CHAPTER XIII
238 WRAY STREET
The information thus gained had been small enough, yet sufficient tostimulate his belief that he was at least upon the right trail. Thesudden departure of this man Hobart, and the fact that no young childrenwere in the family, were important items to consider. Coolidge then hadnot visited this cottage to aid a widow and orphans. There had been someother object in his call. The girl must have known and understood thereal purpose; that was why they both acquiesced so readily to hisremaining outside in the car. It was part of their mutual plan to thusleave him in ignorance. Yet they had made a mistake in taking him alongat all. This error alone gave him now an opportunity to unravel theriddle. But did it? What did he know? Merely that Coolidge had not goneto this house on an errand of charity; that the occupant called himself,temporarily, perhaps, Jim Hobart; that his family consisted of twowomen, undescribed except as to age; and that all three had mysteriouslydisappeared together. He might take it for granted that thisdisappearance was caused by the death of Coolidge, but, they had left notrail, no inkling as to where they had gone. He might suspect this suddenvanishing had direct connection with the crime he was endeavouring tosolve, but he possessed absolutely no proof, and, apparently, any furthermovement on his part was completely blocked.
More puzzled than ever, although now fully convinced that murder had beencommitted, West could do nothing but wait the reappearance of Sexton. Thelatter arrived promptly on time, but, much to West's disappointment,merely nodded his head negatively to the general inquiry as to whether ornot he had made any discoveries. The early hour enabled the host tosecure a secluded table in the dining room, but there was no effort atconversation until after the meal had been ordered. Then West told hisstory. The retelling of these incidents of the afternoon, coupled withSexton's evident interest in the narrative, and the questions the manasked, caused the discoveries made to assume a greater importance thanbefore. His listener seemed to sense the situation clearly.
"It wasn't no mistake, your goin' out there, sir," he said, confidently."What we know now gives us something to work on anyhow, an' it's justwhat I thought--that trip Sunday led up to this killin', an' somethinghappened while they was in there to stir Miss Natalie all up. Now we gotto find this fellow--what did you say his name was, sir?"
"Hobart--Jim Hobart; that is he was known by that name there."
"And you say he has simply dropped out o' sight?"
"That's true; never left a clue behind him."
"Well, sir, I'm not quite so sure about that. You listen to me, sir. Iwalked out to Fairlawn from the car-line, an' come in across the fieldsto the house. I didn't have no good excuse for goin' back there, sir, an'was sorter afraid to meet up with Miss Natalie. She might have thought Iwas just spyin' 'round. But I didn't have no need for being afraid, forit seems she'd driven into town about noon, an' hadn't got back. Therewasn't nobody but the servant around the place, sir. Do you rememberLizzie, the second maid--sorter full face, an' light hair?"
West nodded, wondering what all this might be leading to.
"Well, she an' I always hit it off together, an' I talked with her quitea bit. She's goin' to quit too, because of something what happened, so itwas safe enough to question her. She told me, sir, that Miss Natalie hada telephone call this morning that took her into the city. Lizzie shewent to the 'phone when it rang, an' it was a man's voice. He wouldn'tleave no message, but insisted on speaking to Miss Natalie. Lizzie had tocall her down from upstairs."
"Did the girl overhear the conversation?"
"Not so as to make very much out of it, sir. She was sorterinterested, the man's voice being strange, and hung around in the halllistening, but about all she could make out was what Miss Nataliesaid. It seemed like he was givin' her some kind of address, which shedidn't exactly understand, an' so she repeated it after him two orthree times to be sure."
"What was the address?"
"238 Ray Street, sir."
"You are certain of that?"
"That was what Lizzie said; she was pretty positive, sir; an' then aboutan hour later, Miss Natalie ordered her car, an' drove into town."
"Alone?"
"Yes, sir; it was the electric she took."
West remained silent, tapping with his knife on the table. This mightprove important, and he could not afford to ignore the information. Whileto his mind it was hardly likely Hobart had called the girl, yet thepossibility remained.
"I never heard of a Ray Street," he said at length, "but of course, theremay be one. Oh, Charlie," he stopped a waiter passing. "Bring me up aCity directory, will you. You will find one in the office down stairs.Tell the Secretary Captain West wishes it and will return it at once."
The first course had been served when the man returned with the book,placing it on a chair next West, who immediately deserted his soup toinspect the volume.
"Ray Street," he said doubtfully, fingering the pages. "There is no suchstreet here, Sexton. Are you sure you got that right?"
"That's what she said, sir; I made her say it over twice."
"Ray Street; wonder if it could be spelled with a W? By Jove, itis--Wray! Here we have it, only five blocks long, extending from Conwayto Grogan. Rather tough section I should judge."
"I don't know, sir. I never heard of any of those streets before. How doyou get there?"
"By car you mean? Well, let's see on the map. Oh yes, that's plainenough; Milwaukee Avenue to Gans, and then walk east three blocks. Itwouldn't do any harm to take a look around there either. Perhaps that iswhere Hobart went; he might have been the one calling Natalie. Rather awild guess, but it will give us something to do. What number was it?"
"238, sir."
"Good; we'll try our luck after we finish dinner; there will be a coupleof hours of daylight yet. Are you game, Sexton?"
"Quite so, sir."
The sinking sun was still above the sky-line of the buildings fronting onMilwaukee Avenue, when the two men alighted at the intersection of GansStreet. West hardly took the adventure seriously, being more influencedby curiosity than any other motive, but Sexton was deeply in earnest, infull faith they were upon the right trail. Doubtful as he was, West hadneglected no precautions. The map assured him that they were invading adisorderly section of the city, where to be well-dressed would onlyinvite suspicion, and might lead to trouble. To avoid this possibility,he had donned his most shabby suit, and wore a cap largely concealing hisface. In one pocket of his jacket within easy reach lay hidden hisservice revolver loaded, and he had induced Sexton to accept a smallerweapon in case of emergency.
Gans Street was not inviting, the saloon on the corner being flanked byseveral small factories. The brick side-walk was in bad condition, andlittered with junk of all kinds, while the road-way was entirely uncaredfor, and deeply rutted from heavy traffic. Half way down the block, was atannery, closed now for the night, but with its odour yet permeating theentire atmosphere. Altogether, the scene was desolate and disagreeableenough, but the street was deserted of pedestrians, the factory doorstightly closed for the night.
The two men pressed their way through along the narrow passage, findingless obstruction as they advanced, the second block being composedentirely of houses, largely of the tenement type, and apparentlyprincipally populated by children. Wray Street, once attained, was of anentirely different character, being lined with homes, usually humbleenough outwardly, yet the throughfare was clean, and the small yards hadgenerally an appearance of neatness in marked contrast to itssurroundings. 238 was a three story brick, on the corner, the secondstory evidently utilized for living purposes, and the ground flooroccupied as a saloon. The upper story exhibited no signs of occupancy,the windows unwashed, and two of them boarded up. The saloon possessed afairly respectable appearance, the lettering across the front windowproclaiming it as "Mike's Place," and seemed to be doing some business,several entering and departing by way of its hospitable door, while thetwo lingered in uncertainty opposite. Standing there idly howe
ver did notappeal to West.
"Well, let's go over," he said impatiently. "There is nothing to belearned here."
It was an ordinary bar-room, and their entrance apparently aroused nospecial interest. Besides the man behind the bar, a rather rough lookingforeigner, a Pole in West's judgment, three customers were in the place,two with feet upon the rail talking with the drink dispenser, and, one ata small table moodily contemplating a half emptied stein of beer. Therewere three other tables in the room, and the Captain with a swift glanceabout, drew out a chair and sat down, his action being imitated bySexton. The bar-tender came forward around the end of the bar, while theman nearest shifted his position slightly so as to look them over,conversation instantly ceasing. Something indefinable in the fellow'sattitude, and steady stare, gave West a feeling of hostility, which wasnot dispelled by the gruff greeting of the bar-tender.
"Well, what is it you fellers want?"
"A stein apiece, and a sandwich--you serve them, don't you?"
"Sure; ham or beef?"
"Ham."
There was no cordiality, no welcome in either manner or speech. It wasplainly evident the proprietor of the saloon felt no enthusiasm over hisunknown customers. The eyes of the two men met understandingly, but thefew words exchanged between them were entirely foreign to the situation.Mike came back with the beer and sandwiches, pausing this time to wipeoff the table, as an excuse for speech.
"You guys live 'round here?" he asked gruffly, "Don't remember everseein' yer in here before."
"No," returned West indifferently, looking directly into the hard face."I'm a smoke inspector, an' we just dropped in on our way back to theoffice. Why?"
"Oh, nuthin'; only we don't get much trade outside the neighbourhood. Iwish ter hell ye'd get after that tannery; can't hardly breathe heresometimes."
"That's what we were looking after; had some complaints lately."
"Sure, I been kickin' 'bout it for a month. You fellers have anotherbeer on me."
He walked back toward the bar, pausing an instant to whisper a word tothe taller man who still stood there staring moodily at the table. Whathe said apparently determined action, for the fellow addressed, crossedthe room to where West and Sexton sat, deliberately pulled up a vacantchair, and joined them.
"Bring me another, Mike," he ordered. "That is, if these gents don'tobject to my joining 'em awhile."
The Case and the Girl Page 13
