Lady growled deep in her throat, and Waring slumped into a chair and
watched the dog.
"Then," Dr. Stone said slowly, "if all of you are not concerned, one
man's hand is stained with blood."
Freeman still continued to run his hand soundlessly across the keys.
Lawton gave the doctor a quick, sidelong glance, and stared down at the
floor.
"Which one?" King asked coolly; and now, for the first time Joe noticed
that he alone, of the four in the room, was fully dressed.
Dr. Stone's hand touched the dog's head. "I may tell you--later. First, I
should like to know how all of you happened to arrive here yesterday. Did
the old man invite you?"
"No," Otis King drawled; "but I rather fancy he expected us. Did you know
he was writing a book? It was to be one of those brutally frank
things--fire the gun and let the shots hit whom they may. Anthony dropped
each of us a letter. We were to be in the book. So, knowing Anthony, we
all raced for the Grand Central and met on the same train."
"And killed him," Dr. Stone said.
"Some one did," King admitted blandly. "And I'm not denying that any of
the four of us had reason to do the job."
Fred Waring spoke bitterly. "You always did talk too much, Otis." He
lapsed into silence, and presently spoke to the doctor. "If you knew
Anthony Fitch--"
"Perhaps I do," the doctor said mildly. "For several years he was mixed
up in shady transactions, but managed to stay just inside the law.
Slippery, and clever, and unscrupulous."
"That was Anthony on the outside," Waring said passionately. "Inside he
was vindictive, and cold, and merciless. Those claw-like hands of his
were the talons of a hawk. He took a pleasure in refined torture. Years
ago we were all tied up with him, and--"
"You don't have to go into that," Ted Lawton cried warningly.
"I'm not going to. Anyway, we broke away, and one of his schemes failed.
He told us then that some day he'd pay the score. Lately he set out to
write a book. It was to be called 'Confessions of a Rascal.'"
"I see." The doctor's face was expressionless. "Naturally, you gentlemen
objected to being included in the book."
Waring ripped out an oath. "He had gone back fifteen years to rake open
old sores. God, man, do you know what that meant? We thought we had lived
down those old mistakes. We had established ourselves. I am cashier at a
manufacturing plant. King is manager of a branch brokerage house. Lawton
is in business for himself. Ran Freeman is engaged to marry Lilly
Panner----"