CHAPTER VIII
At the same hour that Richard Duvall was arranging with Mr. Stapletonhis plan for the capture of the kidnappers the following day, Grace wascloseted with Monsieur Lefevre, the Prefect of Police, in the latter'slibrary, going over the affair in all its details. The Prefect wasspeaking, ticking off on his fingers the points in the case as heproceeded.
"First, we have the impossible story of the nurse, Mary Lanahan. Sheseems to be telling the truth; yet I believe she is lying. In myopinion, she is deeply concerned in the whole matter."
"But what about the attempt to poison her?"
"It is highly probable that she poisoned herself, taking a slight doseonly. This would divert suspicion from her."
"I see."
"Then we have the case of Alphonse Valentin, and the mysteriousgold-tipped cigarettes. Your husband, Monsieur Duvall, I am informed,has found one of these cigarettes, partly smoked, on the grass at thescene of the crime. This might indicate that Valentin was there, withher, on some occasion, but not necessarily on the day the kidnappingoccurred. It might readily have been the day before--or the week before,for that matter."
"I thought of that," remarked Grace, quietly. "It seems to me thatRichard attached too much importance to the matter."
"That remains to be seen. Now, supposing Valentin to be concerned, withthe nurse, in the plot. He of course does not think, at the start, thatthe possession of the cigarettes would involve him in the affair,because he does not know that Monsieur Duvall has found the one in thegrass. Your husband, however, asks Mary Lanahan what kind of cigarettesValentin smokes. She at once becomes suspicious, and at the firstopportunity warns Valentin, by letter, to destroy them. That showsclearly that they are working together."
"Undoubtedly. But meanwhile the cigarettes are stolen from Valentin'sroom by a man with a dark beard, who subsequently enters Mr.Stapleton's house. For that, I confess, I can find no explanation."
"Nor I. The destruction of the cigarettes could be of no importance toanyone, except to the kidnappers themselves. It is of course possiblethat someone else in Mr. Stapleton's house--Francois, for instance--isconcerned in the plot."
"But the man who took the cigarettes had a black beard, while Francoisis smooth shaven."
"I know. But it might have been a disguise."
"I do not think so. The man I saw was taller than Francois, and not soheavily built."
The Prefect considered the matter for a moment. "You are certain that heentered the Stapleton's house?"
"Absolutely certain. I saw the gate close behind him."
"Then I can only say that, so far, the matter is inexplicable. Now letus come back to Valentin. He claims to be working to capture thekidnappers--in order to clear the nurse, whom he loves."
"That is as I understand it."
"He denies that he smokes, yet offers no explanation of the presence ofthe cigarettes in his room."
"None. Further, someone sends a note to Valentin, advising him that thewriter is suspicious of Francois--suggesting that he watch him. Can thismean that Francois is in the plot, and they fear he may beweakening--preparing to turn against them?"
"It certainly looks that way."
"I wish I could see one of these famous cigarettes."
Grace laughed suddenly. "Why," she exclaimed, "I have one in mypocketbook. I had quite forgotten it." She opened her purse and took outthe slender white cylinder.
Lefevre examined the thing closely. "An Egyptian cigarette of Americanmake," he mused. "Expensive, here in Paris, and rarely used, except byAmericans."
"That is true; yet I understand that this man Valentin has lived a greatdeal in America."
For a moment the Prefect did not reply. Then a puzzled look crossed hisface. "This is a woman's cigarette," he exclaimed. "No man would smokesuch a thing." He brought his hand down sharply upon his knee. "Mygirl, it is not impossible that the child was stolen not by a man atall, but by a woman."
"A woman, apparently, that both Valentin and the nurse are trying toshield."
The Prefect sat for a moment buried in thought. Then he glanced at Gracekeenly. "It seems to me," he remarked, in a quiet tone, "that we shouldendeavor to determine whether or not Mrs. Stapleton is in the habit ofusing cigarettes."
"Mrs. Stapleton!" gasped Grace, in amazement.
"Yes. I confess the idea is a new one, to me; but it may prove ofinterest."
"But why should the boy's mother wish to kidnap him?"
"I do not know. There is but one point of significance. During the pastweek my men have, naturally, questioned Mrs. Stapleton closely as to hermovements during the past two or three months. They did this, todetermine, if possible, whether the criminals were of Paris, or fromsome other place, where Mrs. Stapleton may have been, with the child,during the past winter. You know these fellows work in bands, and havetheir regular field of operations."
"I see. And where had she been?"
"Monte Carlo!" The Prefect uttered the two words significantly.
Grace was quick to grasp his meaning.
"Then you mean that possibly Mrs. Stapleton may have lost large sums atthe gambling tables, and, fearing to tell her husband of her losses, hasenlisted the services of the nurse, and of her friend Valentin, andspirited the child away for a few weeks, in order to get the sum of onehundred thousand dollars from her husband without his knowledge?"
"It is by no means impossible. I would recommend that you investigatethe matter thoroughly. If we find that Mrs. Stapleton uses gold-tippedcigarettes of this variety, it may go far toward a solution of the wholeaffair."
Grace, remembering Mrs. Stapleton's grief-stricken appearance, felt thatthe clue was a very slender one, but determined to follow it up,nevertheless.
"Now," went on the Prefect, "we come to the sudden and most unexpectedappearance of Valentin, clinging to the rear of the automobile thatbrought you back to Paris tonight."
"As I have told you, he claims to have clambered into Mr. Stapleton'scar."
"Driven by Francois?"
"Yes."
"And you say the man who drove the car had a black beard--the same man,in fact, who broke into Valentin's room and stole the cigarettes?"
"Yes."
"Then either Valentin is lying, or the man with the black beard isFrancois. Let us look at his story from both sides. If he is telling thetruth, then Francois is one of the kidnappers."
"So it would seem. You are having him watched, you say?"
"Yes. My men report that he did leave the house, in Mr. Stapleton'sautomobile tonight, at about nine o'clock. That would seem to agree withValentin's story. They also report that he returned about eleven,alone."
"They did not follow him?"
"No. It is impossible to do so, in another car, without arousing hissuspicion, and putting him on his guard. We do not wish him to know thathe is being watched."
"But Mr. Stapleton must know where he has been--why the car was out."
"Yes. We have questioned him. He says the man reported that the gasolenetank was leaking, and that he ordered him to have it repaired at once."
"And was it repaired?"
The Prefect smiled. "Yes. The car was at a garage in the Boulevard St.Michel from half past nine until half past ten."
Grace fell back, astonished. "Then Valentin is lying!" she cried.
"So it seems; unless, of course, Francois took out another car from thegarage, while his own was being fixed."
"They would know that at the garage."
"They deny it. But these fellows all hang together. They would thinknothing of protecting a brother chauffeur, in the matter of a little joyride."
"Valentin says nothing about this, in his story."
"He may have omitted it, as an unimportant detail. I mean that he mayhave slipped into the second car, as he did into the first, withoutbeing observed. It was dark of course. He may not have thought itnecessary to mention it. All this, of course, is on the assumption thathe is telling the truth. Now let us s
ay that he is lying--that the manwith the black beard is not Francois, but someone else concerned, withValentin in the plot. What is the purpose of his tale?"
"I cannot imagine. Can you, Monsieur?"
"No, not immediately. The first contradiction, of course, is this. IfValentin and the man with the black beard are working together, whyshould the latter have broken into his room to get the cigarettes?"
"There seems no sense to it."
"Yet he may have realized the danger of the cigarettes being inValentin's possession, and instead of trying to warn him simply came andtook them away. It is not a particularly plausible explanation; but letus admit it, for the moment, in order to get ahead with our reasoning.Suppose Valentin, the man with the black beard, and Mary Lanahan, thenurse, to be all working together, either with Mrs. Stapleton, or withoutside parties. They have the child safely hidden. They abduct you, andsend the message to Mr. Stapleton through you. They do not trust you,knowing, no doubt, that you are an agent of my office. They sendValentin along, on the back of the machine, to pretend to be an enemy oftheirs trying, like yourself, to recover the child. He thus gets intoyour confidence. He advises you to report your message from thekidnappers to Mr. Stapleton at once. He questions you, and learns thatyou do not know the location of the house where the child is hidden. Hethen offers to show you as nearly as he can where the house is located.If he is in league with the kidnappers, he will take you, and the menwhom tomorrow I shall send with you, to some location miles removed fromthe actual point where the child is concealed, and you will waste theday in a useless search. Decidedly it would be a clever move on theirpart."
"It certainly would."
"Further, you told this fellow that you had a plan to capture thescoundrels. You are to acquaint him with that plan, tomorrow afternoon.If you do so, he will no doubt get to the telephone on some pretext andwarn his comrades of what you intend to do. I strongly recommend thatyou put no faith in the fellow whatever."
"Still, you would advise trying to locate the house, as he suggests?"
"Yes, we may be wrong about him. We must leave no stone unturned. Andnow we come to your interview with Mr. Stapleton. You gave him themessage, of course. What did he say?"
"He said that he intended to carry out the instructions I gave him tothe letter--pay these fellows their money, and get back the boy."
Monsieur Lefevre uttered an exclamation of anger. "Sacre! He must not dothat! The stupid fellow! He will spoil everything!"
Grace laughed quietly to herself. "Hardly stupid, Monsieur! The poor manis half mad over the boy's loss. He will do anything, to get him back. Ican scarcely blame him."
The Prefect held out his hand. "I beg your pardon, my child. You areright. It is perhaps but natural for him to feel as he does. But thereare other things at stake, than the recovery of the child. For MonsieurStapleton to pay over this huge sum to these criminals, and then toallow them to escape, is not only a grave reflection upon the efficiencyof the Paris police, but is an injustice to the public as well. If thesemen are successful in this attempt, they will make others. Otherchildren will be stolen. I cannot permit it. It must be prevented at allcosts. These men must be brought to justice."
"How can you prevent it, Monsieur? Mr. Stapleton is determined."
"That, my child, is the question. I cannot stop Monsieur Stapleton ifhe wishes to drive out the road to Versailles and toss a hundredthousand dollars into the first automobile that passes him, showing ablue light." He rose and began to walk up and down the room.
"I have a plan, Monsieur," said Grace, quietly.
"What is it, my child?" The Prefect regarded her with an indulgentsmile. He was very fond of Grace. He regretted that he had been unableto secure the services of her husband in this case. He knew, from pastexperience, her cleverness; but he did not believe that in a matter ofthis sort she would be able to outwit men who were probably among theshrewdest criminals in Paris.
"First," said Grace, "we will have the location pointed out to us byValentin thoroughly searched."
"Assuredly! It will, however, probably result in nothing. Even ifValentin is telling the truth, these fellows will beyond question havemoved the child before now to prepare for the work of tomorrow evening."
"Possibly. At any rate, we will try. After that, I shall want Valentinto drive a motor car for me. He is an accomplished chauffeur."
"You will take him into your confidence, then?" asked the Prefect, insome alarm.
"No. I shall tell him nothing, except that he is to drive the car, andwhere."
"Very well. But be careful. What next?"
Grace leaned over and spoke to the Prefect in low tones for severalminutes. He listened to what she said, occasionally smiling, and noddinghis head. Presently he brought his hand down sharply upon the table."Bravo!" he exclaimed. "You were born to be a detective. We will get thekidnappers, the money, and in all probability the child as well. Icongratulate you!"
"You think it will work, then?"
"I do not see how it can fail. It is an inspiration. I shall certainlyfeel very well satisfied indeed, if I can return to Monsieur Stapletonboth his child and his money, and at the same time place the kidnappersbehind the bars. I could never permit it to be said that the police ofParis would knowingly allow a desperate band of criminals to get awaywith half a million of francs without lifting a hand to prevent it." Herose and glanced at his watch. "Come, my child. It is after midnight.You have had a long and exciting day. You had better get some rest."
Grace rose. "Richard seemed awfully puzzled when he saw me."
"Did he?" The Prefect laughed mischievously. "Really it is a great jokeupon him. To be within a step of his own wife, and not to know her!"
Grace seemed scarcely to appreciate the humor of the situation. "I thinkit's a shame," she said, "Poor Richard. He'll never forgive me. I reallythink I ought to tell him."
Monsieur Lefevre shook his head. "If you do that, my dear child,everything will be spoiled. He will insist upon your dropping the caseat once, and that would certainly not be fair to me."
"But, Monsieur, after all, you really do not need me, with all theclever men you have upon your staff."
"Who knows? Perhaps you may succeed, where they will fail. I have greatfaith in the intuition of a woman. And already you have advanced thecase further in forty-eight hours than my men have done in ten days. Itwas a chance, I will admit, that these rascals should have chosen you todeliver their demands to Monsieur Stapleton. I confess I do notunderstand their reasons for doing so. They must have known thatbesides telling your story to him, you would also tell it to me. It mayhave been sheer bravado on their part--it is a characteristic, I havenoted, in many criminals. They seem to glory in defying the police.These fellows, no doubt, think that they have matters so arranged thatcapture is impossible. I think we shall give them a little surprise."
He turned to the door, and held it open, allowing Grace to pass into thehall. "Good night, my child," he called out to her, as she began toascend the stairs. "I think I will smoke one more cigar."
As for Grace, she lay awake a long time, thinking of Richard, of theirhome in the country, of the happy hours they had spent there--beforethis unexpected interruption to their honeymoon. It seemed very queer toher, to be lying there, alone. She had not gotten used to it. Andsomewhere, in this big city, Richard was also sleeping--and she not withhim! The excitement of the affair was beginning to die out. The meetingwith Richard on the boat, which she had planned when she set out fromhome, had not materialized. She had postponed this meeting, in herthoughts, until his arrival in Paris, and now--he had come, and stillshe had not been able so much as to touch his hand. She finally went tosleep, devoutly praying that tomorrow, and the capture of thekidnappers, would mark the end of their needless and cruel separation.