For an instant the smug mask dropped from Chew's face. "You read the papers yourself, I believe," he snarled.
By this time the rest of us were so fed up with sensations that this had little effect. We were only disgusted. I wondered what Mme Storey made out of all these recriminations. For myself the fog only became thicker and thicker. It was clear that all three of them had had the will to kill the unfortunate old woman; but which had succeeded? And how?
The scene was interrupted by the entrance of a new character, who came pushing in, followed by three satellites. The room was already too crowded without them. Mr. Riordan introduced the newcomer.
"Mr. Walter Dockra, the Public Prosecutor."
He was a young man for the job; good-looking and very smartly turned out. He had a clever, forceful face, but, it seemed to me, was a little puffed up by the sense of his own importance. As a matter of fact, the enormous publicity that he foresaw in connection with this case completely turned his head. The very likable young man began to behave as you will see, like a second-rate actor in the part of district attorney. The three men he brought with him were typical small-town sleuths. Need I say more?
Fully aware of the value of a good entrance, he came to an abrupt stop in the centre of the room and looked at each one of us in turn with his compelling eye—hoping to see us quail, I suppose. When he came to Mme Storey he met with a check. She had attached herself to the Honourable Chew now. Mr. Dockra knew her at once and changed colour.
"Madame Storey!" he said, amazed. "Madame Rosika Storey! This is indeed unexpected!" There was a curious conflict of feelings in his face: admiration, respect, and a deep chagrin. He saw his precious publicity threatened by a figure which dwarfed his own.
The speaking of that famous name produced an electrical effect in the room. Every pair of eyes was turned on my mistress in wide astonishment. In especial, Rose La France, Oneto, and Mr. Chew looked at her in horror. One could see them casting frantically back in their minds to see if they had made any dangerous admissions to this terrible woman.
It must have annoyed Mme Storey thus to have her hand forced; but she took it in good part. "Very much at your service," she said, bowing to the prosecutor.
VI
I need not go into the first stages of Mr. Dockra's investigation, since nothing was brought out but what you already know. He asked the obvious questions to which he received the obvious replies. I may say that during this period Crider and Stephens, our two operatives, arrived from town, and were immediately dispatched by Mme Storey on different errands. I did not then know the nature of their errands. The prosecutor and his men had made a search of the two rooms. Mr. Dockra himself had examined the brass kettle with the greatest care. He put it down without comment, but I was aware thereafter that he was watching it as carefully as I was.
Half an hour later found five of us in Mrs. Marlin's room; to wit, Mrs. Marlin, Mme Storey, Mr. Dockra, one of the detectives who was acting as clerk to the prosecutor, and myself, who was taking notes for Mme Storey. I am sure that Mr. Dockra was none too pleased to have us present; it made him nervous to have Mme Storey sitting by, quietly watching; but he could not very well dismiss the famous psychologist. The others had been banished to the drawing room downstairs, where they sat, one may suppose, each in company with his secret thoughts. A policeman guarded the door of the room. The reporters were herded in another room.
It was Mrs. Marlin's turn to be interrogated. She sat at the foot of the bed facing the windows, her hands loosely clasped in her lap, pale and entirely composed. There was a curious look of indifference in her beautiful face, a remote look. One might have said that she secretly scorned us all. Mr. Dockra paced back and forth across the room, shooting out most of his questions sideways. Mme Storey lounged in an easy chair with her long legs crossed, taking everything in without appearing to.
"It is only fair to warn you," said Mr. Dockra, "that anything you say here may be used against you later."
My mistress sent me a glance of humorous despair. Oh, these clever men who will take the obvious view of a case and ignore the inner truth! Pride themselves on logic and refuse to listen to the still small voice of intuition. My mistress and I are continually up against that sort of thing, and will always be, I suppose. I think Mr. Dockra caught her look at me and was annoyed by it.
"I have nothing to conceal," said Mrs. Marlin proudly.
"How long have you been working for Mrs. Brager?"
"Three years."
"Was she a good mistress to you?"
"She paid me good wages."
"That is not what I mean. Was she kind to you?"
The hint of a smile flitted across Mrs. Marlin's face. "She meant to be."
"Be good enough to give me plain answers," he said in an annoyed way. "Is it not true that you were continually quarrelling with her?" (You will perceive by this that the Honourable Chew had had the prosecutor's ear.)
"Quarrelling, no!" said Mrs. Marlin. "She was always scolding me, if that is what you mean. It was just her way. It meant nothing."
"Just her way?" sneered Mr. Dockra. "Do you mean to say she scolded all the inmates of the household: Mr. Chew, Madame La France, Mr. Oneto?"
"Oh, no," said Mrs. Marlin simply. "She was afraid of them."
He smiled in a superior way, and I saw a spark of annoyance appear in Mme Storey's eyes.
"Sound psychology, Mr. Dockra," she murmured.
He bowed in a manner that suggested she was entirely mistaken, but he was too much of a gentleman to question a beautiful lady's statement.
"What did she scold you about?" he next asked.
"Everything," said Mrs. Marlin. "The principal trouble was over the bills. Mrs. Brager always refused to make me a regular allowance to run the house on; consequently, at the end of the month there was a row over almost every item of every bill."
"Were the bills excessive?"
Again the slight smile in Mrs. Marlin's face. "I was required to keep the expenses within three hundred dollars a month. You would hardly call that excessive at the present prices of everything."
"Had Mrs. Brager ever discovered any irregularities in the bills?"
"No."
"Then what was the trouble about?"
"It was Mrs. Brager's peculiarity that she could not pay out a dollar without agonizing over it."
"You are accusing your mistress of being miserly."
"Surely that is notorious," said Mrs. Marlin quietly.
"Then how did you succeed in getting good wages out of her?"
"I made myself indispensable to her," said the young woman proudly. "Before I came she had had twelve housekeepers in a year."
"And having made yourself indispensable, you brow-beat her into paying you good wages."
"That is not a question but a statement of your own," said Mrs. Marlin quietly. "It calls for no answer from me."
Mme Storey lowered her eyes to hide the glint of amusement. She loves to see a woman score off a cock-sure man, and so do I.
"Hm!" said Mr. Dockra. "Now, let us take up the question of these peculiar sleeping arrangements. How long is it since Mrs. Brager had the door from her room into the hall fastened up and a Yale lock put on this door?"
"About two years."
"Did the suggestion come from her or from you?"
"From her. I opposed it as long as I could. The arrangement destroyed what privacy I had in my own room."
"You and she had the only keys to that lock?"
"Yes."
"Your key has never been out of your possession?"
"Never. I pledged myself not to let it leave my person. Mrs. Brager gave me this thin chain from which I wear it suspended. She kept hers on a similar chain, which is still around her neck."
"But the spring lock could be caught back, of course. Was that ever done?"
"Never."
"I understand that you were the last person to see Mrs. Brager alive. Please describe the circumstances."
> "At seven o'clock this morning I carried a cup of tea and a biscuit in to her, according to custom. She would not allow the maid to enter her room at that hour. She told me she felt unwell and would not get up until lunch time."
"What was the nature of her indisposition?"
"I did not inquire."
"Why didn't you?"
"From the way she spoke, I gathered that it was merely an excuse to avoid seeing Mr. Riordan, with whom she had an appointment at eleven."
"As far as you could see she was quite well, then."
"Quite well."
"You noticed nothing unusual about her, about the room."
"Nothing."
"Were the birds singing?"
"No. The sun was not up."
"Hm! Then what did you do?"
"I dressed and went down to breakfast. Afterward I swept and dusted the drawing room, according to custom. At quarter to nine I went down town to do my marketing."
"What shops did you visit?"
Mrs. Marvin, with her faint smile, named them.
"What time did you get back?"
"A few minutes after ten."
"Did you come up to this room?"
"Yes, for a moment."
"Did you open that door?"
"No."
"Will you swear that you did not open that door?"
"Yes, when the proper time comes."
"Why didn't you open it?"
"There was no occasion to."
"Did you hear anything from that room?"
"No."
"Weren't the birds usually singing?"
Mrs. Marlin shrugged with a touch of impatience, "Oh, sometimes birds sing and sometimes they don't."
Mr. Dockra then took her over the scene of the discovery of the body, which I have already described to you. Nothing of moment was brought out.
"Had the lock been tampered with?" he asked.
"No."
"Did you notice a peculiar smell in the room?"
"No."
"Were the windows open?"
"No. Closed and locked. It was Mrs. Brager's custom."
"If the windows had been closed all night, did not the room have a close smell?"
"Not perceptibly. It is a very large room."
"Don't you see how damaging your own answers are to yourself?" said Mr. Dockra. "According to you Mrs. Brager was alive and well at seven o'clock and dead at eleven. And nobody but yourself could have got into the room in the meantime."
"Why should I have killed her?" asked Mrs. Marlin quietly. "I had everything to lose and nothing to gain by her death."
"We can see that now," said Mr. Dockra, "but you may have had expectations of something different."
"Mrs. Brager was continually telling me that I need expect nothing at her death."
Mr. Dockra permitted himself an incredulous smile.
"Madame Storey heard her," said Mrs. Marlin.
"Did you?" he asked of my mistress in surprise.
"Yes. Two days ago, on my first visit to Mrs. Brager, I heard her use these words to Mrs. Marlin: 'I warn you, miss; I warn you as I've warned you a hundred times before; you'd better take care of me if you know what's good for you, for you won't profit one cent by my death. Not one cent!'"
Mr. Dockra coughed in a disconcerted fashion. "Hm!—Ha!"
For fifteen minutes longer he kept after Mrs. Marlin, leading over the same ground, without succeeding in tripping her. She answered apparently without even stopping to think. Her indifferent air was exasperating to her questioner. I need not repeat all this, since nothing new was brought out.
The prosecutor was interrupted by another of his men, who whispered a communication in his ear.
"What! another lawyer?" said Dockra. "Well, bring him in."
A young man with a keen and resolute face entered briskly. He and Mr. Dockra were acquainted; rivals possibly. They exchanged curt nods.
"Well, Blick?" asked the prosecutor.
The newcomer wasted no time in beating around the bush. "I have a will," he said crisply, "drawn up by me at the request of Mrs. Brager and signed by her. Her instructions were that any time I should hear of her death I was instantly to proceed to her house and take charge."
"What is the date of this will?" asked Mr. Dockra.
"February tenth—one week ago."
"Ha!" cried Mr. Dockra; "let us hope that this is really the last one!" He held out his hand for it.
An uncomfortable premonition of the truth came to me. I waited on tenterhooks.
As Mr. Dockra read, his face became suffused with gratification. "Ha!" he cried again, in quite a different tone. "Just what I expected. Listen!" He read a single sentence: "'All the rest and residue of my estate I hereby devise and bequeath to my loyal friend and servant Mrs. Clare Marlin.'"
Mrs. Marlin leaped up with a cry of the purest surprise. "Oh! I never knew!"
Mr. Dockra smiled. I groaned inwardly. Not that I doubted the poor girl; the production of this latest will did not really alter the status of the case; but I foresaw what capital the logical male mind would make of it.
"Under what circumstances was this will made?" Mr. Dockra asked.
"Six times during the past two years," Mr. Blick answered, "Mrs. Brager has come to my office and instructed me to draw up a will of this nature, each time with a new date."
"When was the last time?" asked Mme Storey.
"Just before Christmas, Madame."
"And the time before that?"
"Somewhere around Thanksgiving."
"Then it is clear she always intended Mrs. Marlin should inherit," said my mistress. "The other wills were merely blinds."
"Quite so," said Mr. Dockra.
"I never knew!" cried Mrs. Marlin, like one stunned with surprise. The dawning gladness in her face was eloquent of the truth of her words; but that logical man refused to see it.
"Who came with Mrs. Brager to your office?" he asked.
"She was alone," replied Mr. Blick. "She always came alone."
"She pledged you to secrecy?"
"She did. She said nobody was to know about this will but herself, myself, and the beneficiary."
"The beneficiary, eh? Well, there you are!" cried Mr. Dockra, spreading out his hands.
"She never told me!" cried Mrs. Marlin.
"I am sorry, my dear Mrs. Marlin," said Mr. Dockra, delighted at having seemed to prove Mme Storey wrong, "but circumstances are against you. I shall have to detain you in custody for the present. You may wait in one of the rooms upstairs, where you will not be the subject of vulgar curiosity."
The poor girl, still dazed, was led away by a policeman. She glanced imploringly at Mme Storey and at me. We smiled at her encouragingly; it was all we could do.
When the door was opened the Hon. Shep Chew was to be seen hovering outside. He had evidently witnessed the coming of the new lawyer and was visibly tortured with anxiety to know what it portended. He stuck his head into the room.
"Can I be of any help?" he asked insinuatingly.
Mr. Dockra ignored him; to give him credit, he had no use for the slimy hypocrite. It was my mistress who, with her most winning smile, invited him in.
"Another will has turned up," she said, "post-dating yours. It leaves practically everything to Mrs. Marlin."
You should have seen his face!
"Unfortunately," Mme Storey went on, "there are some very unpleasant circumstances—very unpleasant circumstances..."
A crazy hope sprang up in his eyes. Naturally, if Mrs. Marlin could be proved to be guilty of the death of Mrs. Brager, her will would be set aside and his be good. "Of course," he said eagerly, "none of the rest of us ever doubted who did it!"
"But how?" murmured Mme Storey as if more to herself than to him.
"Haven't you brought out the facts about clarium gas?" he asked.
"What is that?" asked the prosecutor sharply.
"Dr. Sanford Brill's discovery. He has produced a gas which is instantly fatal
to all breathing creatures. They wanted Mrs. Brager to finance him. He came here only yesterday, and gave her a demonstration. She turned him down."
"Ha!" cried Mr. Dockra. "Let this Dr. Brill be brought here immediately," he said to his clerk. "And if he is giving demonstrations of his gas, let him be prepared to give me a demonstration."
VII
Dr. Brill was that unusual type, the stalwart young scientist, a man of intellect and muscle. I could readily understand how Mrs. Marlin had fallen in love with him. He had a handsome head, covered with tousled, shining black hair, and deep, brooding gray eyes. His look was at once open, thoughtful, and manly. What was more, the carelessness of his dress suggested that he needed a woman to look after his clothes and to see that he was properly fed. He had not the least notion of how attractive he was.
Such a man, buried in his laboratory, would be the last to hear a piece of news. He was shocked beyond measure to hear of Mrs. Brager's death, and demanded to be allowed to see Mrs. Marlin. When this was refused him, when he understood that Mrs. Marlin was suspected of having had a hand in it, his amazement turned to anger, and I thought we were going to have a fight on our hands.
"What nonsense!" he cried. "How could she have done such a thing?"
"By means of clarium gas," suggested Mr. Dockra, watching him.
All the anger suddenly went out of Dr. Brill. He paled and his eyes widened; he became very quiet. The prosecutor, of course, did not fail to mark these evidences of an inward dismay. A man like Dockra, I may say, the clever, ambitious opportunist, was perfectly incapable of understanding one of Dr. Brill's type; consequently, he disliked him at sight, though he was careful to preserve the outward forms of courtesy.
We had Dr. Brill into Mrs. Marlin's room, and the investigation proceeded.
"Please tell me about this clarium gas," said Mr. Dockra.
"It is a discovery of mine," said Dr. Brill, "a gas lighter than hydrogen, lighter than helium, and which may be produced at a fraction of the price of helium."
"Poisonous, is it not?"
"Yes. That's the trouble with it."
MRS3 The Velvet Hand Page 26
