Markham stood still in the centre of the room, looking down at the worn early-American art square. He seemed to be pondering something that bothered him.
"See here, Vance," he said after a brief silence, lifting his head and looking squarely at the other. "You speak of 'plotters' and 'johnnies'--both plural. You really think, then, that this damnable situation is the doing of more than one person?"
"Oh, yes--undoubtedly," Vance returned readily. "Far too many diverse activities for just one. A certain co-ordination was needed--and one person cannot be in two different places at the same time, don't y' know. Oh, undoubtedly more than one person. One lured the gentleman away from the house; another--possibly two--took care of the chappie at the place appointed by the first; and I rather think it more than likely there was at least another who arranged the elaborate setting in Kaspar's room--but this is not necess'rily correct, as any one of the three might have returned for the stage setting and been the person that Mrs. Kenting heard in the bedroom."
"I see what you mean." Markham nodded laboriously. "You're thinking of the two men whom McLaughlin saw in the car in the street here this morning."
"Oh, yes. Quite." Vance's response was spoken casually. "They fit into the picture nicely. But neither of them was a small man, and I doubt if either of them was the ladder-climber in the smallish Chinese sandals. Considerable evidence against that conclusion. That is why I say I'm inclined to think that there may have been still another helper who attended to the details of the boudoir setting--makin' four in all."
"But, good heavens!" argued Markham; "if there were several persons involved in the affair, it may be just another gang kidnapping, after all."
"It's always possible, of course, despite the contr'ry indications," Vance returned. "However, Markham, although I have said that there were undoubtedly several persons taking part in the execution of the plot, I am thoroughly convinced there is only a single mind at work on the case--the main organizing culprit, so to speak--some one who merely secured the necess'ry help--what the newspapers amusingly designate as a master-mind. And the person who planned and manipulated this whole distressin' affair is some one who is quite intimately au courant with the conditions in the Kenting house here. The various episodes have dovetailed together far too neatly to have been managed by an outsider. And really, y' know, I hardly think that the Purple House harbors, or is in any way related to, a professional kidnapper."
Markham shook his head skeptically.
"Granting," he said, "for the sake of hypothesis, that you are correct so far, what could have been the motive for such a dastardly act by any one who was close to Kaspar?"
"Money--unquestionably money," Vance ventured. "The exact amount named in the pretty little kindergarten paste-and-paper note attached to the window-sill. . . . Oh, yes; that was a very significant item. Some one wishes the money immediately. It is urgently needed. I rather think a genuine kidnapper--and especially a gang of kidnappers operating for themselves--would not have been so hasty in stating the exact sum, but would have let that little detail wait until a satisfact'ry contact was established and negotiations were definitely under way. And of course, if it had really been Kaspar who had abducted himself for the sake of the gain, the note could be easily understood; but once we eliminate Kaspar as the author of this crime, then we are confronted with the necessity of evolving an entirely new interpretation of the facts. The crime then becomes one of desperation and immediacy, with the money as an imperative desideratum."
"I am not so sure you are right this time, Vance," said Markham seriously.
Vance sighed.
"Neither am I, Markham old dear." He went to the door and opened it. "Let's move along." And he walked up the hall.
Vance stopped at the drawing-room door, bade the occupants a brief farewell; and a minute later we were descending the outside steps of the house into the noonday sunshine of the street.
We entered the District Attorney's car and drove toward Central Park. When we had almost reached the corner of Central Park West, Vance leaned forward suddenly and, tapping the chauffeur on the shoulder, requested him to stop at the entrance to the Nottingham Hotel which we were just passing.
"Really, y' know, Markham," he said as he stepped out of the car, "I think it might be just as well if we paid a little visit to the as-yet-unknown Mr. Quaggy. Queer name--what? He was the last person known to have been with young Kaspar. He's a gentleman of means and a gentleman of leisure, as well as a gentleman of nocturnal habits. He may be at home, don't y' know. . . . But I think we'd better go directly to his apartment without apprising him of the visit by being announced." He turned to Heath. "I am sure you can manage that, Sergeant,--unless you forgot to bring your pretty gilt badge with you this morning."
Heath snorted.
"Sure, we'll go right to his rooms, if that's what you want, Mr. Vance. Don't you worry about that. This ain't the first time I've had to handle these babies in a hotel."
Heath was as good as his word. We had no difficulty in obtaining the number of Quaggy's apartment and being taken up in the elevator without an announcement.
In answer to our ringing, the door was opened by a generously proportioned colored woman, in a Hoover apron and an old stocking tied round her head.
"We want to see Mr. Quaggy." Heath's manner was as intimidating as it was curt.
The negress looked frightened.
"I don't think Mr. Quaggy--" she began in a tremulous voice.
"Never mind what you think, Aunt Jemima." Heath cut her short. "Is your boss here, or isn't he?" He flashed his badge. "We're from the police."
"Yes, sir; yes, sir. He's here." The woman was completely cowed by this time. "He's in the sittin'-room, over yonder."
The Sergeant brushed past her to the archway at the end of the foyer, toward which she waved her arm. Markham, Vance and I followed him.
The room into which we stepped was comfortably and expensively furnished, differing little from the conventional exclusive hotel-apartment living-room. There was a mahogany cellarette near a built-in modern fireplace, comfortable overstuffed chairs covered with brocaded satin that was almost colorless, a baby grand piano in one corner, two parchment-shaded table-lamps with green pottery bases, and a small glass-doored Tudor bookcase filled with colorful assorted volumes. At the front end of the room were two windows facing on the street, hung with heavy velour drapes and topped with scrolled-metal cornices.
As we entered, a haggard, dissipated-looking man of about forty rose from a low lounging chair in one corner of the room. He seemed both surprised and resentful at our intrusion. He was an attractive man, with finely chiseled features, but not a man whom one could call handsome. He was unmistakably the gambler type--that is, the type one sees habitually at gaming houses and the race-track. There was weariness and pallor in his face that morning, and his eyelids were œdematous and drawn down at the corners, like those of a man suffering with Bright's disease. He was still in evening clothes, and his linen was the worse for wear. He wore patent leather pumps which showed distinct traces of dried mud. Before he could speak Vance addressed him courteously.
"Forgive our unceremonious entry. You're Mr. Porter Quaggy, I believe?" The man's eyes became cold.
"What if I am?" he demanded. "I don't understand why you--"
"You will in a moment, sir," Vance broke in ingratiatingly. And he introduced himself, as well as Markham and Heath and me. "We have just come from the Kentings' down the street," he went on. "A calamity took place there early this morning, and we understand from Mrs. Kaspar Kenting that Mr. Kenting was with you last night."
Quaggy's eyes narrowed to mere slits. "Has anything happened to Kaspar?" he asked. He turned to the cellarette and poured himself a generous drink of whiskey. He gulped it down and repeated his question.
"We'll get to that later," Vance replied. "Tell me, what time did you and Mr. Kenting get home last night?"
"Who said I was with him when he came home?" The
man was obviously on his guard.
"Mrs. Kenting informed us that you and her husband went together to the opening of a casino in Jersey last night, and that Mr. Kenting returned somewhere around three o'clock in the morning. Is that correct?"
The man hesitated.
"Even if it is true, what of it?" he asked after a moment.
"Nothing--really nothing of any importance," murmured Vance. "Just lookin' for information. I note you're still bedecked in your evenin' togs. And your pumps are a bit muddy. It hasn't rained since yesterday, don't y' know. Offhand, I'd say you'd been sittin' up all night."
"Isn't that my privilege?" grumbled the other.
"I think you'd better do some straight talking, Mr. Quaggy," put in Markham angrily. "We're investigating a crime, and we haven't time to waste. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble, too. Unless, of course, you're afraid of implicating yourself. In that event, I'll allow you time to communicate with your attorney."
"Attorney hell!" snapped Quaggy. "I don't need any lawyers. I've nothing to be afraid of, and I'll speak for myself. . . . Yes, I went with Kaspar last night to the new casino in Paterson, and we got back, as Mrs. Kenting says, around three o'clock--"
"Did you go to the Kenting house with Mr. Kenting?" asked Vance.
"No; our cab came down Central Park West, and I got out here. I wish now I had gone with him. He asked me to--said he was worried as the devil about something, and wanted to put me up for the night. I thought he was stewed, and didn't pay any attention to him. But after he had gone on, I got to thinking about what he'd said--he's always getting into trouble of one kind or another--and I walked down there about an hour later. But everything seemed all right. There was a light in Kaspar's room, and I merely figured he hadn't gone to bed yet. So I decided not to disturb him."
Vance nodded understandingly.
"Did you, by any chance, step into the side yard?"
"Just inside the gate," the other admitted.
"Was the side window of his room open? And was the blind up?"
"The window might have been open or shut, but the blind was down. I'm sure of that because the light was coming from around the edges."
"Did you see a ladder anywhere in the court?"
"A ladder? No, there was no ladder. What would a ladder be doing there?"
"Did you remain there long, Mr. Quaggy?"
"No. I came back here and had a drink."
"But you didn't go to bed, I notice."
"It's every man's privilege to sit up if he wants to, isn't it?" Quaggy asked coldly. "The truth is, I began to worry about Kaspar. He was in a hell of a mood last night--all steamed up. I never saw him just that way before. To tell you the truth, I half expected something to happen to him. That's why I went down to the house."
"Was it only Mr. Kaspar Kenting that you were thinking about?" Vance inquired with a shrewd, fixed look. "I understand you're a close friend of the family and are very highly regarded by Mrs. Kenting."
"Glad to know it," muttered the man, meeting Vance's gaze squarely. "Madelaine is a very fine woman, and I should hate to see anything happen to her."
"Thanks awfully for the information," murmured Vance. "I think I see your point of view perfectly. Well, your premonitions were quite accurate. Something did happen to the young gentleman, and Mrs. Kenting is frightfully distressed."
"Is he all right?" asked Quaggy quickly.
"We're not sure yet. The fact is, Mr. Quaggy, your companion of yestereve has disappeared--superficial indications pointin' to abduction."
"The hell you say!" The man showed remarkable control and spoke without change of expression.
"Oh, yes--quite," Vance said disinterestedly.
Quaggy went to the cellarette again and poured himself another drink of whiskey. He offered the bottle to us all in general, and getting no response from us, replaced it on the stand.
"When did this happen?" he asked between swallows of the whiskey.
"Oh, early this morning some time," Vance informed him. "That's why we're here. Thought maybe you could give us an idea or two."
Quaggy finished the remainder of his glass of whiskey.
"Sorry, I can't help you," he said as he put down the glass. "I've told you everything I know."
"That's frightfully good of you," said Vance indifferently. "We may want to talk to you later, however."
"That's all right with me." The man turned, without looking up from the liquor stand. "Ask me whatever you want whenever you damn please. But it won't get you anywhere, for I've already told you all I know."
"Perhaps you'll recall an additional item or two when you are rested."
"If you mean when I'm sober, why don't you say so?" Quaggy asked with annoyance.
"No, no, Mr. Quaggy. Oh, no. I think you're far too shrewd and cautious a man to permit yourself the questionable luxury of inebriety. Clear head always essential, don't y' know. Helps no end in figuring percentages quickly."
Vance was at the archway now, and I was just behind him. Markham and Heath had already preceded us. Vance paused for a moment and looked down at a small conventional desk which stood near the entrance. Quickly he adjusted his monocle and scrutinized the desk. On it lay a crumpled piece of tissue paper in the centre of which reposed two perfectly matched dark stones, with a remarkable play of color in them--a pair of black opals!
When we were back in the car and headed downtown, Markham, after a minute or two spent in getting his cigar going, said:
"Too many factors seem to counteract your original theory, Vance. If this affair was plotted so carefully to be carried out at a certain time, how do you account for the fact that Kaspar seemed to have a definite premonition of something dire and unforeseen happening to him?"
"Premonition?" Vance smiled slightly. "I'm afraid you're waxing esoteric, old dear. After Hannix's threat and after, perhaps, a bit of pressure thrown in by the other gentleman to whom he owed money, Kaspar was naturally in a sensitive and worried state of mind. He took their blustering, but harmless, talk too seriously. Suffered from fright and craved the comfort of company. Probably why he went to the casino--trying to put his despondency out of mind. With the threats of the two creditors uppermost in his consciousness, he used them as an argument with both his brother and Fleel. And his invitin' Quaggy home with him was merely part of this perturbation. Simple. Very simple."
"You're still stubborn enough to believe it had nothing to do with the facts of the case?" asked Markham irritably.
"Oh, yes, yes--quite," Vance replied cheerfully. "I can't see that his psychic warnings had anything whatsoever to do with what actually befell him later. . . . By the by, Markham,"--Vance changed the subject--"there were two rather amazin' black opals on the desk in Quaggy's apartment. Noticed them as I was going out."
"What's that!" Markham turned in surprise. Then a look of understanding came into his eyes. "You think they came from the Kenting collection?"
"It's possible." Vance nodded slowly. "The collection was quite deficient in black opals when I gazed upon it. The few remainin' specimens were quite inferior. No self-respectin' connoisseur would have admitted them to his collection unless he already had more valuable ones to offset them. Those that Quaggy had were undoubtedly a pair of the finest specimens from New South Wales."
"That puts a different complexion on things," said Markham grudgingly. "How do you think Quaggy got hold of them?"
Vance shrugged.
"Ah! Who knows? Pertinent question. We might ask the gentleman sometime. . . ."
We continued downtown in silence.
CHAPTER VIII
ULTIMATUM
(Thursday, July 21; 10 a.m.)
The next morning, shortly before ten o'clock, Markham telephoned Vance at his apartment, and I answered.
"Tell Vance," came the District Attorney's peremptory voice, "I think he'd better come down to my office at once. Fleel is here, and I'll keep him engaged till Vance arrives."
I repeated the mess
age to Vance while I still held the receiver to my ear, and he nodded his head in agreement.
A few minutes later, as we were about to leave the house, he became unduly serious.
"Van, it may have happened already," he murmured, "though I really didn't expect it so soon. Thought we'd have at least a day or two before the next move was made. However, we shall soon know."
We arrived at Markham's office a half-hour later. Vance did not go to the secretary in the reception-room of the District Attorney's suite in the old Criminal Courts Building, but through the private side door which led from the corridor into Markham's spacious sanctum.
Markham was seated at his desk, looking decidedly troubled; and in a large upholstered chair before him sat Fleel.
After casual greetings Markham announced: "The instructions promised in the ransom note have been received. A note came in Mr. Fleel's mail this morning, and he brought it directly to me. I hardly know what to make of it, or how to advise him. But you seemed to have ideas about the case which you would not divulge. And I think, therefore, you ought to see this note immediately, as it is obvious something must be done about it at once." He picked up the small sheet of paper before him and held it out to Vance. It was a piece of ruled note-paper, folded twice. The quality was of a very cheap, coarse nature, such as comes in thick tablets which can be bought for a trifle at any stationer's. The writing on it was in pencil, in an obviously disguised handwriting. Half of the letters were printed, and whether it was the composition of an illiterate person, or purposely designed to give the impression of ignorance on the writer's part, I could not tell as I looked at it over Vance's shoulder.
"I say, let's see the envelope," Vance requested. "That's rather important, don't y' know."
Markham shot him a shrewd look and handed him a stamped envelope, of no better quality than the paper, which had been slit neatly across the top. The postmark showed that the note had passed through the post-office the previous afternoon at five o'clock from the Westchester Station.
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