THE CONNECTING LINK.
Nick Carter already had come to two conclusions:
One, that the miscreant by whom Helen Mantell had been repeatedly
threatened was none other than Gaston Goulard.
Another, that Gaston Goulard now had got in his iniquitous work.
Nick saw, too, that Frank Mantell was in a fair way to collapse under
the alarming discovery, and he at once took steps to encourage him.
"You keep your head, Frank, and don’t let blind fear unman you," he
commanded a bit sharply. "There is nothing in getting rattled. I know a
good deal more about this matter than you suppose, and there is much
less to fear concerning the personal safety of your wife than you
imagine. Pull yourself together, therefore, and meet the situation man
fashion. Let me take the ribbons, while you do as I have directed. I’ll
speedily sift this to the bottom."
All this, together with the detective’s strong personal influence, was
not without effect. Mantell braced himself to meet the worst, saying
quickly:
"You are right, Carter, perfectly right. I must keep a grip on myself,
or I shall go completely off my perch. What do you mean by saying that
you know more about this matter than I suppose?"
"I will presently tell you," said Nick. "Let’s get down to bare facts,
for a starter, and I then will decide what must be done."
"But what do you make of it? How could my father----”
"Obviously, Frank, your father could not be in two places at once," Nick
interrupted. "If you were with him in the surrogate court precisely half
an hour ago, it could not have been he who called here for your wife."
"That goes without saying, Nick. But----”
"Wait! Let me learn the exact circumstances," Nick again interposed.
"Come into the library. This way, Perkins."
He led the way while speaking, forcing Mantell to a chair and adding
encouragingly:
"You keep quiet, now, while I question the butler. I’ll very soon pick
up the trail and get after the rascal."
"Go ahead, Nick," bowed Mantell, pressing his hand. "Thank God that I
brought you out here."
"Now, Perkins, tell me what occurred," said Nick, turning to the tall,
very much astonished butler. "You were very sure, you said, that the man
who came here is the elder Mr. Mantell."
"Why, yes, I have no doubt of it, none whatever, sir," replied Perkins.
"How could I be mistaken? I have served Mr. Mantell for five years, sir,
and----”
"And know him perfectly well by sight," Nick cut in dryly. "That shows
the exceeding skill and cleverness of the man who deceived you. He came
in a conveyance of some kind, I infer."
"Yes, sir. He came in a taxicab."
"Tell me just what he said and did."
"He said very little, sir," Perkins proceeded to explain. "I saw the
taxicab coming up the driveway, sir, and that Mr. Mantell was seated in
it. He had directed the chauffeur to the side door, sir, and I hastened
to open it, thinking Mr. Mantell would come into the house."
"He did not do so?" questioned Nick.
"No, sir. He spoke from the taxicab, sir, and told me to send Celeste,
who is Mrs. Mantell’s maid, to ask her mistress to put on her street
garments to go with him to the court, where her signature was wanted on
some papers relating to the business on which Mr. Mantell had left home
this morning. I heard them discussing it while at breakfast, sir."
"What more did he say, Perkins?"
"He told me to have Celeste ask Mrs. Mantell to hasten, as young Mr.
Mantell was to join them in court, and that they must not keep the judge
waiting. That was all, sir."
"You gave Celeste those instructions."
"I did, sir, and Celeste took them to her mistress."
"What followed?"
"Mrs. Mantell hurried downstairs in about five minutes, sir," said
Perkins. "She was putting on her veil, and I opened the door for her to
pass out."
"Did you open the taxicab door for her?"
"No, sir. The chauffeur had opened it and returned to his seat."
"On which side of the interior seat was Mr. Mantell sitting, or the man
you supposed was he?" Nick inquired.
"Near the open door, sir," said Perkins. "I heard him tell Mrs. Mantell
that he would close it, and she passed him and took the other end of the
seat. Mr. Mantell then closed the door, sir, and the chauffeur drove
away."
"Rapidly, I infer."
"Yes, sir."
"You saw nothing more that occurred in the taxicab?"
"I did not, sir."
"Did Mrs. Mantell hesitate, or appear to shrink from entering it?"
"She did not, sir. She hurried to get in," said Perkins. "I noticed that
in particular, sir."
"And that shows plainly enough, Mantell, that your wife was completely
deceived, that she had no doubt that the man in the taxicab was your
father, nor looked at him sharply enough before entering to detect the
exceedingly clever impersonation that already had deceived the butler,"
said Nick. "What soon afterward occurred in the taxicab can only be
conjectured. Send Celeste here, Perkins. I will hear what she can tell
us."
The butler hastened to obey, and a slender, dark-eyed girl presently
entered the library, whom Nick immediately began to question.
Celeste could tell him, however, only that she had given the butler’s
message to her mistress, that Mrs. Mantell had remarked that she must
hasten, since her father-in-law had not entered the house, and that she
immediately put on her hat and jacket, then hurried down to join him.
Nick saw plainly that the girl was telling the truth. He dismissed her
after a few inquiries and directed her to close the door.
Frank Mantell had not interrupted him from the beginning. With jaws hard
set, with every vestige of color gone from his cheeks, he had mutely
listened to the hurried questions of the detective, all the while vainly
searching Nick’s face for an expression from which he might derive a ray
of hope.
The black cloud of fear that had been hanging above this house had
launched its thunderbolt, and the dreaded missile had found its mark.
"Well?"
Mantell’s terse inquiry, hoarse with anxiety and suspense, brought Nick
Carter out of his momentary abstraction. He looked up quickly and said:
"There’s nothing to this, Mantell, in so far as the crime, the motive,
and the identity of the criminal are concerned."
"You don’t mean," Mantell cried, "that you know who has committed this
outrage?"
"I certainly do."
"Tell me."
"Gaston Goulard."
Mantell stared, dumfounded for a moment.
"What do you say, Carter?" he demanded. "Are you mad? Goulard is
dead----”
"No, he isn’t," Nick interrupted. "He is very much alive. I saw him last
night under circumstances that were entirely convincing."
"You saw Gaston Goulard?" Mantell appeared unable to believe his own
ears. "You saw him alive and----”
"And very much in evidence," Nick cut in dryly. "Listen. I’ll tell you
about it."
"Good heavens! it seems utterly incredible," Mantell said more calmly,
after Nick had described the encounter of the previous night, but not
what had followed it. "That scoundrel escaped drowning, then, and now is
out to persecute me again and----”
"That is not his chief motive," said Nick. "Take it from me, Mantell, he
is out after money, I know he was on the rocks financially a month ago,
when he pulled off the job that cost Connie Taggart his life, and so
nearly sent him to the bottom of the East River."
"You suspect, then----”
"That he still is down and out, and that he has taken this method to
force you into paying a big ransom for your wife’s safe return. Note
that I say safe return," Nick added. "Under no other condition could he
reasonably hope to coerce you. That is why I assert, Mantell, that your
wife is in no immediate personal peril."
"Do you really think so?"
"I feel absolutely sure of it," said Nick. "Many facts confirm my
opinion of this case. Goulard is a cur who finds delight in threatening
those upon whom he has designs. That appeared in the previous case, in
the nerve and audacity with which he held me up, and in what has
occurred here during the past month. Aside from getting back at me,
however, whom he really would like to kill, Goulard is out only for
money. You can bank safely on that, Mantell, and that your wife will not
be harmed as long as the rascal sees any prospect of bleeding you out of
a large sum."
"I hope you are right," Mantell declared, with a look of relief. "I will
pay----”
"Nothing!" Nick cut in quickly. "You will leave this matter entirely to
me. I’m going to get that rascal and rescue your wife, Mantell, within
forty-eight hours."
"Do you really mean it?" Mantell’s face lighted wondrously.
"Wait and see."
"But----”
"There is no alternative," Nick forcibly insisted. "You must keep
perfectly quiet and leave me to do the work."
"I could not do better, Carter, of course."
"Goulard is the only man who thus could have impersonated your father,"
Nick added. "He is about the same build and is thoroughly familiar with
his voice, bearing, and habits."
"That’s true. They were in business together for years."
"Your father, moreover, with his gray hair, his beard, and his
gold-bowed spectacles, presents a type easily impersonated. Goulard knew
this, and has contrived to pick up other points bearing upon the
business engagements of you and your father this morning, enabling him
to turn this scurvy trick. That’s all there is to it--except to track
the rascal and round him up with his confederates."
"Does that look easy to you?" Mantell inquired, with the ghost of a
smile on his pale face.
"That’s neither here nor there," Nick replied. "I never view a task from
that standpoint. I go at it for all I am worth, and the greater the
difficulties, the more credit in overcoming them."
"That’s true, too," Mantell quickly admitted.
"But I shall not accomplish it by sitting here and discussing the
matter," Nick added, with some dryness. "I must get a move on and begin
to get in my work."
"What are your plans?" questioned Mantell anxiously.
"Don’t ask me. I haven’t laid any."
"But let me help you, Nick. Is there nothing I can do?"
"Yes, one thing," said the detective, rising abruptly. "Take me downtown
in your limousine and drop me about a block from my residence."
"Why not at your door?"
"Because my house may be under espionage," said Nick, a bit grimly.
"There is no telling what steps Goulard may take to prevent the
miscarriage of his designs. He is a crafty, as well as a daring dog. Do
merely what I have requested, Mantell. Leave me to do the rest."
It was after two o’clock when Nick entered his residence, at once
proceeding to his library, where he found Chick awaiting him, and whom
he quickly informed of all that had transpired.
"But hasn’t Patsy returned?" he then inquired.
"Not yet," said Chick.
"And you haven’t heard of him?"
"Not a word."
"By Jove, that’s strange, deucedly strange," Nick said, more seriously.
"It ought not to have taken him till now, nor anything like it, to pick
up the information I wanted. Something unexpected must have happened."