REVELATIONS
The fellow whom Garrison had taken into camp had once attempted
detective work himself and failed. He was not at all a clever being,
but rather a crafty, fairly reliable employee of a somewhat shady
"bureau" with which young Robinson was on quite familiar terms.
He was far from being a coward. It was he who had followed Garrison to
Branchville, rifled his suit-case, and been captured by the trap.
Despite the fact that his hand still bore the evidence of having
tampered with Garrison's possessions, he had dared remain on the job
because he felt convinced that Garrison had never really seen him and
could not, therefore, pick him up.
Sullen in his helplessness, aware that his captor must at last have a
very great advantage, he complied with Garrison's command to take a
seat in the room, and glanced about him inquiringly.
"What do you want with me anyhow?" he said. "What's your game?"
"Mine is a surer game than yours," said Garrison, seating himself with
his back to the window, and the light therefore all on his visitor's
face. "I'm going to tell you first what you are up against."
The man shifted uneasily.
"You haven't got anything to hold me on," he said. "I've got my
regular license to follow my trade."
"I was not aware the State was issuing licenses to burglars," said
Garrison. "Come, now, with that hand of yours, what's the use of
beating around the bush. If my suit-case had nipped you by the wrist
instead of the fingers, I'd have captured you red-handed in the act."
The fellow thrust his hand in his pocket. His face, with two days'
growth of beard upon it, turned a trifle pale.
"I'd rather work on your side than against you," he ventured. "A man
has to make a living."
"You've come around to the point rather more promptly than I expected,"
said Garrison. "For fear that you may not keep your word, when it
comes to a pinch, I'll inform you I can send you up on two separate
charges, and I'll do so in a wink, if you try to double-cross me in the
slightest particular."
"I haven't done anything but that one job at Branchville," said the man
in alarm.
"What are you givin' me now?"
"What's your name?" demanded Garrison.
"Tuttle," said the fellow, after a moment of hesitation. "Frank
Tuttle."
"All right, Tuttle. You furnished Theodore Robinson with information
concerning my movements and, in addition to your burglary at
Branchville, you have made yourself accessory to a plot to commit a
willful murder."
"I didn't! By Heaven, I didn't!" Tuttle answered. "I didn't have
anything to do with that."
"With what?" asked Garrison. "You see you plunge into every trap I
lay, almost before it is set."
He rose, went to his closet, never without his eye on his man, searched
on the floor and brought forth the cold iron bomb. This he abruptly
placed on Tuttle's knee.
Tuttle shrank in terror.
"Oh, Lord! I didn't! I didn't know they went in to do a thing like
that!" he said. "I've been pretty desperate, I admit, Mr. Garrison,
but I had no hand in this!"
The sweat on his forehead advertised his fear. He looked at Garrison
in a stricken, ghastly manner that almost excited pity.
"But you knew that two of Robinson's assassins were to meet me in the
park," said Garrison. "You procured their services--and expected to
read of an accident to me in the papers the following morning."
He was risking a mere conjecture, but it went very near to the truth.
"So help me, I didn't go as far as that!" said Tuttle. "I admit I
stole the letter up at Branchville, and sent it to Robinson at once. I
admit I followed you back to New York and told him all I could. But I
only gave him the names and addresses of the dagos, and I never knew
what they had to do!"
Garrison took the bomb and placed it on his bureau.
"Very good," he said. "That makes you, as I said before, an accomplice
to the crime attempted--in addition to the burglary, for which I could
send you up. To square this off you'll go to work for me, and begin by
supplying the names and addresses of your friends."
Tuttle was a picture of abject fear and defeat. His jaw hung down; his
eyes were bulging in their sockets.
"You--you mean you'll give me a chance?" he said. "I'll do
anything--anything you ask, if only you will!"
"Look here, Tuttle, your willingness to do anything has put you where
you are. But I'll give you a chance, with the thorough understanding
that the minute you attempt the slightest treachery you'll go up in
spite of all you can do. First, we'll have the names of the dagos."
Tuttle all but broke down. He was not a hardened criminal. He had
merely learned a few of the tricks by which crime may be committed,
and, having failed in detective employment, had no substantial calling
and was willing to attempt even questionable jobs, if the pay were
found sufficient.
He supplied the names and addresses of the men who had done young
Robinson's bidding in Central Park. Garrison jotted them down.
"I suppose you know that I am in the detective business myself," he
added, as he finished the writing.
"I thought so, but I wasn't sure," said Tuttle.
"You told young Robinson as much?"
"He hired me to tell him everything."
"Exactly. How much do you expect to tell him of what is going on
to-day?"
"Nothing that you do not instruct," said Tuttle, still feeling
insecure. "That is, if you meant what you said."
"I meant it," said Garrison, "meant it all. You're at work for me from
this time on--and I expect the faithfulness of an honest man, no matter
what you may have been before."
"You'll get it," said Tuttle. "I only want a show to start off square
and right. . . . What do you want me to do?"
"There is nothing of great importance just at present, except to
remember who is your boss," answered Garrison. "You may be obliged to
double-cross Robinson to a slight extent, when he next hunts you up for
your report. He deserves a little of the game, no matter how he gets
it. Take his instructions the same as before. Tell him you have lost
me for a time. Report to me promptly concerning his instructions and
everything else. Do you know the address of my office?"
"You have never been there since I was put on the case," said Tuttle
with commendable candor.
"All right," said Garrison. "It's down in the----"
A knock on the door interrupted. The landlady, a middle-aged woman who
rarely appeared at Garrison's room, was standing on the landing when he
went to investigate, and holding a message in her hand.
"A telegram for you," she said, and halting for a moment, she turned
and retreated down the stairs.
Garrison tore the envelope apart, pulled out the yellow slip and read:
Please come over to 937 Hackatack Street, Jersey City, as soon as
possible.
JERALDINE.
It was Dorothy, across the Hudson. A wave of relief, to know she was
near and wished to see him, swept over Garrison's being.
"Here," he said to Tuttle, "here's the address on a card. Report to me
there at six o'clock to-night. Get out now and go to young Robinson,
but not at the house in Ninety-third Street."
"Why not?" inquired Tuttle. "Its the regular place----"
"I've ordered him not to enter the house again," interrupted Garrison.
"By the way, should he attempt to do so, or ask you to get in there for
him, agree to his instructions apparently, and let me know without
delay."
"Thank you for giving me a chance," said Tuttle, who had risen from his
chair. "You'll never regret it, I'm sure."
"All right," said Garrison. "Shake!"
He gave the astonished man a firm, friendly grip and bade him "So
'long!" at the door.
A few minutes later, dressed in his freshest apparel, he hastened out
to gulp down a cup of strong coffee at an adjacent café, then headed
downtown for the ferry.