“Who’s Mike?”
“I’ll tell you about him in a minute. Get along with your story first.”
“Not much of a story. I didn’t last long enough to make it interesting.”
“Tell me about it, anyway.”
“Well—I heard you yell and half turned when Tony and another lad jumped me. You know what happened to Tony—”
“Yes, but the shot right afterward? Oh, Bill, I was scared silly they’d killed you! Whose gun was that?”
“Mine. I’d got my gat loose by that time and drilled him through the shoulder. It turned out later that he tripped over a log when he fell, came down with his leg under him and snapped the bone. When I learned the horrid truth, I wept!”
“I’ll bet you did! Couldn’t you break away then?”
“I could not. Several others had joined the rough-house by that time. For a while—not very long—we played a lively little game of tag, blind-man’s-buff, postoffice, dilly-dilly-come-and-be-killed, with me as dilly, until another chap jumped out of a Ford on to the middle of my back and rubbed my face in the cool, wet soil! At that bright moment old Limpy clinched these handcuffs on my wrists and read me a lecture on the error of my ways.
“He’s a physician when he isn’t bank-robbing, I think. Anyway, the gang call him ‘Doctor.’ He seems to be running the show. Not such a bad lad if he could be made over again. Tony, you must know, has developed an almost uncontrollable penchant for sheathing his pigsticker in my carcass once more. Strangely enough, I can’t see it Tony’s way. And fortunately for me, neither can the Doctor! Now, young lady, if you’re finished squeezing cold water into my sore eye, I’ll sing the doxology!”
Dorothy giggled. “Aren’t you funny! I don’t believe more than half of that tale is true. I’ll wager things were a whole lot worse than you’ve painted them, sir!”
“Well, you’ve proved to be a good little guesser quite often—what I’m interested in is what happened to you.”
Dorothy told him.
“Nice work!” Bill complimented her as she finished talking. “I know a few jiu jitsu holds, but you must be a wonder at it. It’s too bad Staten Island Sadie had to butt in and spoil your show. The more I see of that lady, the less I like her. She was in the woods when the gang jumped us—barged off in a huff later, because the Doc wouldn’t let her croak me then and there. She’s a nice little playmate. Every one of this gang is a cold-blooded thug—but she’s a fiend! But, to tell the honest truth, it’s our lame friend who worries me most.”
“Yes,” agreed Dorothy. “That suave manner of his gives me the creeps!”
“So sorry—” purred the Doctor’s voice directly behind them. “But if I were in your position, my young friends, I should undoubtedly be worried, too.”
Bill and Dorothy swung round to see him coming toward them. In his hand he carried a small, black bag.
“How is our invalid, nurse?” he inquired, feigning ignorance of their startled surprise, and placing his satchel on the table. “Those who live by the sword—but you are familiar with the quotation, I’m sure?”
Opening the bag, he produced bandages, adhesive tape, a pair of surgical scissors and a large tube of salve.
“Lay these out, so I can reach them easily, please,” he ordered as he unwrapped the temporary bandage Dorothy had bound about Bill’s leg.
“Ah! I see you have cleansed the wound, but it is safer to be more thorough. Hand me one of the swabs you will find wrapped in cellophane in the bag, please. Strange how the professional spirit will dominate—even though the patient’s life may not be a long one!” He glanced smilingly at Dorothy.
“Don’t tell me the knife was poisoned?” she cried in horror.
“Hardly anything so melodramatic, my dear. You don’t quite grasp my meaning.”
“He means,” said Bill grimly, “that after he has had the fun of patching me up, I’m to be taken for a ride. But don’t let him bluff you. He’s only trying to scare us.”
“Too much knowledge is dangerous at times—entirely too dangerous,” returned the lame man. “Hand me another swab, nurse. But you put it rather crudely, young man—and I am perfectly in earnest, I assure you.”
“Oh, you couldn’t do that!” Dorothy blenched and her hand shook as she passed him the swab.
“Well, you see, it is not entirely up to me,” he replied, carefully cleaning the wound. “The matter of your friend’s future, shall I say?—as well as your own, will have to be put to vote presently. Of course, if Miss Martinelli has her way—but why anticipate the unpleasant?”
To Dorothy’s surprise, Bill chuckled.
“They hang in this state, for murder,” he remarked coolly. “It’s a nasty death, I’ve heard. What’s more, Doctor, a man of your mentality does not deliberately stick his head into a noose!”
“Perhaps not, my young friend. But you forget that in order to prove murder, there must be a body—or bodies, as the case may be.” The Doctor looked up at Bill and smiled again.
CHAPTER XV
STATEN ISLAND SADIE HAS HER WAY
“I believe that I have done all that is necessary,” said the Doctor after a few minutes—“and I think the patient will be more comfortable now.” Then, with a sardonic gleam in his eye, he added, “Also, I have enjoyed our conversation very much!”
He walked to the sink where he washed his hands and dried them carefully on a clean towel.
“And so, if you young people are quite ready, we’ll adjourn for that voting contest I mentioned a little while ago.”
He motioned them to precede him, and brought up the rear with his bag as Dorothy helped Bill limp into the front room.
Politely, the Doctor placed chairs for them and bade them be seated. Never once had this black-eyed little man’s manner betokened anything but courteous consideration. But his suavity troubled Dorothy far more than bluster would have done. She sensed the venom behind his smooth tones, the purring growl of the tiger before it springs.
Dorothy knew she was losing her nerve. But she looked at Bill and smiled bravely as they sat down.
Bill smiled back at her then shifted his glance with hers to the table, where the members of the gang were seated. The little Doctor headed the board, the others at the side facing the room. Next to the lame man sat the red-haired girl; then came Mike, Tony, who was nursing his jaw, Johnny, the man who had fetched the wheelbarrow, and another whom Dorothy had not seen before. Tony, she fancied, had played the part of chauffeur at the bank.
Then Bill broke into the low-voiced conversation that was going on at the table.
“How about unlocking these handcuffs, Doctor?”
The Doctor shook his head. “No, no, my young friend. Even with your honorable wounds of combat, you are far too active for us to take any chances.”
“But what could I do? You are six to one, counting Miss Martinelli—and all armed,” insisted Bill. “These things are darned uncomfortable.”
Tony shot him a deadly glance. “I’m glad to hear it,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “You’ll be a lot more uncomfortable by the time I finish with you.”
“Shut up, you two!” snapped Sadie. “Now, Dad,” she went on in a different tone, addressing the Doctor, “let’s finish this business. We can’t sit here gabbing all night.”
“That’s what I say!” This from Johnny. “Bump off the pair of ’em—they know too much. Then we can divvy up and be on our way!”
“You forget that it is our custom to put such matters to vote,” interposed the Doctor. “Two of our company are upstairs and unable to attend. Also, another member is expected at any time now. Without his help our little coup would have been extremely difficult.”
“Chuck and Pete are too ill to vote,” argued Miss Martinelli. “As for Perkins—that sap is scared to death! I doubt if he shows up at all.”
“Oh, he wants his share,” declared the Doctor. “He’ll come. We shall give him five minutes—and then continue our business.”
He tap
ped a cigarette on the back of his gold case, struck a match and lounged back in his chair, inhaling the aromatic smoke with evident enjoyment.
Dorothy’s eyes met Bill’s in astonishment.
He smiled but said nothing.
It was interesting enough that Sadie should turn out to be the Doctor’s daughter. But the news that Harry Perkins, her father’s trusted lieutenant at the bank, was mixed up in this robbery was simply dumfounding to Dorothy. That was how things had been made easy for the gang—that was how they knew just when Mrs. Hamberfield’s necklace would be in her deposit box. And another thing—Perkins’ home was on the Marvin Ridge Road, just beyond the Mayo place where the Pen and Pencil Club were to meet! The Doctor had been coming from the Perkins’ house when she and Billy had met his car. And that explained the absence of road oil on the Packard’s tires!
Johnny’s voice interrupted her train of thought.
“How are we goin’ to make our getaway tonight with them two lads down and out upstairs?” he grumbled. “Our plan was to separate after we’d divvied up the loot—but them fellers can’t be moved.”
“Supposing you stay and look after them—” derided Sadie. “When we’ve made the divvy, as you call it, this bunch breaks up for the time being. We all go our own sweet ways. It’s a case of each for himself. If you want to stick here and nurse those boobs upstairs, nobody’s going to stop you.”
“Not me! I don’t know nothin’ about—”
“Then keep your mouth shut. Whatever we do, we’ll decide later on. How about the time, Dad?”
“Time’s up,” decided the Doctor with a glance at his watch. “We’ll wait no longer for Mr. Perkins. Now, concerning our two young friends who were so unwise as to join us tonight—what is your pleasure?”
“Bump them off, of course, as Johnny so prettily puts it,” yawned Sadie languidly. “I’ll attend to the job, if the rest of you are squeamish.”
“We will put it to vote,” announced the Doctor. “Those in favor will raise their right hands and say ‘aye’.”
Five hands, including his own, sprang into the air.
“Contraries, ‘no’.”
“No,” said Mike in a firm voice, holding up his right hand.
“The ayes have it,” declared the Doctor dispassionately.
“What’s the matter with you, Mike?” sneered Sadie. “Got a crush on the girl?”
“No,” retorted Mike. “Just trying to stop you from making an even bigger fool of yourself than you are usually!”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to pipe down, Mike.” The Doctor’s eyes gleamed balefully. “Sentence has been passed on Miss Dixon and Mr. Bolton—and that is all there is to it.”
“That’s where you’re dead wrong.”
“What do you mean? Don’t you realize that these two know too much about us to permit them to live?”
“Have I said they didn’t? But Sadie should not be allowed to be their executioner.”
“Oh—aren’t you considerate!” Sadie’s tone was pregnant with sarcasm. “Want the job yourself?”
“Not particularly—none of us should do it.”
“Who then, may I ask?”
“Why, Perkins, of course.”
“You’re crazy! He hasn’t the nerve.”
“Maybe not—make him do it anyway.”
It was the lame man’s turn to take a hand. “And why should Mr. Harry Perkins be so entrusted?”
“To keep his mouth shut.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand you.”
“And I didn’t think you could be so dense. Look here, Doctor. I haven’t been one of your crowd long, but I’d never have joined up at all if I’d known I was getting in with such a bunch of nitwits!”
“You are forgetting yourself, I think,” the Doctor’s tone was cutting.
“No. I ain’t. Listen—Perkins only came into this because he was up against it proper. How you found out he had speculated, first with his own money and then with the bank’s, is none of my affair. What I do know is that when Wall Street put him into a tight place, you put up the extra margin with his brokers upon an assurance from him that he would do—just what he’s done!”
“You are very well informed, Mike. And what then?”
“Just this: the bank has been robbed, but it was a crude job at best. Why the bulls haven’t fastened on Perkins already on account of that time-lock business, is beyond me. Then, for once in your long and successful career, you were careless, Doctor. You allowed your paternal feeling to out-weigh your natural caution. The result is that the cops got Sadie’s fingerprints and a description of you, of her and of Tony. I am simply bringing all this up to show you that we are not out of the mess yet—not by a long shot.”
“In other words, you think we have a fifty-fifty chance with the police?”
“Better than that, perhaps. I think, though, that if we do get nailed, we should stop Perkins from blabbing—and stop him effectually.”
“I see,” said Sadie. “Let him bump off the pair over there—then take him for a ride?”
“Be still, carissima!” Doctor Martinelli was interested. “I see what Mike is driving at. He fears that if things should by chance go wrongly, Harry Perkins would try to save his precious skin by turning state’s evidence. And that if he were forced to—er—place these two young people where they will do the least harm, Mr. Perkins will not be in a position himself to turn state’s evidence—that is, of course, should it become necessary. That is your reason for not voting with the rest of us?”
“It is, Doctor. Do you wish to vote on it again?”
“Not necessarily. I consider your plan adequate.”
“But why make the biggest mistake—of murdering us?” Bill entered the conversation.
Dorothy leaned toward him. “It’s no use, Bill,” she whispered steadily. “They’ve made up their minds—and you heard what the Doctor said in the other room!”
Bill did not attempt to reply, for Doctor Martinelli was speaking again.
“And why, in your opinion, are we making a mistake in putting you and Miss Dixon out of the running?” he inquired affably. “Take your time, young man, answer carefully. We are in no hurry—until Mr. Harry Perkins arrives.”
“He won’t arrive,” rejoined Bill. “The authorities have got him by this time.”
“Bluff!” shot out Sadie and turned fiercely on her father. “What’s the use of all this?” she cried. “It makes me sick. Why do you stand for it?”
“Because he knows Bill isn’t bluffing!” Dorothy’s raised voice silenced the woman. “We knew that you had been visiting Harry Perkins this evening, Doctor. And we passed word to the police on our way through New Canaan. The only reason you weren’t arrested on the way up is because they want to catch the whole gang together. If you hadn’t shown up here, the rest of your people might have got wise and left before the police could make arrangements to surround the place.”
“But, you see, my dear,” said the Doctor, “I wasn’t visiting Mr. Perkins this evening. I had just motored up from the Post Road, and—ah—points east, when I ran into you and your friend Bill.”
Dorothy laughed. “Oh, no, you hadn’t, Doctor. The road beyond Perkins’ place was freshly oiled. There was no sign of oil on your car.”
“She got you that time, Doc!” exclaimed Mike. “D’you mind saying why you were foolish enough to drop in on Perkins and put us up a tree this way?”
Doctor Martinelli was irritated. “Because the safest place to park that loot was in Perkins’ house,” he snapped, “and as he refused to bring it up here himself, I had to fetch it.”
“Then all I can say is that you and Sadie have made a pretty mess of things.”
“Is that so?” retorted the red-haired young woman. “Was it my fault that that fellow over there landed his plane on the lake? That was before the New Canaan deal. He had nothing at all to go on then!”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” broke in Bill. “Your
hair and those beach pajamas make a combination not easily forgotten. You wore them once too often, Miss Martinelli.”
“And you seem to forget,” added Dorothy, “that you’ve been fingerprinted both in this country and in England. The police know all about you and your father and Tony. They probably have the records of the rest of your gang. If anything happens to Bill or myself, you are bound to pay the penalty.”
“Say, Doc!” Johnny’s excited voice sounded shrilly, “I don’t like this—not a little bit I don’t. Tie up that pair and let’s vamoose. Them cops is likely to be here any minute. I’m tired of all this fool talk. Come on—this place is gettin’ too hot fer me!”
Mike got to his feet. “I don’t stir from this place until I get my share of the divvy,” he declared firmly. “What’s the matter with you, Johnny? If Doc lights out with the bag full of kale, it ain’t likely the rest of us will ever get what’s coming to us.”
“But I can’t afford to get pinched—” Johnny faltered. “Not after that Jersey City job, I can’t. It means the hot seat for me.” The gangster shivered and moistened his lips.
“It is my candid opinion that you are all exciting yourselves unnecessarily.” The Doctor’s voice betrayed no emotion whatsoever. “Miss Dixon and Mr. Bolton are clever young people—but not quite clever enough. They’re throwing a gigantic bluff to save their lives. The police won’t be here tonight. Why? Simply because if they knew anything about this house, we would have been raided long before this. Those two haven’t told the police or anyone else a thing about it. They wanted to pull off their job all by themselves!”
“And how, may I ask, do you figure that?” Bill endeavored to make his tone sarcastic.
“For this reason: if you had reported what you had learned—and guessed—the authorities would never have permitted you to come here tonight. And this proves it!”
There was a light step on the porch and Harry Perkins came in through the open door.
CHAPTER XVI
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WINE CELLAR
“Sorry to be so late,” greeted the bank’s cashier. “My car broke down. I’ve had to walk five miles, at least—” He broke off, catching sight of Dorothy and Bill for the first time.
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