THE DIAMOND CROSS
"Colonel Ashley?" There was a formal, questioning note in the
merchant's voice.
"That is my name, yes, sir. Er--Mr. Grafton," and, as though to
refresh his memory, the colonel glanced at the card on his desk.
"You are a private detective?"
"Yes."
Mr. Grafton was evidently sparring for time. He seemed uneasy--he
looked uneasy, and it required no very astute mind to know that he was
uneasy--out of his element.
"For all the world like a gasping fish on the bank," was the simile the
colonel used.
"I have a case I wish you would take up for me," went on the merchant.
"It is somewhat peculiar."
"Most cases that come to us are," and the colonel smiled.
"And it is delicate."
"I could say that of nearly every one, also."
"So that I may rely on your silence and--er--discretion?"
"Sir!"
The colonel fairly bristled.
"I beg your pardon! I should not have asked that. But I am all upset
over this matter."
"Then, sir, let me ease your mind by stating that whatever you tell me
will be in strict confidence, as far as lies in my power to so observe
it. I can not compound a felony, so if you have in mind the disclosure
of anything that would incriminate you--"
"Incriminate me?"
"Yes, or involve you in any way. If you have anything like that in
mind please don't tell me about it. I should feel obliged to make use
of my knowledge. But if it is a matter in which you wish my advice,
then--"
"I certainly _do_ need advice, Colonel. I have often heard you spoken
of, and I have read of more than one of your cases. So when I got in
this--well, I may as well call it trouble--I at once thought of you. I
am fortunate, I believe, in seeing Colonel Ashley, himself, who, I
understood, had retired, or perhaps is about to retire. I came here
prepared to pay any reasonable amount," and the merchant drew out his
wallet.
The colonel held up a protesting hand.
"Please don't--not yet," he said. "I can not accept a retaining fee
until I have heard more of your case. It may be that I can not serve
you. Give me some inkling of what you want. I hope you are not in
serious trouble."
"It is serious--for me."
"Then I hope I can help you. Please be as frank as you think best.
The franker you are, the fewer questions I shall have to ask. Go on."
"Well then, I want to find a certain valuable diamond cross."
"A diamond cross?"
"Yes. I don't know just what it is worth, but I believe a small
fortune."
"And was it stolen from you?"
"No. Though I do own a store where jewelry is sold, we don't carry an
expensive line. This cross belonged to a friend of mine. She had it
on when we were out walking together, and--well, it became damaged and
I asked her to let me take it to have it repaired."
"Nothing very complicated or troublesome in that. I suppose the cross
was stolen from you while it was temporarily in your possession, and
you don't like to let your friend know, for fear she may suspect you.
Such things have happened. Did you ever read de Maupassant's 'Diamond
Necklace?'"
"I never did."
"I'd advise you to. Also Walton."
"Is he a jeweler?"
"Lord, no! But I beg your pardon. Let us keep to the subject. So you
don't dare tell your friend the diamond cross is gone?"
"Oh, yes, she knows it."
"Then why the worry, except about getting it back?"
"Well, there are complications. You see her husband--"
"Oh, ho!"
There was a world of meaning in that exclamation. Aaron Grafton turned
a deep red and bit his lips. Colonel Ashley saw his annoyance.
"Look here!" exclaimed the old detective. "I really shouldn't have
said that. But we detectives are used to all sorts of complications,
and, more than once, they have to do with women. Often enough there is
nothing more serious than a little indiscretion, but I can see where
outsiders might make trouble--particularly _husbands_. I take it then
that you and the lady were out together without her husband knowing it."
"I _hope_ he doesn't know of it, for though, on my honor, there was
nothing wrong in our being together, it might be hard to make _him_
believe that."
"I quite agree with you--particularly if he were jealous, as many
husbands are. So you want me to try to get this diamond cross,
belonging to the married lady, back for you without her husband knowing
anything about it?"
"That's it!"
"Where were you when you were robbed of it?"
"I wasn't robbed of it. I never said I was."
"Oh, I beg your pardon, I must have inferred that. Please go on, and,
if you don't mind my asking you, kindly get to the point."
"I beg your pardon. Perhaps I am beating about the bush. Well, I'll
be as frank as I can. Do you want me to give names?"
"It would be better, since I already know yours. I shall keep them in
strict confidence, however, now that I am fairly well assured there is
no ulterior motive in your visit to me. Proceed."
"Well, then, the diamond cross, which is worth I don't know how many
thousand dollars, belongs to Mrs. Cynthia Larch, the wife of Langford
Larch, who keeps a large hotel in--"
"Colchester! I know the place. Go on!" interrupted Colonel Ashley.
"I have stopped there on fishing trips," he added, as his caller looked
a bit surprised.
"Oh, I didn't know that. Well, this was Mrs. Larch's cross. It is a
family heirloom I believe, though many suppose her husband gave it to
her for a wedding present. That is not so, however. I know Cynthia
had the cross before she was married."
"You call her Cynthia?"
"I have known her since we were both children."
"I see. Pray go on."
"In fact we were sweethearts," continued Grafton, "and were engaged.
But the match was broken off by her father. I was only a struggling
clerk then, and never dreamed I would get on as I have. Nor did she, I
fancy, though she was willing to take me as I was. But her folks made
trouble. They brought such pressure to bear on her that she gave in
and married Larch, who was and is wealthy, but whose social position
was beneath hers.
"Don't think I am telling you this out of mere jealousy," Aaron Grafton
went on, and his manner was earnest. "I loved her deeply and
sincerely. I do yet, but in a way that is perfectly right. I have not
told her so--but--" He was silent a moment.
"I went away after she threw me over," he resumed. "I couldn't stand
it to be near her and see her going out--with him. But I came back.
Though the old wound still hurt, I tried not to let her see. We became
friends again--in fact we had never ceased to be friends.
"Perhaps I have acted foolishly, but, of late, I have seen her quite
often. I began to feel that her married life was not happy. I took
pains to enquire, and learned that it was not. I tried to make her a
little happier by talking to her. Once or twice she met me and we
walked together in the woods."
The colonel looked sharply at his caller.
"Oh, for God's sake don't put any wrong construction on it! I'd give
my very life to make her happy, and do you think I'd--"
"I don't doubt you for a moment, sir!"
"Thank you," said Mr. Grafton. "It is good to know that there is still
some truth and honor in the world and that a man and woman can be
friends though the circumstances seem peculiar."
He paused a moment to overcome his emotion and resumed:
"Well, Cynthia and I are friends--good friends. It was to talk over
what course was best for her to pursue under certain circumstances that
she and I walked out together. We went in secret, for there are
gossiping and wagging tongues in Colchester as elsewhere, and if I, the
leading merchant in the town, was seen to be alone with pretty Cynthia
Larch, whose husband was a friend of judges and politicians who
frequent his hotel, there would be talk little short of scandal."
"I quite agree with you. So you walked in secret?"
"Yes. And it was while we were out together that the cross she was
wearing became unfastened and fell. I most clumsily, stepped on it,
greatly marring the setting.
"She was distressed, of course, but I said I would take it to a
jeweler's and have it repaired without any one being the wiser. She
agreed that was best. So I took it--"
"To Mrs. Darcy's place, and she was found murdered!" broke in the old
detective quickly.
Aaron Grafton started from his chair.
"How in the name of Heaven did you know that?" he cried. "I thought
that not a soul but I knew it. I did not even tell Cynthia!"
"The explanation is simple," said the colonel. "I will be almost as
frank with you as you have been with me. I know more about you than
you think. Wait a moment."
The colonel stepped into a closet. He made a few rapid changes in his
clothing and took off a tiny bit of eyebrow, which had been added to
his own a short time before. Then he confronted the merchant.
"The man I saw in the jewelry store!" gasped Grafton. "I remember,
now, seeing you there the day I went to look for the diamond cross."
"And didn't find it," said the detective. "I wondered what so
perturbed you, but now I know. At first I did think you might know
something of the murder--"
"God forbid!" said the merchant earnestly and reverently.
"Amen!" echoed the colonel. "You have told such a straightforward
story that I can not doubt you. That is why I revealed myself to you.
But you must keep my secret if I am to help you. I am known in
Colchester as Colonel Brentnall, having registered at the hotel under
that name. I will keep that name for the present. I followed you
here--in fact, I only entered this office a minute or two ahead of you.
So it was to find the diamond cross you visited the store of the
murdered woman?"
"Yes. When I had damaged the cross by stepping on it, I thought my old
friend, Mrs. Darcy, would be the best one to keep my secret. I took
the cross to her the night before she was killed, and she promised to
have her cousin fix it without telling him whose it was and get it back
to me, secretly, in a day or so.
"I thought Cynthia could then wear it again without her husband knowing
it had ever been out of her possession. But the murder changed all my
plans. As soon as I could, I went to the shop to look for the cross.
I thought perhaps it might have been put in one of the showcases, or
laid on the shelf, perhaps forgotten. Really I was so distressed, I
didn't know what to think. I did not want to tell any one what I was
looking for, so I went about quietly. But I could not find it. Then I
was obliged to ask Darcy about it, secretly, of course, and without
hinting as to the ownership.
"But he had never seen it. He said Mrs. Darcy had not given it to him,
nor asked him to repair it. Nor was it in the shop, as far as he knew,
and he went over all the stock to furnish a list to the police, so they
could tell whether or not there had been a robbery."
"And there was none?"
"None, unless you call the taking of the diamond cross a theft. For
that alone is missing. And I'd give half my fortune to get it back.
Cynthia's husband may ask about it at any moment, and what excuse can
she give?"
"It is rather a ticklish matter," agreed the detective. "Well, I'll
see what I can do. First I thought you wanted me to work on the murder
case. But as I am already engaged on that, to try to clear Darcy, I
can as well include the diamond cross mystery also. I wonder if they
have any connection."
"I don't see how they can have. Mrs. Darcy may merely have put the
cross away secretly, and it may take a careful search of the place to
find it."
"Maybe so. I'll have to nose around a bit."
There came a knock on the office door.
"Come!" called out the colonel.
His clerk handed him a telegram. Tearing it open the detective read a
message from one of his agents in a distant western city: It said:
"Spotty Morgan arrested here to-day. Big diamond cross found on him.
Do you want him?"
"Do I want him?" fairly yelled the colonel. "I should say I did!
Here, get me Blake on the long distance. This is no time for a wire.
I've got to telephone!" And he hurried to a private booth in a back
office, leaving Grafton to himself.
After he had telephoned. Colonel Ashley sat in silence in the booth,
musing.
"Now I wonder," he said to himself, "if Grafton is telling me the
truth. Almost any one would believe his story--it sounds straight
enough--and yet I can't take any chances. I guess I mustn't lose sight
of you, Aaron Grafton.
"And perhaps Larch isn't so bad a chap as you'd have me believe. Trust
a disgruntled lover for saying the worst about the other chap. Yes, I
can't afford to take any chances. You may know a bit more about this
murder than you're telling me, even considering the latest from my
friend Spotty. Yes, you may be playing a double game, Mr. Aaron
Grafton."