CHAPTER XIII
_The Coin Falls Heads_
Gramont sat in his own room that afternoon. It seemed to him that he hadbeen away from the city for weeks and months. Yet only a day hadintervened. He sat fingering the only piece of mail that had come tohim--a notice from the post of the American Legion which he had joined,to the effect that there would be a meeting that Thursday evening. OnlyThursday! And to-morrow was Friday.
If he was to effect anything against the headquarters of Fell's gang hemust act on the morrow or not at all. Gumberts was to be out thereto-morrow. Gumberts would talk with the ratty little man of theprojecting teeth and adenoids, would find Gramont had imposed upon thefellow, and there would be upheavals. The gang would take to flight,certainly, or at least make certain that Gramont's mouth was shut.
He sat fingering the postal from the Legion, and turning over events inhis mind. Against Fell he had particular animosity. All that the littlegray man had done had been done with the thought of Lucie Ledanois as aspur.
"Yet he can't realize that Lucie wouldn't have the money if she knewthat it came from criminal sources," he thought, smiling bitterly. "He'sbeen scheming a long time to make a fortune for her, and now he'sdetermined to push it through regardless of me. It was clever of him tojail Hammond! He guessed that I'd do a great deal to save theredhead--more even than to save myself. Mighty clever! And now he'spretty sure that he's got me between a cleft stick, where I can'twriggle.
"If I'm to strike a blow, I'll have to do it to-morrow--before noonto-morrow, also. I'll have to leave here mighty early, and get therebefore Gumberts does. What was it Hammond said that day about him--thatnobody in the country had ever caught Memphis Izzy? I bet I could do it,and his whole gang with him--if I knew how. There's the rub! Fell won'thesitate a minute in having me arrested. And as he said, once he got mearrested, I'd be gone. He must be able to exert powerful influence, thatman!"
Should he strike or not? If he struck, he might expect the full weightof Jachin Fell's vengeance--unless his blow would include Fell among thevictims.
Gramont was still pondering this dilemma when Ben Chacherre arrived.
Gramont heard the man's voice on the stairs. Ben's impudence, perhapsadded to his name and the Creole French upon his lips, had carried himpast the concierge unannounced, although not without a continuedexchange of repartee that served to give Gramont warning of the visitor.Smiling grimly, Gramont drew a coin from his pocket, and flipped it.
The coin fell heads. He pocketed it again as Ben Chacherre knocked, andopened the door.
"Ah, Chacherre!" he exclaimed. "Come in."
Ben swaggered inside and closed the door.
"Brought a message for you, Mr. Gramont," he said, jauntily, andextended a note.
Gramont tore open the envelope and read a curt communication:
Kindly let me know your answer as soon as possible. By to-morrow evening at the latest. It will be necessary to arrange affairs for Saturday.
JACHIN FELL.
To arrange affairs! Fell was taking for granted that Gramont would givean assent, under force of persuasion, to the scheme. He would probablyhave everything in readiness, and if assured by Friday night ofGramont's assent, would then pull his strings and perhaps complete thewhole deal before the following Monday.
The meeting of the company had been adjourned to Saturday morning.Gramont thought a moment, then went to his buhl escritoire and openedit. Chacherre had already taken a seat. Gramont wrote:
MY DEAR MR. FELL,
If you will arrange the company meeting for to-morrow evening, say nine o'clock, at your office, I think that everything may then be arranged. As I may not see Miss Ledanois in the meantime, will you be kind enough to assure her presence at the meeting?
He addressed an envelope to Fell's office, and then stamped and pocketedit.
"Well, Chacherre," he said, rising and returning to the Creole, "anyfurther news from Houma? They haven't found the real murderer yet?"
The other came to his feet with an exclamation of surprise. As he didso, Gramont's fist caught him squarely on the point of the jaw.
Chacherre crumpled back across his chair, senseless for the moment.
"I'm afraid to take any chances with you, my fine bird," said Gramont,rubbing his knuckles. "You're too clever by far, and too handy with yourweapons!"
He obtained cloths, and firmly bound the ankles and wrists of Chacherre.Not content with this, he placed the man in the chair and tied him to itwith merciless knots. As he was finishing his task, Chacherre opened hiseyes and gazed rapidly around.
"Awake at last, are you?" said Gramont, genially. He got his pipe,filled and lighted it. The eyes of Chacherre were now fastened upon himvenomously. "Too bad for you, Chacherre, that the coin fell heads up!That spelled action."
"Are you crazy?" muttered the other in French. Gramont laughed, andresponded in the same tongue.
"It does look that way, doesn't it? You're slippery, but now you'recaught."
Chacherre must have realized that he stood in danger. He checked acurse, and regarded Gramont with a steady coolness.
"Be careful!" he said, his voice deadly. "What do you mean by this?"
Gramont looked at him and puffed his pipe.
"The game's up, Ben," he observed. "I know all about the place downthere--about the cars, and about the lottery. Your gang has had apleasant time, eh? But now you and the others are going to do a littlework for the state on the road gangs."
"Bah! _Ca? va rive dans semaine quatte zheudis!_" spat Chacherre,contemptuously. "That will happen in the week of four Thursdays, youfool! So you know about things, eh? My master will soon shut yourmouth!"
"He can't," said Gramont, placidly. "You'll all be under arrest."
Chacherre laughed scornfully, then spoke with that deadly gravity.
"Look here--you're a stranger here? Well, since you know so much, I'lltell you more! We can't be arrested, and even if you get us pinched,we'll never be convicted. Do you understand? We have influence! Thereare men here in New Orleans, men in the legislature, men at Washington,who will never see us molested!"
"They'll be surprised," said Gramont, although he felt that the man'swords were true. "But not all of them are your friends, Ben. I don'tthink the governor of the state is in your gang. He's a pretty straightman, Ben."
"He's a fool like you! What is he? A puppet! He can do nothing exceptpardon us if the worst happens. You can't touch us."
"Well, maybe not," agreed Gramont, tapping at his pipe. "Maybe not, butwe'll see! You seem mighty sure of where you stand, Ben."
Encouraged, Ben Chacherre laughed insolently.
"Let me loose," he commanded. "Or else you'll go over the road for theMidnight Masquer's work! My master has a dictograph in his office, andhas your confession on record."
"So?" queried Gramont, his brows lifted. "You seem much in Mr. Fell'sconfidence, Ben. But I think I'll leave you tied up a little while.Memphis Izzy is going down to his summer cottage to-morrow, isn't he?I'll be there--but you won't. By the way, I think I'd better lookthrough your pockets."
Ben Chacherre writhed suddenly, hurling a storm of curses at Gramont.
The latter, unheeding the contortions of his captive, searched the manthoroughly. Except for a roll of money, the pockets gave up little ofinterest. The only paper Gramont secured was a fresh telegraph blank. Hewould have passed this unheeded had he not noted a snaky flitting ofChacherre's eyes to it.
"Ah!" he said, pleasantly. "You appear to be interested in this, Ben.Pray, what is the secret?"
Chacherre merely glared at him in silence. Gramont inspected the blank,and a sudden exclamation broke from him. He held the bit of yellow paperto the light at varying angles.
"It's the most natural thing in the world," he said after a moment, "fora man to walk into a telegraph office, write out his telegram, and t
henfind that he's torn two blanks instead of one from the pad on the desk.Eh? I've done it, often--and I've always put the extra blank into mypocket, Ben, thinking it might come in handy; just as you did, eh? Nowlet's see!
"You were excited when you wrote this, weren't you? You'd just thoughtof something very important, and you took care of it hurriedly--thatmade you jab down your pencil pretty hard. Who's Dick Hearne at Houma?An agent of the gang there?"
Chacherre merely glared, sullenly defiant. Word by word, Gramont madeout the message:
Burn bundle under rear seat my car. Have done at once.
Gramont looked up and smiled thinly.
"Your car? Why, you left it in the garage at Gumberts' place, eh? Thatlittle roadster of Fell's, with the extra seat behind. If you'd beenjust a little bit cooler yesterday, Ben, you would have made fewermistakes. It never occurred to you that other people might have beenthere in the bushes when the sheriff was murdered, eh?"
Chacherre went livid.
"It was another mistake to throw away your knife after you killed him,"pursued Gramont, reflectively. "You should have held on to that knife,Ben. There's no blood, remember, on Hammond's knife--a hard thing foryou and your friends to explain plausibly. Yet your knife is heavy withblood, which tests will show to be human blood. Also, the knife has yourname on it; quite a handsome knife, too. On the whole, you must admitthat you bungled the murder from start to finish----"
Chacherre broke in with a frightful oath--a frantically obscene storm ofcurses. So furious were his words that Gramont very efficiently gaggedhim with cloths, gagged him hard and fast.
"You also bungled when you forgot all about burning that bundle, in yourexcitement over getting Hammond jailed for the murder," he observed,watching Chacherre writhe. "No, you can't get loose, Ben. You'll suffera little between now and the time of your release, but I really can'tspare much pity on you.
"I think that I'll send another wire to Dick Hearne on this blank whichyou so thoughtfully provided. I'll order him, in your name, not to burnthat bundle after all; I fancy it may prove of some value to me. AndI'll also tell your friend--I suppose he has some familiar cognomen,such as Slippery Dick--to meet Henry Gramont at Houma early in themorning. I'd like to gather Dick in with the other gentlemen. I'llmention that you were kind enough to supply a few names and incidents."
At this last Ben Chacherre writhed anew, for it was a shrewd blow. Heand his friends belonged to that class of crook which never "peaches."If by any mischance one of this class is jailed and convicted, heinvariably takes his medicine silently, knowing that the whole gang isbehind him, and that when he emerges from prison he will be sure to findmoney and friends and occupation awaiting him.
To know that he would be placed, in the estimation of the gang, in thesame class with stool-pigeons, must have bitten deeper into BenChacherre than any other lash. He stared at Gramont with a frightfulhatred in his blazing eyes--a hatred which gradually passed into a lookof helplessness and of impotent despair.
Gramont, meantime, was writing out the telegram to Dick Hearne. Thisfinished, he got his hat and coat, and from the bureau drawer took anautomatic pistol, which he pocketed. Then he smiled pleasantly at hisprisoner.
"I'll be back a little later, Ben, and I'll probably bring a friend withme--a friend who will sit up with you to-night and take care of yourhealth. Kind of me, eh? It's getting late in the afternoon, but I don'tthink that it will harm you to go without any dinner. I'll 'phone Mr.Fell that you said you'd be away for a few hours, eh?
"This evening, Ben, I think that I'll attend a meeting of my post of theAmerican Legion. You don't belong to that organization by any chance?No, I'm quite sure you don't. Very few of your exclusive acquaintancesdo belong. Well, see you later! Work on those bonds all you like--you'requite safe. I'm curious to see what is in that bundle under the rearseat of your car; I have an idea that it may prove interesting. Goodafternoon!"
Gramont closed the door, and left the house.
Going downtown, he mailed the letter to Fell, confident that the latterwould receive it on the following morning; but he did not telephoneFell. He preferred to leave the absence of Chacherre unexplained,rightly judging that Fell would not be particularly anxious about theman. It was now Thursday evening. The meeting of the oil company wouldbe held at nine on Friday evening. Between those two times Gramontfigured on many things happening.
He chuckled as he sent the telegram to Dick Hearne at Houma--a telegramsigned with the name Chacherre, instructing Hearne not to burn thebundle, but to meet Gramont early in the morning at Houma. He had a veryshrewd idea that this Dick Hearne might prove an important person todispose of, and quite useful after he had been disposed of. In thisconjecture he was right.
The Mardi Gras Mystery Page 13
