Читать книгу The Great Diamond Syndicate; Or, The Hardest Crew on Record - Carter Nicholas - Страница 6

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“Shall you attend the inquest?” asked Chick, as the two detectives moved away in the direction of the orchard.

“No,” was the reply. “As the coroner said, the verdict will be that Maynard came to his death at the hands of some person or persons unknown. I want the formalities through with as soon as possible.”

The detectives now found themselves at the foot of the ladder which had been raised to the lean-to roof by the burglars. The footprints were still plainly visible.

As has been stated, rain had fallen on the previous night, and the surface of the earth was still damp. The marks of rubber soles were still to be seen in the soft mold between the trees. They led to the north side of the orchard, then across a pasture lot, and onto the highway running parallel with the railroad track. They were lost only when the men approached the station platform.

“This looks like a put-up trail,” said Chick.

“It looks like the work of amateur burglars,” said Nick, “who depend upon losing themselves in the city, and thus escaping the officers.”

“I wonder if they carried the diamonds over that route?” asked Chick.

“And I was wondering,” said Nick, “if they knew what to do with the gems when they got to the city.”

“How could they have the diamonds?” asked Chick. “They did not get beyond Anton’s room, and the diamonds were not there. I guess the members of the Maynard family were too quick for them.”

“Don’t jump at conclusions,” warned Nick.

“Well, I don’t like the looks of things up there,” said the assistant, “and I have an idea that they ought to be watched.”

“Of course,” said the chief. “You are to go back there and hang around with Charley Maynard as soon as we land these fellows on the train, or become convinced that they did not take a train back to the city.”

“There is a train leaves here at four o’clock in the morning,” said Chick, referring to a timetable. “They might have taken that.”

The fact was that Chick found himself not a little puzzled at the attitude of his chief in the case. Had he been permitted to have his own way, all the investigations would have been confined to the Maynard house.

He regarded the burglary as merely incidental, and would not have wasted a moment on it. As he explained to Nick, he did not see how the burglars could have committed the murder or stolen the gems, as they had penetrated into the house no farther than the rear room.

He determined that if he was left at the house, in charge of the case there, the inmates would have some pretty hard questions to answer.

Nick must have detected his intentions, for he said:

“Let the inmates of the house alone; let them say and do what they please, and go where they see fit; but keep your eyes on them. I want to know whom they see and what they do.”

“Very well,” said Chick, not a little disappointed.

“Now,” continued the chief, “it may be that Charley was drugged on the night of the murder and robbery. See what you can learn about that.”

“You think that probable?”

“It is at least possible,” was the reply.

“Then that shows a desire on the part of some one in the house to rob him. As I said before, I think the burglars were on a worked-out claim.”

Nick chuckled, but said nothing.

Chick had differed with his chief in so many cases which had been won that he was not inclined to force his opinions to the front, so he remained silent.

The railroad station at which the detectives now stood was a small affair, and was usually closed in the nighttime. No through trains stopped there, but at four o’clock in the morning a local passed into the city, and an agent was always there at that time.

A short distance from the station was a little suburban store where fruit and light lunches were sold. Many suburbanites took and left the trains there during the day, and the keeper of the store did quite a business.

Nick approached him as he stood serving coffee and sandwiches to two travelers.

“Were you here this morning?” he asked.

“I sleep here,” was the reply.

Nick called him aside as soon as his customers left.

“Were you in your place of business when the train passed here at four o’clock this morning?” he asked.

“The place was not open,” was the reply, “but I was awake.”

“Did the train stop?”

“Yes, sir. It always does. There are usually early birds out. We call them four-o’clockers.”

“Their work in the city begins early?”

“I suppose so.”

“Do you happen to know whether any strangers were about here when the train came in?”

“Yes, sir, I do,” was the reply. “I usually don’t, but this morning a fool couple got under my window there at the back of the house and whispered, and talked, and quarreled, until I was ready to get up and fight.”

“You could not hear what they were saying?”

“I caught a word only now and then. I was too mad to listen quietly.”

“That was a queer place for a conference—under a sleeping-room window,” suggested the detective.

“Oh, they probably thought the house unoccupied during the night. It doesn’t look much like a residence, now, does it?”

The man cocked his head to one side and regarded the little structure, built of plain boards nailed on perpendicularly and battened, with a critical eye.

“But the people who usually come to this station know your habits, don’t they?” asked Nick.

“I should think they ought to,” was the reply. “I have been here long enough.”

“Then these men must have been strangers?”

“Oh, I have no doubt of that.”

“You say they quarreled?”

“Not until a third man came up.”

“So there was a third man?”

“Didn’t I say three at first?”

“No, you said two.”

“Well, there were two at first, and then a third man came, and they got into a mix-up over something.”

“Did they fight?”

“Only with their mouths.”

“About what?”

“About putting something in a trunk.”

Nick saw that the country merchant did not know how to relate what had taken place with reference to the leading points, so he was obliged to humor him and ask many questions.

“So they had a trunk?” he asked.

“Didn’t I say they had a trunk?”

“You did not. Was the trunk delivered there in a wagon?”

“No. A man, the third man, brought it on his shoulder.”

“Did they open it?”

“Of course. Didn’t I say they quarreled about putting something in it?”

“Did they put something in it?”

“Yes, after a lot of talking.”

“What did they say?”

“Two men said it was safer to carry the package, and the third man said they knew what his orders were.”

“Did you hear any names mentioned?”

“Just one.”

“What was that name?”

“Hartley.”

“Ah!”

It was with difficulty that Nick concealed his joy. Hartley was the name of a noted diamond dealer in New York, and Hartley was said by the police to furnish money for enterprises of a shady nature!

“What was said concerning Hartley?” asked Nick, in a moment.

“I only heard his name mentioned once.”

“You heard nothing said regarding the contents of the package they put in the trunk?” asked the detective.

“I heard one of the men say that they would be fools to give up so much without getting their money down.”

“Ah!”

So Hartley had already arranged for the diamonds to be delivered to him. The third man was Hartley’s agent.

“Where did this third man come from?” asked Nick.

“I don’t know. He must have come in from some of the burgs where the morning train does not stop, and carried his trunk with him.”

“Was it a large trunk?”

“No. A small one.”

“What did they finally do with it?”

“They gave it in charge of the baggageman when the train came, after getting it checked by the station agent.”

“Who did?”

“The man who brought it.”

“With the package inside?”

“I suppose so.”

“You saw them hand it over?”

“Yes. The men parted after the train came in, and I did not see the two Englishmen again.”

“Oh, they were Englishmen?”

“Yes. Didn’t I say so?”

“The man must have bought a ticket to get the trunk checked?”

“Of course.”

“Did the men part in anger?”

“Why, when they all ran off, they did not have time to say good-by to each other. They were too much in a hurry.”

“You did not say that they got away in a hurry.”

“Oh, didn’t I? Well, they did. They found out that some one was listening. That was just after the train came in. So they ducked, and the man who had been listening went to the train.”

“How long was he there?”

“Just a minute. When he came up to where the trunk had been opened, after they left, the girl made her appearance, and they walked away together in the direction of the platform. I did not recognize either of them. You see it was dark, and they were not close to the window.”

“Now you’ve brought a girl in,” said Nick. “You must have had quite a matinée under your window this morning.”

“Didn’t I tell you about the girl before?”

“Certainly not.”

“Well, it struck me that she was down here to meet some one who came on the train, and went away on the train.”

Nick began to look puzzled. This was not so easy. Who was this girl? Could it have been Bernice? Could it have been any one from the Maynard house? Had the girl and the strange man been sent there to watch the others and see that the trunk was on the train according to arrangements previously made by Hartley?

Nick had a notion who the Englishmen were.

They were probably the sailors Charley had seen the previous afternoon.

Chick had suggested that the diamonds had been followed from Cape Town or from Liverpool, and this might prove to be a fact.

The part of the third man was plain enough, Nick thought. He was there to receive the diamonds from the thieves. Hartley would take no chances of their being delivered to him in the city.

But this fourth man and the girl? That was the puzzler.

“How many girls live close about here?” asked Nick.

“Girls? Dozens of ’em. What with the daughters of the suburbanites, and their maids and servants, I can’t begin to keep track of them.”

“But none live close to the station.”

“Oh, they are often about here at the time this early train passes. I don’t know where they all come from, I’m sure.”

“Well,” said Nick, “if a man came here on a train and left on the same one, and met a girl here, it must have been by previous arrangement, of course, and may occur again. You keep your eye out for a couple of weeks when this morning train passes, and you shall be well paid for your work.”

“All right,” was the reply, as the man pocketed a banknote of liberal denomination. “They won’t get away from me again.”

Nick now went to the station agent and asked about the tickets purchased for the early morning train. The agent declared that none had been bought that morning.

“But a trunk was checked,” insisted the detective.

“That was on a ticket bought in the afternoon,” said the agent.

“Do you know how many people took that morning train from this station?” asked the detective.

“I do not.”

“Did you see people waiting for the train here?”

“Say,” said the agent, “I don’t know what’s getting into folks to-day. It seems that there was something doing when that train went by.”

“Ah! the sheriff has been here?”

“Yes, and a lot from the Maynard house.”

“Who, for one?”

“Anton Sawtelle for one. Got quite a clip, didn’t he?”

“Sure he did,” was the reply. “What questions did he ask?”

“Just about what you did. He wanted to know who left here on the morning train.”

“And you could not tell him?”

“Certainly not. The conductor may be able to, though.”

“Did Sawtelle give descriptions of people and ask you to verify them?”

“He asked for two men carrying the odor of rum, and for a black-haired girl.”

So here was the girl again!

And Sawtelle knew of her presence at the station!

“What else did he say about the girl, or about the men?”

“He said the men talked with a strong London accent; nothing more about the girl.”

Anton must have hastened to the station while the detectives were at the house!

There was now no such thing as leaving him out of the case!

“Who left the train here?” asked Nick, in a moment.

“I am certain that no one left the train here.”

“Anton asked about a girl. Did you notice a girl loitering about here previous to the arrival of the train, or after it left this morning?”

“I did not. No girl came in here.”

“So the girl, if there was one, kept in the background?”

“Yes; that’s it.”

Nick left the agent and walked up and down the small platform.

“The gems may be at Hartley’s by this time,” he thought. “The two Englishmen who smell of rum and talk like London may be on the ocean by this time, but I imagine I know where the girl is. This case is not so mixed, after all.”

After a long talk with Chick, the detective took a train for New York, hopeful and enthusiastic over the clues he had already uncoiled.

Chick returned to the Maynard home.

It was dull there, and for a long time there were no movements among the inmates that seemed worthy of attention.