CHAPTER XXXVI
THE TRAP
For a space there was silence in the room while McKelvie paced thefloor, a worried crease between his brows. As for Jones and myself, welooked from the girl to one another in undisguised perplexity.
How was it possible for Lee Darwin, whom we had rescued from the handsof the criminal at Hi Ling's shop, to be the same person who had keptCora Manning a prisoner? Or had the boy been merely pretending to beunconscious, and the old man had been a confederate in the game whichthey were playing to trap McKelvie? Yet, the doctor had said that Leewas really ill, and the doctor could not possibly have any motive forlying, since he had been called in by Jones and was a stranger to us.Again, Cora had said that Lee had come to see her just previous to ourrescue of her, and at that time I can swear to it that he was upstairsin one of the rooms in McKelvie's house.
Of course there was always the chance that the young man we had savedwas not Lee Darwin at all (though who else he could be I had no idea),for I had only seen him once the day of the inquest, and the others hadnever laid eyes on him before. To counterbalance that hypothesis,however, was the straightforward story he had told, which tallied pointfor point with Cora's account. There was some deep mystery here which Ifor one could not fathom.
"My dear child," said McKelvie presently (from his tone one would havejudged him old enough to be her father), "are you sure that you did notdream this tale?"
"Dream it? Oh, no, it was too horribly real for me to have dreamt it,"she answered, astonished that he should doubt her.
"I was not referring to the treatment you had received, but to LeeDarwin's connection with your incarceration," he explained. "At the timeof which you speak, Lee was himself a prisoner in Chinatown. Andto-night he is at my home, ill in bed, too ill to have been able to comehere at all."
"Lee--a prisoner? Lee--at your house ill? How can that be?" she asked inwondering tones.
"Miss Manning, did you see this man's face so that you could swear toit?" continued McKelvie earnestly.
"No. It was dark when he spoke to me in the little room, and up here thelight behind him was always dim. But I heard his voice, Mr. McKelvie. Icould swear it was Lee's," she insisted.
"Voices are easily imitated. He did not talk to you for any great lengthof time and he was careful that you should not see his face too closely.If he had been Lee he would not have cared how much you saw hisfeatures." McKelvie laid a hand on the girl's arm, as he added: "I wantyou to believe that Lee had nothing to do with this affair. On thecontrary, he has done his best to protect you, almost giving his lifefor your sake. Let me tell you his story briefly. He can fill in thedetails for you later," and he told her of our trip to Hi Ling's shop.
"I'm so glad," she said, raising tear-filled eyes to his face as heended. "You see I love him still, even though I thought him--all thatwas bad. May I see him soon?"
"Yes, but I'm going to ask you to remain in this house to-night. You arenot strong enough yet to take a journey in the Subway and I have nodesire to use the phone to call a taxi. The criminal may have a means oftapping the wire, for all we know. Now, Miss Manning, are you sure he iscoming back to-morrow?"
"Yes, he told me he would return to-morrow night. He said he had to getmoney enough for our trip in case I should go with him, and that a womanalways needed plenty of spare cash. Besides, he'd be sure to come, ifonly to give me my choice. He would not leave me here alive for someoneto discover. He made that very plain to me," she returned, with ashudder.
"Very well, then, we will meet him in your place. I'm going to guard youto-night myself, in case he should change his mind and come againunexpectedly. In the meantime, I wish that you, Mr. Davies, would spendthe night at my house to protect Lee. And if you will come around toStuyvesant Square at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, Jones, I'll give youthe other details necessary to catch the murderer in his own littletrap."
"Do you want a taxi for to-morrow, then?" asked Jones, as we wereleaving.
"Yes, send one around about nine o'clock. Tell him to wait at the cornerof Dyckman and Broadway. Or, better yet, send one of your own men withthe car, in order that there may be no hitch in our plans."
Jones promised and we returned to town via the Subway, and partedcompany at Union Square. When I reached McKelvie's house I stopped atLee's room and found that he was awake. He called to me to know whetherI had any news, so I told him the latest developments, watching his facewhile I talked. He listened eagerly to what I had to say, wasunaffectedly glad of the girl's release and thankful to learn that shewas safe. His face darkened when I spoke of the impersonation, and hewas just as much at a loss as myself to account for it.
When I turned in I had come to one conclusion at least, and that wasthat Lee had had no hand in the murder, either as principal or asconfederate.
At ten o'clock the next morning Jones put in an appearance, but McKelviehad not yet returned, so we occupied ourselves with a discussion of theevents of the previous night. Finally we came to the conclusion thatCora Manning in her dazed state had, perhaps, mistaken Dick for Lee,since both were more or less of a height. But in that event, Dickpurposely misled her. Why? What reason could he have for such an action,unless indeed, his love for her, coupled with the crime committed in amoment of passionate anger against the man who had injured him, hadturned his brain.
When McKelvie arrived he brought Cora Manning with him and asked me toconduct her to Lee. I helped her up the stairs and to the room where Leewas sitting, and as he rose and held out his arms to her I turned awayand went back downstairs, where McKelvie was issuing his orders toJones.
"I want you to bring three men to the house with you, Jones. Be outthere at five o'clock and get Mason to let you in the back way. Wait inthe passageway for me. Get Grenville to accompany you. Tell him it'simportant."
"You think you'll be able to catch him?" inquired Jones, as he picked uphis hat.
"He has no suspicion of our visit last night. Our rescue of Lee,although in a measure it proves that Mrs. Darwin had nothing to do withthe crime, does not in his opinion help us to locate Cora. He only keptLee at Hi Ling's to prevent him from giving evidence in Mrs. Darwin'sbehalf. He will come to the house to-night without the least suspicionthat there will be anyone there to greet him as he deserves," andMcKelvie laughed.
"Then you know who he is?" I inquired, as Jones left the house.
"I still suspect. I shall not know positively until to-night. And nowI'm going to get some sleep. Then we will go over to the Darwin bank. Ihave a mind to see whether that one hundred and fifty thousand dollarsis still there."
Taking advantage of the respite, I went back to my own apartments forluncheon, and returned to Stuyvesant Square in my car. Evidently inMcKelvie's mind Cunningham was still under suspicion, yet I could hardlycredit that it was Cunningham who had kept the girl a prisoner. He didnot resemble Lee.
When we arrived at the bank Mr. Trenton turned us over to Raines, whoconducted us to the safe-deposit vault.
"Do you know whether Cunningham was in to-day?" asked McKelvie.
"No, I don't. One of the tellers might be able to tell you," respondedRaines.
"Never mind. The strong box will tell me all I want to know," McKelvieanswered.
We approached Cunningham's box and Raines inserted his key in the lock.As he pulled it open I leaned closer to look at the interior. Then Igave an exclamation of astonishment. The box was empty! The one hundredand fifty thousand dollars in bills was gone!
It was two days ago that we had interviewed Cunningham and he did notthen contemplate removing the money from the bank. What had occasionedthis sudden need for so much cash? I could think of only one reason. Hismust be the master mind that had conceived the crime and struck the blowagainst Darwin, even though he had since hired confederates to aid himin his scheme of holding Cora, as he had done in the case of Lee.
I spoke my thought to McKelvie as we drove back to his home, but heshook his head.
"The criminal had no co
nfederates to aid him against the girl. He hasplayed a lone hand all through with one exception, that is, in the caseof Lee."
"Then why did he remove that money from the bank?" I asked.
"Perhaps he is going on that trip he was telling us about the othernight," responded McKelvie cynically, and I knew by his tone that hehimself did not believe any such thing.
"A trip which will end before it has begun, since it's very apparent hisonly reason for flight must be that he killed Philip Darwin," I saidwith a laugh.
"Oh, no," responded McKelvie, coolly, "he is clever and unprincipled,and all kinds of a blackguard, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if hehad a couple of murders to his name, but this I do know. He did notmurder Philip Darwin."
The Mystery of the Hidden Room Page 36
