The Last Stroke: A Detective Story
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CHAPTER XVI.
"OUT OF REACH."
Much as Ferrars regretted Brierly's discovery, he was not much surprisedby it, nor could he avoid or refuse an explanation. Robert Brierly wasnot a child. He was a strong man, and a brave one; and Ferrars, puttinghimself in the other's place, felt at once the force of his words, theright of his position; and, after a day or two, he withdrew Hicks fromhis post. At the same time he observed with surprise and some misgivingthat the shadow was no longer on duty. With two trusty and able men, byturns, always on watch within sight of the Myers place, no glimpse ofhim had been seen for more than a week.
And then, like a lightning flash from a clear sky, the blow fell.
It was Sunday evening, and in the aristocratic uptown street where theMyers lived there reigned a Sabbath quiet, for the habitues of thelittle park beyond had left it with the fading twilight, and had alreadypassed on their way townward.
Robert Brierly had been indoors since morning, and now, shortly afterMr. and Mrs. Myers had walked down the tree-shaded street, toward thechurch on the avenue three blocks away, he came out upon the broad frontportico and stood for a moment looking idly up and down.
There had been concessions on both sides, since that interview betweenBrierly and Ferrars in which the former had demanded an explanation; andthe withdrawal of Hicks had been but one of the results; another hadbeen a promise, given by Brierly, whereby he pledged himself not to walkthe city streets alone after dark, but if unaccompanied to take a cab,there being a stand only two blocks away, in the direction of the park.
These cabs, when wanted, were to be called by one of the servants, andto take him from the door; but on this Sunday night, as Brierly lookedup and down with a growing wish to drive about town and have a talk withFerrars, he remembered that on Sunday the servants were allowed to goout; all save one who must remain in charge, and decided that it wouldbe absurd to stand there "like a prisoner bound by invisible chains"and wait for a chance to bring either carriage or policeman. He hadreceived on the previous evening letters from Glenville, from Hilda andDoctor Barnes, and his curiosity had been aroused by the contents ofboth. He had not seen the detective for four days, and he fancied thathe, too, would have had news from the little lakeside town; moreexplicit and satisfactory news, doubtless, than that contained in hisown letters.
"How absurd!" he muttered, apropos of his own thoughts. "No doubt I'llmeet a hack before I reach the corner," and he lighted a cigar and wentdown the steps, glancing, from sheer force of habit, for the street atthat moment seemed quite empty, up and down, as he went toward the cabstand.
"I was sure of it," he said again, as he neared the corner, at the endof the block farthest from his home. "There they are, both of them."
He was looking ahead, where a cab was coming at a slow trot toward him,while around the corner, still nearer, a policeman had just appeared.
As the two men approached each other the officer, who had been lookingtoward the approaching cab, turned his face toward Brierly, just as hewas passing under the glare of a street lamp, and stopped short.
"Excuse me, sir; this is Mr. Brierly, I believe?"
Brierly nodded.
"Mr. Brierly, may I have a few words with you? I have been lately putupon this beat, sir; changed from the next lower one; and there issomething you ought, for your own safety, to know. Will you walk a fewsteps with me? I hardly like to stop; I ought to be at the next cornerright now, in fact."
Brierly looked toward the approaching cab. "The truth is," he said, "Iwant very much to get that cab down town; otherwise----"
"Oh, I'll fix that, sir." And the officer took a step out from thecurbstone and, standing under the glare of the light just above, held uphis hand, and whistled shrilly. "Follow us a few steps, Johnny," he saidto the driver. "You are wanted down town." Then, turning toward Brierly,"If you'll just step across the street after me, I'll tell you what youought to know. It's a short story." And he crossed the street briskly,and paused on the opposite side to await the other.
"You see, sir," he began, as Brierly joined him, "we can walk slow for afew steps here, where all's quiet."
Brierly paused to look back. The cab was turning at the corner, and itfollowed them, at a snail's pace, and close behind, down the still andshady side-street. "You see, I've been noticing, for a couple of weeks,or maybe more, a fellow who just seemed to patrol the street next belowthis, almost as faithfully as I did, and for quite a time I wonderedwhy; and thus I began to watch him, till I found that his promenadesalways took him round the corner, and seemed to bring him up rightopposite the house you live in. I guess I ought to step a littlebrisker, sir; somebody's coming. The man was not very tall, and thickset like, and if I hadn't taken notice of him, at the first, almost, Imight not have recognised him, for he changed his clothes almost everytrip; sometimes dressing common, sometimes quite swell; but I knew himevery time."
"Make it as short as you can, officer; we're almost at the corner."
"All right, sir." The man glanced back. "Your cab's here, all right,sir. I was just going to tell you how we came to arrest the fellow."
"Ah!" Brierly smiled in the dusk. It had puzzled Ferrars or seemed to,the sudden cessation of the spy's visits, and now he would be able toenlighten the detective. "You have him, then? This shall be worthsomething to you."
"I don't want a reward for doing a plain duty, sir. Just walk on aheadfor a step; somebody's coming."
Preoccupied with the story, and without glancing behind, Brierly did ashe was told, and had advanced not ten paces from the corner, when therewas a swift blow, a fall and a cry, three pistol shots in swiftsuccession, and the rattle of wheels; all so close together that thetime could have been counted in seconds.
"Brierly! Are you badly hurt?" The revolver fell from the fingers of theman who had prevented the second blow, and put to flight the shampoliceman, who had so deftly contrived his appearance, with the aid ofthe cab, between the rounds of the policeman proper, the latter now cameup panting, his footsteps hastened by the shrill call of the whistle inthe hands of the new or latest comer. And then the inmates of theneighbouring houses rushed out, and, for the moment, there wasconfusion, consternation and clamour.
"Is he dead?"
"How did it happen?"
"Was it a sandbag?"
"To think of a holdup on this street!"
"There was a carriage, I'm sure."
And then the policeman was flashing his lantern about among them, as hebade them stand back, and the rescuer, who looked like a workman in hisSunday clothes, looked up, from the place where he knelt, supporting thehead and shoulders of the unconscious man, and said:
"Gentlemen, this is Mr. Brierly, Robert Brierly of 1030 C---- Avenue;the Myers house, only two blocks away. He must be taken home at once.Has any one a cot? No, he must be carried." For at the name of the Myershouse, a gentleman had proffered his carriage at once. "And, officer,call up help. If possible, that cab must be traced. Send to the standjust above and find out what cabs have left it within the past quarterhour. Let some one go ahead and bring Doctor Glessner from just opposite1030. He's at home."
"How did it happen?" asked Mr. Myers, two hours later, when the injuredman--his wounded head carefully dressed--lay, still dazed and in aprecarious condition, in his darkened room, with a trained nurse inattendance.
Ferrars having seen his friend in his own room, and in the hands of thedoctors, had not waited for their verdict, but had set off to put inmotion his plan for hunting down the would-be murderer, and he had butnow returned, full of anxiety for the fate of the sufferer.
"How did it happen? After all our precautions, too!"
"It's easy to tell how it happened," replied Ferrars with somebitterness. "It happened, first, because the enemy outwitted me, inspite of my cordon of guards; and, second, because Brierly lost patienceand exposed himself."
"But how?"
"I can only give you my theory for that. He was alone in the house, eh?"
&
nbsp; "Yes. We were both out when he went."
"He wanted, doubtless, to go to town. There was no servant at hand whomhe wished to send, so he walked toward the hack stand, or so I suppose.At the corner he met a policeman, as he thought, of course, and so, fora moment did I. They stopped, spoke together, and the sham policemanhailed an empty cab that was close at hand; then they crossed thestreet, the cab following, and the policeman seemed to be doing thetalking, as I saw when they passed under the light at the corner. I hadsuspected some new plot, from the fact that the spy had so suddenlydisappeared, and I had watched your place, in person, for the past threenights."
"Oh! And that is why we have seen so little of you?"
"In part. Well, I made up my mind, when they walked away together downthat tree-shaded cross-street, that there was something wrong. I was onthe opposite side, and concluded to close up, seeing that the cab wasgetting very near and edging close to their side, against all rules ofthe road. I had got half way across, and was just behind the cab, when Isaw Brierly step ahead of the other, and then came the blow. As I sprangforward the cabby gave a loud hiss and the scoundrel saw me, and sprangfor the cab with his arm still uplifted for another blow. I fired twicerunning, the third time turning long enough to send another shot at himas he entered the carriage door. Then he was off. I think he was hit,once at least."
"He will be caught, don't you think so? A cab driving like mad throughthose quiet streets?"
"No. He will not be caught, I fear."
"But why?"
"Because he will have had a second vehicle, a carriage, no doubt, notfar away, and he will leave the cab, which will slacken up for a momentfor that, and then dash on."
"How can you know that?"
"Because, when I find that I am dealing with a clever rascal I ask, whatwould I do in his place? And that is what I would have done."
"Well, well!" The lawyer sighed. "Poor Robert."
"If he only had been less impatient!" exclaimed Ferrars.
"If we had been wiser, and had not left him! The boy was in apeculiarly restless mood. Even my wife had observed that since morning."
"And why since morning?"
The lawyer looked at him gravely for a moment. "Did you ever hear ofRuth Glidden?" he asked.
"The orphan heiress? Of course; through the society columns of thenewspapers."
"Ruth Glidden and the Brierly boys grew up as the best of friends andneighbours. The elders of the two families were friends equally warm. Ibelieve in my soul that Glidden would gladly have seen his daughtermarry one of the Brierly boys. And if things had run smooth--but there!Brierly was accounted a rich man, and he was until less than a yearbefore his death, when the failure of the F. and S. Railway Company, andthe North-Western Land concern, within three months of each other, lefthim a heavy loser. Even then, if Glidden had been alive all might havebeen well. But he died, two years before Brierly's death, and Ruth wentto live with her purse-proud aunt, her father's sister. The two familieshad resided for years, side by side, on this avenue."
"And where is Miss Glidden now?" asked Ferrars.
"Here in this city since the day before yesterday. She and her aunthave been abroad for a year, but I believe that they care for eachother, though Robert is so proud, and that is not all. The brothers haveeach a few thousand dollars still, and it appears that shortly beforehis death, Charlie--he was always a methodical fellow--instructed hisbrother, in case of his sudden death, to make over all of his share toMiss Hilda Grant. Robert told me of this upon his return with the body,and he also said that all he possessed should go, if needful, to theclearing up of this murder mystery."
"It may be needful," sighed Ferrars. "I fear it will be."
"Then, good-bye to Robert's hopes! With it he might make a lucky hit;might have a chance. Without it"--he shrugged his shoulders--"what caneven so bright a journalist, as he undoubtedly is, do to win a fortunequickly. And he won't accept help, even from me, his father's oldestfriend."
"No," said Ferrars, gloomily. "Of course not How could he? Mr. Myers,I'll be honest and tell you that I'm afraid we've struck a blank wall.Things look dark on all hands, just now, for poor Brierly."
"What! Do you think the clue, the case, is lost then?"
"Not lost. Oh, no. Only, I fear, out of reach."