In a private ward room at Bellevue Hospital, Captain Cronin was just
returning to memory of himself and things that had been. Shirley arrived
at his cot-side as he was being propped up more comfortably. The older
man's face broke into game smiles, as the criminologist took the chair
provided by the pretty nurse.
“Thanks, I'll have a little chat with my friend, if you don't think it
will do him any harm.”
“He is better now, sir. We feared he was fatally injured when they
brought him in. I'll be outside in the corridor if you need anything.”
She left not without an admiring look at the big chap, wondering why he
wore such disreputable superstructure with patent leather pumps and
silk hose showing below the ragged overcoat. Strange sights come to
hospitals, curiosity frequently leading to unprofitable knowledge: so
she was silently discreet. Shirley's garb was not unobserved by the
detective chief. Monty laughed reminiscently at the questioning glance.
“These are my working clothes--a fine combination. I nabbed two of the
gang. But what became of you?”
“Outside that club door, I wanted to save time for us both. I took
the first taxi in sight. Before I could even call out to you, the door
slammed on me, the shades flopped down, the car started up--the next
thing I knew this here nurse was sticking a spoon in my mouth, a-saying:
'Take this--it's fine for what ails you!'”
“I wonder if it could have been the same machine they left at Van
Cleft's? I will tell you how things progressed.” So he did, leaving
out only the confidence of Professor MacDonald. The Captain became
feverishly excited, until Shirley abjured him to beware of a relapse.
“You must be calm, for the next twenty-four hours: there will be much
for you to do, even then. Meanwhile, let me call up your agency; then
you give them instructions over this table telephone to let Howard Van
Cleft interview the little chorus girl, with his friend. I'll be the
friend.”
“I'm afraid I'm going to be snowed under in this case, Monty. The finest
job I've had these dozen years. But you're square, and will do all you
can.”
“Old friend, I'll do what I can to make Van Cleft and the newspapers
sure that you are the most wonderful sleuth inside or outside the public
library. Here's your office--speak up. Let me lift you.”
“Hello Pat!” called Cronin, as his superintendent came to the 'phone. “I
am detained at Bellevue, so that I can't be there when Van Cleft comes
down. Let him Third Degree that little Jane from the garage. Keep them
two men apart, too--oh, that's all right, the fellow is a friend of mine
on the 'Frisco police force. He won't butt in.” Silence for a moment,
then: “Oh, shucks, let 'em yowl! They've got more than kidnapping to
worry about for the next twenty-five years.”
He hung up the receiver, sinking back on his pillows wan from the
strain. Monty handed him a glass of water, and adjusted the bandages
with a hand as tender as a woman's. He lifted the instrument again.
“You are sterling, twenty-two carat and a yard wide, Captain! Now, get
to sleep while I find out who the ring-master is. I've sworn to keep
awake until I do. I think it well to telephone Van Cleft, and arrange
for a better get-a-way for us both.”
He was soon talking with the son of the murdered man. “Meet me down at
the Vanderbilt Hotel--ask for Mr. Hepburn's room, and send up the name
of Williams. See you in an hour. Good-bye.”
Hanging up the receiver, he turned toward the door, after a friendly pat
on Cronin's shoulder. The bell rang, and the Captain reached for it, to
sink back exhausted upon the bed. Shirley answered, to be greeted by a
pleasant feminine voice.
“Is this Captain Cronin?”
Instantly the criminologist replied affirmatively, suiting his tones as
best he could to the gruff voice of the detective chief, with a wink at
that worthy.
“I just called up, Captain, to ask about you--Oh, you don't recognize my
voice. I'm Miss Wilberforce, private secretary to Mr. Van Cleft. Has any
one been to see you yet? I understand that you are very busy, and have
already missed two other good cases, this one being the THIRD! Well,
don't hurry, Captain. You may get the rest to come--if you live long
enough. Good-bye!”
Shirley looked at Cronin, startled. Another mention of the mystic
number. He called for information about the origin of the call.
“Lordee, son! Are they at it again?” asked Cronin in disgust.
“Yes--overdoing it. One thing is clear, that whoever is behind this
telephone trickery is very clever, and very conceited over that
cleverness. It may be a costly vanity. Yes, information?”
“The call was from Rector 2190-D. The American Sunday School
Organization, sir--It doesn't answer now; the office must be closed.”
Shirley put the instrument down, with a smile on his pursed lips. He
waved a good natured farewell to his friend, as he drew the cap down
over his eyes.
“Look a little happier, Captain. I'll send down some fruit and a special
vintage from our club which has bottled up in it the sunlight of a
dozen years in Southern France. I hope they keep the telephone wires
busy--they may tangle themselves up in their own spider-web!”
Leaving the hospital, he hurried to the hotel. One of his secret
idiosyncracies was a custom of “living around” at a number of hotels,
under aliases. Maintaining pleasant suites in each, he kept full
supplies of linen and garments, while effectively blotting out his own
identity for “doubling” work.
He was known as “Mr. Hepburn” here, and entering the side door he was
subjected to the curious gaze of only one servant, the operator of the
small elevator. Once in the shelter of his quarters he rummaged through
some scrap-books for data--he found it in a Sunday feature story
published a month before in a semi-theatrical paper. It described with
rollicking sarcasm, a gay “millionaire” party which had been given in
Rector's private dining rooms. Among the ridiculed hosts were Van Cleft,
Wellington Serral and Herbert De Cleyster! Here, in some elusive manner,
ran the skein of truth which if followed would lead to the solution of
mystery. He must carve out of this mass of pregnant clues the essentials
upon which to act, as the sculptor chisels the marble of a huge block to
expose the figure of his inspiration, encased there all the time!
“To find out the source of their golden-haired nymphs for this
merry-merry, that is the question! Some stage doorkeeper might be
persuaded to unburden what soul he has left!”
He jotted in his memorandum book the names of the other eight wealthy
men who were pilloried by the journalist. The younger men,
Shirley felt sure, were of that peculiarly Manhattanse type of
hanger-on--well-groomed, happy-go-hellward youths who danced, laughed
and drank well,--so essential to the philanderings of these rich old
Harlequins and their gilded Columbines. As he scribbled, the telephone
of the room tinkled its summons.
He started toward it: then his invaluable intuition prompted him to
walk into the adjoining room, where another instrument stood on a small
table, handy to the bed. Only two people could possibly know he was
there. Van Cleft could not have arrived, as yet. The other bell jingled
impatiently, but Shirley finally heard the voice of the switch-board
girl.
“I'm trying to get you on the other wire, sir. There's a call.”
“Don't connect me,” he hurriedly ordered, “except to open the switch, so
I may listen. If I hang up without a word, tell the party I will be back
in twenty minutes.”
With a hotel telephone girl tact is more important than even the
knowledge of wire-knitting. It was the woman's voice which he had heard
at the hospital. Captain Cronin was anxious to speak to Mr. Williams,
who was calling on Mr. Hepburn! With the biggest jolt of this day of
surprises Shirley disconnected and whistled. Again he laughed--with that
grim chuckle which was so characteristic of his supreme battling mood!
They had found the trail even quicker than he had expected. Fortunate
it was that he had not mentioned his own name in telephoning from
the hospital to Howard. Not a wire was safe from these mysterious
eaves-droppers now. He hurried into a business suit, and left the hotel,
to walk over Thirty-fourth Street to the studio of his friend, Hammond
Bell. Here he was admitted, to find the portrait-painter finishing a
solitary chafing-dish supper.
“Delighted, Monty! Join me in the encore on this creamed chicken and
mushrooms!”
“Too rich for my primitive blood, Hammond. I'm in a hurry to get a
favor.”
“I've received enough at your hands--say the word.”
“Simply this: I want to experiment with sound waves. I remembered that
once in a while some of these wild Bohemian friends of yours warbled
post-impressionist love-songs into your phonograph. It stood the strain,
and so must be a good one. It is too late now to get one in a shop; will
you lend me the whole outfit, with the recording attachment as well, for
to-night and to-morrow?”
“The easiest thing you know. Let's slide it into this grip--you can
carry the horn.”
Three minutes later Shirley made his exit, and soon was shaking hands
with Van Cleft in his own room at the hotel. He sketched his idea
hurriedly, as he adjusted the instrument on the dressing-table near the
telephone.
“When the call comes, be sure to say: 'Get closer, I can't hear you.'
That's the method, and it's so simple it is almost silly.” They were
barely ready when the bell warned them. At Van Cleft's reply, when the
call for “Mr. Williams” Shirley pushed the horn close to the telephone
receiver. Van Cleft twisted it, so as to give the best advantage, and
demanded that the speaker come closer to the 'phone.
“Can you hear me now?” asked the feminine voice. “Do you hear me now?”
“No, speak louder. This is Mr. Williams. Speak up. I can't understand
you.” The voice was petulant and so distinct that even Shirley could
hear it, as he knelt by the side of the phonograph. Again Van Cleft
insisted on his deafness. There was the suggestion of a break in the
voice which brought to Shirley's eyes the sparkle of a presentiment of
success. At last Van Cleft admitted that he could hear.
“Well, you fool, I've a message for your friend Mr. Van Cleft.”
“Which one?” was the innocent inquiry, as he forgot for an instant that
now he was the sole bearer of that name.
“The one that's left. Tell him there will be none left if he continues
this gum-shoe work. He had better let well enough alone, and let that
little girl get out of town as soon as possible. The papers will go
crazy over a scandal like this, and some one is apt to grab Van Cleft.
That's all. Good-bye!”
Silently Shirley shut off the lever of the machine, to catch up the
receiver. As before his endeavor to locate the call resulted in a new
address: this time in the Bronx!
“Ah, the lady leaps from the business district to the Bronx in half an
hour. That is what I call some traveling.”
Van Cleft studied him with open mouth, as he withdrew the phonograph
record, coating it with the preservative to make the tiny lines
permanent.
“In the name of common sense, who was that? And what's this phonograph
game?” he demanded.
“The second question may answer the first before sunrise, unless I am
badly mistaken. I have heard an old adage which declares that if you
give a man long enough rope he will hang himself. My new application is
that you let him talk enough he is apt to sing his own swan song, for a
farewell perch on the electric chair at Sing Sing!”
Then he lit a cigarette and packed up the phonograph.