Forrester awoke to find himself in the same bedroom in which he had
recovered consciousness after the attack made upon him in Jasper lane.
The recognition of his surroundings was a shocking stimulant. Like a
flash the whole scene in the underground passage was recalled.
That he should again have been rescued by the girl possessed a
significance which permitted of no alleviating doubt. Mary Sturtevant
was unquestionably hand and glove with the "Friends of the Poor."
Forrester closed his eyes and groaned. He loved her--would have redeemed
her from their clutches--but she had not listened to him. _Now the whole
terrible secret was within his grasp and yet that love for her must hold
him back!_
How could he expose the "Friends of the Poor" and drag her down in the
crash? Bolshevik they _might_ be--murderers they surely were. Public
opinion, aroused now to fever heat, would see that not one escaped the
full penalty. Unless the girl were part and parcel with the organization
and knew their inmost secrets--their every move--she would never have
been close at hand to save him from that hidden passage where no one
knew that he had gone.
Suddenly he felt a cool, soft hand upon his forehead. He opened his eyes
and turned his head. Mary Sturtevant sat by the bedside, gazing down at
him with bright eyes as she gently stroked his head.
"Mary," he whispered, reproachfully, "I can't believe it!"
"Oh, Robert," she exclaimed, "are you feeling all right again? I have
been so worried. It is two days since we brought you here. Each time you
awoke you were delirious and we had to give you sleeping powders to keep
you quiet."
Then she seized his hands in her own and held them close to her.
"Robert," she murmured, "now that it is all over, I can answer you. _I
love you!_"
He drew her hands back to him and pressed them to his lips. "All over?"
he queried, at last. "What do you mean?"
"I know it is against the doctor's orders to excite you," she answered,
"but I cannot stand this dreadful suspense any longer. There is a man
waiting downstairs who can explain all. I have made him stay close at
hand every day so that when your mind became clear you could know the
whole story immediately. I will bring him up now," and Mary Sturtevant
withdrew her hands from Forrester's clasp and ran out of the room.
In a few minutes she returned, followed by a tall, broad-shouldered man,
with kindly brown eyes and streaks of gray in his thick, dark hair. He
smiled down reassuringly at Forrester as the girl introduced him.
"This," she announced, happily, "is Mr. Keith Marten, whom I call the
invisible detective."
Marten took Forrester's hand and held it for a moment with a warm,
friendly clasp, as he said, "I am very glad to meet you face to face,
Mr. Forrester. I have known you well for weeks, but chiefly from some
distance. As Miss Sturtevant says, I have endeavored to remain
invisible."
Marten then drew a chair near the bed and sat down.
"Do either of you mind my smoking?" he asked, taking a cigar from his
pocket. "Tobacco is my principal failing--one, however, which I believe
I share in common with all who must draw deeply upon nervous force in
their work."
Both urged him to smoke, and while Marten lighted his cigar, Mary
Sturtevant explained his connection with the case to Forrester.
"Mr. Marten was in the Government Secret Service for many years, and has
had his own investigative service for some time.
"You probably noticed that the majority of the men victimized by this
supposed band of extortioners were prominent in banking circles. That
constituted a direct assault upon the banking fraternity. While people
outside of banking circles did not know of it, this persecution was
gradually bringing on an actual financial panic. When it was rumored
that a banker had given up a large sum to this supposed society, or his
murder was reported, a mild run resulted at the bank with which he was
associated. If there had been only one or two cases this would have had
little effect, but as numerous banks were brought into the matter there
was a tendency to spread this fear and the germs of a panic were
insidiously gripping financial circles. The matter was finally taken up
at a special conference of the _Midland Bankers' Association_.
"Shortly before you were selected as a victim, the M. B. A. engaged Mr.
Marten to solve the riddle of the 'Friends of the Poor,' and the secret
toll which they were imposing upon bankers. Mr. Marten has been the
invisible detective, working behind the scenes in this case. Just how he
accomplished his great work I shall leave to Mr. Marten to tell you."
"Your story will certainly interest me," declared Forrester, smiling at
Marten, and elated at the thought that Mary Sturtevant had been working
in a good cause. "I had about lost faith in the supposed abilities of
detectives."
"There are many able detectives," replied Marten. "You made your first
mistake in not going to a high-class detective agency. You cannot judge
the ability of all detectives by ex-policemen like Green, or by the
average city men. To become a city detective, a man must put in long
service as a policeman; and even then he has no guarantee that he will
ever be promoted to the detective section. The peculiar type of brain,
the scientific turn of mind, and the education which make an efficient
detective, naturally render long preliminary service as a policeman
abhorrent to the men who make the best detectives. Moreover, the
physical requirements of the police department shut out many brilliant
thinkers. Consequently, the best detective material seldom, if ever,
reaches city police departments.
"The whole principle is wrong, and until some other system is
established we will continue to see fine specimens of physical
development, whose very appearance advertises their calling, trying to
solve intricate criminal cases by muscle-power instead of brain-power.
It is analogous to placing a prize fighter in the chair of higher
mathematics at some university.
"Forgive me, Mr. Forrester, if I bore you with these extraneous
comments, but it is a subject that takes up much of my leisure time. I
hope, by educating influential men like you, that the system will be
changed; that eventually we will have a great central department like
Scotland Yard, or that the detective bureaus of large cities will be
separate from the regular police departments."
"You do not bore me, Mr. Marten," returned Forrester. "On the contrary,
I am deeply interested; especially because of what happened in the
present case."
"Well, enough of that," said Marten. "Now for the story I came here to
tell.
"Unlike police detectives, I do not immediately ascribe a crime to the
lower criminal classes. I _know_ that criminal tendencies extend upward
through every stratum of society. My first effort, therefore, is to
place the possible social standing of the criminal, and thus learn
approximately _where_ to look for him.
"In the present instance I took all the available data and analyzed the
situation. Two points impressed me at once. One, that for approximately
a year not a single clue had been discovered. Second, the enormous
amount of money which had been extorted. This had reached the sum of
nearly a quarter of a million dollars."
"I considered those points," said Forrester, "but they gave me no clue."
"Ah, because you lacked two things," returned Marten. "Experience and
the outside viewpoint. Now, in analyzing the first point, I seriously
doubted the existence of a _group_ of men as implied by the name
'Friends of the Poor.' When a gang is operating it is difficult to hold
the men together. Something slips sooner or later, just as in the case
of those West Side Italians who were caught by the police. I became
convinced that we had to deal _with one man only_. I was even more
convinced of this when I considered the amount of money involved. To
have attempted to split so vast an amount in an equitable way among a
number of ordinary criminals would eventually have led to dissensions
and exposure.
"Then, in considering this second point by itself, I saw that we had to
deal with no ordinary criminal. It was a vast sum, and the ordinary
criminal type does not think in such large figures. The result of this
analysis gave me two clues: first, that we probably had to deal with not
more than one man; and second, that this man was a much higher type than
the common malefactor.
"Another point to consider was the manner of death of those victims who
failed to make their payments. These men were all asphyxiated. I did not
know the exact method at the time, as I know it now, but the principle
remained the same. To accomplish this asphyxiation, I reasoned that the
victim must be lured to some place for the purpose. If only one man were
engaged in the work, it was obvious that he was not only acquainted with
the victims' habits, but probably sufficiently well acquainted with the
victims themselves to possess their confidence. All this pointed to a
man of high social position.
"My next step, therefore, was to make a list of the victims and all
their business and social acquaintances. I then compared these lists to
ascertain the men known in common to all, or the majority of the
victims. In this way I discovered a certain number of men known to all
the victims. The lives and habits of these men were investigated in
search of a possible clue. No definite results. Finally, pondering over
the case one day, the initials of one man impressed themselves upon me.
His initials were F. P.--the same initials that would stand for 'Friends
of the Poor.' Such a clue might seem fantastic. In criminal
investigation, however, clues are often the result of inspiration, and I
could not afford to let this coincidence pass. I made a more thorough
investigation into the history and actions of Frederick Prentice."
"Frederick Prentice!" gasped Forrester, starting up in bed.
"Exactly," returned Marten, "the supposed first victim."
"Our families have been friends for years," groaned Forrester. "His
daughter, Diana, and myself were childhood companions. How could he
attempt _my_ life?"
"The man was mentally unsound," explained Marten. "The successful
operation of his scheme excited his weakening brain until it became an
obsession with him. Although he had achieved his original purpose of
recuperating his broken fortunes, I believe he continued his threats and
killing for the sheer insane joy of playing with his victim and then
killing him. Possibly, the attendant mystery and notoriety also appealed
to some perverted side of his nature."
"Go on with your story," said Forrester.
"These were the facts which I discovered about Prentice," continued
Marten. "His mother died years ago in a private sanitarium for the
insane on Long Island, New York. This showed a possibility that
Prentice's mind might be affected, and in its weakness assume a criminal
trend. I found that Prentice's father had willed him a certain amount of
money, and that Prentice had lost approximately this amount in the stock
market. That showed a possible reason for his step, for Prentice had a
rather expensive wife and daughter to maintain, and he knew absolutely
nothing of business. Prentice's father also willed him the piece of
property upon which the oak tree stands. A few weeks before the affair
started, Prentice ostensibly sold this property to a man named Hans
Eckmeier, who in turn quickly sold it to a colored woman who lived in a
small cottage on the property--a woman, by the way, without visible
means of support, and without any financial resources which could be
located. This unquestionably indicated preliminary preparation designed
to eliminate any connection of Prentice with the property. There were
rumors, too, that this woman had murdered her husband. Rumors are hardly
to be considered as evidence, yet this story offered a possible basis
for Prentice having a hold over the negress.
"Further investigation revealed the fact that Hans Eckmeier had received
considerable financial assistance at different periods from Prentice,
and was under obligation to him. Moreover, this man, who was a chemist,
had invented a deadly poison gas, the formula of which he sold to the
German Government just previous to the war. Here, Mr. Forrester, were a
remarkable series of clues.
"If we could back these with a few pieces of actual evidence, our case
was closed. That was the problem; how to get the evidence. I dared not
appear in the case myself, nor have ordinary detectives come into
contact with Prentice, without the danger of arousing his suspicions;
yet it was imperative that someone possessing investigative instincts
should come into close association with this man.
"During the war, while I was engaged in secret service work in New York,
Miss Sturtevant, like many other women of her station in life, was of
great assistance to the Government. Because of her social position it
was possible for her to take her place in Prentice's social set without
arousing any suspicion as to her purpose. It was arranged through the
M.B.A. for her to rent the Bradbury house for the summer. This house was
located sufficiently near the tree for her to watch it, and also within
easy reach of Prentice's home. The M.B.A. arranged for Miss Sturtevant
to receive letters of introduction to Chicago people who would be most
helpful to her. The stage was completely set for our work just about the
time you received your notice, and we hoped, through Prentice's attack
upon you, to get the definite evidence we desired. That explains, for
example, the telephone calls you received. I attempted to find out about
the time you would place the money in the tree so as to make proper
arrangements. When you refused the information Miss Sturtevant obtained
it for me. We expected Prentice to go to the tree, and Miss Sturtevant
was placed in a very fortunate position to watch him that night by being
invited to a dinner and dance at his home; his family, of course, being
entirely ignorant of his schemes. I received a report from her on
Prentice's lawn, shortly after you left, and hurried to the tree. I was
standing only a short distance back of the tree during the whole affair.
"You are familiar with the fiasco which the city detectives brought
about that night. The package mysteriously disappeared, and as I learned
later through Miss Sturtevant that Prentice left the dance for
approximately three-quarters of an hour, he undoubtedly secured it. We
were absolutely sure then that Prentice was the chief conspirator,
probably being assisted by the chemist and the negress, Lucy. But we had
no actual evidence.
"Our next opportunity was furnished by the Melville incident."
"Tell me one thing," interrupted Forrester. "What was Mary's connection
with that affair?"
"I can explain that, Robert," replied the girl. "I knew that Mr.
Melville was in danger when I saw Prentice there. After going to the
conservatory with his son, it suddenly occurred to me that I might find
some evidence in Prentice's car--particularly as I now knew about the
gas and the mask through your adventure. Knowing that my next dances
were with you, I felt that no special attention would be drawn to my
absence, so I excused myself and slipped out. In the compartment under
the front seat of Prentice's car I found one of the gas cylinders with
the mask attached. Hoping to avert another murder I tried to stuff my
handkerchief into the tube. The handkerchief was too large, so I tore it
in half and then succeeded."
"And," completed Marten, "the gas being forced into the cylinder under
pressure, it naturally blew out the handkerchief when released; a
mechanical condition which did not occur to Miss Sturtevant. Your
curious suspicions of Miss Sturtevant, by the way, made it very hard for
her at times. We dared not let you into the secret, because a hot-headed
young man like you might have upset our carefully laid plans. It should
be unnecessary now for us to explain in detail the various little
incidents which aroused your suspicions of her. With your present
knowledge of the case you can easily understand the underlying cause in
each instance.
"Incidentally, Mr. Forrester," added Marten, soothingly, "I want to
compliment you upon some of your amateur detective work. You frequently
showed fine detective instincts, and it was entirely due to you that we
discovered how the money was obtained from the tree. Without your visit
to the cottage, that point at least might have remained a mystery."
"But you have not told me how the case finally worked out, Mr. Marten,"
reminded Forrester.
"I was coming to that," returned Marten. "We had definitely decided that
the money was obtained from the tree in some way through the agency of
Lucy. It was arranged with Melville to make a pretense of putting money
in the tree. Miss Sturtevant managed to convey the information to
Prentice that Melville would do this on a certain night--the night of
your visit, to be exact.
"Then, instead of watching the tree, as all had done before, _we watched
the woman's cottage_. At the time you entered, the cottage was
surrounded by my men and Miss Sturtevant and I were close at hand. You
may be sure you gave us a shock, but we planned to let all who wished to
do so, enter the cottage, but none would be allowed to leave. You were
the first. Later, Lucy appeared, and it is assumed that she discovered
you in the cave. When Prentice arrived, Lucy warned him, and between
them they hastily prepared the hood with which he disguised himself.
Yes," added Marten, noting Forrester's astounded expression, "that was
Prentice with whom you fought. We entered the passage just as you
conquered him."
"And you have captured them all!" exclaimed Forrester.
"On the contrary," replied Marten, "they are all dead--but the case is
solved."
"Dead!" repeated Forrester.
"Yes," said Marten. "You killed Prentice with his own gas. Lucy escaped
and went to warn the chemist. He, probably realizing that escape was
impossible, killed both Lucy and himself with the gas. We found their
bodies when we went to his place. The most intricate case of my career,
therefore, has been satisfactorily solved and a terrible menace
removed."
"And Prentice's family," murmured Forrester. "What about them?"
"Mrs. Prentice turned everything over to the M.B.A. She had a small
private income, however, which the association refused to touch. She and
her daughter, Diana, left this morning to go to Europe, where they will
remain indefinitely.
"Now," terminated Marten, rising, "I am sure that I have cleared Miss
Sturtevant of any suspicion in your eyes, and I will leave you two
together to solve any further problems you may have in your own way."
Marten shook hands with Forrester and Mary Sturtevant and left the room.
A minute later they heard the thrumming of the engine as he drove away
in his car.
THE END