XVII
CAN LEROY BE GUILTY?
It was as if a bomb had burst. We all sat appalled, for at the firstthought it seemed as if this admission proclaimed Graham Leroy a guiltyman. The picture flashed into my mind. This strong man, capable I feltsure, of the whole range of elemental passions, killing, for some reasonunknown to me, his client, who was equally capable of rage and angrypassion. I seemed to see him bending over his victim, and inadvertentlydropping the tell-tale key from his pocket. But I think it was an effectof the dramatic situation that conjured up this picture in my mind, forit was immediately dispelled as Janet's voice broke on the tensesilence.
"I cannot fail to see the trend of your implications, Mr. Buckner," shesaid, and her tones were haughty, and even supercilious; "I suppose youare daring to insinuate that Mr. Leroy might have been in my uncle'sroom on Wednesday night, late. But let me remind you that I myself putthe chain on the door at eleven o'clock, after which it was impossiblefor Mr. Leroy to enter."
The old argument: "How could he get in?"
And though this argument _seemed_ to turn suspicion toward Janet, itdid not in the least do so to my mind.
Of course, I had no answer to the question, but that did not change myconviction that Janet was innocent. Could Leroy be guilty? I didn'tknow, and I didn't much care, if only suspicion could be turned awayfrom Janet!
It was by an effort that I brought my attention back to the conversationgoing on.
"Will you tell me, Mr. Leroy, where you were on Wednesday night?" wenton the District Attorney, making no recognition of Janet's speech beyonda slight bow in her direction.
"I went to Utica," answered Leroy.
"At what time?"
Again there was a lengthy interval of silence, and then Leroy said, in alow voice, "Rather late in the evening."
"On what train?"
"On a late train."
"The midnight train?"
"Yes;" the answer was fairly blurted out as if in utter exasperation.
Although the rest of his hearers started at the realization of all thatthis implied, Mr. Buckner proceeded quietly. "Where were you betweeneleven and twelve o'clock, on Wednesday night?"
"I refuse to say."
"I think I must insist upon an answer, Mr. Leroy. Were you at thestation long before train time?"
"No."
"You reached the station then but a short time before the train left?"
"That is right."
"Did you go directly from your home to the station?"
"Perhaps not directly, but I made no stop on the way."
"What did you do then, since you say you did not go directly?"
"I walked about the streets."
"Why did you do this?"
"Partly for the exercise, and partly because I preferred not to reachthe station until about time for my train to leave."
"And did your walking about the streets bring you anywhere near thislocality?"
"That I refuse to answer."
"But you must answer, Mr. Leroy."
"Not if it incriminates myself."
"Then your refusal to answer is the same as affirmative. I shall assumethat you were in this locality between eleven and twelve o'clock onWednesday night."
"What if he was?" broke in Janet; "no matter how much he was in thislocality, he couldn't get into our apartment, and so it has not theslightest bearing on the case!"
"That is so," said George Lawrence; "unless it can be proved that Mr.Leroy was able to enter through a locked and chained door, I think it isnone of our business where he may have been at the time the crime wascommitted."
"You're all working from the wrong end," said Leroy, suddenly. "Ofcourse the murder was committed by some professional burglar, whoeffected his entrance in some way unknown to us. Forget, for a moment,the question of how he got in, and turn your energies to finding someclever and expert housebreaker who is at large."
"What could be the motive of a professional burglar?" said Mr. Buckner.
"The robbery of the money," I broke in eagerly, delighted that Leroyshould have started suspicion of this sort.
"Can you tell us anything regarding a large sum of money which it isassumed Mr. Pembroke had in his possession the night he was killed?" Mr.Buckner asked of Leroy.
"I can tell you that I took him a large sum of money,--ten thousanddollars,--on Tuesday evening.
"He had asked you to do this?"
"He had; giving the reason that he wished to pay it to some man who wascoming to get it, and who wanted cash."
"J. S.!" I said, involuntarily.
"That's the murderer!" declared Laura. "I've suspected that J. S. fromthe very beginning. Why don't you look him up, Mr. Buckner, if you wantto find the criminal?"
"All in good time, Mrs. Mulford," the district attorney answered, but Iknew that he had seen the letter which the Coroner had shown me, statingthat J. S. would not come on Wednesday evening as he had telegraphed.Still, if J. S. had come, and with evil intent, the letter might havebeen a blind. But again, if J. S. had come for money, and had receivedit, why should he kill Mr. Pembroke? Truly, there was no logicaldirection in which to look, save toward Janet, and that way I declinedto look.
Mr. Buckner did not seem inclined to ask any more definite questions. Iconcluded he wished to take time to think the matter over by himself.
"It seems to me this way," he said; "we have a great many clues to workfrom, and until they're traced to more definite conclusions we areunable to attach suspicion to anyone. We know that Mr. Pembroke waskilled at or about midnight. We know the apartment was securely lockedand fastened at that time. We must assume, therefore, that whoever didthe deed could not get into the house between eleven and twelve,--hemust have been in the house, therefore, before the door was chained."
"If by that you mean Miss Pembroke," burst out George Lawrence, angrily,"I'll have you know----"
"I don't necessarily mean Miss Pembroke," said Mr. Buckner, but he saidit so gravely, that I knew his suspicions, notwithstanding Leroy and hiskey, were in Janet's direction. "I am thinking just now of thepossibility of an intruder who might have come in much earlier, andsecreted himself in the house until midnight."
"Then he must have stayed in the house until morning," said Lawrence.
"He might have done so," agreed Mr. Buckner.
"But it is incredible," said Leroy, "that the burglar would haveremained after the deed was done. Why would he not take off the chainand go away as silently as he came?"
"It might be," said Mr. Buckner, thoughtfully, "that he meant to castsuspicion upon the inmates of the house themselves."
So he did hark back to Janet after all! He meant us to understand thathe thought the crime was committed either by Janet, or by somebody whoplanned to throw suspicion on Janet. Either theory seemed to me absurd.
I was glad when Mr. Buckner at last took his departure. He was certainlyat sea regarding the matter. He suspected Janet, to be sure; but he alsohad doubts concerning the entire innocence of Graham Leroy. And surelythat key was a bit of incriminating evidence, if ever there were such athing.
And yet, when it came to a question of evidence, what could be moreincriminating than that chained door as a proof against Janet? And soMr. Buckner went away leaving the rest of us to discuss the new turnevents had taken.
It must have been the result of Mr. Buckner's implied accusation ofLeroy that gave us all a feeling of loyalty and helpfulness toward theman. I don't think anyone present suspected him of crime. But the keymatter was inexplicable, and too, Leroy's manner and speech had not beenfrank or ingenuous. If he really had been in Robert Pembroke's bedroomon Wednesday night, he could not have acted differently under the fireof Mr. Buckner's questions. And though each of us, I felt sure, wasconsidering the possible explanation of the key, yet it was difficultto speak of it without embarrassment.
But Leroy himself introduced the subject.
"Confounded queer about that key," he said, but he said it though
tfully,more as if talking to himself than to us.
"It is queer," I said, eagerly taking up the subject; "if you had itWednesday morning, and it was found in Mr. Pembroke's room Thursdaymorning, there must be an explanation somewhere."
"Yes; there must;" and Graham Leroy's lips closed as if in a suddendetermination to say nothing more about that matter.
"Can't you suggest any explanation?" asked George Lawrence.
"No, I can't," and the decision in Leroy's tones forbade any furtherreference to the key. "But I am here now," he went on, "to read to you,Mr. Lawrence, and to you, Miss Pembroke, the will of your late uncle.Except for a few minor bequests, you two are equal heirs. Mr. Lawrenceis executor, and therefore I will conduct the legal formalities withhim, and I need not trouble Miss Pembroke with such matters. Of course,it goes without saying that anything I can do in the investigation ofthis awful tragedy will be done. Of course, you will want legal adviceMiss Pembroke, since the authorities seem to consider you undersurveillance."
I waited a moment, to give Janet opportunity to speak first concerningme, and she did so. Her beautiful face was pale, but her dark eyesflashed, as she said: "I feel sure I shall need legal counsel, Mr.Leroy, and therefore I have retained Mr. Landon as my lawyer."
Graham Leroy was astounded. I could read that, in the sudden start hegave, and the half-breathed exclamation which he suppressed. But in amoment, he recovered his poise, and spoke with a cold dignity. "Isuppose, Janet, you had some good reason for preferring Mr. Landon'sservices to my own."
"I had," returned Janet, in tones as icy as his own; "also, Mr. Landonand Mrs. Mulford have been exceedingly kind to me, and I am surewhatever emergency may arise, if the case is brought to trial, Mr.Landon will use his best efforts in my behalf."
If Leroy was angry at her preferring me to himself, he lost sight of itfor the moment, in the shock given him by Janet's words.
"The case brought to trial!" he exclaimed. "Why, there is no case asyet. What do you mean?"
Janet looked at him steadily. "I may be tried," she said, "for themurder of my Uncle Robert."
"What nonsense!" cried George Lawrence; "they'll never dare do such athing as that!"
"They'll dare fast enough," said Leroy; "but they shall never do it!They'll try me first!"
A sudden light broke over me. Leroy's hesitation and dubious statementsmight have this meaning. He might himself suspect Janet of the crime,and he might be determined to be let himself thought guilty in herplace. This didn't quite explain the key, but I hadn't thought it outthoroughly yet, and if for quixotic reasons he wanted to make it appearthat he was implicated, he had certainly made a good start. Alas, everynew development pointed or might be construed to point toward Janet. Ilonged for a frank talk with Leroy, but I knew that would beimpracticable. For if he intended to muddle the case and directsuspicion toward himself in order to turn it away from Janet, he wouldpursue those same tactics with me. And beside, although he hid it, Iwell knew that he was chagrined and angry at the fact of my being chosenfor Janet's lawyer instead of himself. So I discarded any hope I mighthave formed of getting the truth out of Leroy, and left that to theofficial authorities.
At present, Leroy's intention seemed to be to discard all question ofcrime or criminal, and attend to the business in hand of Mr. Pembroke'swill.
I myself saw no necessity for immediate proceedings in this matter, butLeroy insisted upon it, and insisted too, that both Janet and Georgeshould go with him at once into the Pembroke apartment, where, he said,there were papers and documents necessary at the moment.
The fact that I was not invited to accompany them, was made so patentthat I had no desire to intrude my presence, although as Miss Pembroke'slawyer I could have done so. But I concluded that one reason for Leroy'shaste to get at those papers, was his wish to get rid of me. Nor was itentirely to be wondered at that he should want an interview alone withthe two cousins. I was a comparative stranger to him, my sister anentire stranger; whereas he had been for years a friend of the Pembrokehousehold. And so the three went away to the apartment across the hall;and I was left alone with Laura.
The door had scarcely closed behind them, before Laura spoke her mind."That Leroy is the guilty man," she said; "don't say, 'how did he getin?' for I don't know, and I don't care! But he's the one who killed Mr.Pembroke, and he had his own motive for doing so, which we know nothingabout."
"While all that may be true, Laura," I said, in a conciliatory way, forshe was very much excited, "yet you must not make such positivestatements, with so little to base them on. Leroy may have a guiltyknowledge of the matter, but I don't believe he murdered Mr. Pembroke,and I do believe he's letting himself be suspected to shield Janet."
"Nothing of the sort," declared Laura; "he's a bad man! I don't have tosee him twice to know that. And if he isn't guilty, and if he's lettinghimself be suspected,--then it's to implicate Janet and not to saveher!"
"Laura, you're crazy. How could his implication also implicate her?"
"Why, don't you see? if they think Mr. Leroy committed the crime,they'll try to find out how he got in. And then they'll conclude thatJanet let him in. Because you know, Otis, there was really no other wayanybody _could_ get in. And then, you see, they'll conclude that Mr.Leroy and Janet acted together, and are both guilty."
"Laura, you argue just like a woman; you say anything that comes intoyour head, and then back it up with some other absurd idea! Now,sister, talk to me in this strain all you want to, but let me beg ofyou never to say these things to anyone else."
Laura looked a little offended, but she was too fond of me ever reallyto resent anything I said to her, so she smiled, and forgave myaspersions on her reasoning powers.
But I couldn't help remembering that Janet had told me that Leroy wasuntrustworthy, and not entirely reliable, and now that Laura, with herwoman's intuition, had denounced him, I began to wonder myself what sortof a man Leroy really was.