TOO MANY DETECTIVES
Major Simpson looked at his hostess with blinking eyes. Although he
had spoken scornfully of cheap magazine fiction that had no doubt put
melodramatic notions in Josie’s head, the truth of the matter was
that the old gentleman devoured them himself in private, especially
the ones dealing with crime and clever sleuths. How often in these
stories unsuspecting women, landladies and lodging house keepers, were
unconscious means of tracking desperate criminals. The detective came
to a sudden conclusion. He determined to take into his confidence this
gentle lady from his own county. Anyone who had such a light hand at
doughnuts and could brew such clear rich coffee must have finesse. She
was the one of all others to help him in his business of determining a
difficult point in his profession. He leaned forward and grasping the
widow’s plump hand, patted it tenderly.
“Mrs. Leslie--Miss Polly--er-er-Polly, little Polly Bainbridge, I
wonder if you will help an old neighbor and friend in a most important
matter.”
“Help you, Major Simpson! How can a woman like me serve such a
gentleman as you?”
“Know then, my dear Mrs. Les--I mean Polly--I may call you Polly I
hope--”
“Certainly, Major Simpson!”
“Well then, my dear Polly, you have under your roof a character that
is under suspicion. I serve at Burnett & Burnett’s in a confidential
capacity as their trusted private detective.”
“Land’s sakes!” cried Mrs. Leslie, who had an inborn respect for the
law and all persons appointed to uphold it. But according to plays she
had seen and the movies, a detective always wore a shabby brown derby
and box-toed shoes. Here was her visitor, an acknowledged detective,
in the smallest and neatest of polished oxfords, and from her chair
she could plainly see a silk hat on the marble topped table in the
reception hall, the kind of hat that might have been worn with impunity
by presidents of republics or prime ministers of monarchies.
Having under her roof, or rather under her ceiling--because Mrs. Leslie
had never felt that the roof of the apartment house belonged to her
in the least--having under her ceiling a suspicious character was
not nearly so exciting to that lady as harboring a live detective.
She reasoned that Major Simpson must be an excellent detective since
he had never divulged that it was in that capacity he served Burnett
& Burnett, the opinion being in his county that he was a “kind of
partner” in the firm.
Tales of mystery had always been Mrs. Leslie’s dissipation--it might
be truthfully said her only dissipation--and now it was a delightful
thing that what had hitherto been a dissipation should be put upon her
as a duty. Surely everybody would consider it her duty to assist an old
neighbor and family friend in any way possible.
“Help you! Indeed I will. Tell me what I must do first.”
“Tell me something of the life and habits of this young person, who has
so imposed upon you.”
“Well, she is quiet, gentle, considerate and unassuming. I certainly
have to give her that. She is never a mite of trouble but always helps
Mary and me about any household tasks that come up, very much as though
she were a daughter of the house.”
“Um-hum! Sly, very sly!” puffed the major.
“She is orderly and regular in her habits. Keeps her room as neat as a
pin and never leaves anything lying around.”
“Afraid of giving a clue to her carryings-on. She is no doubt a
hardened adventuress.”
Mrs. Leslie thrilled with excitement. She felt delightful cold chills
running up and down her backbone and her eyes were snapping and her
cheeks glowing as though under the spell of no less a person than Anna
Katherine Green or Mary Roberts Reinhart. “The Bat” himself had not
been able to make her shudder more happily. For the moment she lost all
feeling for Josie, of whom she was really very fond, but thought of her
only as a character in fiction and herself as the astute heroine who
would track her to her lair.
“She is very much interested in Mary and me and encourages us to tell
her all kinds of things about our home in the country. I am afraid we
have told her many family secrets, nothing of grave importance because
we have led quiet, sheltered lives up to the last few months, but just
stories of the farm and Mary’s childhood and my girlhood. She is such a
good listener and we have talked to her very freely.”
“Of course you have. That’s part of her game; to get information of all
kinds about neighborhoods and then work some kind of fraud on them.
She is more than likely to go down to our county and get in with folks
there and steal the spoons and the registered letters or something. I
tell you, Polly, I know their game--these slick ones. I’ll be bound she
has talked mighty little about herself. Do you know any more about her
home life, where she came from, what she did before she started to ‘do
you’ than you did when she first came to you?”
“No, I’m afraid we don’t.”
“Exactly!”
“But tell me what you think the poor girl has done?” asked Mrs. Leslie,
who could but feel sorry for criminals even though they spoke French
with a French accent.
“Done! Why I have my suspicions that she had stolen from Burnett &
Burnett many hundreds of dollars worth of real lace as well as a gold
mesh bag that is easily worth a hundred. She is suspected by Mr.
Burnett, too, but we are to go easy with her as we hope to track to
their lair others who were able to get away with thousands of dollars
worth of goods a few weeks ago.”
“What makes you think she has done it?” gasped Mrs. Leslie, her
backbone continuing to tingle deliciously over such expressions as
“Track to their lair.”
“Many things have led me to suspect her,” said the Major with
impressive gravity. “She has studiously avoided my scrutiny and when I
have attempted to follow her on the street she has with great ingenuity
evaded my pursuit--given me the slip, as we say in the profession.”
“Then you have followed her?”
“Repeatedly! No doubt you have noticed that she seldom comes home
immediately after closing hours, but walks around town, up one street
and down another. Now is not that in itself a peculiar way for a nice
young woman to behave?”
“Perhaps!”
“To my way of thinking it is very peculiar. Another thing is that
she has ingratiated herself into the good will of many of the clerks
at Burnett & Burnett’s. She has followed the same method with them
that she has with you; always inviting confidence and never revealing
anything concerning her own life and affairs. I have questioned some
of them closely and all have nothing but good to say of Miss Josie
O’Gorman. Now that in itself is unnatural and shows she has a sinister
influence.”
“Ah, Major Simpson, I fear you are sarcastic.”
“Not at all, my dear Miss Polly! Young women in business are just like
young women in society and are chary of expressions of admiration for
members of their own sex.”
“But why do you think that my lodger has stolen these valuable
articles? What proof have you?”
“None as yet--but that is where you are to help me. When the clerks
reported the theft to me, immediately my instinct was to find this
O’Gorman. It was within a minute of closing time and I would have
gotten her but she seemed to divine that I was on her heels and jumped
into an elevator. I followed in the next but she came up as I went
down. You may imagine, my dear madam, how annoying it was to one of my
years--and I may add, dignity--to be see-sawing up and down an elevator
shaft in pursuit of a wretched little sandy haired girl. I give you
my word I went up and down three times, always missing her like a
foolish scene in a motion picture comedy. Then I took my stand at the
front door, hoping to catch up with her in that way but she evidently
slipped out the back door and once more gave me the slip. Now, however,
I have tracked her to her lair--if such a charming parlor as yours
could be called a lair--and with your able assistance I am sure I can
catch up with her.”
“You have not told me yet how I am to assist you.”
“Simply by keeping your eyes open and reporting to me at every turn. I
want to know every detail in regard to the movements of this O’Gorman
person. I should like very much to see her room. I might gather some
information that would escape the notice of a novice.”
“It seems kind of underhand--I mean on my part, but I’ll take you to
her room and if I get out of this mess I never intend to advertise
again for lodgers. Mary and I will have to manage somehow. I know Mary
will be greatly put out when she hears of my helping you. She has taken
a great fancy to Josie. You see, we both call her Josie by now.”
“It just shows your kind heart and your daughter’s loving disposition.
If I were you, Mrs. Leslie--Polly--I would not mention the matter to
Miss Mary. She might feel it her duty to warn the young woman that we
are on to her tricks and she might escape. The fewer who are taken into
a plot the better. But show me the young person’s room--I might say
lair or den, because all criminals are more or less like animals and
those terms are very appropriate. To call your sweet homelike parlor by
such an epithet was criminal in itself.”
Josie’s room was as neat as a hospital, not a thing out of place.
Mrs. Leslie opened the closet where hung the several dresses of the
suspiciously good material.
“Just feel of them,” she demanded, and since they were merely hanging
in a closet the Major did not deem it too familiar to comply with her
request. It was not as though they were on the young woman’s person.
“Yes, very fine quality,” was his verdict, his memory harking back to
early days at Burnett & Burnett’s When he stood behind the counter and
measured cloths. “And look at the shoes!”
Josie’s one vanity being her feet, she was very particular about her
shoes. Feet being one of the many vanities Major Simpson possessed he
was a better judge of shoes than materials for dresses. On the floor of
the closet was a neat row of shoes all on shoe trees and all highly
polished.
“Don’t tell me! A girl standing behind a counter couldn’t afford to
wear such shoes as these. Look at the cut! Look at the leather! Every
heel as straight as a die and the ties of the finest grosgrain. Her
shoes would give her away as masquerading if nothing else would.”
The inquisitive visitor must then have a peep in the bureau drawers.
All was neat as a pin. The Major, being an old bachelor and extremely
fussy about his personal belongings, could but be impressed by the
exquisite order of the youthful criminal’s bureau.
“Such a pity! Such a pity!” he muttered. “But no doubt there is some
good in the worst of them. And what is this little book?”
He took from the back of the top drawer Josie’s precious little
homemade book filled with her father’s notes.
“Ah,” he said with an air of finality, “Greek! Now tell me, my dear
lady, what a salesgirl wants with Greek. It is proof positive. I need
look no farther. Of course I had no notion that I would find any of the
purloined goods here in her room. Those, no doubt, she has taken to the
home of confederates. Now my task will be to find where those persons
live and recover the stolen articles and place the criminals behind
bars.”
“How terrible! I can’t think of Josie in such surroundings.”
“Remember, you are to help me, dear Polly. I can’t tell you what
your assistance in this matter will mean to me. You need have no
compunctions in the matter. Remember that this girl is false as sin to
have palmed herself off on you and your innocent daughter. She has not
considered you in the slightest. Now promise that you will telephone me
if the least thing arises to increase your suspicion, or better than
that, get a taxi and come to me immediately. Burnett & Burnett will
reimburse you for any expenses incurred. Here is my card with my home
address and telephone number in case something should occur of import
between now and Monday. You promise?”
“We-e-ll ye-e-s--but somehow I--”
“Of course you have compunctions. That is your kind heart. All of the
Bainbridges were kind hearted--but all of them were also noted for
being law abiding. Now it is the duty of every citizen to help the
law to track criminals. It is kinder to get them while they are young
than wait until they are hardened to crime. Now this young person may
be saved if she is cut off from evildoing while she is yet soft and
tender. She will be placed in a home of correction and taught a useful
trade, while if she is allowed to escape and pursue her wicked ways she
may even end on the gallows. One crime leads to another and shoplifting
may develop into arson and murder.”
“All right! all right!” cried the poor distracted Mrs. Leslie.
“I promise to do what you ask of me--but somehow it seems mighty
inhospitable. I wish my suspicions had never been aroused.”
“Exactly! But now that they are aroused I am sure you will live up to
the traditions of your excellent family and do your duty in spite of
any gentle feminine compunctions you may have.”
The major had read his hostess aright. His appeal to the traditions of
her family were too much for her, and although her sympathy could but
be enlisted with the supposedly desperate young criminal lodging with
her, she felt she must uphold law and order, and before her guest took
his pompous departure she had promised him faithfully to communicate
with him if the slightest suspicious action on the part of Josie
evinced itself.