CHAPTER V.
PATSY'S TIP.
Gaspard's declaration produced a stunning effect upon Hammond.
At first he seemed thunderstruck. There was a look in his face whichmade Nick say to himself, "It isn't true."
But whether the accusation was true or false, Nick knew at once thatHammond recognized Gaspard.
Yet he couldn't be a regular visitor to the place, because Gaspard hadsaid that he had never seen either of the two men before the fatalevening.
Therefore, as Hammond had recognized Gaspard, he must be the man who wasin room A, because the man in room B had not seen the head waiter,according to Gaspard's story.
Hammond, after the first shock of surprise, recovered his nervewonderfully.
He calmly took a chair and sat there in deep thought for nearly fiveminutes. He paid no attention to questions.
Finally he looked up and said:
"I don't know why I should deny it to you. There is no charge againstthe man in room A."
"None whatever," said Nick. "He is wanted merely as a witness."
"It occurred to me that you might have some theory of a conspiracy inwhich both men were concerned."
"I never thought of it."
"Then I am not to be put under arrest?"
"Certainly not, unless some new evidence appears, and I do not expectit."
"Very well; I was the man in room A."
"And who was the lady?"
"I decline to mention her name. She has nothing to do with this case.You will easily understand that I do not wish to bring a lady's nameinto a tragedy of this kind."
"I can understand that. Now tell me why you feel so sure of this manJones' innocence."
"Will you promise to keep me out of this affair as much as you can?"
"Why do you wish it? What are you afraid of?"
"Well," said Hammond, looking very much embarrassed, "I'm a married man,very respectable sort of a fellow; and the lady with whom I dined wasnot my wife. It's all right, you know. My wife is not a jealous woman.But the thing would not look well in print."
"I won't make this public if I can help it, Mr. Hammond. Not that I havemuch sympathy for you. You shouldn't have been there. But the publicitywould annoy your wife, and do nobody any good."
"Thank you," said Hammond, with a grim smile; "now I will tell my story.There is very little to tell.
"We arrived before the other party. We heard them go into room B.
"By and by, I went out into the hall to find the waiter, who didn'tanswer my ring. I saw this man," pointing to Gaspard, "at the desk, andshould have spoken to him, but just then the waiter hove in sight at theend of the hall.
"So I went back. Just as I was closing the door of our room, I heard theman come out of room B.
"I didn't see him, but I know that he went down the front stairs, for Iheard his footsteps, and also heard the door shut.
"The waiter came in and finally went out again. We. were just ready toleave the place when we heard the pistol-shot in the other room.
"Then we got out of the house just as fast as we could. It wascowardly, perhaps, but I knew that something terrible had happened, andI didn't want to be mixed up in it.
"Of course I wanted to keep the lady out of it, too, and--and--well, youcan see that there were many reasons why I should have decided to maketracks."
"You know that the man was not in room B when the shot was fired?" saidNick.
"I'm sure of it."
"He might have come back."
"No; the front door makes a loud noise when it is shut I should haveheard him if he had come in that way. And if he had come the other waythis man would have seen him."
"You didn't see him at all, did you?"
"No."
"So you can't say whether Jones was the man?"
"No; but I'm sure he wasn't the murderer."
"You think it was suicide?"
"I'm sure of it. How could it have been anything else? The woman wasalone."
"There might have been somebody else in the room."
"No; our waiter told us that the party consisted of only two."
"You mean Corbut?"
"I believe that's his name--the fellow who disappeared."
"How do you account for his disappearance?"
"I don't; but perhaps he was afraid of being mixed up in the affair. Hemay have a record which won't permit him to go before the police, evenas a witness."
"How could he have got that cab?"
"I've thought a good deal about that. It was mentioned in the papers. Ibelieve he may have slipped out the front way, called the cab, and thengone back to get something.
"Perhaps he went back for his clothes but didn't dare to take them."
"And how about the cabman's story of the man who engaged the cab?"
"The cabman's a liar. That's plain enough."
"I'm afraid he is. Now, Mr. Hammond, could either Corbut or this manGaspard have got into room B without your knowing it?"
"Easily. Great heavens, I never thought of that! One of them may be themurderer!"
Gaspard, at these words, turned as white as a sheet.
He was so frightened that his English--which was usually veryfluent--deserted him, and he mumbled protestations of innocence in hismother tongue.
"Thank you, Mr. Hammond," said Nick, without appearing to noticeGaspard's distress. "I have no more questions to ask, but I would beobliged to you if you would wait here a few minutes for me."
Nick went into another room, where he knew that Patsy was waiting.
A set of signals is arranged in Nick's house, by which he always knowswhen one of his staff gets in.
"Patsy," said Nick, "there's a fellow up stairs whom you'll have toshadow."
"Gaspard?"
"No; a man who calls himself Hammond. Gaspard has identified him as theman who was in room A."
"Look here," said Patsy, "am I a farmer, or is the man Gaspard thegreatest living identifier?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why, it strikes me that he picked out his men a good deal too easy. Ifit's all straight, I'd like the loan of his luck for a few days.
"That identification on the elevated station looked to me like a fake.I don't believe he ever intended that you should get hold of the man.
"In my opinion, he's simply running around identifying everybody hesees."
"But this man Hammond admits it."
"Is he telling the truth?"
"No," said Nick, with a peculiar smile, "I don't believe he is."
"Well, then, Gaspard's a liar, and if he's lied here, he may have donethe same thing in Jones' case."
Nick looked shrewdly at his youthful assistant. He is very fond of thisbright boy, and gives him every chance to develop his theories in thosecases in which he is employed.
"Come, my lad," said the famous detective, "tell me what has set youagainst Gaspard."
"He's going to skip."
"Is that so? Well, this is serious."
"It's a fact. I got it from one of the men in the restaurant. My man wastold of it by Corbut."
"Corbut?"
"Yes; and there's another suspicious circumstance. There's a Frenchwomanwho is going to give little old New York the shake at the same time asGaspard. They're going back to sunny France together.
"Now, nobody knows this but the man I talked with. Gaspard thinks thatCorbut was the only one who knew it.
"So it was for Gaspard's interest, in case he really did this job, andlifted some valuable plunder off that woman, to get Corbut out of theway.
"Did he pay Corbut to skip first? And is he now identifying Tom, Dickand Harry for the purpose of bothering us and keeping us busy till hecan light out?"
"It's worth looking into," said Nick. "At any rate, you stick toGaspard. I'll put somebody else onto Hammond."