Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist

by John Thomas McIntyre

  CHAPTER XIII

  SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

  The food at Joey Loo's lost its savor for Bat Scanlon. He felt cold, andhis mind was sodden; a weight seemed to oppress his chest. The picturelimned by the desperado was as plain to him as though it had been donein fire.

  He saw the callous, ruthless Bounder, all smiles and sneers, strike Noraand snatch her jewels. He also saw the beautiful, high-strung andhigh-spirited creature, her senses drowned in resentment, snatch up aweapon and rush after him, all the wrong she had ever suffered at hishands flaming up in her mind.

  "And so she followed him; and this hyena followed her," was Scanlon'sthought. "And in the end they all brought up at Stanwick."

  Why Nora and Big Slim had gone to the suburb was easy to understand;they had followed the Bounder. But why had that gentleman gone there?What had taken him there--a place he had never visited before--and solate in the night? That he _had_ gone there had been only too tragicallyproven; and the footprints found by Ashton-Kirk gave mute testimony asto the other two. And then there was that shining thing the burglar sawNora place in her bosom. With a sickening readiness, this associateditself with the glittering little weapon which the investigator hadpicked up on the lawn.

  Bat blundered on with his food, for all these things were huddling up inhis mind in a frantic mass. And, then, as if the tangle were not alreadybad enough, there came the remembrance of the scene he had observedthrough the windows at Bohlmier's hotel.

  "I don't know what that was about any more than the rest," Bat toldhimself. "But there was something between it and the things this fellowhas just been telling me. If I knew what they were----"

  He looked at Big Slim and found the green eyes of the burglar regardinghim curiously.

  "You don't bat very high in the eating league, do you?" said the man."Or maybe you ain't crazy about the Chink brand of grub."

  "I'm kind of off it," said Bat. "But don't let me stop the good work foryou. I'll have a few drags at a cigarette and we can talk just thesame."

  He waited for a few moments, hoping the desperado would resume where heleft off. But when Big Slim once more began to talk, he did so in areflective vein, removed from the direct course of the story.

  "Things do take funny twists," said he. "Funny twists! One minute youthink you've got 'em, and the next they're dipping in behind thescenery."

  "I've noticed peculiarities like that myself," confessed Bat. "The goodthings I've seen coming my way would stock a novel with incident. Butthe number that broke right for me ain't been so many as to cause me toworry. They have a habit of heading off before they get to the plate,just as you say."

  "To have a quart of diamonds all but wrapped up for you--and then tomiss them--that's rough."

  "I should say it was," agreed Bat. "But," rather carelessly, "how did itturn out? Did the girl get 'em back?"

  Big Slim finished with the food and pushed back his plate. Then he tookout a tobacco pouch and a packet of papers and rolled himself acigarette. Blowing a long stream of smoke into the wet air of thecellar, he said:

  "I've let you in on this a little because I think you're a good fellow,and I wanted to show you that I didn't throw Allen down cold. See? Butthis job ain't over yet, and I don't talk much about things that ain'tdone--for I've seen too many of them spilled that way." He took anotherlong draught of smoke down into his lungs and exhaled it. "I figure oncoming out right on this thing; do you get me? But I ain't sayinganything more."

  Bat weighed the matter carefully. He saw a sort of settled expression onthe thin lips of the burglar, and this told him there was little to behoped for by questioning.

  "And I may get him suspicious of me," reflected the big man. "It doesn'ttake much to get these phony guys putting their ears up and listeningfor alarms. And if that once happens here my chance is gone."

  So he said nothing more on the subject, though all the time he wasburning to do so. The talk drifted into other channels, and in thecourse of a half hour Big Slim, looking at the clock, said:

  "I'm sorry, bo, but I'll have to pull my freight. I'm going to see if Ican't put some things right to-night."

  Bat arose with him, a feeling of quick expectancy beating in his mind.

  "To-night," he repeated to himself. "Put some things right? Well, thatmeans only one thing to me."

  They left Joey Loo's together and walked along the street. At almost anycorner Bat expected the burglar to leave him, but to his surprise thisdid not happen; the man went with him back to the hotel. In the littleoffice with the sanded floor, Big Slim said:

  "Well, see you to-morrow, maybe, bo."

  Bat waved a hand and the cracksman disappeared through a door upon whichwas painted the word "Private." Through his inspection of the hotel,inside and out, during the day, Scanlon had gotten a fair idea of itsplan.

  "That door," he told himself, "will take him to the rooms where I sawhim with Bohlmier and Nora last night. It might be just as well----"

  At once he was at the desk and demanded his key of a thick-necked youngman who wore a narrow stand-up collar; in the course of a few minutes hewas in his room and had taken a station at one of the windows.

  The flare of light came from below--from a single window this time--andthere sat Bohlmier in a round-backed chair, with Big Slim restingagainst the table edge and swinging one leg. The burglar was explainingsomething very carefully, and the old Swiss was listening, his faceupturned and the gas light gleaming on his heavily rimmed spectacles.

  "Whatever it is," said Bat, "the old party agrees without a qualm." Hewatched the two for a space and shook his head. "A badly joined team, asfar as looks go," he mused, "but if the feeling they give me counts foranything, their work would be as smooth as the devil's own."

  Old Bohlmier arose finally and went to an old chest that stood in onecorner. Throwing back the lid of this he took out, one by one, a numberof tools and laid them side by side on the table.

  "A cracksman's outfit!" murmured Bat, a feeling of disappointmentrunning through him. "It's only Big Slim going out on a 'job,' afterall."

  The lank burglar examined the appliances upon the table and nodded hisapproval of them, after which he stowed them away in a small cloth bag.Then he and Bohlmier prepared to go.

  "Hello!" said the big athlete. "The Swiss is going, too!" His face litup with renewed interest. "It must be more than just a plain job ofburglary, after all."

  Quietly he slipped from the room and locked the door; and then with acareless air he left the hotel. Reaching the shadow of a building acrossthe way he stood and waited; in a few moments Big Slim and Bohlmieremerged at the side door and after a furtive look up and down thestreet, they started away. After them, on the other side, went Scanlon,treading cautiously, so as to make his progress as soundless aspossible, and keeping well in the overhang of the buildings. He expecteda long journey in the wake of the two prowlers; but at the end of ahalf dozen blocks he was pleased to find that this was not to be thecase. They stopped before a sort of loft building, and, in the shadow ofthis, held a conference. From the mouth of an alley Bat watched them;then, with a feeling of consternation, he saw they were advancing towardhim.

  "They've spotted me!" was his first thought; but in a moment he realizedthat this could not be so; the darkness where he stood was too intensefor them to have made him out. A second thought was illuminating; thebuilding beside which he stood was to be the scene of their effort. Heshrank back into the alley. Overhead was a tangle of fire-escapes;dozens of windows, some of them broken and with paper and old clothesstuffed into the openings, looked down upon him.

  "A burglary in such a place as that!" Bat stood aghast at the idea."What are they after?"

  The two men were now at the opening of the alley and came cautiouslyalong. From the shadow of the far wall Bat watched them. Softly, heheard the voice of Bohlmier:

  "Is dis der door? Eh?"

  "Yes. It's never locked in this joint," said the other, in an equallylow tone. "The halls are as publi
c as the street."

  The old Swiss clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

  "To bick oud such a place," spoke he. "It is not goot sense."

  Big Slim put his hand out and Bat heard a door creak on its hinges.

  "Now, then," spoke the lank burglar, to his companion, "in you go. Andif we meet any one, act as if we'd lived here for a dozen years."

  The two disappeared; and as Bat heard the door close softly behind them,he drew in a long breath.

  "Well, here goes," said he. "There will be very little cover now."

  He knew if he once allowed the burglar or his colleague to get out ofview or hearing, his chances of coming upon them again were greatlylessened. And yet too much promptness might land him stumbling uponthem, spoiling everything. Guardedly, he turned the knob, and the dooropened the merest trifle. Through the chink he had a clear view of adirty hall, long, and lighted by a single incandescent lamp. Quietly hestepped inside, closing the door after him. At the far end of the hallwas a staircase; and he went toward this with padded feet. The flight ofstairs ran straight ahead; at the top was a turn and a blank,hand-smutted wall faced him. From somewhere in the hall above, unseen byhim, a brilliant light was burning; and it fell upon the flat space atthe top of the steps unwaveringly. Two grotesque shadows lay upon thewall, swollen and distorted and making uncouth gestures.

  "Ah," said Bat, still at the bottom of the flight. "There they are,talking it over."

  As he stood looking and listening he caught a rustling of skirts, lightfootsteps and the sound of a woman's voice from somewhere in the regionsabove. In a few moments this was followed by a frightened squeak, achorus of startled and indignant voices, and then down the stairway uponhim charged two rather pretty girls, somewhat over-dressed, both chewinggum and talking shrilly.

  "It's that big boob that's taken eleven, on the third," said one. "Helooks like a scarecrow. What does he mean by hanging around like that,frightening people?"

  "I'm going to go to Mrs. Dolan," said the other, energetically. "A bodycan't come through these halls any more without a body-guard."

  Then, for the first time, they caught sight of Bat, and again thesqueaks sounded.

  "It's all right," nodded the big athlete. "Don't be afraid."

  "My goodness! ain't it awful!" cried one of the young women. "I'll bescared stiff all night."

  They scurried down the hall and Bat heard the street door bang afterthem.

  "Eleven, on the third." Scanlon considered this. "That must mean roomeleven, on the third floor. And so," a little wrinkle of wondermentappearing between his eyes, "the slim one has taken a room here, hashe?"

  He glanced up the stairs; the shadows had disappeared from the wall, andhe could hear a scuffling of feet as of some one moving upward.

  "They're on the next flight," he said. "So I guess this one's all rightto negotiate now."

  Quietly, he ascended the stairs. The hall on the second floor wasdeserted; overhead he could hear the tread of the two men as they passedalong; so, without hesitation, he mounted to that level. As he stood onthe landing with only a turn between him and the hall, he heard a doorclose.

  "All right," said he. "They've gone into their room."

  He rounded the turn and saw another dirty passage, with several nakedincandescent lamps lighting it; a half dozen doors opened into the hall,but no one was in sight. Bat tiptoed along until he came to a door whichbore two angular "ones" painted upon the panels. A light burned inside;he saw that through an open transom; but there were no sounds. Scanlonstood for a moment pondering what should be his next step. If he couldraise himself somehow, so that he'd be able to get a view of the roomthrough the transom----

  "But that wouldn't do," was the thought that followed this. "They'relikely to come out at any moment, and nail me while I peep."

  Instinctively his eye went about--and then came to a stop at a doordirectly opposite number eleven. This was partly open; the room wasdark; and as Bat, a plan already forming in his mind, pushed the doorslowly open, not a sound or stir greeted him.

  "Good!" said he, to himself, a flush of exultation coming over him. "Anempty room. This is real luck!"

  He felt about for a light, but stopped, realizing that for his purposedarkness would be best. In his movements he had knocked against a chair;so he now drew this up with the back resting against the closed door,and mounted it. Through the two transoms he had an excellent view ofNumber Eleven. Big Slim and Bohlmier stood with the cloth bag at atable; the burglar produced the tools which they had selected and spreadthem out with much neatness of hand.

  There followed a short consultation held in whispers and with their lipsheld close to each other's ears; then Big Slim selected a couple of thetools and approached the wall on the right. Quickly the Swiss rolled upa rug and placed it on the floor directly under the spot selected by theburglar for his operations. The paper was peeled off in a large circleabout three feet from the floor; then Big Slim attacked the plaster witha bit that chewed through it rapidly; after a hole had been made largeenough to insert a short steel bar, great lumps of the plaster fell uponthe sound-killing rug beneath. Scanlon marveled at the celerity of thething, and while he was doing so a saw cut its way through the lathbeneath the plaster. There was now nothing but a thin layer of the samesubstance between the housebreakers and the adjoining room.

  "In five minutes they'll be there," said Bat, in perplexity. "And thenwhat?"

  There came a flare of light behind him; with a subdued exclamation heturned, his hand reaching for the big Colt in its holster beneath hiscoat. But the hand paused before it reached its desire; for there uponthe side of a low cot sat a beetle-browed fellow, shabby and down at theheel. He had a lean jaw, blue with an unshaven beard, and in his hand,dangling carelessly by the trigger guard, was an automatic pistol.

  "Well," said the lean-jawed gentleman, after a pause, with cool inquiryin his voice, "what's the idea? Do you make a practice of coming intopeople's rooms, building a grand stand for yourself and takingobservations across the hall?"

  Bat, still standing upon the chair, faced the speaker, assuming anonchalance he did not feel.

  "A couple of friends of mine are over there," explained he. "Little jokeon them, see? Didn't know this room was occupied."

  "Friends of yours, eh?" The man with the lean jaw stuck his headforward, and a wide grin showed several black teeth. "You look like afairly respectable guy; and to hear you hook yourself up with a pair ofyeggs is a jolt to me." Then suddenly the speaker rose and tossed thepistol upon the bed. In an altered voice he continued: "Suppose you getdown off that chair, old top, and let me have a look at theproceedings."

  As he said this there was a look of amusement in his eyes; somethingseemed to fall from him which changed his aspect. With a gasp of wonderBat Scanlon leaped down and grasped his hand.

  "Kirk!" said he, "Kirk, by George!"