CHAPTER XXIII
GRAMERCY PARK
Even McKelvie was taken aback by this statement, more so than I was, Icould see, because he was firmly convinced that the criminal waited forRuth in a darkened room. I stole a glance at Orton to see whether he wastriumphing over us, but he was sitting in the same dejected attitude anddid not act at all as though he had made a remarkable declaration. Yetif he spoke the truth, he sent our theories tumbling about our ears likea house of cards from which one of the foundation units had beensuddenly removed. If the study was lighted at that time, then Ruth musthave seen the criminal, yet she had said she was shielding no one and Ibelieved her. What paradox was this, then? Even McKelvie was puzzled.
"I wish I were sure you are speaking the truth," he muttered, looking atOrton in a reflective way.
"It is the truth. Why should I make it up? I applied my eye to thekey-hole to make doubly sure, even when I saw the light shining beneaththe doorsill," said Orton, and there was no mistaking his sincerity andgenuine surprise that McKelvie should doubt him.
"You did not chance to see anyone when you applied your eye to thekey-hole?" went on McKelvie, putting aside his conjectures.
"No, I saw no one."
"You are acquainted with the details of Mr. Darwin's business, are younot?" McKelvie remarked, abruptly changing the subject.
"Yes, I'm conversant with a good deal of it," responded Orton.
"Is it true that he removed his securities from Cunningham's office andused them to speculate with?" continued McKelvie.
"I suppose so since the lawyer says it. I myself never even knew he hadthose securities. I attended strictly to his business in connection withthe bank, answering letters, arranging committee meetings, taking notesof any agreements the directors came to, and so on. He speculated withhis own private funds, and advised his brokers himself, so I knownothing beyond the fact that his transactions were large," answeredOrton.
"You didn't hear any rumors that he was speculating in M. and R. stock,for instance?"
"Well, yes, he told me himself that he was going to take a chance onit," replied Orton after a slight hesitation.
"He didn't happen to mention that he was ruined, did he, on theafternoon of the seventh?" insisted McKelvie.
"Ruined!" Orton's eyes fairly popped with amazement. "No, I had no ideait was as bad as that."
"What do you mean?" asked McKelvie quickly.
"I was watching that stock go down, and when he came into the officethat afternoon I asked him casually if he had invested. He said, 'Yes,heavily,' in a dull kind of voice, but I thought nothing more about it,because he was always pessimistic whenever he speculated and I also knewhe was too cautious to put up more than he could afford. I can'tbelieve he could have invested his whole fortune," and Orton shook hishead with a shrewd glance at us.
"Rumors are apt to exaggerate," responded McKelvie lightly. "By the way,how much was his whole fortune?"
"I don't really know, but I believe he got quite a bit when he marriedMrs. Darwin. At least I gathered as much from something she said to himone day when he had been particularly mean to her," explained Orton.
"Do you recall the exact words?" asked McKelvie, ignoring my frown.
"Not the exact words, but the sense of them," answered Orton with asmile. "She wanted to know if he hadn't humiliated her enough when heforced her to sign over to him her fortune, thus leaving her dependentupon him, and he replied with a sneer, 'That's all I married you for, mydear.'"
At that moment I rejoiced in the murder, and should have thought no illof her if Ruth herself had done it. It was not murder but thejustifiable removal of a venomous snake. I was beginning to regret I hadnot done it myself six months before when it first occurred to me as theonly solution to our trouble.
"I think that is all then. Say nothing about our having been here, andI'll do the same with regard to your affairs. By the way, at the trialyou may use the alibi you gave the police. You might find it awkwardexplaining why you lied to them." McKelvie rose as he spoke, and walkedtoward the door.
"You're not joking? I can give the same evidence I gave before?" gaspedOrton incredulously.
"Yes, only take care not to trip yourself up under cross-examination,though I doubt if there is much danger from Mr. Vaughn. Why on earth didyou pick that old fossil to defend her?" he continued, as we re-enteredmy car. "The prosecution will put it all over him from the start."
"I went to him because he was the only one I could think of at themoment, but he will not defend her himself, McKelvie. He will employother counsel. Though I can't see that it matters much what kind ofcounsel we have or if we have any at all, for the prosecution has thefacts while we have--mere theories," I returned gloomily.
"You're right. We have only theories and for a moment mine got a mortalblow when Orton said the study was lighted, for as near as I can figurethat must have been just before Mrs. Darwin went in. Lord, if Grenvilleknew that fact he'd laugh in your face when you testify, as I presumeyou will, that the study was in darkness. Yes, and how much store wouldthe jury set by Mrs. Darwin's account then?"
"Is that the reason you told Orton to repeat his evidence?" I asked.
"Naturally. I'm not giving my opponents any more points in their favor.The game is unequal enough as it is," he replied, drawing his browstogether in an effort to reconcile the various facts in the case.
"But, Orton may give us away," I said presently. "He may becomefrightened when he has to testify under oath."
"He's looking out for A No. 1 and he's an adept liar, to boot. Besides,he'd say nothing to make me reveal what I know about him," retortedMcKelvie, coming out of his abstraction.
"What do you know about him?" I asked curiously.
"Only that he's mixed up in some boot-legging scheme. Not much of ahold, you think? Perhaps not, where a fearless man was concerned, butClaude Orton is the greatest coward I have met in many a day. The veryword police is enough to scare him out of his wits, but he isn't worth amoment's thought. I wanted to frighten him badly enough to get at thetruth and it netted us nothing in the end," he added, shiftingimpatiently in his seat.
I laughed sardonically. "You forget. It netted us a lighted room," Iremarked.
McKelvie turned toward me with a look of deep concern in his eyes. "Tellme," he said, "do you believe it was cleverness or sheer bravado thatmade the criminal light the study with the door unlocked? Give me youropinion."
"How should I know?" I retorted glumly. "It's my opinion he was liableto do anything."
"He could hardly be cognizant of the fact that Orton was prowlingaround, and he could easily turn off the lights when he heard footstepscrossing the hall. That's doubtless just what he did, which would implythat he was somewhere near the door. What a pity Orton caught no glimpseof him! He would hardly leave Mrs. Darwin's entrance to chance. He'dwant to know when she was coming, for he couldn't be certain of the timeshe would choose to enter, no, not if he were twice as clever." McKelviewas thinking aloud, his brows knit once more, but I did not hesitate tointerrupt him. There was no Jenkins present to preserve the flow of histhoughts undisturbed.
"You seem to believe, or rather I should say, you seem absolutelyconvinced that the criminal knew that Ruth would come to the study. Thesame conviction, with all its attendant horror, flashed over me a whileago when you were questioning Orton. But, upon my honor, now I reviewthe thing calmly, I can't figure on what you base your conclusion. Ruthhad no more idea of going into that study than I had, until I suggestedit to her on the spur of the moment. That's the truth. How are you goingto get around it?" I said emphatically.
He pulled a briar pipe from his pocket and lighted it before heanswered. "That's easy. The criminal was in the room when Orton came inat eleven-thirty. Probably he was hiding in the safe in the secretroom----"
"I thought you deduced that the criminal knew nothing of the secretentrance until he forced the knowledge from Darwin just before he killedhim," I pointed out.
"I s
aid he did not enter that way, not that he had no knowledge of it.Orton said that Darwin and his visitor were quarreling. Darwin knew hissecretary and divined that he'd be hanging around the door listening. Sohe called him in and got rid of him, in the meantime hiding his visitorin the safe, from which point of vantage he heard the conversationbetween Orton and Darwin. Am I correct so far?" he inquired.
"Sounds plausible enough," I replied.
"Knowing human nature (I make this deduction because throughout he hasmost certainly traded on his knowledge of human beings in general, andthe police in particular), he put himself in your place. What would hedo if he were in love with Mrs. Darwin and had learned of the existenceof the letter. Why, naturally urge Mrs. Darwin to try to secure theincriminating evidence. So you see he was pretty sure she would come,but he did not know when. He couldn't possibly know when, could he?" heasked appealingly.
"No, I don't at this moment see how he could, unless he was a magician,which isn't likely. I think myself we are on the wrong tack altogether.We are trying to complicate a simple affair. The criminal, no doubt,came in at midnight and shot Darwin without knowing that Ruth was there.Then he went off again through the secret entrance, and Ruth wasimplicated by pure chance, for, after all, there is only one pistol,there was only one shot heard, and only one bullet found," was mycontribution.
"All I can say to that, Mr. Davies, is that in that case the murderermust have been a magician after all, for surely you are not implyingthat Mrs. Darwin lied when she said the study was dark?" he remarkedwith a smile, blowing wreaths of smoke along Broadway, for we weredriving slowly toward town.
I groaned. I had forgotten the problem of the shot in the dark.Assuredly it was a poser, for the feat was well-nigh impossible, unlesswe explained it by assuming a previous shot, which would have been allto the good if McKelvie could only have found the lost bullet.
"You have reverted to the theory that the crime was one of impulse,"continued McKelvie. "Disabuse your mind of any such idea. That murderwas premeditated. It was done in cold-blood, and planned down to thesmallest detail, days before it occurred. And so very carefully was itplanned that the criminal was able to work Mrs. Darwin into the scheme,without in the least disturbing his previous calculations. That is whywe are stumped for the present, because I have not yet been able to putmy finger on the weak spot in the link. There is bound to be a weakspot, there always is no matter how clever the criminal, but it may takelonger than the time at our disposal before the trial. I shall have topick up a new trail, since Orton had nothing of value to give us,"McKelvie ended, knocking the ashes from his pipe. "Speed her up alittle, Mr. Davies."
"What new trail?" I asked, obeying mechanically.
"The woman in the case," he said impressively.
"The woman in the case? You mean--Cora Manning?" I inquired.
"Yes. You know the old French saying, 'Cherchez la femme.' I have donemy best to keep my promise to Mrs. Darwin to let Miss Manning out of it,but now it is a matter of necessity. I firmly believe she was inDarwin's study that night, somewhere between eleven-thirty andmidnight," he answered.
"But, heavens, man, how did she get in?" I cried.
"She lodges, or did, at Gramercy Park. Drive me over there. She shouldbe back by now and if she should prove to be the woman in the case,we'll make her talk. It ought not to take more than an hour at most, andif I am wrong, why we shall be no worse off than we are now."
I gave my car more gas and continued down Broadway, intending to cutacross Twenty-first Street to Gramercy Park, remarking as I did so,"You haven't told me how she effected an entrance into that closedroom."
"She must have entered by the secret entrance," he replied. "Eliminatethe impossible, you know."
"That's all very fine, but it plays ducks and drakes with your previousreasoning, for how did she obtain a knowledge of those threeall-important facts about the entrance that you said even the criminalcould not divine?" I inquired.
"When we meet the fair Cora you can ask her to explain the facts foryou, Mr. Davies. I confess that I cannot," he said a little wearily. "Itisn't good to jump at conclusions and I make it a rule not to sayanything which cannot be proved to have foundation in fact. Now I do notknow how she got there, but I do believe she was present in the study.Until we make that a fact also, we will not discuss it."
Annoyed at his tone I remained silent, but my eyes betrayed me as Iturned in his direction for a moment and he read curiosity in theirdepths. He smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. "I'm an old crank. Youshouldn't mind my talk," he said. "I guess you have as good a right asanyone to all the knowledge that can be gleaned in this business. I owemy information to friend Jones. The blood-stained handkerchief is CoraManning's, I'm pretty sure, though the police are positive it belongs toMrs. Darwin. Perhaps you recall that I gave you an involuntary butgenerous whiff of it that day. Did you recognize the perfume?"
"Not at the time. I have since placed it as Rose Jacqueminot," Ireplied.
"That's right. It was very faint, but unmistakable. Now, I smelled theother handkerchief also. It was scented with violet. You see, I havemade quite a study of perfumes and the different scents are as distinctfrom each other as different brands of cigars or cigarettes. A refinedwoman who has any taste at all chooses the perfume best suited to herpersonality, and sticks to it. She doesn't use one kind one week, adifferent kind the next. We will go over Cora Manning's room. If we findeven the faintest trace of Rose Jacqueminot we will know without a doubtthat the handkerchief is hers."
By this time we had reached Gramercy Park, and running up the steps ofwhat was once a fashionable residence, we rang the bell. After anappreciable interval we heard a shuffle of feet in the hall, and a thin,emaciated-looking chap opened the door.
"Is Miss Manning in?" inquired McKelvie.
"I don't know," said the man, dubiously. "If you'll take a seat in theparlor I'll call Mrs. Harmon."
We did as he requested and entered a gloomy room in which all the shadeshad been lowered, and as McKelvie moved restlessly around I seatedmyself upon a very uncomfortable horsehair sofa.
"No wonder yonder fellow is pale and thin," I thought, then I rosehastily, more in astonishment than true courtesy, if the truth must betold, for coming through the narrow doorway was the very largest woman Ihad ever seen outside of a freak show, and when I say large, I don'tmean that she was tall. She was hardly more than middle height, but soample of girth that I expected to see her stick midway between thedoor-posts, and pictured McKelvie and myself frantically endeavoring toextricate her by hauling mightily upon her short, fat arms. But she wasevidently accustomed to this particular doorway, for with a sidewiseshift she entered composedly enough.
"I'm Mrs. Harmon," she said affably. "What can I do for you?"
"I wish to see Miss Manning," returned McKelvie.
"Miss Manning has been away since the seventh of October," she repliedquietly.
A shade of disappointment crossed McKelvie's face. "You know where shehas gone?"
"No, sir. I don't. I thought she had gone to see some relatives,perhaps."
"Please be seated, Mrs. Harmon. I should like to ask a few questions."She looked at him in evident astonishment, and he hastened to add, "I'minvestigating the Darwin murder and any information you can give me willbe appreciated."
"Land sakes, you don't mean to tell me, young man, that you think shedid it?" she said indignantly.
"Oh, no, but her name was on the will and I wanted to trace theconnection, that is all," he replied suavely.
"There was a young man here not so very many days ago who talked likethat. I told him all I knew and he went and printed it in the paper. Ifthat's the kind you are I shan't say one word," she retorted, her fatface flushing at the trick played upon her.
"We are not reporters, if that is what you mean," returned McKelviesoothingly.
Under the spell of his voice she heaved an enormous sigh of relief andlowered herself into a very wide arm-chair.
"You said that on the night of the seventh of October, Miss Manningwent away from here?" McKelvie began.
"Yes, she left somewhere around eleven o'clock."
"On foot or in a taxi?"
"She went on foot and I watched her cross Gramercy Park and go towardthe Subway," said Mrs. Harmon.
"Didn't you think it peculiar that she should leave suddenly at thattime of night without leaving her address behind?" he continued.
The woman rocked back and forth several times before she answered."Well, no. You see I didn't tell that other young man so, because hedidn't ask me, and besides I didn't like his looks. But I guess you'reall right. You have an honest face. I know pretty well why she wanted togo away. I would have gone, too, in her place, poor girl.
"It all comes of taking up with these idle rich young men who have moremoney than brains, say I," she went on with a self-righteous toss of herhead. I smiled. I couldn't imagine any young man, rich or poor, taking afancy to Mrs. Harmon. I wondered what kind of man Mr. Harmon had been,but then she may have been slimmer when he first met and married her. "Itold Miss Manning she was doing a foolish thing, but she wouldn't listenand engaged herself to a young chap named Lee Darwin," the good ladycontinued. "I hadn't anything against the young man, he seemed a niceboy, but after a while another man took to coming around. He was olderand wore a beard and eyeglasses. I didn't like him and told her therewould be trouble, but she thought she knew best, and so there wastrouble." Mrs. Harmon closed her lips on the words complacently.
"The morning of the seventh, Lee Darwin came here looking like a madman,and they had some kind of a quarrel in this very room. I don't know whatit was about, but I heard him telling her that he was through with thelikes of her, and then he bounced out again. Well, she acted kind ofdazed for a while and then she made an appointment on the phone. Whenshe came back from her lessons he just mooned around, and at ten-thirtythat night she packed her bag and said she was going on a long journey,and if anyone inquired where she was, to say I didn't know. But shewouldn't tell me where she was going, and I figured she had decided tohide away till she got over her hurt."
"Yes, I guess you're right," said McKelvie. "And now one more request. Ishould like to see her room."
Mrs. Harmon eyed him suspiciously, but he gave her his best smile, whichwould have melted a harder heart than hers, and hoisting herself to herfeet she led the way up the stairs to Cora Manning's room.
It was a small room but nicely furnished and very dainty, as befittedthe bedroom of a refined young woman, but McKelvie hardly looked at it.He opened a handkerchief box on the dresser and when Mrs. Harmon had herback turned he slipped something into his pocket.
"Thank you, Mrs. Harmon, you have been most kind," he said, as we leftthe room.
"Not at all. I guess you can find your way out. It's kind of hard forme, climbing stairs so much. Give the door a bang and it'll lockitself," she returned, and we followed directions while she watched ourdeparture from the head of the stairs.
"Well?" I said, as we descended the steps.
"It's hers. Look!" He removed from his pocket the article he had takenfrom Cora Manning's room and held it out on his palm. It was a tinyyellow satin sachet bag embroidered in blue!
"This is getting ridiculous," I said, as we took our places in the car."How many more of these blooming things are we likely to run acrossanyway? That's the third one I've seen."
"Third? I have knowledge of only two, this one and Lee's, and it's notdifficult to conjecture where he got his," McKelvie said, with raisedbrows, as he repocketed the bag.
I told him of my discovery that Dick possessed one of these sachetsalso, adding, "It's identical with this one. Do you suppose she gave itto him?"
"Richard Trenton," he mused, glancing at his watch. "We'll just havetime before dinner. Take me up to Riverside Drive, if you will be sokind. I want another look at that secret room."
I turned my car, and drove as swiftly as I dared along Broadway, askinghim, "Do you think that Cora Manning is in hiding because of thatquarrel?"
He did not answer until we were skimming along the Drive. "No," he saidquietly then, "I don't think so."
"Do you believe she killed Darwin?" I persisted.
"No, I don't. It was not a woman's job, but I do believe she can provefor us when he died," he answered. "And through her I hope to locate thecriminal."
"If she is the woman in the case, she must be shielding the man or shewould have come forward long ago to free Ruth," I pointed out.
"Or he may be holding her a prisoner because she knows too much for hispeace of mind and body," he retorted. "That puts a different complexionon it."
"In that case he will murder her, too, before we can reach her," I saidin a horrified voice.
"A man kills the woman he loves for only one reason, which does notexist in this case," he replied.
"Good heavens!" I said. "The criminal in love with Cora Manning! Thenyou mean that Lee killed his uncle?"
McKelvie shrugged. "That I can't presume to say. Perhaps it'sLee--perhaps it's another. Remember this. If Richard Trenton knew her,ten to one he was in love with her, too. I have seen her picture."
Which statement, since I was a man, only increased my eagerness to seethe fair Cora.
The Mystery of the Hidden Room Page 23
