_CHAPTER XIII_
_The Plan of Campaign_
Next day, as we were at breakfast at the Mansion, the masons andcarpenters came. Curiously enough, one of them brought a note fromMartin, asking if it would be convenient for him to bring a stranger,with valuable information, to see Mr. Oakes that morning; and the manfound it convenient to drop into town a little later and incidentally tomeet Martin and let him know that Oakes expected him. Then he went tothe hardware store and bought a few trifling things, as any carpenter ormason might do.
"Looks as though I am going to hold a reception this morning," saidOakes: "The Chief of Police making an engagement last night for aninterview this morning, and now Martin asking for another."
"What is Martin doing up here?" asked Moore.
"Well, don't get impatient. He has something important, anyway. Justwait." I think Moore felt aggravated at Oakes's apparent indifference.Of course it was simulated, but he seemed so calm and oblivious of themass of happenings that had put Moore and myself in a state of extremeexcitement.
It was not long before Martin and Mr. Elliott were with us. Oakesreceived Elliott in a most agreeable manner, which placed us all atease. He said he knew Mr. Elliott by sight, and esteemed it greatly thathe should extend information to him. Also he was sure it must be ofgreat value, since the gentleman had travelled all the way from New Yorkto place him in possession of it. And this was said before anyinformation was given. We saw that our friend was a diplomat.
Quickly Mr. Elliott gave all the particulars of the negro's confession,and the detective said: "If I am called into the case by Chief Hallen, Ishall want to see the boy; if not, the information should be given tothe Chief, as the matter belongs to his jurisdiction."
Looking out of the window at that moment, I espied Hallen coming up thewalk.
"Good!" said Oakes. "Now, Mr. Elliott, will you kindly retire with Dr.Moore, while Stone, Martin and I hear what the Chief has to say."
When Hallen came up, he seemed very cordial, but worried, and made noattempt to disguise the fact that he anticipated trouble with the unrulyelement in Mona by Saturday night.
"You see," he said, "we are few here, and I have been kept busy with thebrewing uneasiness in town and cannot handle the murder affairsatisfactorily. I have come to ask you to help me, if you aresufficiently at leisure. We cannot get any clues at all, save that theman was killed by a bullet of large calibre in the hands of a good shot,as the distance from which it was fired would seem to show. The road hasbeen searched but nothing found, and the crowd that went with you to thedying man's side trampled away all clues on the ground.
"My men have reported to me the curious affair of last night," continuedthe Chief. "I suppose you have a explanation for it; in any event, itmust be followed up. The people must be diverted, and more must be doneat once than I can do. Will you help me?"
"Yes," said Oakes. "Of course!"
"Hello, what ails your head?" said the Chief, after thanking him.
And then Oakes told him as much as was necessary of the events of theday before.
"I am very glad your _carpenters_ have arrived," said the Chief; "theymay help." He smiled, as did Oakes. They understood one another--theywere in similar lines of business.
"Now that I have a hand in this thing, let's all get acquainted," saidOakes; and he called in Moore and Elliott, and the discussion becamegeneral.
Elliott was admitted unreservedly to our councils, especially as Oakesknew that he held the keys to the conviction of the assassin--thewitness.
Oakes, in his fluent style, acquainted the Chief with the fact that thenegro was already under surveillance and that, in his opinion, he shouldbe brought to Mona for further examination.
"Yes, but we must smuggle him in. It would be unwise to let the populaceknow we have him now; they might infer he was the murderer and violencewould certainly be done him. At present, I have all I can do to keeporder in the town," said Hallen.
Then he gave a lucid account of the wave of suspicion and of theevidences of nervous tension the citizens were showing.
"Why," said he, "almost every man suspects his neighbor. Life-longfriends are suspicious of one another and business is nearly at astandstill. One man looked at another in an absent-minded sort of a wayto-day, and the other retaliated with a blow and an oath, and asked himif he would look at his own arms--not his neighbor's."
"Yes," said Oakes, "we have here a great mental emotion--_suspicion_--todeal with, which may amount to a public calamity unless checked. Onemust always take account of the actions and reasonings of communities.Emotional waves rush through them as through individuals sometimes. Lookat history, and consider the waves of religion, emotional in character,that have occurred. Look at the unreasonableness developed in our owncountry from ignorance and fear, when witches were burned at the stake!"
"Oakes," said Moore with a smile, "you seem to make mental processes andconditions as much of a study as the physician does."
"Certainly," Oakes replied. "It is most important. Did we not study theworkings of a criminal's mind, for instance, we would often be baffled.You see, the determination of the probable condition of such a one'smind is often paramount, especially in such a case as this. In otherwords, was the _motive_ one that would naturally sway an ordinaryhealthy individual under the conditions appertaining to the crime--theso-called _sane_ motive? Or was it in any way dependent uponpeculiarities of the criminal's reasoning--a motive built up ofsomething unreal, a _delusion_ in the mind of one not in his rightsenses?"
I myself had frequently had cause to study such mental processes in thepractice of my profession, but I was amazed at the knowledge shown byOakes, and stated in such a broad, untechnical manner. The man was noordinary one, to be sure, but I had scarcely expected him to show sucheducation in these matters.
I now recalled what Moore had once told me of Oakes's all-roundattainments.
Dr. Moore broke the silence.
"You are a lalapazooza, Oakes."
Oakes did not notice the remark, but said: "I don't know what other mendo, but I have tried to bear in mind such things."
"Yes," said Hallen, "and consequently there is only _one_ QuintusOakes."
"It seems to me," continued Hallen, "that your work here at the Mansionwill soon lead to results, and I trust that you will find time toconsider the murder also."
"Gentlemen," said Oakes very seriously, "from what I saw after the Markmurder in town and from what you report, I feel that Mona is in a veryserious plight. I shall make time, Hallen, to do what little I can."
And thus Quintus Oakes became the leader in the unravelling of the Markmurder mystery.
After a few remarks of no particular consequence and a more or lessgeneral conversation, he resumed:
"Suppose, Chief, that we now smuggle the negro into Mona as soon aspossible, and bring him here. I believe that if Mr. Elliott goes backwith Martin and they explain things to the boy, he will come withoutmuch trouble. It must be impressed upon him that he is regarded in thelight of a _hero_: appeal to the innate weakness of the race--desire forflattery."
"I believe we can bring him here easily," said Elliott, "for he hasconfidence in me."
"If he refuses to come," said Hallen, "we can get him here in plenty ofways."
"Yes," said Oakes, "Martin knows how; leave it to him. Only, we musthave him soon, and he must come here by way of another station,incognito, lest the people become too excited."
This being agreed upon, the conversation became more general, and inanswer to questions we found that Oakes had not as yet formulated anysolution to the mystery of the identity of the murderer. As he said, theaffair of downstairs might be connected with the murder, indirectly ordirectly, but as yet we had not had sufficient opportunities forstudying the surroundings of the house or the life of its attaches toventure an opinion. He laid particular stress upon the fact thatopinions should never be formed on poor evidence, since a biased mindwas incapable of appreciating new disco
veries or new clues. To theorizetoo much was very easy, but sometimes fatal to detection of crime. Hepreferred to work along several lines of investigation beforeconcentration on any one idea.
"The affair of last night, in my estimation," said he, "is one of verygrave import. Unquestionably, from what you saw, Stone, and from theevidence of us all, there were two men near the place you were going topass. That the first one warned you and was, in a sense, a friend, ismysterious enough--it needs solution; but that the man who warned youshould have run away and been pursued by the other is peculiar, to saythe least. The signals of your companions were heard by the man at thebridge undoubtedly, and he ran to escape detection himself. Theother--the one on this side, who was a probable assassin--would underordinary circumstances have run away when he saw you were warned. Hedid run, but it was after the man who warned you."
"To my mind, the explanation is this," continued the detective. "The manat the bridge is friendly, but cannot expose his identity or riskcapture. The would-be assassin was convinced that the man who warned youknew of his purpose. He therefore pursued him--to finish him inself-protection."
"I don't see why," said Moore; "he could have escaped instead."
"Exactly," said Oakes. "He could have done so, but he did not wish it.He has not completed what he wants to do around here. He wished to comeback, and to do so with safety he must rid himself of the one who knewof his doings."
"Looks as though he was planning more trouble. He may have been the manof the robe, or the man with the arms," I ventured.
"Or both," said Oakes.
"At all events," said Hallen, "I wish that we could divert the minds ofthe people in town; the tension is great--too great for safety."
"Perhaps, Chief," said Oakes, "that you and I can arrange a littlematter that will distract their attention and which will tend to makethem believe that progress is being made."
He laughed as he spoke, and we knew that he was thinking over somelittle scheme to help Hallen back into popular favor.
Quintus Oakes: A Detective Story Page 13
