"Is it all right?" he asked anxiously.
"Fine!" I said.
"But the twelve o'clock train! It's quarter past eleven now. I wanted
to put him off to give you more time, but you said do exactly what he
said."
"Quite right," I said. "Run along and get your train. Follow your
instructions exactly and leave the rest to me."
32
Time was very precious, but I allowed myself a few minutes for hard,
concentrated thought. I believed that Blondy would be under
surveillance from the time he left the Association rooms until he
reached the appointed spot. Evidently my man was aware of the
advantage to himself of rushing the thing through, and it was likely
the keys would be picked up within a few minutes of the time they were
dropped. At any rate he would surely come after them by daylight, for
night would make an ambush easy. Therefore it was up to me to make my
preparations _before_ the boy got there. Not very easy when he was
already about to start.
My man had had several days in which to find the spot near New York
best suited to his purpose. From Blondy's description the place he had
chosen must be bare of cover in miles. "Thomas Wilkinson" would come
in an automobile, naturally, and if anything in the vicinity aroused
his suspicions he would not stop. I could not hope to pick him out
among all who passed. It was a tough problem.
I called up Lanman the chief of the detective bureau. Nowadays I
commanded the respect of these people.
"Look here," I said, "we have a chance to take the boss of the thief
trust this afternoon, if we strike like lightning."
"Shoot!" said he.
"First, send me quick a high-powered automobile with a nervy chauffeur
and two operatives. Have them pick me up at the Southwest corner of
Second avenue and 59th street, Queensboro bridge plaza."
"Right!"
"Next get together five other good cars without any distinctive marks.
Come yourself in one of them, and bring a dozen good men. Meet me--let
me see--What town is there near Greenwood City, Long Island, but not on
the same road?"
"Ringstead, two miles South."
"Know a hotel there?"
"Mitchell's a road house."
"Good. Have your five cars proceed to Mitchell's by different roads as
quickly as possible. I may not be able to come there to you, but wait
there for further instructions by telephone."
"O.K.," he said. "We'll be on the way in ten minutes."
"One thing more. Bring a good pair of field glasses."
I took my own binoculars and a gun. On the way to the meeting-place I
bought a road map of Long Island. The car was already waiting for me
at the spot named. Lanman was a man after my own heart.
We made quick time. I was provided with a police badge in case any of
the local constables should object to our rate of travel. On the road
I studied my map and got the lay of the land in my head.
It was twelve-five when we reached Greenwood City, or fifty minutes
before the train was due. As we passed the railway station I saw a car
already waiting there, and I wondered idly if that would have anything
to do with my case. It was a very distinguished-looking car of a
foreign make with a dark green body of the style the French call _coupé
de ville_. It seemed a little odd that any one should choose to ride
in a closed car in such hot weather. An irreproachable chauffeur and
footman waited near.
We turned into Suffolk street, and hastened on out of town out to
Ringstead plains. It was all just as Blondy had given it to me over
the phone. There was the last house at the edge of the plain, and half
a mile ahead stood the lonely locust tree beside the road. The house
looked as if it might belong to a small farmer or market gardener.
There was a small barn behind it. Ahead of us there was no other
habitation visible as far as we could see.
We kept on. It is a well-known motor road, and we passed cars from
time to time. Earlier and later it would be quite crowded I expect,
but this was one of the quietest hours. About three-quarters of a mile
beyond the locust tree there was a wood that I had my eye on. It was
not of very great extent, but showed a dense growth of young trees.
Reaching it, I found to my great satisfaction that there was a rough
wagon track leading away among the trees, I had the chauffeur turn in
there. There was no other car in view at the moment. Within a few
yards the wagon track curved a little, and we were lost to view from
the road. I got out and made my way to the edge of the trees. From
this point I found I could overlook the locust tree with the aid of my
binoculars.
This was all I wanted. I gave the order to return to Greenwood City.
A little further in the wood there was a clearing sufficient to enable
us to turn. One gets over the ground quickly in a car, and when we got
back to Greenwood we still had twenty-five minutes before the train was
due. This place, by the way, is not a city at all, but merely a
village embowered in trees. The handsome green car was still waiting
at the station. I went to a hotel to telephone.
To my joy I got Lanman on the phone without delay.
"I am here at Mitchell's with three of the cars," he said. "The other
two were sent by a slightly longer route. They will be here directly."
"Take three cars and proceed by the shortest route to Greenwood City,"
I said. "Make haste because I expect my man on the train from town in
twenty minutes, and you must get through the village before he arrives."
"We can be there in five," said Lanman.
"Turn to the right on Suffolk street and proceed out on the plains. A
mile and a half out of town you come to the last house. It is a grey
house without any trees around it; there is a small barn behind it.
Stop there and put up your cars in the barn in such a way that you can
run them out quickly. I don't know the people in the house. I have no
reason to believe that they have any connection with the man we want,
but you'll have to use your judgment."
I went on to explain to him just what Blondy was going to do, and how I
expected our man to turn up shortly afterwards.
"The East windows of the house overlook the locust tree," I went on.
"Station yourself at one of them with your glasses, and you will be
able to see whatever happens at the tree."
"I get you," he said. "What about the other two cars? One of them is
just turning into the yard now."
"Let them leave Ringstead by Merton street," I said, consulting my map,
"and proceed East to the Joppa Pike; thence North to the Suffolk pike
and turn back towards Greenwood City. About two miles and a half
before reaching the village, more than a mile beyond the house where
you will be, there is a small wood on the left hand side of the road.
There is a wagon track leading into it. They are to turn in there and
they will find me a little way inside."
"All right," said Lanman. "The last car is coming now."
"Listen," I said. "Our man without doubt will come in a car. After he
picks up the keys I expect he will keep on in the road. In which case
he falls into my hands. But if he should turn around and go back it's
up to you."
"I understand," said Lanman grimly.
Ten minutes later I was back at my observation post at the edge of the
wood. I had not been there long when through my glasses I saw a car
turn into the farmer's place. A second and a third car followed at
short intervals. In a quarter of an hour the first police car joined
me, and a few minutes afterward the second. Each contained two men in
addition to the chauffeur.
We turned the cars around and stationed them in line where, though they
were invisible from the highroad, they could run out upon it in a few
seconds. The other side of the highway was fenced. Having completed
our arrangements, there was nothing to do for a while, and I told the
men to take it easy.
According to my calculations Blondy would appear in view about
one-thirty. It was a long walk from the station and a hot day.
Exactly on schedule I saw a speck in the distance which presently
resolved itself through the glasses into the figure of a solitary
pedestrian. As he neared the tree I saw that it was Blondy. So far so
good.
I was lying on the ground at the edge of the little wood with the
glasses steadied on a fallen trunk. The whole flat plain was spread
before me. The cars were about thirty yards behind me, each chauffeur
at his wheel. Between me and them I had the four men stationed at
intervals so I could pass a whispered order back.
While Blondy was covering the space between the house and the locust
tree a green car hove in view behind him, which I presently recognised
from the irreproachable chauffeur and footman as the _coupé de ville_.
It overtook the walking figure, and came on up the road, past the wood,
and past us. I wondered if our man was now inside.
Blondy reached the tree at last. I suspected that he welcomed the
shade. It seemed perfectly natural for him to sit down under it. He
remained there ten minutes. Several cars passed to and fro and one of
them stopped. This puzzled me for a moment, but I supposed that it was
merely some good Samaritan who offered the perspiring boy a lift.
While Blondy was sitting there the green car went back. I was pretty
sure now that it contained our quarry.
At last Blondy got up and started back. These periods of waiting try a
man's nerves. Mine were pretty well on edge by this time. It seemed
to take an age for the boy to retrace his steps over the visible part
of the road. About two hundred yards beyond the farmhouse there was a
bend in it which concealed the rest from my view.
A minute or two after Blondy disappeared from my sight, the big green
car again hove into view around the bend. My heart hit up a few extra
beats.
"Get ready," I sent word along the line.
To my great disappointment it did not stop at the tree. It came on,
and passed the wood again with the loud purr of new tires. However, I
explained it to myself by the fact that there was another car in view
at the moment. I set myself to wait in the expectation of his return.
In five minutes return he did, but this time there was a car close
behind, and once more he passed out of sight without stopping. I hoped
that Lanman had marked the passing and repassing of the fashionable car.
It was now past two o'clock, and the hottest part of the day was coming
on. A haze of heat undulated shimmeringly over the plain. Our tempers
suffered. There in the little wood we were in the shade, it is true,
but there was not a breath of air stirring, and the mosquitoes were
busily plying their trade. The men breathed hard, and wiped their
faces. At first they had taken their coats off, but finding the
insects could bite through their shirtsleeves they had put them on
again. I had thrown off my hot wig. A disguise was unnecessary now.
Once more the green car turned into sight beyond the farmhouse. This
time the road was empty and my heart beat hopefully. Sure enough it
stopped opposite the locust tree.
"Start your engines," I whispered along the line.
A man alighted from the coupé and walked to the tree. A Panama hat
shaded his face and I could not get a good look at it. He walked
around the tree and seemed to be gazing up in its branches, as well as
looking down at the roots. I could not understand this evolution,
still I was pretty sure that I saw him stoop and pick something up.
He returned to his car, and it started forward.
"Go ahead," I said to my men.
They knew what they had to do. I lingered a moment to see whether he
was going to turn around or come on. He came straight, faster than he
had been travelling. I ran after my cars.
According to instructions they moved out in line across the road,
completely blocking it. I timed it as closely as I could, but
unfortunately the road was perfectly straight. With the appearance of
the first car out of the wood, the green car took the alarm. We heard
the screech of the brakes. They came to a stop in a cloud of dust.
Those town cars can turn almost in their own length. Around they went
and back with the exhaust opened wide.
We jumped aboard our cars and as soon as we could disentangle ourselves
took after them. They were half a mile away when we got straightened
out. Now if only Lanman did not fail me!
To my joy, away ahead I saw the police cars slowly move one, two, three
across the road. We had him trapped! Once more the green car stopped
in a cloud of dust.
Lanman and I approaching from opposite directions, reached it
simultaneously. We had our guns out.
"What's the matter with you?" the angry, frightened chauffeur cried.
We paid small attention to him. I and my gun looked into the coupé
together. Lanman ran around to the other door. In the corner of the
seat I saw, exquisite, immaculate--Alfred Mount!
"_You!_" he gasped.
"_You!_" I cried.
Of the two I was the more surprised. For the moment I was incapable of
moving.
He did not speak again, nor attempt to get up. Through the front
window of the coupé he saw the small crowd of detectives gathering.
The light died out of those bright, black eyes. He clapped the back of
his hand to his mouth as you have seen women do in moments of despair.
The hand dropped nervelessly in his lap. Before my eyes his face
turned livid. His body stiffened out in a horrible brief spasm, and he
fell over sideways on the seat--dead!
My eyes and Lanman's were glued alike in horror to the corpse. The
left hand, a hand too elegant for a man's had now dropped to the floor.
A glance at it explained the tragedy. An immense flat emerald on the
ring finger was sprung back revealing a tiny cup beneath. The chief
and I looked at each other in understanding.
We were recalled to practical matters by the imperious tooting of a
horn up the road. One oncoming chauffeur naturally objected to the
barricade of automobiles. Lanman and I alike dreaded the irruption of
foolish curiosity-seekers. At a word from me he hustled the detectives
into their respective cars, and got them straightened out. They were
all ordered back to headquarters. All this happened within a few
moments. I don't believe any of the detectives realised that the man
was dead.
None of the engines had stopped and we quickly had the road clear.
Lanman and I thought so much alike in this crisis that it was hardly
necessary to talk. We got into the coupé with its ghastly burden and
without touching it, sat down on the two little seats facing it. A
glance at the police badge was sufficient for the chauffeur.
"Your master has had a stroke," I said to him. "Take us to his home as
soon as possible."
Lanman nodded his approval.
When we got Mount's body to his rooms, we sent for his doctor, one of
the most famous practitioners in town, also for the commissioner of
police and for Mr. Walter Dunsany.
When the five of us were gathered together, we consulted, and finally
put it up to the commissioner to decide what ought to be done in the
interests of good citizenship. After listening to me, to Mr. Dunsany
and to the doctor, all of whom felt the same, though for different
reasons, he voted with us. We agreed that Mount had taken the best way
out under the circumstances. None of us wanted to drag his dead body
through the mire. As much of the loot as could be recovered was
already recovered. None of us wanted to see any more scandal aired in
the newspapers. Therefore it was given out that Mr. Mount had
committed suicide while motoring in the country, and no cause for the
act was assigned.
Of course I told Roland and Irma the truth, so that no shadow might dim
their future happiness.
33
Little more remains to be told. For weeks afterwards the case was
threshed out in the newspapers, but nothing was brought out that you do
not already know. No suspicion attached to Mount's chauffeur and
footman. They had met him at the Greenwood City station according to
orders. He had exclaimed at the beauty of Ringstead plains, and they
thought that was why he had himself carried back and forth so many
times. On the last journey he had remarked the locust tree, speaking
of the rarity of the species, and had ordered them to stop so that he
could examine it. They knew nothing about trees, of course. They had
not seen him pick up the keys.
The news of Mount's death took all the fight out of Lorina. Whatever
human feeling there was in that woman was all for him. It appeared
that her devotion to him was so abject, that she was even willing to
help him in his plotting to secure Irma for his wife.
The thieves were sent up for terms more or less corresponding to the
degrees of their guilt. Lorina and Foxy are still there. Jumbo is out
now, and professes to have reformed. He seems to bear me no malice,
and occasionally braces me for a small loan. One of the gang, Bella
Bleecker, escaped for lack of evidence. I knew that she was one of
Lorina's creatures, whom Mount had placed near Irma as a spy, but there
was nothing to connect her with the thefts.
There was one mysterious feature of the case which the trial did not
clear up, i.e., the source of Roland's handsome legacy. I had my
suspicions but no proof. Mount's doctor was one of his executors and I
was permitted to examine the dead man's papers. I found that on the
last day of March previous he had drawn $40,000 in cash.
This was pretty conclusive, but there was a link of evidence still
missing. Continuing a search of Mount's effects I found a receipted
bill from an obscure lawyer for legal services rendered about this
time. I looked the man up.
He proved to be a seedy, servile little creature, one of the desperate
hangers-on of the outer fringe of a respectable profession. Mount
being dead and no longer a possible employer it was easy to make the
lawyer talk.
Whether or not he knew what he was doing, I can't say. He claimed that
Mount had told him he wished to do something for a worthy young fellow
who was too proud to accept anything from him direct. He then laid out
the scheme of the mysterious, unhappy lady who was supposed to have
died leaving Roland Quarles her fortune. Mount, the lawyer said,
supplied the ingenious letter that was sent to Roland. The lawyer
carried the money to the trust company.
This information dissipated the last bit of mystery. The more I
thought over it the more I marvelled at Mount. Certainly there was
something magnificent in his villainies. Fancy giving your rival forty
thousand dollars in order to ruin him! It was clear now why the order
had come down from above to Jumbo to sell Irma's pearls to Roland at a
reduced price. I wonder if ever a more devilish plot was hatched by
one man to ruin another. And how nearly it had succeeded. Mount had
shown the devil's own cunning in playing on the weak spots in Irma and
in Roland.
The period of the trial was a hateful time for all of us. Our own
happiness was not to be thought of until that ordeal was over. A
blessed peace descended on us when the last verdict was rendered.
The blissful event occurred in October. Irma and Roland insisted that
Sadie and I must be married at the same time they were.
The double event took place in the Little Church Around the Corner.
Only Mr. Dunsany, Blondy, the Doctor and a few others were present. We
all felt as if we had had enough publicity to last us the rest of our
lives.
Roland insisted on returning the balance of his legacy to the Mount
estate. I thought he had the best reason in the world for hanging on
to it, but that was Roland. He actually wanted Irma to turn over her
pearls to the executors, less what she had paid for them, but we all
fought him on that. She had purchased them fairly, I insisted, and if
Mount had named too low a price that was his affair. He gave in when I
pointed out that was the cause of her giving up a lucrative profession,
and he had no right to deprive her of her property also.
The famous blue pearls were sold. Part of the proceeds was devoted to
the purchase of a fine old manor and a farm on the Eastern shore of
Maryland. Roland and Irma have forsaken the footlights forever.
Farming is their true vocation, they say, and nothing could ever tempt
them back.
Mr. Dunsany has ever remained my firm friend. He insisted on rewarding
me very handsomely for my work on the great case, though I considered
the reputation it brought me enough. The honour seems likely to last
me as long as I am able to work. With the money Sadie and I decided to
buy a smaller place adjoining our friends. Sadie has turned farmer,
too.
I can't be there as much as I would like. After the dust and danger of
my work it is like Heaven to run down home. At first Sadie objected
strenuously to this arrangement. She said she expected to continue to
help me with my work. That was what she married me for, she said. But
the one fright was enough for me. I don't hear so much about her
desire now. Sadie has other things to occupy her mind. Yes, three of
them.