WE SEND HIM BACK AGAIN
The detective came. He was an inoffensive young man, and he set to work
to unravel the mystery of the ha'nt with visible delight at the unusual
nature of the job. Radnor received him in a spirit of almost anxious
hospitality. A horse was given him to ride, guns and fishing tackle were
placed at his disposal, a box of the Colonel's best cigars stood on the
table of his room, and Solomon at his elbow presented a succession of
ever freshly mixed mint juleps. I think that he was dazed and a trifle
suspicious at these unexpected attentions; he was not used to the
largeness of Southern hospitality. However, he set to work with an
admirable zeal.
He interviewed the servants and farm-hands, and the information he
received in regard to things supernatural would have filled three
volumes; he was staggered by the amount of evidence at hand rather than
the scarcity. He examined the safe and the library window with a
microscope, crawled about the laurel walk on his hands and knees, sent
off telegrams and gossiped with the loungers at "Miller's place." He
interviewed the Colonel and Radnor, cross-examined me, and wrote down
always copious notes. The young man's manner was preëminently
professional.
Finally one evening--it was four days after his arrival--he joined me as
I was strolling in the garden smoking an after dinner pipe.
"May I have just a word with you, Mr. Crosby?" he asked.
"I am at your service, Mr. Clancy," said I.
His manner was gravely portentous and prepared me for the statement that
was coming.
"I have spotted my man," he said. "I know who stole the securities; but
I am afraid that the information will not be welcome. Under the
circumstances it seemed wisest to make my report to you rather than to
Colonel Gaylord, and we can decide between us what is best to do."
"What do you mean?" I demanded. In spite of my effort at composure,
there was anxiety in my tone.
"The thief is Radnor Gaylord."
I laughed.
"That is absolutely untenable. Rad is incapable of such an act in the
first place, and in the second, he was not in the house when the robbery
occurred."
"Ah! Then you know that? And where was he, pray?"
"That," said I, "is his own affair; if he did not tell you, it is
because it is not connected with the case."
"So! It is just because it _is_ connected with the case that he did not
tell me. I will tell you, however, where he spent the night; he drove to
Kennisburg--a larger town than Lambert Corners, where an unusual letter
would create no comment--and mailed the bonds to a Washington firm of
brokers with whom he has had some dealings. He took the bag of coin and
several unimportant papers in order to deflect suspicion, and his
opening the safe the night before for the hundred dollars was merely a
ruse to allow him to forget and leave it open, so that the bonds could
appear to be stolen by someone else. Just what led him to commit the act
I won't say; he has been in a tight place for several months back in
regard to money. Last January he turned a two-thousand dollar mortgage,
that his father had given him on his twenty-first birthday, into cash,
and what he did with the cash I haven't been able to discover. In any
case his father knows nothing of the transaction; he thinks that Radnor
still holds the mortgage. This spring the young man was hard up again,
and no more mortgages left to sell. He probably did not regard the
appropriation of the bonds as stealing, since everything by his father's
will was to come to him ultimately.
"As to all this hocus-pocus about the ha'nt, that is easily explained.
He needed a scapegoat on whom to turn the blame when the bonds should
disappear; so he and this Cat-Eye Mose between them invented a ghost.
The negro is a half crazy fellow who from the first has been young
Gaylord's tool; I don't think he knew what he was doing sufficiently to
be blamed. As for Gaylord himself, I fancy there was a third person
somewhere in the background who was pressing him for money and who
couldn't be shaken off till the money was forthcoming. But whatever his
motive for taking the bonds, there is no doubt about the fact, and I
have come to you with the story rather than to his father."
"It is absolutely impossible," I returned. "Radnor, whatever his faults,
is an honorable man in regard to money matters. I have his word that he
knows no more about the robbery of those bonds than I do."
The detective laughed.
"There is just one kind of evidence that doesn't count for much in my
profession, and that is a man's word. We look for something a little
more tangible--such as this for example."
He drew from his pocket an envelope, took from it a letter, and handed
it to me. It was a typewritten communication from a firm of brokers in
Washington.
"RADNOR F. GAYLORD, Esq.,
"Four-Pools Plantation, Lambert Corners, Va.
"_Dear Mr. Gaylord_:
"We are in receipt of your favor of April 29th. in regard to the
sale of the bonds. The market is rather slow at present and we
shall have to sell at 98¼. If you care to hold on to them a few
months longer, there is every chance of the market picking up, and
we feel sure that in the end you will find them a good investment.
"Awaiting your further orders and thanking you for past favors,
"We are,
"Very truly yours,
"JACOBY, HAIGHT & CO."
"Where did you get hold of that?" I asked. "It strikes me it's a private
letter."
"Very private," the young man agreed. "I had trouble enough in getting
hold of it; I had to do some fishing with a hook and pole over the
transom of Mr. Gaylord's door. He had very kindly put the tackle at my
disposal."
"You weren't called down here to open the family's private letters," I
said hotly.
"I was called down here to find out who stole Colonel Gaylord's bonds,
and I've done it."
I was silent for a moment. This letter from the brokers staggered me.
April twenty-ninth was the date of the robbery, and I could think of no
explanation. Clancy, noticing my silence, elaborated his theory with a
growing air of triumph.
"This Mose was left behind the night of the robbery with orders to rouse
the house while Radnor was away. Mose is a good actor and he fooled you.
The obvious suspicion was that the ghost had stolen the bonds and you
set out to find him--a somewhat difficult task as he existed only in
Mose's imagination. I think when you reflect upon the evidence, you will
see that my explanation is convincing."
"It isn't in the least convincing," I retorted. "Mose was not acting;
he saw something that frightened him half out of his senses. And that
something was not Radnor masquerading as a ghost, for Radnor was out of
the house when the robbery took place."
"Not necessarily. The robbery took place early in the evening before all
this rumpus occurred. Even if Mose did see a ghost, the ghost had
nothing to do with it."
"You have absolutely no proof of that; it is nothing but surmise."
Clancy smiled with an air of patient tolerance.
"How about the letter?" he inquired. "How do you explain that?"
"I don't explain it; it is none of my business. But I dare say Radnor
will do so readily enough--there he is going toward the stables; we will
call him over."
"No, hold on, I haven't finished what I want to say. I was employed by
Colonel Gaylord to find out who stole the bonds and I have done so. But
the Colonel did not suspect the direction my investigations would take
or he never would have engaged me. Now I am wondering if it would not be
kinder not to let him know? He's had trouble enough with his elder son;
Radnor is all he has left. The young man seems to me like a really
decent fellow--I dare say he'll straighten up and amount to something
yet. Probably he considered the money as practically his already; anyway
he's been decent to me and I should like to do him a service. Now say we
three talk it over together and settle it out of court as it were. I've
put in my time down here and I've got to have my pay, but perhaps it
would be better all around if I took it from the young man rather than
his father."
This struck me as the best way out of the muddle, and a very fair
proposition, considering Clancy's point of view. I myself did not for an
instant credit his suspicions, but I thought the wisest thing to do was
to tell Rad just how the matter stood and let him explain in regard to
the letter. I left Clancy waiting in the summer house while I went in
search of Rad. I wished to be the one to do the explaining as I knew he
was not likely to take any such accusation calmly.
I found him in the stables, and putting my hand on his shoulder, marched
him back toward the garden.
"Rad," I said, "Clancy has formed his conclusions as to how the bonds
left the safe, and I want you to convince him that he is mistaken."
"Well? Let's hear his conclusions."
"He thinks that you took them when you took the money."
"You mean that I stole them?"
"That's what he thinks."
"He does, does he? Well he can prove it!"
Radnor broke away from me and strode toward the summer house. The
detective received his onslaught placidly; his manner suggested that he
was used to dealing with excitable young men.
"Sit down, Mr. Gaylord, and let's discuss this matter quietly. If you
listen to reason, I assure you it will go no further."
"Do you mean to say that you accuse me of stealing those bonds?" Radnor
shouted.
Clancy held up a warning hand.
"Don't talk so loud; someone will hear you. Sit down." He nodded toward
a seat on the other side of the little rustic table. "I will explain the
matter as I see it, and if you can disprove any of my statements I shall
be more than glad to have you."
Radnor subsided and listened scowlingly while the detective outlined his
theory in a perfectly non-personal way, and ended by producing the
letter.
"Where did you get that?" Rad demanded.
"Out of your coat pocket which I hooked over the transom of the door."
He made the statement imperturbably; it was evidently a matter of
everyday routine.
"So you enter gentlemen's houses as their guest and spend your time
sneaking about reading their private correspondence?"
An angry gleam appeared in Clancy's eye and he rose to his feet.
"I did not come to your house as your guest. I came on business for
Colonel Gaylord. Now that my business is completed I will make my report
to him and go."
Radnor rose also.
"It's a lie, and you haven't a word of proof to show."
Clancy significantly tapped the pocket that held the letter.
"That," said Radnor contemptuously, "refers to two bonds which I bought
last winter with some money I got from selling a mortgage. I preferred
to have the investment in bonds because they are more readily
negotiable. I left them at my broker's as collateral for another
investment I was making. Last week I needed some ready money and wrote
to them to sell. My statement can easily be substantiated; no reputable
detective would ever base any such absurd charge on the contents of a
letter he did not understand."
"Of course," said the detective, "we have tried to get at the matter
from the other end; but Jacoby, Haight & Company refuse to discuss the
affairs of their clients. I did not press the point as I did not want to
stir up comment. However," he smiled, "I must confess, Mr. Gaylord, that
I think your explanation a trifle fishy. Perhaps you will answer one
question. Did you mail your letter to them in Kennisburg the night of
the robbery with a special delivery stamp?"
"It happens that I did, but it was merely a coincidence and has nothing
to do with the robbery."
"Will you be kind enough to explain why you drove to Kennisburg in the
night and why you needed the money so suddenly?"
"No, I will not. That is a matter which concerns, me alone."
"Very well! As it happens I do not base my charge on the letter; I had
already formed my opinion before I knew of its existence. Do you deny
that you yourself have encouraged the belief in the ghost among the
negroes? That on more than one occasion, you, or your accomplice,
Cat-Eye Mose, have masqueraded as the ghost? That, while you were
pretending to Colonel Gaylord to be as much puzzled by the matter as he,
you were in truth at the bottom of the whole business?"
Radnor glanced uneasily at me and hesitated before replying.
"No," he said at length, "I don't deny that, but I do affirm that it
has nothing to do with the robbery."
The detective laughed.
"You must excuse me, Mr. Gaylord, if I stick to the opinion that I have
solved the puzzle."
He turned with a motion toward the house, and Radnor barred the
entrance.
"Do you think I lie when I say I know nothing of those bonds?"
"Yes, Mr. Gaylord, I do."
For a moment I thought that Radnor was going to strike him, but I pulled
him back and turned to Clancy.
"He knows nothing about the bonds," said I, "but nevertheless you must
not take any such story to Colonel Gaylord. He is an old man, and while
he would not believe his son guilty of theft, still it would worry him.
There is something else that happened that night--entirely
uncriminal--but which we do not wish him to hear about. Therefore I am
not going to let you go to him with this nonsensical tale that you have
cooked up."
This was a trial shot on my part but it hit the bull's-eye. Radnor
stared but said nothing; and the detective visibly wavered.
"Now," I added, taking out my checkbook, "suppose I pay you what you
would have received had you discovered the bonds, and dispense with your
further services?"
"That's just as you say. I feel that I've done the job and am entitled
to the money. If you wish to pay it, all right; otherwise I get it from
Colonel Gaylord. I received a retaining fee and was to have two hundred
dollars more when I located the bonds. In order not to stir up any bad
feeling I'm willing to take that two hundred dollars from you and drop
the matter."
"It's blackmail!" said Radnor.
"Keep still, Rad," I said. "It's very accommodating of Mr. Clancy to see
it this way."
I wrote out a check and tossed it to the detective.
"Now go to Colonel Gaylord," I said, "tell him that you have been
unsuccessful in finding any clue; that the bonds will almost certainly
be marketed in the city, and that your only hope of tracing them is to
work from the other end. Then pack your bag and go. A carriage will be
ready to take you to the Junction in half an hour."
"Just wait a moment, Mr. Clancy," Rad called after him as he turned
away. He drew a note book from his pocket and ripping out a page
scrawled across the face:
"JACOBY, HAIGHT AND CO.
"_Gentlemen_:--You will oblige me by answering any questions which
the bearer of this note may ask concerning my past transactions
with you.
"RADNOR F. GAYLORD."
"There," said Rad, thrusting it toward him, "kindly make use of that
when you get to Washington, and in the future I should advise you to
base your charges on something a little more substantial."
His manner was insultingly contemptuous, but Clancy swallowed it with
smiling good nature.
"I shall be interested in continuing the investigation," he observed as
he pocketed the paper and withdrew.