately. It gives us time to prepare and warn.
Besides, before that we may have them rounded up. The time has come for
something desperate. I won't be trifled with any longer. This last
proposal goes just over the limit."
As for me, I was speechless. The events of the past two days, the
almost sleepless nights had sapped my energy. Even Garrick, though he
was a perfect glutton for work, felt the strain.
It was very late, or rather very early, and we determined to snatch a
few moments of sleep at the Old Tavern before the rest of the world
awoke to the new day. It was only a couple of hours that we could
spare, but it was absolutely necessary.
In spite of our fatigue, we were up again early and after another try
at the phony 'phone which told us that only the men were working in the
garage, we were on our way up to Garrick's apartment.
We had scarcely entered when the telephone boy called up to say that
there was a Mr. Warrington on long distance trying to get us. Garrick
eagerly asked to have him put on our wire.
Warrington, it seemed, had been informed of the fire by one of his
agents and was inquiring anxiously for details, especially about the
letter. Garrick quickly apologised for not calling up himself, and
relieved his anxiety by assuring him that the letter was safe.
"And how are you?" he asked of Warrington.
"Convalescing rapidly," laughed back the patient, to whom the loss of
anything was a mere bagatelle beside the letter. Garrick had not told
him yet of the stealing of the other letters. "Getting along
fine,--thanks to a new tonic which Dr. Mead has prescribed for me."
"I can guess what it is."
Warrington laughed again. "Yes--I've been allowed to take short motor
trips with Violet," he explained.
The natural manner in which "Violet" replaced "Miss Winslow" indicated
that the trips had not been without result.
"Say, Warrington," burst out Garrick, seeing an opportunity of
introducing the latest news, "I hate to butt in, but if you'll take my
advice, you'll just cut out those trips a few days. I don't want to
alarm you unnecessarily, but after to-day I want Miss Winslow never to
be out of sight of friends--friends, I said; not one, but several."
"Why--what's the matter?" demanded Warrington in alarm.
"I can't explain it all over the telephone," replied Garrick, sketching
out hastily something of what we had overheard. "I'll try to see you
before long--perhaps to-day. Don't forget. I want you to warn Miss
Winslow yourself. You can't put it too strongly. Use your judgment
about Mrs. de Lancey. I don't want to get you in wrong with her. But,
remember, it's a matter of life or death--or perhaps worse. Try to do
it without unnecessarily alarming Miss Winslow, if you can. Just fix it
up as quietly as possible. But be positive about it. No, I can't
explain more over the wire now. But--no more outings for either of you,
and particularly Miss Winslow, until I raise the ban."
Warrington had been inclined to argue the matter at first, but Garrick
of course quickly prevailed, the more so because Warrington realised
that in his condition he was anything but an adequate body-guard for
her if something unexpected should happen.
"Oh--I had a call the other day," reported Warrington as an
afterthought before hanging up the receiver. "It was from McBirney. He
says one of his unofficial scouts has told him of seeing a car that
might have been mine up this way lately."
Garrick acquiesced to the information which, to us, was not new. "Yes,"
he said, "there have been several such reports. And, by the way, that
reminds me of something. You will have to put at our disposal one of
your cars down here."
"Go as far as you like. What do you want--a racer?"
"Why--yes, if it's in perfect condition. You see, we may have to do
some unexpected sleuthing in it."
"Go as far as you like," repeated Warrington, now thoroughly aroused by
the latest development of the case. "Spare nothing, Garrick--nothing.
Curse my luck for being laid up! Every dollar I have is at your
disposal, Garrick, to protect her from those scoundrels--damn them!"
"Trust me, Warrington," called back Garrick. "I give you my word that
it's my fight now."
"Garrick--you're a brick," came back Warrington as the conversation
closed.
"Good heavens, Guy," I exclaimed when he hung up the receiver after
calling up Warrington's garage and finding out what cars were
available, "Are we going to have to extend operations over the whole
State, after all?"
"We may have to do almost anything," he replied, "if our scientific
murderer tries some of his smooth kidnapping tricks. It's possible that
McBirney may be right about that car being up there. Certainly we know
that it has been up there, whether it is now or not."
"And Herman wrong about its being in the city?" I suggested. "Well, one
guess is as good as another in a case like this, I suppose."
It had been a great relief to get back to our rooms and live even for a
few minutes like civilised beings. I suggested that we might have a
real breakfast once more.
I could tell, however, that Garrick's mind was far away from the
thought of eating, and that he realised that a keen, perhaps the
keenest, test of his ability lay ahead of him, if he was to come out
successfully and protect Violet Winslow in the final battle with the
scientific gunman. I did not interrupt him.