CHAPTER XV
THE TRUTH IN PART
The chief dropped back into his chair with the utmost complacency.This was not the kind of man with whom mere bluster counted.
"Haney says Saturday morning," he answered. "The coroner's physicianagrees with that."
"Yesterday morning," Mr. Wynne mused; then, after a moment: "I think,Chief, you know Mr. Birnes here? And that you would accept astatement of his as correct?"
"Yes," the chief agreed with a glance at Mr. Birnes.
"Mr. Birnes, where was I all day Saturday?" Mr. Wynne queried,without so much as looking around at him.
"You were in your house from eleven o'clock Friday night until fifteenminutes of nine o'clock Saturday morning," was the response. "You leftthere at that time, and took the surface car at Thirty-fourth Streetto your office. You left your office at five minutes of one, tookluncheon alone at the Savarin, and returned to your office at twoo'clock. You remained there until five, or a few minutes past, thenreturned home. At eight you--"
"Is that sufficient?" interrupted Mr. Wynne. "Does that constitutean alibi?"
"Yes," he admitted; "but how do you know all this, Birnes?"
"Mr. Birnes and the men of his agency have favored me with the mostpersistent attentions during the last few days," Mr. Wynne continuedpromptly. "He has had two men constantly on watch at my office, dayand night, and two others constantly on watch at my home, day andnight. There are two there now--one in a rear room of the basement,and another in the pantry, with the doors locked on the outside.Their names are Claflin and Sutton!"
So, that was it! It came home to Mr. Birnes suddenly. Claflin andSutton had been tricked into the house on some pretext, and lockedin! Confound their stupidity!
"Why are they locked up?" demanded the chief, with kindling interest."Why have you been watched?"
"I think, perhaps, Mr. Birnes will agree with me when I say that thathas nothing whatever to do with this crime," replied Mr. Wynneeasily.
"That's for me to decide," declared the chief bluntly.
There was a long pause. Mr. Czenki was leaning forward in his chair,gripping the arms fiercely, with his lips pressed into a thin line.It was only by a supreme effort that he held himself in control; andthe lean, scarred face was working strangely.
"Well, if you insist on knowing," observed Mr. Wynne slowly, "Isuppose I'll have to tell all of it. In the first place--"
"_Don't!_" It came finally, the one word, from Mr. Czenki's half-closedlips, a smothered explosion which drew every eye upon him.
Mr. Wynne turned slightly in his chair and regarded the diamondexpert with an expression of astonishment on his face. The beadyblack eyes were all aglitter with the effort of repression, andsome intangible message flashed in them.
"In the first place," resumed Mr. Wynne, as if there had been nointerruption, "Mr. Kellner here--"
"Don't!" the expert burst out again desperately. "Don't! It meansruin--absolute ruin!"
"Mr. Kellner had those diamonds--about sixty thousand dollars' worthof them," Mr. Wynne continued distinctly. "Mr. Kellner decided tosell some diamonds. One of the quickest and most satisfactorymethods of selling rough gems, such as those you have in your hand,Chief, is to offer them directly to the men who deal in them. I wentto Mr. Henry Latham, and other jewelers of New York, on behalf ofMr. Kellner, and offered them a quantity of diamonds. It may be thatthey regarded the quantity I offered as unusual; that I don't know,but I would venture the conjecture that they did."
He paused a moment. Mr. Czenki's face, again growing expressionless,was turned toward the light of the window; Chief Arkwright wasstudying it shrewdly.
"Diamond merchants, of course, have to be careful," the young manwent on smoothly. "They can't afford to buy whatever is offered bypeople whom they don't know. They had reason, too, to believe that Iwas not acting for myself alone. What was more natural, therefore,than that they should have called in Mr. Birnes, and the men of hisagency, to find out about me, and, if possible, to find out whom Irepresented, so they might locate the supply? I wouldn't tell them,because it was not desirable that they should deal directly with Mr.Kellner, who was old and childish, and lacking, perhaps, inappreciation of the real value of diamonds.
"The result of all this was that the diamond dealers placed me understrict surveillance. My house was watched; my office was watched.My mail going and coming, was subjected to scrutiny; my telephonecalls were traced; telegrams opened and read. I had anticipated allthis, of course, and was in communication with Mr. Kellner here onlyby carrier-pigeons." He glanced meaningly at Mr. Birnes, who wasutterly absorbed in the recital. "Those carrier-pigeons were notexchanged by express, because the records would have furnished aclew to Mr. Birnes' men; I personally took them back and forth in asuitcase before I approached Mr. Latham with the originalproposition."
He was giving categorical answers to a few of the multitude ofquestions to which Mr. Birnes had been seeking answers. The tenseexpression about Mr. Czenki's eyes was dissipated, and he sigheda little.
"I saw the Red Haney affair in the newspapers this morning, as youwill know," he continued after a moment. "It was desirable that Ishould come here with Miss Kellner, but it was not desirable, evenunder those circumstances, that I should permit myself to befollowed. That's how it happens that Mr. Claflin and Mr. Sutton arenow locked up in my house." Again there was a pause. "Mr. Birnes, Iknow, will be glad to confirm my statement of the case in so far ashis instructions from Mr. Latham and the other gentlemen interestedbear on it?"
Chief Arkwright glanced at the detective inquiringly.
"That's right," Mr. Birnes admitted with an uncertain nod--"that is,so far as my instructions go. I understood, though, that thediamonds were worth more than sixty thousand dollars; in fact, thatthere might have been a million dollars' worth of them."
"A million dollars!" repeated Chief Arkwright in amazement. "Amillion dollars!" he repeated. He turned fiercely upon Mr. Wynne."What about that?" he demanded.
"I'm sure I don't know what Mr. Birnes _understood_," replied theyoung man, with marked emphasis. "But it's preposterous on the faceof it, isn't it? Would a man with a million dollars' worth ofdiamonds live in a hovel like this?"
The chief considered the matter reflectively for a minute or more,the while his keen eyes alternately searched the faces of Mr. Wynneand Mr. Czenki.
"It would depend on the man, of course," he said at last. And thensome new idea was born within him. "Your direct connection with thecrime seems to be disproved, Mr. Wynne," he remarked slowly; "and ifwe admit _his_ innocence," he jerked a thumb at the expert, "thereremains yet another view-point. Do you see it?"
The young man turned upon him quickly.
"Does it occur to you that every argument I advanced to furnish youwith a motive for the crime might be applied with equal weightagainst--against Miss Kellner?"
"Doris!" flamed Mr. Wynne. For the first time his perfectself-possession deserted him, and he came to his feet with grippinghands. "Why--why--! What are you talking about?"
"Sit down," advised the chief quietly.
Mr. Czenki glanced at them once uneasily, then resumed his fixed stareout of the window.
"Sit down," said the chief again.
Mr. Wynne glared at him for an instant, then dropped back into hischair. His hands were clenched desperately, and a slight flush in hisclean-cut face showed the fight he was making to restrain himself.
"All the property this old man owned, including the diamonds, wouldbecome her property in the event of his death--or murder," the chiefadded mercilessly. "That's true, isn't it?"
"But when she entered this room her every act testified to herinnocence," Mr. Wynne burst out passionately.
The chief shrugged his shoulders.
"She has been living at a little hotel in Irving Place," the youngman rushed on. "The people there can satisfy you as to herwhereabouts on Saturday?"
Again the chief shr
ugged his shoulders.
"And remember, please, that the best answer to all that is that Haneyhad the diamonds!"
"It doesn't necessarily follow, Mr. Wynne," said the other steadily,"that she committed the crime with her own hands. It comes downsimply to this: If there were _only_ sixty thousand dollars' worth ofdiamonds then the one motive which Czenki might have had iseliminated; because Haney had practically fifty thousand dollars'worth of them, and here are some others. There would have been noshare for your expert here. And again, if there were only sixtythousand dollars' worth of the diamonds you or Miss Kellner wouldhave been the only persons to benefit by this death."
"But Haney had those!" protested Mr. Wynne.
"Just what I'm saying," agreed the other complacently. "Thereforethere _were_ more than sixty thousand dollars' worth. However welook at it, whoever may have been Haney's accomplice, that pointseems settled."
"Or else Haney lied," declared Mr. Wynne flatly. "If Haney came herealone, killed this old man and stole the diamonds there would be noneof these questions, would there?"
Mr. Birnes, who had listened silently, arose suddenly and left theroom. Mr. Wynne's last suggestion awakened a new train of thoughtin the police official's mind, and he considered it silently for amoment. Finally he shook his head.
"The fact remains," he said, as if reassuring himself, "that Haneydescribed an accomplice, that that description fits Czenki perfectly,that Czenki has refused to defend himself or even make a denial; thathe has drawn suspicion upon himself by everything he has done andsaid since he has been here, even by the strange manner of hisappearance at this house. Therefore, there were more diamonds, andhe got his share of them."
"Hello!" came in Mr. Birnes' voice from the hall. "Give me 21845River, New York. . . . Yes. . . . Is Mr. Latham there? . . . Yes,Henry Latham . . . ."
Again Mr. Wynne's self-possession forsook him, and he came to hisfeet, evidently with the intention of interrupting that conversation.He started forward, with gritting teeth, and simultaneously ChiefArkwright, Detective-Sergeant Connelly and Mr. Czenki laidrestraining hands upon him. Something in the expert's grip on hiswrist caused him to stop and cease a futile struggle; then came asingular expression of resignation about the mouth and he sat downagain.
"Hello! This Mr. Latham! . . . . This is Detective Birnes. . . .I've been able to locate some diamonds, but it's necessary to knowsomething of the quantity of those you mentioned. You remember Mr.Schultze said something about . . . . Yes. . . . Yes. . . . Oh, there_were?_ . . Unexpected developments, yes. . . . I'll call and seeyou to-night about eight. . . . Yes. . . . Good-by!"
Mr. Birnes reentered the room, his face aglow with triumph. Mr.Wynne glanced almost hopelessly at Mr. Czenki, then turned again tothe detective.
"I should say there _were_ more than sixty thousand dollars' worth ofthem," Mr. Birnes blurted. "There were at least a million dollars'worth. Mr. Schultze intimated as much to me; now Mr. Latham confirmsit."
Chief Arkwright turned and glared scowlingly upon the diamond expert.The beady black eyes were alight with some emotion which he failed toread.
"Where are they, Czenki?" demanded the chief harshly.
"I have nothing to say," replied Mr. Czenki softly.
"So your disappearance Friday night, and your absence all dayyesterday did have to do with this old man's death?" said the chief,directly accusing him.
"I have nothing to say," murmured Mr. Czenki.
"That settles it, gentlemen," declared the chief with an air offinality. "Czenki, I charge you with the murder of Mr. Kellner here.Anything you may say will be used against you. Come along, now;don't make any trouble."