The Circular Staircase

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by Mary Roberts Rinehart


  CHAPTER XXVI

  HALSEY'S DISAPPEARANCE

  Nothing that had gone before had been as bad as this. The murder andThomas' sudden death we had been able to view in a detached sort ofway. But with Halsey's disappearance everything was altered. Ourlittle circle, intact until now, was broken. We were no longeronlookers who saw a battle passing around them. We were the center ofaction. Of course, there was no time then to voice such an idea. Mymind seemed able to hold only one thought: that Halsey had been foullydealt with, and that every minute lost might be fatal.

  Mr. Jamieson came back about eight o'clock the next morning: he wascovered with mud, and his hat was gone. Altogether, we were asad-looking trio that gathered around a breakfast that no one couldeat. Over a cup of black coffee the detective told us what he hadlearned of Halsey's movements the night before. Up to a certain pointthe car had made it easy enough to follow him. And I gathered that Mr.Burns, the other detective, had followed a similar car for miles atdawn, only to find it was a touring car on an endurance run.

  "He left here about ten minutes after eight," Mr. Jamieson said. "Hewent alone, and at eight twenty he stopped at Doctor Walker's. I wentto the doctor's about midnight, but he had been called out on a case,and had not come back at four o'clock. From the doctor's it seems Mr.Innes walked across the lawn to the cottage Mrs. Armstrong and herdaughter have taken. Mrs. Armstrong had retired, and he said perhaps adozen words to Miss Louise. She will not say what they were, but thegirl evidently suspects what has occurred. That is, she suspects foulplay, but she doesn't know of what nature. Then, apparently, hestarted directly for the station. He was going very fast--the flagmanat the Carol Street crossing says he saw the car pass. He knew thesiren. Along somewhere in the dark stretch between Carol Street andthe depot he evidently swerved suddenly--perhaps some one in theroad--and went full into the side of a freight. We found it there lastnight."

  "He might have been thrown under the train by the force of the shock,"I said tremulously.

  Gertrude shuddered.

  "We examined every inch of track. There was--no sign."

  "But surely--he can't be--gone!" I cried. "Aren't there traces in themud--anything?"

  "There is no mud--only dust. There has been no rain. And the footpaththere is of cinders. Miss Innes, I am inclined to think that he hasmet with bad treatment, in the light of what has gone before. I do notthink he has been murdered." I shrank from the word. "Burns is backin the country, on a clue we got from the night clerk at thedrug-store. There will be two more men here by noon, and the cityoffice is on the lookout."

  "The creek?" Gertrude asked.

  "The creek is shallow now. If it were swollen with rain, it would bedifferent. There is hardly any water in it. Now, Miss Innes," hesaid, turning to me, "I must ask you some questions. Had Mr. Halsey anypossible reason for going away like this, without warning?"

  "None whatever."

  "He went away once before," he persisted. "And you were as sure then."

  "He did not leave the Dragon Fly jammed into the side of a freight carbefore."

  "No, but he left it for repairs in a blacksmith shop, a long distancefrom here. Do you know if he had any enemies? Any one who might wishhim out of the way?"

  "Not that I know of, unless--no, I can not think of any."

  "Was he in the habit of carrying money?"

  "He never carried it far. No, he never had more than enough forcurrent expenses."

  Mr. Jamieson got up then and began to pace the room. It was anunwonted concession to the occasion.

  "Then I think we get at it by elimination. The chances are againstflight. If he was hurt, we find no trace of him. It looks almost likean abduction. This young Doctor Walker--have you any idea why Mr.Innes should have gone there last night?"

  "I can not understand it," Gertrude said thoughtfully. "I don't thinkhe knew Doctor Walker at all, and--their relations could hardly havebeen cordial, under the circumstances."

  Jamieson pricked up his ears, and little by little he drew from us theunfortunate story of Halsey's love affair, and the fact that Louise wasgoing to marry Doctor Walker.

  Mr. Jamieson listened attentively.

  "There are some interesting developments here," he said thoughtfully."The woman who claims to be the mother of Lucien Wallace has not comeback. Your nephew has apparently been spirited away. There is anorganized attempt being made to enter this house; in fact, it has beenentered. Witness the incident with the cook yesterday. And I have anew piece of information."

  He looked carefully away from Gertrude. "Mr. John Bailey is not at hisKnickerbocker apartments, and I don't know where he is. It's a hash,that's what it is. It's a Chinese puzzle. They won't fit together,unless--unless Mr. Bailey and your nephew have again--"

  And once again Gertrude surprised me. "They are not together," shesaid hotly. "I--know where Mr. Bailey is, and my brother is not withhim."

  The detective turned and looked at her keenly.

  "Miss Gertrude," he said, "if you and Miss Louise would only tell meeverything you know and surmise about this business, I should be ableto do a great many things. I believe I could find your brother, and Imight be able to--well, to do some other things." But Gertrude'sglance did not falter.

  "Nothing that I know could help you to find Halsey," she saidstubbornly. "I know absolutely as little of his disappearance as youdo, and I can only say this: I do not trust Doctor Walker. I think hehated Halsey, and he would get rid of him if he could."

  "Perhaps you are right. In fact, I had some such theory myself. ButDoctor Walker went out late last night to a serious case inSummitville, and is still there. Burns traced him there. We have madeguarded inquiry at the Greenwood Club, and through the village. Thereis absolutely nothing to go on but this. On the embankment above therailroad, at the point where we found the machine, is a small house.An old woman and a daughter, who is very lame, live there. They saythat they distinctly heard the shock when the Dragon Fly hit the car,and they went to the bottom of their garden and looked over. Theautomobile was there; they could see the lights, and they thoughtsomeone had been injured. It was very dark, but they could make outtwo figures, standing together. The women were curious, and, leavingthe fence, they went back and by a roundabout path down to the road.When they got there the car was still standing, the headlight brokenand the bonnet crushed, but there was no one to be seen."

  The detective went away immediately, and to Gertrude and me was leftthe woman's part, to watch and wait. By luncheon nothing had beenfound, and I was frantic. I went up-stairs to Halsey's room finally,from sheer inability to sit across from Gertrude any longer, and meether terror-filled eyes.

  Liddy was in my dressing-room, suspiciously red-eyed, and trying to puta right sleeve in a left armhole of a new waist for me. I was too muchshaken to scold.

  "What name did that woman in the kitchen give?" she demanded, viciouslyripping out the offending sleeve.

  "Bliss. Mattie Bliss," I replied.

  "Bliss. M. B. Well, that's not what she has on he suitcase. It ismarked N. F. C."

  The new cook and her initials troubled me not at all. I put on mybonnet and sent for what the Casanova liveryman called a "stylishturnout." Having once made up my mind to a course of action, I am notone to turn back. Warner drove me; he was plainly disgusted, and hesteered the livery horse as he would the Dragon Fly, feeling uneasilywith his left foot for the clutch, and working his right elbow at animaginary horn every time a dog got in the way.

  Warner had something on his mind, and after we had turned into theroad, he voiced it.

  "Miss Innes," he said. "I overheard a part of a conversation yesterdaythat I didn't understand. It wasn't my business to understand it, forthat matter. But I've been thinking all day that I'd better tell you.Yesterday afternoon, while you and Miss Gertrude were out driving, Ihad got the car in some sort of shape again after the fire, and I wentto the library to call Mr. Innes to
see it. I went into theliving-room, where Miss Liddy said he was, and half-way across to thelibrary I heard him talking to some one. He seemed to be walking upand down, and he was in a rage, I can tell you."

  "What did he say?"

  "The first thing I heard was--excuse me, Miss Innes, but it's what hesaid, 'The damned rascal,' he said, 'I'll see him in'--well, in hellwas what he said, 'in hell first.' Then somebody else spoke up; it wasa woman. She said, 'I warned them, but they thought I would beafraid.'"

  "A woman! Did you wait to see who it was?"

  "I wasn't spying, Miss Innes," Warner said with dignity. "But the nextthing caught my attention. She said, 'I knew there was something wrongfrom the start. A man isn't well one day, and dead the next, withoutsome reason.' I thought she was speaking of Thomas."

  "And you don't know who it was!" I exclaimed. "Warner, you had the keyto this whole occurrence in your hands, and did not use it!"

  However, there was nothing to be done. I resolved to make inquiry whenI got home, and in the meantime, my present errand absorbed me. Thiswas nothing less than to see Louise Armstrong, and to attempt to dragfrom her what she knew, or suspected, of Halsey's disappearance. Buthere, as in every direction I turned, I was baffled.

  A neat maid answered the bell, but she stood squarely in the doorway,and it was impossible to preserve one's dignity and pass her.

  "Miss Armstrong is very ill, and unable to see any one," she said. Idid not believe her.

  "And Mrs. Armstrong--is she also ill?"

  "She is with Miss Louise and can not be disturbed."

  "Tell her it is Miss Innes, and that it is a matter of the greatestimportance."

  "It would be of no use, Miss Innes. My orders are positive."

  At that moment a heavy step sounded on the stairs. Past the maid'swhite-strapped shoulder I could see a familiar thatch of gray hair, andin a moment I was face to face with Doctor Stewart. He was very grave,and his customary geniality was tinged with restraint.

  "You are the very woman I want to see," he said promptly. "Send awayyour trap, and let me drive you home. What is this about your nephew?"

  "He has disappeared, doctor. Not only that, but there is everyevidence that he has been either abducted, or--" I could not finish.The doctor helped me into his capacious buggy in silence. Until we hadgot a little distance he did not speak; then he turned and looked at me.

  "Now tell me about it," he said. He heard me through without speaking.

  "And you think Louise knows something?" he said when I had finished."I don't--in fact, I am sure of it. The best evidence of it is this:she asked me if he had been heard from, or if anything had beenlearned. She won't allow Walker in the room, and she made me promiseto see you and tell you this: don't give up the search for him. Findhim, and find him soon. He is living."

  "Well," I said, "if she knows that, she knows more. She is a verycruel and ungrateful girl."

  "She is a very sick girl," he said gravely. "Neither you nor I canjudge her until we know everything. Both she and her mother are ghostsof their former selves. Under all this, these two sudden deaths, thisbank robbery, the invasions at Sunnyside and Halsey's disappearance,there is some mystery that, mark my words, will come out some day. Andwhen it does, we shall find Louise Armstrong a victim."

  I had not noticed where we were going, but now I saw we were beside therailroad, and from a knot of men standing beside the track I divinedthat it was here the car had been found. The siding, however, wasempty. Except a few bits of splintered wood on the ground, there wasno sign of the accident.

  "Where is the freight car that was rammed?" the doctor asked abystander.

  "It was taken away at daylight, when the train was moved."

  There was nothing to be gained. He pointed out the house on theembankment where the old lady and her daughter had heard the crash andseen two figures beside the car. Then we drove slowly home. I had thedoctor put me down at the gate, and I walked to the house--past thelodge where we had found Louise, and, later, poor Thomas; up the drivewhere I had seen a man watching the lodge and where, later, Rosie hadbeen frightened; past the east entrance, where so short a time beforethe most obstinate effort had been made to enter the house, and where,that night two weeks ago, Liddy and I had seen the strange woman. Notfar from the west wing lay the blackened ruins of the stables. I feltlike a ruin myself, as I paused on the broad veranda before I enteredthe house.

  Two private detectives had arrived in my absence, and it was a reliefto turn over to them the responsibility of the house and grounds. Mr.Jamieson, they said, had arranged for more to assist in the search forthe missing man, and at that time the country was being scoured in alldirections.

  The household staff was again depleted that afternoon. Liddy waswaiting to tell me that the new cook had gone, bag and baggage, withoutwaiting to be paid. No one had admitted the visitor whom Warner hadheard in the library, unless, possibly, the missing cook. Again I wasworking in a circle.

 

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