KIDNAPPED
Marsh slowly regained control of himself as he stood staring at the
crumpled figure. Striding across the room, he bent over Newman. The
man was breathing heavily, and his eyes had a dazed glare. Although
he was not unconscious in the full sense of the word, it seemed
probable that it would be some time before Newman could start any
more trouble. Marsh decided, however, that it would be safer to
provide against future possibilities, so he drew Newman's hands
together and snapped on a pair of handcuffs.
Suddenly Marsh realized that his doorbell was ringing furiously.
This time he took no chances, and his automatic was in his hand
ready for instant use when he opened the door. He found Morgan and
Tierney in the hall.
"For God's sake, what's the matter?" cried Morgan.
By this time Marsh had recovered his calm and easy manner. "I had a
visitor," he said, smiling, and slipping his automatic back into his
pocket. "Come in."
The two men passed through to the living room and Marsh closed the
door and followed.
"Where did he go?" asked Morgan, as Marsh entered the room.
"There it is," said Marsh, contemptuously, nodding toward Newman.
Morgan and Tierney hurried to the man and straightened him out on
his back. Newman was still too dazed to do more than roll his eyes
at them.
"'Baldy' Newman!" exclaimed Morgan, looking up at Marsh. "How did
you get him?"
Marsh briefly explained the incident. "And what beats me," he
concluded, "is how he got by the policeman at the door."
"By a well-laid plan, Marsh. We were talking about it to the
patrolman when the shooting began. That was the first we realized
what the scheme had been."
"What was it?" inquired Marsh. "I thought I heard a couple of shots
sometime ago, but as nothing seemed to happen afterward, I concluded
it was just somebody's tire."
"You heard shots, all right," returned Morgan. "It seems that an
auto stopped on Lawrence Avenue in front of the alleyway. Someone in
the car fired two shots at the policeman on guard there. He
immediately started for the car, and the man in front, who had also
heard the shots, joined him. Naturally the car was out of sight
before they had run half a block, and so they returned to their
posts. They didn't even get the number of the license, although I
suppose it would have been of little use if they had. When you look
those things up you generally find that the car has been stolen from
some respectable citizen."
"Tierney and I arrived just after the patrolmen got back to the
building, and the man in front told us about it. I was puzzled over
just what the game was until we heard the shooting up here. Then I
guessed that they had only drawn off the policemen so as to let
someone get in, so Tierney and I beat it up the stairs as fast as we
could. When you took so long to answer the door, we thought you were
gone, sure."
"Well, the little rat did have me wondering for a few minutes,"
admitted Marsh. "If he had really come to kill me I think he could
have got me, all right. But the fact was, he just came to warn me,
and intended to use his gun only as a last resort. Under such
circumstances, if you can only keep them talking long enough, they
get careless. You can see what happened to 'Baldy' because he stayed
too long."
"He'll have a long stay somewhere else now," commented Tierney,
cheerfully.
"And we'll make him talk same more before we get through with him,"
declared Morgan.
"There is one thing I want to ask of you, Morgan," said Marsh. "Get
him out of here as quietly as you can, and don't let the news get
into the papers. We don't want the people who sent him to know
exactly what has happened. Just let them wonder for a day or two."
"I get your point," answered Morgan. He then went to the telephone
and called the patrol wagon, impressing upon the man at the other
end of the wire, the need for secrecy, and instructing him to have
the patrol drive up the alley back of the house.
"Now," said Morgan, as he turned from the telephone, "I suppose you
want to hear about the information I was to get for you."
"Yes," replied Marsh. "Were you able to get it?"
"All that's worth knowing," returned Morgan. "I turned Tierney loose
on this man Nolan, and looked up Hunt myself. You can dismiss Nolan
from the case at once. He has a job as chauffeur with a big business
man in Milwaukee, and hasn't been in Chicago for a month. At one
o'clock last Tuesday morning he was bringing this man and his wife
home from an affair at the man's club. Someone simply impersonated
Nolan."
"Now, about Hunt. I found that he started to work for Merton as his
confidential secretary about five years ago. Merton apparently
thought a good deal of him, and gradually put more and more of his
business into his hands. About a year ago, he made Hunt his general
manager, and Hunt has practically been running the entire business
ever since. People in the financial district seem to consider Hunt a
fine fellow. What he was doing before he went with Merton I have
been unable to find out in such a short time."
"I cannot say that this information helps us out very much," said
Marsh. "Your news about Nolan simply confirms the idea I already
had--that the Nolan message was a trick. I dug up some information
today which looks like the best clue we have had so far. I think
that by tomorrow afternoon we'll close in on the men we want.
Telephone me at twelve o'clock tomorrow, Morgan, and I will tell you
just what to do."
At this moment they heard pounding on Marsh's back door.
"I guess that's the wagon, Tierney," said Morgan. "Let them in."
Tierney went back through the flat and returned immediately with two
policemen, who gathered up "Baldy" Newman and his gun and carried
them quietly out and down the rear stairs.
"I'd like to tell the world," said Morgan, "that the West Side's
most famous gunman has been captured with a man's bare hands. But
we'll keep it quiet if you insist on it, Marsh."
"After tomorrow, Morgan, you will have more than 'Baldy' Newman to
your credit. Until then, our success depends on secrecy. Now,
remember, telephone me at twelve sharp tomorrow."
With that, the men parted for the night and Marsh, after making sure
that all his doors and windows were securely fastened, went to bed.
But twelve o'clock on Tuesday passed without Marsh receiving his
expected message, for the very good reason that Morgan and Tierney
could not get to a telephone.
These two men spent the greater part of the morning in the financial
district in a futile attempt to get further information regarding
Hunt. About eleven o'clock Morgan suggested that they go to the
North Side and get their lunch so that after telephoning Marsh they
would be close at hand in case he wanted them quickly. They took the
elevated to Wilson Avenue, and after leaving the train, turned east
toward Broadway. At the corner stood a big, black limousine. The
door was open and the chauffeur turned to them and said, "Say
friends, will you help me get this guy out of the car? He's too
drunk to move."
Morgan saw that a man was lying back in a corner with his eyes shut,
and nodding to Tierney, went over to the car.
"I've been driving him for two hours," said the chauffeur, "and I
don't think there's any chance of getting my money. I want to throw
him out. He's too heavy for me to lift. You two guys look husky, and
like good fellows, so I thought maybe you'd lift him out for me."
As this sort of thing frequently came to the attention of the
detectives, they did not suspect anything out of the ordinary when
they climbed into the car and started to pull the man out of the
seat. Suddenly the chauffeur slammed the door and sprang to the
wheel. The man in the seat, who but a moment before had apparently
been in a drunken stupor, now sat up, and drawing his right arm from
behind his back, covered the two detectives with an automatic.
"Sit down," he commanded, "and be quiet."
In the meantime, the car was moving swiftly across Wilson Avenue.
Turning north on Sheridan Road, its speed increased to a terrific
pace. Morgan noticed this and hoped that it would attract the
attention of the motorcycle police, but they met none of these men
and the car soon left the city limits and passed through Evanston.
From here on, the road was quiet and they passed only an occasional
car. The man with the automatic now instructed them to hand over
their revolvers. After he had these in his possession, he felt
Morgan and Tierney over carefully to see that they had no other
concealed weapon. Then, keeping them covered with the automatic, he
reached out and drew down all the shades in the car so that they sat
in a semi-darkness and were unable to see where they were going.
Morgan judged that they had been riding about an hour when the car
suddenly stopped. The door was opened and a man stuck his head in.
The man was Wagner.
"Turned the tables on you, didn't we?" he jeered. Then he stepped
back and they saw that he also held an automatic in his hand. "Come
on," he said, "step lively. You're welcome to our happy home."
Tierney began to swear, but Morgan jabbed him with his elbow. It
would be like committing suicide to show any fight now.
"These bulls ought to travel in regiments for self-protection,"
taunted the man who had been with them in the car. But Morgan
noticed, as he stepped out of the car, that the chauffeur had left
his seat and was also standing ready with an automatic. These men
might have their little joke, but they were taking no chances. The
three men escorted Morgan and Tierney up the steps and into the
house. Wagner then directed them to precede him up the stairs. They
passed down a long hall and into a big room.
"Make yourselves comfortable," sneered Wagner. "And I might as well
tell you that you can make all the noise you want, because the
nearest house is so far away they couldn't hear a fog horn. Just try
to be nice, good little boys, and maybe we'll let you go sometime."
He backed out of the door and they heard him turn the key.