“First of all, I want to find these girls’ names on the hotel register and see what names they are using. Then I want, if possible, to engage a room near theirs and listen for them all night. And third, I want you, or one of your assistants, Mr. Hayden, to be right there in readiness, in case they do anything tonight.”
“You haven’t evidence enough to convict them of the robberies at Stoddard House?” asked Mr. Hayden.
“Oh no. I may be entirely mistaken. It is only a clue I am going on. But I believe it is worth following up.”
“What do you say, Hayden?” inquired the manager.
“I’m glad to help,” replied the younger man. “I’ll be on duty tonight, anyhow, and I’d enjoy the investigation. Nothing is lost, even if nothing does happen.”
“Then let’s go have a look at the register,” suggested Mary Louise.
“Better send for it,” said the detective. “Arouse no suspicions.”
The book was brought to them, and Mary Louise looked carefully for the names of Pauline Brooks and Mary Green. But she did not find them. She did, however, find the name of Mary Jackson, and with it a name of Catherine Smith, both of whom had arrived that day and engaged a room together on the sixth floor.
“Those must be the girls,” she concluded. “Room 607. What’s the nearest room you can give me?”
The manager looked in his records.
“609 is moving out tonight. Would that be time enough—or do you want it now?”
“No, that’s plenty of time. And another thing, can you tell me where Mrs. Weinberger’s room is? I met her at Stoddard House, and she would be a sort of chaperon for me.”
“Her room is on the tenth floor,” was the reply: “1026.”
“Thanks. Then put me down for 609, and I’ll phone Mrs. Weinberger this afternoon. I’ll come back early this evening, and I’ll ask Mrs. Weinberger to meet me in one of the reception rooms. Then, could you come there too, Mr. Hayden?”
The man nodded, smiling. How correct this girl was about everything!
“Then I believe it’s all arranged,” said Mary Louise, rising. “I’ll go back to Stoddard House. And if you have a chance, Mr. Hayden, will you keep your eye on these girls we’re suspecting?”
“But I don’t know them,” he reminded her.
“I’d forgotten that! Well, let me describe them. Maybe if you visit the sixth floor, you will see them go in and out.”
She went on to tell him that Pauline Brooks—or Catherine Smith, as she called herself here—was a striking brunette, and that her companion, Mary Green—or Mary Jackson—was noticeably blond; that both girls were short and slender and wore fur coats and expensive jewelry; that both were as little like the typical sneak thieves as could possibly be imagined.
As Mary Louise walked along the street she decided not to tell Mrs. Hilliard any of the details of her plans or who the girls were that she was watching. If nothing came of her theory, she would feel foolish at having failed the third time. Besides, it wasn’t fair to the girls to spread suspicion about them until she had proved them guilty.
She stopped at a jewelry store and purchased a small, cheap watch, which she put into her handbag. Then she went back to the hotel.
Immediately upon her arrival at Stoddard House she called Mrs. Weinberger on the telephone; then, assured of her coöperation, she went to Mrs. Hilliard’s office.
“I have decided to spend the night at the Bellevue,” she said. “Mrs. Weinberger is going to be my chaperon.”
The manager looked doubtful. “But I promised your father I’d keep you right here with me,” she objected.
“I know, but this is important. I think I’m on the track of a discovery. And Mrs. Weinberger has promised to look after me.”
“Does she know that you suspect her daughter, Mary Louise?”
“No, because I don’t suspect her any longer. Or her new husband either. My clues point in another direction. This time I’m not going to say anything about them till I find out how they work out.”
“I suppose it will be all right, then,” agreed Mrs. Hilliard reluctantly.… “What are your immediate plans, dear?”
“I’m going to sleep now till six o’clock, because it’s possible I may be awake most of the night. I’ll have my dinner here with you then, or with the Walder girls, and after that I’m going to a show with Max. About nine-thirty I’ll get to the Bellevue—Mrs. Weinberger is going to wait up for me and go to my room with me.”
“I’m afraid something may happen to you!” protested the good woman.
Mary Louise laughed.
“Mrs. Hilliard, you aren’t a bit like an employer to the detective she has hired. Instead, you treat me like a daughter. And you mustn’t. I shan’t be a bit of use to you if you don’t help me go ahead and work hard.”
“I suppose you’re right, Mary Louise,” sighed Mrs. Hilliard. “But I had no idea what a lovable child you were when I told your father I didn’t mind hiring anybody so young as long as she got results.”
“I only hope I do!” exclaimed Mary Louise fervently.
She went to her own room, packed only her toilet articles in her handbag—for she had no intention of going to bed that night—and lay down for her nap. It was dark when she awakened.
Dressing hurriedly, and taking her hat and coat with her, she met the Walder girls in the lobby and accepted their invitation to eat dinner with them. Immediately afterwards Max arrived at the hotel, and the young couple went directly to a movie.
When it was over, the young man suggested that they go somewhere to eat and dance.
Mary Louise shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Max—I’d like to, but I can’t. This is all I can be with you tonight. I want you to take me to the Bellevue now. I’m spending the night there.”
“What in thunder are you doing that for?” he stormed.
“Please calm down, Max!” she begged. “It’s perfectly all right: Mrs. Weinberger is going to meet me and look after me. But I’d rather you didn’t say anything about it to Mother—I can explain better when I get home.”
“Still, I don’t like it,” he muttered.
Nevertheless, he took her to the hotel and waited with her until Mrs. Weinberger came downstairs.
“Don’t forget to be back home for the dance a week from tonight, Mary Lou!” he said at parting.
Mary Louise turned to Mrs. Weinberger.
“Have you seen the girls—Pauline Brooks and Mary Green?” she asked. She had explained over the telephone why she wanted to stay at the Bellevue.
“No, I haven’t,” replied the older woman. “But then, I have been in my own room.”
“How late do you expect to stay up tonight, Mrs. Weinberger?”
“Till about eleven, I suppose.”
“Will you bring your knitting or your magazine to my room till you’re ready to go to bed?”
“Certainly—I’ll be glad to have your company, my dear.”
Mr. Hayden, the hotel detective, stepped out of the elevator and came to join them.
“There’s a sitting room on the sixth floor,” he said. “Suppose I go there about midnight, Miss Gay? I’m going to have a nap now, but my assistant is in charge, and if you need him, notify the desk, and he’ll be with you immediately. Is that O.K.?”
“Perfectly satisfactory,” agreed Mary Louise.
Taking the key to her room, she and Mrs. Weinberger went up together.
Pauline’s room was apparently dark, but Mary Louise left her own door open so that Mrs. Weinberger could watch for the girls. She herself took up a position where she could not be seen from the doorway. She turned on the room radio, and a couple of hours passed pleasantly.
At eleven o’clock Mrs. Weinberger decided to go to her own room and go to bed. When she had gone, Mary Louise turned off the light and the radio and closed her door. Pulling a comfortable chair close beside the keyhole, she sat down to wait and to listen for Pauline’s and Mary’s return.
> The elevators clicked more frequently as midnight approached; more and more guests returned to their rooms. Mary Louise watched them all until she saw Pauline Brooks and Mary Green come along the passageway. They were in high spirits, laughing and talking noisily without any regard for the sleepers in the hotel. Even through the thick walls, Mary Louise could hear them as they prepared for bed.
But in half an hour all was quiet. Both girls were asleep, no doubt—and Mary Louise believed that she had had all her trouble for nothing. She sighed and dozed in her chair.
However, she was not used to sleeping sitting up, and every little noise in the hall aroused her attention. She heard a man come along at two o’clock, and another at half-past. And a little after three she identified the muffled sound of the door of the next room opening!
Leaning forward tensely, she glued her eye to the keyhole. Two young men emerged from the girls’ room and staggered about unsteadily, as if they were drunk. Two very small men, who somehow looked more like masqueraders than real men, although they were correctly dressed, except for the fact that they wore their caps instead of hats and had not taken them off in the hotel.
In spite of their apparently intoxicated condition they walked silently across the hall to room 614. Very cautiously one of them took a key from his pocket, and after a moment or two, he opened the door. Both young men entered the room, but Mary Louise saw that they did not turn on the light as they went in.
“There’s something queer about that,” she thought. And then she remembered the burglar who had entered her own room at Stoddard House and had stolen her watch. He was very like these young men—short and slight and wore a cap. Perhaps these were Pauline’s accomplices!
Cautiously she moved her chair aside and slipped out of her room. In another moment she had reached the sitting room where Mr. Hayden, the detective, was dozing over a newspaper.
“Come with me!” she said briefly, leading him to room 614. “I saw two young men enter this room a couple of minutes ago.”
The detective knocked gently on the door. There was no reply. He knocked again.
The startled voice of a man called out, “What do you want?”
“I’m the hotel detective,” answered Mr. Hayden. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but please open the door.”
A light flashed on in the room, and an elderly man, now clad in his dressing gown, admitted Mary Louise and Mr. Hayden.
“This young lady thinks she saw two young men come in here five minutes ago,” explained the latter. “Were you asleep, sir?”
“Yes,” was the reply. “Your knock waked me up.”
“Then, if you don’t mind, we’ll search the room. Have you anything valuable here?”
“I certainly have! A wallet with five hundred dollars, and a set of diamond shirt studs.”
Mr. Hayden went straight to the closet and turned on the light. Feminine giggles greeted his action.
“Don’ be mad at us, mishter!” pleaded a girl’s voice. “We jus’ had a leetle too mush likker, and we wanted to get some shirt studs for our costumes. We’re goin’ to a nish party, dreshed up like men!”
Mr. Hayden smiled and pulled out the two “young men” from the closet. As he snatched off their caps, Mary Louise recognized them instantly. Pauline Brooks and Mary Green!
“Pauline!” she cried.
“Emmy Lou!” In her surprise, Pauline forgot to act drunk. But the next moment she remembered.
“Pleash let us go, mishter,” she pleaded, taking hold of Mr. Hayden’s coat collar. “Was only jus’ a prank—”
“Prank nothing!” cried Mary Louise. “And these girls aren’t intoxicated, either, Mr. Hayden.”
“No, I don’t believe they are,” agreed the detective. He turned to the owner of the room. “Suppose you check up on your valuables, sir, while I call the police.”
“You’re not going to send us to jail!” protested Pauline, in a perfectly normal tone. “But we haven’t stolen anything.”
“You stole plenty at Stoddard House,” Mary Louise couldn’t help saying.
Pauline regarded her accuser with hatred in her eyes.
“So you’re the one who’s responsible for this!” she hissed. “Nasty little rat! And I thought you were a friend of mine!”
Mary Louise laughed.
“I’ll be a friend when you and your gang give back all the stolen articles and money,” she replied.
The elderly man who lived in the room interrupted them.
“Two studs are missing,” he announced. “I found the wallet with my money in it on the floor. Yet it was carefully put away last night.”
“Take off your shoes, Pauline!” ordered Mary Louise. “That’s the place to find missing diamonds.”
The girl had to obey, and the studs fell out on the floor.
“It’s enough,” concluded Mr. Hayden. “Here comes my assistant. You girls will come with us till the police arrive.”
“Not in these clothes!” objected Mary Green.
“Yes, just as you are.” He turned to the man. “And now, good-night, sir.”
“Good-night, and thank you a thousand times!” was the reply.
“Thank Miss Gay,” amended Mr. Hayden. “It was her work.”
Tired but satisfied, Mary Louise went back to her own room, and, removing only her shoes and her dress, she slept soundly for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER XI
Bail
Mary Louise did not awaken until nine o’clock the following morning. A pleasant glow of triumph suffused her; she was experiencing her first thrill of professional success. But the occurrence of the preceding night was only a partial victory, she reminded herself; the job was just begun. There were more thieves to be caught, and valuables to be recovered.
She decided to ring for a breakfast tray in her room. She had often seen this luxury pictured in the movies; now was her chance to try it out for herself. While it was being prepared she took a shower and dressed.
Ten minutes later the tempting meal arrived. It was fun, she thought, as she poured the coffee from the silver pot, to play being a wealthy lady, but it would be more enjoyable if Jane were with her.… However, she had no time now to think of Jane or of her friends in Riverside; she must concentrate all her mental powers upon the mystery she was trying to solve.
These were the hypotheses she meant to build her case upon:
1. Pauline Brooks and Mary Green were two members of a secret band of hotel robbers, composed probably of women and girls.
2. Pauline’s “aunt,” as she called her, must be the leader, since she went from hotel to hotel.
3. The two transient guests who had undoubtedly stolen the silverware and the vase from Stoddard House were members of the same gang.
4. Pauline’s “aunt” had a country place where she probably hid the stolen articles until they could be disposed of.
Now, with these facts in mind, Mary Louise had several poignant questions to answer:
1. Was this country place at Center Square, and was that woman whom Mary Louise had seen in the dark Pauline’s aunt?
2. Was Margaret Detweiler connected with this gang?
Mary Louise remembered that Mary Green had admitted that she knew Margaret and that Pauline had instantly contradicted her.
It was still rather a muddle, she decided as she finished her breakfast and left the room. She took the elevator to Mrs. Weinberger’s floor and hastily told her the story of the previous night’s excitement; then, scarcely waiting for the older woman’s congratulations, she hurried down to the manager’s office.
“The hotel is exceedingly grateful to you for the service you have rendered us, Miss Gay,” said the man. “The least we can do is to present you with a receipted bill for your room and breakfast.”
Mary Louise gasped out her thanks: she had never dreamed of a reward.
“And what became of the girls?” she inquired.
“They are being held under five hundred dollars ba
il,” was the reply.
“They won’t have any trouble raising that, I’m afraid,” said Mary Louise. “They’ll skip and go right on with their old tricks.”
“Perhaps you’re right, Miss Gay.”
“Is Mr. Hayden here?” she asked.
“No, he has gone home,” replied the manager. “But he left this memorandum for you in case you want to visit the girls and see whether you can learn anything more about the case you’re working on.”
Mary Louise put the paper with the address on it in her handbag and hurried back to Stoddard House. She found Mrs. Hilliard in her office on the first floor, planning her work for the day.
“I’ve great news for you, Mrs. Hilliard!” she cried, carefully closing the door behind her. “I’ve caught two of the thieves, and you’ll never guess who they are!”
“No, I won’t even try,” returned the other. “I’m not much good as a detective. But hurry up and tell me.”
“Pauline Brooks and Mary Green!”
“Pauline Brooks!” repeated Mrs. Hilliard in amazement. “But tell me how you know!”
“The detective at the Bellevue and I caught them in men’s clothing, trying to rob another guest at the hotel. Remember—I thought it was a man who stole my watch, though he did seem awfully small? Well, it was Pauline, and she was dressed up the same way last night!”
“You’re the cleverest girl I ever met, Mary Louise! How did you ever come to suspect those girls?”
“I’ll tell you the whole story later—when I have more time, Mrs. Hilliard. I’ve got to be off now, after some evidence to prove that they were the thieves who did the stealing here. You see, they’re in jail now for what they did at the Bellevue, but I have nothing to prove they were guilty of the robberies at Stoddard House.”
“But what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to try to find the leader of their gang and find the treasure chest. And that reminds me, I want the names of those two transients who were here when you missed the vase and the silverware.”
Mrs. Hilliard searched for them in her book, and Mary Louise copied them, although she had little hope that they would help her. The way these girls changed names with each change of residence made it extremely baffling.
The Girl Detective Megapack: 25 Classic Mystery Novels for Girls Page 38
