by Helen Wells
Cherry did not stay to hear what Mac would say. She went back to the kitchen to ask Vernie for a bite of breakfast. Considering what the next few hours could bring, she would need some nourishment. She remembered to telephone Dr. Lowell to ask for time off. He answered kindly, saying that since the entire camp, except for a few staff members, was going to the circus, Cherry could take as much time as she needed.
“Just be back by suppertime because Jan and I
expect some upset stomachs from too much hot dogs and popcorn.”
She had barely hung up when a siren wailed somewhere down the road. It rapidly came nearer. In minutes the car which had once frightened Mac Cook away pulled into the Eplers’ yard. Mac and Fred went out together to speak to Sergeant Braun of the state police. Two troopers, armed, were with him.
CHAPTER XIII
Tall Man’s Island
SERGEANT BRAUN WAS A BIG MAN IN A SMART UNIFORM, an older man, who knew this country well. Cherry saw at once that he and his two officers who had come so swiftly would be more than a match for a city man like Purdy, even in the wooded fastness of Tall Man’s Island.
But finding Purdy was not the main problem. Even finding the steel box and the money was not enough. What they must do, said Sergeant Braun after Mac and Fred explained the situation to him, was to take Purdy together with the box and money, which was evidence. Failing that (for Purdy might be desperate enough to throw box and money into the deep water currents around Tall Man’s Island), they must somehow draw from Purdy a statement of his guilt.
Sergeant Braun paused in his explanation and asked to use the telephone. Vernie showed him where it was, and presently Cherry heard his clipped words instructing someone to “get it on the trailer and get it over here. On the double!”
Cherry wondered what piece of equipment Braun had sent for, but he didn’t enlighten them. Instead, he continued with the line of thought which had been interrupted by his phone call.
“He won’t be in any hurry to confess,” the sergeant said. “He surely won’t talk if he sees police around. I figure it’s going to be up to somebody else.”
He eyed Mac Cook speculatively, as if in doubt about him. Then the trooper considered Cherry.
“I believe we’ll need you, Miss Ames,” he said. “And you, Cook. Maybe this photographer fellow will be so provoked to see you that he will blurt out something.”
Fred Epler volunteered to go along to the island. But Sergeant Braun said he’d rather Epler stayed with one of the two other troopers in the vicinity of Purdy’s house and barn.
“He might grab his car and try to make a getaway. First, we’ll check the barn.”
At Sergeant Braun’s order the two troopers went to Purdy’s place to search the house, garage, and barn. They would break locks if necessary.
After a short wait, Trooper Miller returned. “We made a quick search, sir. Nothing of interest in Purdy’s house or garage. All we found in the barn was a lot of old costumes and junk furniture. Wilkes stayed there.”
“Right. The interesting stuff is on Tall Man’s Island, then.”
“Hadn’t we better hurry up?” Mac asked anxiously.
“We’ll go soon enough,” Sergeant Braun told him, “and you watch your step, Cook. Remember you’re wanted for robbery. Until Purdy confesses, you’re still suspect.”
Mac looked miserably at his brother and sister-in-law and Cherry. None of them could speak encouragement to him, not with any honesty.
“All right, Epler. Take up your post with Wilkes on Purdy’s premises. Keep well out of sight. Oh, but first, let us borrow a shovel.”
Fred got the shovel, then went off, obviously against Vernie’s wishes. Sergeant Braun led Cherry, Mac, and the other trooper, Miller, down to the lake and through the wide margin of greenery at its edge. Then Cherry knew what he’d telephoned for.
A speedboat and driver in plain clothes were waiting there. Cherry had never seen the boat before, nor had Mac, judging by his expression.
“She can make thirty, thirty-five miles an hour or better,” Sergeant Braun said. “Purdy is rowing, he’s got a bad foot, and it was still raining early this morning. Made it too dim to see … Fog lying on the lake. Purdy wouldn’t have dared to start until about six, more likely seven. I figure we’ll still beat him to the island.”
Once in the speedboat, they started off with a lurch which nearly threw Cherry into the water. The boat cut across the water like a knife, hurled at a speed which put Camp Blue Water in back of them in seconds. Camp Thunder Cliff seemed to streak past. Spray rose up so furiously that their garments got damp, and Cherry’s hair whipped across her face.
Before long, up ahead, they saw a lone gray figure rowing along.
“Orders, sir?” called the driver.
“Bypass him!” Sergeant Braun called back. “Let’s surprise him if we can.” The sergeant motioned Cherry and Mac to crouch, as he did himself, so that Purdy would not recognize any of them as they swept past.
One minute, and they roared past the plodding rowboat. The driver took care, as Tall Man’s Island hove into view, to keep going, to feint as if the noisy speedboat had some other destination.
But once around the island’s curve, the driver cut the boat’s speed, thus reducing the motor sound to a quiet put-put. Cherry directed him up to the island shore a bit further than the spot where Purdy had moored his rowboat yesterday—and might, with luck, moor it again today. They secured the speedboat and climbed out.
Now their search began. Sergeant Braun ordered the driver of the speedboat to stay in the boat, out of sight under spreading branches, and keep an eye on the man in the rowboat. That was in case Purdy should try to escape or bypass them on the water.
“All right, miss. Show us what you found.”
Cherry led Sergeant Braun, Trooper Miller, and Mac Cook to the area where, last evening, Purdy had been hiding. She showed them also the remains of the doused fire, and then, close to the shore line, the place of the sparks.
“All right,” said Sergeant Braun. “Be quick and be quiet. Purdy will be here in a few minutes.”
All of them started a close search. Cherry poked deep into the bushes where Purdy’s hand had shown. She could not see anything but she nearly cut her own hand on a sharp, jagged edge.
“Sergeant Braun! I think I’ve found something!”
“Don’t disturb any fingerprints, anybody,” Braun cautioned.
The sergeant pulled a large, clean handkerchief out of his pocket, parted the bushes down to their roots, bent over, and came up with a crumpled steel box. Part of the lid and side was torn or, rather, burned away.
“Here it is,” Sergeant Braun said with satisfaction. “The cashbox. Notice how the combination lock still holds?”
Punctured in several places, and badly battered, the reinforced steel box showed how hard Purdy must have worked over it. Cherry figured that he must have finished the job only shortly before she and Reed arrived last night, and had made a fire to prepare his supper when they surprised him. What had he intended to do next? And would it still matter now?
The steel box was empty.
Mac looked up at it. He was kneeling on the ground, struggling to reach his arm inside a large hollow log. Grunting that the log had been masked with freshly broken branches, Mac rolled flat on the ground, poking into it.
“I think he’s shoved the torch in here,” Mac panted. “You want to take over, Miller?”
Three minutes’ probing, and out came the acetylene torch. Miller said he recognized it as belonging to the village garage. Purdy, in his ignorance of tools, had all but wrecked it.
But where was the cash? Cherry recalled the giant tree where Reed had noticed freshly turned earth. She showed the place to Trooper Miller. He dug, to no avail. They searched in the bushes and among roots of trees. Miller climbed several trees whose trunk and branches could form a cradle for a bundle. But they did not find anything.
“Maybe Purdy carried the money away
on his person last night,” Sergeant Braun suggested.
“I doubt it,” Cherry said. “Dr. Lowell examined him at the infirmary, and I’m sure he would have noticed.”
“Well, then,” the trooper said, “here’s how we’ll handle this. I want you, Miss Ames, and you, Cook—” For several minutes Sergeant Braun outlined his plans as to what part each should play.
Suddenly Mac said, “I hear Pep landing!”
Sergeant Braun motioned for silence. He signaled Miller to take the steel box and the acetylene torch, using handkerchiefs. Then he motioned Cherry and Mac to stay but conceal themselves, where they were. They knew what they had to do. He and Miller withdrew some yards behind them, out of sight and with guns drawn.
Cherry’s knees were so shaky that she sat down on the log. A glance at Mac made her put aside her own fear. The whole of his future was at stake, depending on what Purdy did next—and Purdy was an exceedingly clever man. Mac tried to smile at her as they heard the man’s steps coming through the crackling underbrush. From behind a screen of leaves they could see but not be seen.
Purdy emerged into full view. He carried a small overnight case and the by now familiar raincoat. Heading perilously close to the log where Cherry sat, Purdy moved past her to a giant tree and on to a patch of tall grass. There he put his suitcase and raincoat. Cherry, watching him, scarcely dared breathe.
Purdy tugged at a rock. It gave, and he burrowed. Apparently an animal had dug an underground lair there. In a few seconds Purdy’s hands were full of bundles of green bills. A sharp snap of the suitcase’s locks—
“I see you, Purdy!” Mac shouted. His fear was gone, and he was furiously angry.
Mac came bounding out of his hiding place, and, as he pushed aside the branches, exposed Cherry. She jumped to her feet.
Purdy was so astounded he stood stock still. His eyes moved slowly from Mac to Cherry, back to Mac again. Though he changed color, Purdy did not lose his composure. Cherry stood there, fascinated. For the first time she saw Mac Cook and Purdy together, and saw that they were exactly the same height. Yes, the raincoat, the mask, a hat pulled low, the phrase, “Great balls of fire!” and in a dim hall who would not mistake one man for the other?
“Well! So it’s Jack Waldron. I am not surprised,” said Purdy calmly, sardonically. “When I saw you on the road last night, I figured you had come for your share of the take. What have you done to your hair? It looks ridiculous!”
“Never mind my hair! And I’m not here to profit by what you’ve—”
“Now listen to me, Jack. The deed is done. The money is here. It’s too bad you’re blamed for it, but if you had been smart enough to come in with me in the first place—Remember I asked you?”
Mac shouted that he didn’t want “anything to do with stolen money—then or now!”
“You’re a fool,” Purdy said scornfully. “Be reasonable. I’ll give you half the money, you’ll serve a short sentence—after all, I took the risks of doing the job! Then, after that, you’ll be a free man, and pretty well heeled, too.” Purdy added slyly, “Isn’t this arrangement what you wanted all along? Only you left the initiative up to me?”
Cherry realized with a start that Purdy might to some degree frame Mac yet. “Stop lying!” she exclaimed. “You can’t drag Mac—Waldron—into a crime you did alone.”
“And what’s it to you?” Purdy stared boldly at Cherry. It was clear that possession of the money made him cocky. “Ah, I see how it is. You are my little neighbor who kept watch on my movements—I daresay it was you who raided my barn? Then you reported to Jack Waldron. You have a little plan? But”—Purdy’s voice grew deadly—“neither of you is as smart as you think you are.”
Mac was in a rage, and incoherent. But Cherry knew she had to keep her head. She wondered anxiously why Braun and Miller did not close in. What were they waiting for?
“Come now, Jack, and you, too, Miss Nurse,” Purdy went on. “Somehow I can never quite remember your name—How would you like, say, a thousand dollars apiece? To help you forget you have seen me here.”
Cherry was all for playing along with him and pretending, for safety’s sake, to accept the bribe. But Mac, who was still not formally cleared, would not even pretend.
“Two thousand,” said Purdy. “No? Then how much, Jack?”
“Not at any price. I’ve told you that before.”
Purdy put his hands in his pockets. “That is really too bad. If you’d make a reasonable deal with me, I could let you go. I could afford to be generous—but you both are fools. As it is”—Purdy’s face was evil—”you’ll never live to tell the story.”
He drew a revolver from his pocket.
“You—you don’t dare use that,” Mac said. “You don’t want to be charged with murder, do you?”
Faintly, almost as if she were imagining it, Cherry heard the slightest of leaf sounds behind her. She hoped it was Braun and Miller. It had to be. She and Mac could not wait many minutes longer. Not with that gun cocked in Purdy’s hand.
“Of course I would use it,” Purdy said to Mac. “As for a murder charge, I can leave the country immediately. It will take time to find your bodies on this island—or, if I choose, by dragging Long Lake.”
“You’d be caught,” said Cherry.
She was certain about the sounds now. The two men were inching forward. But where she stood, she could be caught in cross fire. The state police officers must know this, they must be trying to avoid gunfire on either side—
“I am bored with arguing with you,” said Purdy. He lovingly patted the suitcase. “And who says it is murder? I could quite easily plead self-defense. And—”
Without warning, Miller sneaked up behind Purdy and seized him. Purdy tilted backward, completely taken by surprise.
“Drop that gun!”
With Miller’s arms like a vise around him, and Braun now in front of him holding a gun, Purdy had no choice, Cherry thought, but to drop his revolver.
Instead, Purdy fired.
The shot went wild, digging into the earth. Sergeant Braun remarked, “You want that money awful badly, don’t you, Purdy?”
The sergeant ordered Miller to put handcuffs on Purdy, then he turned around to speak to Mac.
“I think you’re in the clear now, son, and you can thank your nurse friend for it. All right, now, Purdy. We’ll take you back to my office. You can make your statement there.”
Purdy was beaten enough to make his confession in the boat. Riding back to the village at an easier speed, Cherry and Mac Cook heard what he had to say.
Purdy had been doing fairly well with his photography studio in New York City until a certain loan company bought the building where Purdy’s studio was located. They raised the rent to a figure he could not afford. Purdy was forced to move. In a crowded city he had a long, hard search to find a desirable location, and he never again did as well with his photography business. Some clients forgot him, and others simply would not seek him out at the new address. Only a few old customers came back. Purdy was failing. He felt that the loan company had ruined him. And he was vengeful.
Purdy conceived a plan whereby he thought he could kill two birds with one stone—if he could steal from the loan company! That, in his distorted mind, would even the score, and restore his failing business. He needed a great deal of money. For even his country cottage, in these Pennsylvania mountains, was mortgaged and he was in danger of losing that too—a fact that nobody suspected. Purdy’s plan to rob the loan company and pay his debts grew into an obsession.
Purdy went to the loan company’s main office and “cased the joint”—that is, he learned the physical layout of the place, and where the cash was kept. In order to have an excuse to visit the office frequently, and learn all he needed to know, Purdy applied for a small loan. This the company reluctantly granted. Among other things Purdy observed during his visits were the loan company employees. He saw Jack Waldron—or Mac Cook—although he never spoke to this particular cash
ier.
It was a stroke of luck for Purdy to meet Jack Waldron—or Mac Cook—in the modest New York City restaurant where both ate their suppers. First, Purdy made very sure that Mac, who dealt with large numbers of clients, did not recognize him. Second, Purdy took care not to reveal his full name and address to Mac. He went to work to gain the young man’s friendship and confidence. Mac was lonely; it was easy.
In this way, during many evenings while they ate together, Purdy drew out from the unsuspecting Mac such information as where the bulk of the cash was kept, on what dates most clients came to make payments on their loans, and the habits of the staff people and the two women who had charge of the safe. Specifically, he learned that one always attended an afternoon executive meeting on the fifteenth and thirtieth of the month, or on the Friday preceding if these dates fell on Saturday or Sunday. He learned that the other woman usually took a break to powder her nose between four forty and four fifty. Thus Purdy knew the safe, open to receive clients’ payments, would be left unguarded for about ten minutes.
After learning this, Purdy made his proposal to Mac. When Mac refused, Purdy laughed it off—and thought he had nothing further to fear from Mac. He knew, of course, about Mac’s vacation plans; it gave him a perfect setup to impersonate Mac during the robbery and thus frame him.
The only flaw in Purdy’s plan was that he had expected the immense sums of cash to be lying loose in the compartments of the safe. Instead, the compartments held only papers. He figured, correctly, that the money he sought was in the locked steel box in the upper-right compartment. This he took.
Unluckily for Purdy, when he carried the locked steel box back to his studio, he was unable to force open the combination lock. He cursed the stubborn, heavy metal chest when his efforts to pierce the reinforced steel with other tools proved futile.
News of the robbery broke in the papers, and though Purdy, anxiously reading four or five newspapers every day, did not see his name mentioned, still he began to feel afraid. At his wit’s end about how to open the box, and running short of money, he fled to his cottage in Pennsylvania. Here, at least, he felt he could work, unobserved and in less haste, on the box. He stored it in his locked barn. He had no idea that Mac Cook was in the neighborhood, nor that a quick-witted nurse at Camp Blue Water had caught on to the fact that something was afoot. He threw the mask into the lake, although he realized afterward that he could more easily have buried or burned it.
