THE WATERS ARE TROUBLED
The vast machinery used in gathering the news makes it possible for an
event, only an hour or two old, to gain a place in the types and
proclaim itself to the public. And only a short time after Frank Burton
made his confession of guilt in his cell in the county prison, the
newsboys were crying the fact in the street.
Ashton-Kirk and Scanlon had finished with their lunch at Claghorn's; at
the cigar counter in the lobby they paused while they selected their
favorite brands.
"How are you?" said a familiar voice, and looking up they saw Osborne,
big, smiling and serene. "Nasty day," he proceeded, shaking some
raindrops from the rim of his hat. "I suppose you've heard the news."
Ashton-Kirk carefully lighted the tip of a blunt cigar.
"What news?" he asked.
The heavy shoulders of the headquarters man twitched with pleasure; he
saw, in this answer, the evasion of a defeated man.
"Why," said he, with an effort to keep the triumph out of his voice,
"the confession of Frank Burton."
"Oh, that!" The investigator elevated his brows. "Yes, we heard it. As a
matter of fact the confession was made in the first place to Scanlon and
me."
The elation died slowly in the broad face of Osborne; however, that he
still felt his sagacity to be of a superior quality was plain. So he
said, with a carelessness calculated to discount the point gained by the
other:
"Oh, that so? Hadn't heard of it. Well," and he laughed good-humoredly,
"that makes it all the better. You know it's true!"
"It's so, all right," said Scanlon. "He told it to us, and afterward to
the warden and a half dozen of the prison people."
"I said the other night we had a good case against him," smiled Osborne,
as he looked at Ashton-Kirk with nodding head. "Didn't I? Didn't I tell
you I'd seen men sent to the chair on less?"
"Yes, I remember some such expression," replied the investigator.
"But you kind of pooh-poohed it," said the headquarters man, smiling
even more broadly than before. "You spoke of other indications, don't
you remember? It was your idea a woman was in it." He looked at Scanlon,
and laughed. "Recollect that?" he asked. "He said a woman had been
hanging around outside--with a revolver--an old flame of the Bounder's,
maybe."
Scanlon also laughed--and in the sound was an indication of vast relief.
Women had disappeared out of the orbit in which the crime swung, for Mr.
Scanlon. He had gone for days with a fear in his mind, with his spirit
sagging under a weight of expectation. But now he was free of that. No
woman figured in the case--the murderer had said so in his confession.
Woman had vanished utterly from all things having to do with the affair.
And so Scanlon laughed--a laugh of relief; and as he looked at the big,
good-natured face of Osborne, he realized that while he had always liked
him, he had never appreciated him so much as now.
"Yes," said he, "I remember. He rather figured on the lady. But, then,
I've heard it said that you never can count on ladies. You don't know
just when you've got 'em."
There was a flavor to this old saying of men that had a recent tang--and
flavors, like scents, are most reminiscent. Yes, he had heard it--only a
very short time before, and under unpleasant circumstances. A cloud came
over the big athlete's face; he tried to put the feeling aside, and in
the effort to do so, memory flared up and showed him the facts. It had
been in Duke Sheehan's place during his first talk with the burglar,
Big Slim. It was the cracksman who had spoken of the undependability of
women. Then with a rush came other things which he had said; chief among
these was the story of how Nora had followed her husband on the night of
the murder. And then, also, there was the thing he had seen himself
through the windows at Bohlmier's hotel. But as these thoughts pressed
forward in his mind he crushed them back.
"They happened," said he. "I don't question those I heard about, and I
know what I've seen. But," and he sighed profoundly, "she ain't had
anything to do with that man's death. There's no doubt about that. The
party who did it has given it all up. It's as clear as sunshine on that
point; and the other thing can wait; explanations for them can come at
any time."
During the progress of these things through the mind of Mr. Scanlon, the
talk had proceeded between Ashton-Kirk and the headquarters man.
"All right," said Osborne; "I know you seldom agree with the police
about things, but this is one in which there is nothing more to be said.
Burton himself says he did it--and his word is the last one."
Ashton-Kirk looked at his cigar with a favoring eye; the aroma was rich,
and through the smoke he detected that thin spiral, of a denser
texture, which spoke of the presence, in a proper proportion, of the
leaf he prized.
"The thing which makes me quarrel with the police in most instances,"
said he, quietly, "is not want of foresight, but almost a complete lack
of that vastly commoner gift--hindsight. Take this present case, for an
example. You have just claimed that there is nothing more to be
said--that young Burton in his confession has spoken the final word. How
often," and he knocked the spear of ash from the cigar, "have
confessions proven false, in your own experience? Look back over the
last few years, and you'll find at least six clear cases of confessions
which were untrue. On the records of the district attorney's office is
written a case, years ago, of a man who confessed to a murder and was
hanged. Afterward it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was
innocent."
Osborne laughed once more; nevertheless a shade of doubt darkened the
brightness of his humor.
"You're right there," admitted he. "Things like that have happened, but
they are so few that we can't figure on them. This case," and his jaw
set, "is sewed up. Young Burton is the man, and I think, when all is
done and settled, you'll admit it yourself."
Ashton-Kirk nodded, and a glint of humor appeared in the keen eyes.
"You can always be depended upon to run close to form, Osborne," said
he. "However, when all is done and settled, we shall see what we shall
see." Then as he and Scanlon started through the lobby, he said over his
shoulder: "In the meantime it would be well for you not to lose sight of
those two clues I gave you last night. They may prove very useful."
Osborne grinned and waved a hand.
"All right," said he. "I'll put them away in camphor. They'll be good
and safe there."
As Ashton-Kirk and Bat emerged from the hotel, the big athlete turned to
his friend with serious eyes.
"How much of what you've just been saying to him is right, and how much
is just bluff to cover a place where you miscued?" asked he.
"What I gave him are the facts," replied Ashton-Kirk. "A confession is
not always conclusive, as I have just shown. There are circumstances
under which a man may confess, because he fears to have the real truth
come out. And there are indications in this case which rather hold that
guilt lies in another direction than young Burton."
"Do you believe, in spite of his confession, that he is innocent?"
"I believe nothing--as yet I am merely searching for the truth."
They were standing beside the investigator's car as they talked; and
now Ashton-Kirk gestured his friend to get in. But Bat shook his head.
"No," said he. "There is plenty of motion in a motor car, but it's not
the kind of motion I want. I'm for a walk. And I'll like as not see you
in the morning."
He strode away down the street, and for a moment the investigator stood
gazing after him; then he opened the door, got in, and the car drove
away.
Bat Scanlon walked for hours, thinking, thinking; and out of it all he
got only what the first few moments told him. If young Burton had
confessed to a thing of which he was not guilty, it must be as
Ashton-Kirk said: fear that the real truth might come out. But fear of
what? There could only be one thing: the fear of the charge being placed
at the door of some one else.
"And who could that some one else be but the one," kept repeating in the
big athlete's brain. "Who could it be but"--here he'd feel a sudden
snapping in the nerves of his head, and the blood cells would gorge and
thunder--"who but she who went to see him to-day--after the news came
out that a woman was suspected."
Leg-weary and with an exhausted mind, Bat reached his gymnasium. Danny,
the red-haired office boy, was there, and looked at his employer almost
incredulously.
"Gee, boss, you look all in," he told him. "You ought to get Sebastian
to give you a going over."
Sebastian was a huge Bohemian rubber, and Scanlon agreed to accept his
ministrations. After a bath and a shower, the Bohemian kneaded and
punched some suppleness into him; an hour's sleep followed this, and he
was pleased to find himself in a mood for dinner.
"Good!" said he. "That's the right spirit. Being down in the mouth never
helped any one yet. There still seem to be a few things to do in this
case, and it's up to me to do them. So I'd better be fit if I'm going to
get away with them."
It was while at dinner that an idea came to him like an electric shock.
He would go see Nora; he would talk to her; if quite necessary he'd tell
her all the things he knew and all those he suspected. And what she said
in reply he'd believe; every word would be held to by him, absolutely.
No matter what came or went, after that, he'd believe nothing else.
"Why didn't I think of that before?" he asked himself, elated. "It's
just the thing to settle it all. The great trouble with this affair is
that there hasn't been enough plain talk. A little bit more might have
cleared things up completely."
He smoked contentedly for a space after dinner; then he proceeded to
Nora's house. The trim maid answered his ring.
"Yes; Miss Cavanaugh is at home."
Scanlon waited in the large old-fashioned reception-room while his name
was taken up. Then the maid reappeared and led him to Nora's private
sitting-room. Here he found her in a robe of silk and lace reclining
upon a sofa, propped up with gay pillows, a book beside her. She held
out one hand to him; the loose sleeve fell back, showing a beautiful
arm, white and firm, and rounded magnificently.
"Oh, I'm glad to see you, Bat!" she said, and her tone and eyes
confirmed the truth of her words. "It's been days and days since you
were here, I think. I've called you on the telephone I don't know how
many times, but never could find you in."
"I'm sorry," he said. "But this is kind of a busy time with me."
She pointed to a low chair, very deep and comfortable looking, which was
near the sofa.
"Get a pillow for your back," she said, "and sit there." He did as
commanded, and she looked at him with something like wistfulness in her
great eyes. "Oh, it's so nice to have you there, Bat; you can be so
still and wonderful when you want to."
"Still, yes," agreed Scanlon, "but I'm not so sure about the wonderful."
She smiled at him.
"If you were quite sure of that," she said, "you wouldn't be nearly so
nice." Her great mass of bronze hair was loosely arranged about her
head, and against the delicate blue of a pillow it shone like red gold
in the light of the reading lamp. "I'm so glad it is Sunday," she went
on, "and that I am not to play to-night. For I'm tired, Bat, more tired
than you'd believe."
"I'd believe it, no matter how strong you made it," said he. "What
you've gone through has been enough to tire any one."
She reached out and patted his hand gently as it rested upon the arm of
his chair.
"Bat, you are so big and strong that you seem to give out sympathy
naturally. And that is a quality which all women like." She paused a
moment; her white, strong, beautifully-modeled fingers trifled with the
bracelet of raw gold; her eyes were bright as though with tears, and
there was a sad little smile about the corners of her mouth. "And it is
so easy for a woman to be mistaken in men," she proceeded. "In the end
she always selects and holds to one, and she is apt to judge all the
others by him.--If he is weak, she feels that all men are weak; if he is
strong, they are all strong. And if he is cruel and mean and selfish,
she feels a desire to hate them all--and sometimes she does!"
Bat nodded his head slowly and wisely.
"Sure," he said. "That's to be expected. But in the end," hopefully,
"her mind often clears up on that point. She finds, if she gives herself
the chance, that there is really a big difference between them."
"You have some idea what my experience has been in the last five years
or so," she said. "It has not been beautiful, Bat; it has, at times,
been hideously ugly; and the tears I have wept and the things I have
borne and the vows I have made have been very many. There have been
times when I could think only of death, so completely humbled have I
felt, so without spirit, so utterly in Tom Burton's power. I have told
you something of his slimy plots, of his detestable innuendoes. He knew
of my loathing of the divorce courts, and my fear of scandal, no matter
how unfounded, and played upon them constantly, feeling sure that in the
end I would meet his demands."
"But that's all over, Nora," said Bat. "It all belongs to the past. Try
to forget it."
"I am going to forget it," she said. "Never doubt that I'm going to put
it away from me and never think of it again. I speak of it only because
I have something in my mind which recalls it strongly--as altogether
dissimilar things sometimes do. All men are not evil, Bat; I suppose I
have really known that always; but now the fact comes forward in my
mind and takes the place of the fear I have had for so long. Some men
are really very good, very kind and gentle. Some of them--perhaps only a
few--would sacrifice themselves to assure the security of one who was
unhappy and in trouble."
Bat Scanlon coughed and stirred in his chair.
"When did that idea come to you?" he asked.
"To-day," she replied; "just to-day, and----" But here she suddenly
stopped, and the man saw a startled look flash over her face. "But of
course," she resumed, hastily, "these things never come to us at the
time we first realize their presence. They are a growth, it is said, and
it takes time for them to make themselves known."
In spirit, Bat Scanlon felt himself sinking to the level of the
afternoon. "Sacrifice ... to assure the security of one who was unhappy
and in trouble." What did that mean? Nora had been in that position;
young Burton, according to the theory of Ashton-Kirk, had made just such
a sacrifice. Nora had been in a state of great agitation; she had
visited the prisoner just before his confession of guilt; and now she
was quieted, she was smiling and grateful!
The big man got up and walked the floor. She followed him with her
great, brown eyes.
"Bat," she said, "you are nervous. And, now that I look at you, you are
pinched and not of a good color." She lifted herself up upon one elbow,
and continued, accusingly: "You have been worrying! Confess!"
"I have," said he. "This matter of Burton's death has fastened itself
upon me tight; I can't shake it off."
"But," she said, "why should that be, unless"--and she paused while she
looked at him searchingly--"it is because of me?"
"It _is_ because of you," replied Scanlon, "for Burton was no kind of a
fellow for me to worry about; things will go much better without him."
"But," and she looked at him, steadfastly, "if that is the case, then I
should be much happier as it is. So why should you worry and grow pale
and not be able to sit quietly and talk to me?"
He was about to begin some sort of an answer to this; at the moment he
was standing in a position which gave him a view of the street through
one of the windows. His glance wandered in that direction, his mind
occupied in forming a set of phrases which would be sufficiently
evasive. But suddenly the gaze became fixed. A man stood upon the
opposite side of the street looking toward Nora's house; the street
lights were in his face and gleamed upon a pair of large metal-rimmed
spectacles; one hand was furtively gesturing as though in signals to
some one down below. The man was the Swiss, Bohlmier.