CHAPTER XI
GONE AGAIN!
"The murder mystery is bad enough," said Hughes, "but this disappearanceof Miss Clyde is also alarming. There is deep deviltry going on, andsince Winston Bannard is in custody it can't be assumed that he had anyhand in the matter."
"Unless Iris is doing something for Win," suggested Miss Darrel.
"They may be working in collusion----" began Hughes, but Mr. Chapininterrupted. "Don't use such an expression! Working in collusion implieswrong-doing. If those two, or either of them, should be hunting thehidden jewels, they have a perfect right to do so. The jewels belong tothem--if they can find them."
"Iris Clyde isn't on any jewel hunt," declared Hughes, when, at thatvery moment, in at the door came Iris herself.
Her hair was decidedly tumbled, and her pretty lingerie waist wasrumpled, but otherwise she looked trim and tidy.
But angry! Her eyes blazed as she cried, "Oh, I am so glad you men arehere! I've had such an experience! Mr. Hughes, you must look up thepeople who kidnapped me--kidnapped me, in broad daylight! At my own sidedoor! It seems to me as incredible as it must seem to you!"
"There, there," said Lucille, trying to calm the excited girl, "have youhad your dinner?"
"No, and I don't want any. Listen, everybody, while I tell you aboutit."
They listened, breathlessly and absorbedly, while Iris told every detailof her adventure.
"And then," she wound up, "after Flossie had searched me as thoroughlyas a police matron might have done, she allowed me to put on my thingsagain, and we came back just as we went. I mean, I was put into the carwith her, it was a little coupe affair, you know, and the same man droveit. We had the shades up part of the time, but as we made a turn shepulled them down, and as we neared this house, she put the shawl over myhead again. It was a nice, white, woolly shawl, and smelt faintly ofviolet. Well, when we got to the bend of the--road below here, theyasked me to get out and walk the rest of the way. I did so, gladlyenough! I was so relieved to see the house again, that I just _ran_ toit. They scooted, of course, and that's all. Now, Mr. Hughes, catch'em!"
"Not so easy, Miss Clyde. The thing was carefully planned, and carriedout with equal care. Did they get the pin?"
"They did not! Now, Mr. Hughes--Mr. Chapin, that pin must have somevalue. What can it be? To say it's a lucky pin is silly, I think."
"But what else could be its value?" said Chapin, wonderingly. "Let mesee it."
"I won't let anybody see it, unless we draw the blinds and lock thedoors," said Iris, decidedly. "I tell you there is some value to thispin. Could it be made of radium, or something like that?"
"Let's see it," demanded Hughes.
"All right, I will," and Iris locked the doors herself, and drew downthe window shades. Then, turning on an electric light, she turned up thehem of her white serge skirt, and began feeling for the pin. And shefound it, though the point had come through the material. But the headheld it in, and Iris easily extricated it.
"There!" she said, holding it up, "that is the 'valuable pin' AuntUrsula bequeathed to me. What do you make of it?"
Hughes took it first, and looked at it curiously. "Just a common,ordinary pin," he said, "no radium about that."
"Did you ever see any radium?" asked Iris.
"No; but I've seen common pins all my life, and that's one."
"Of course it is;" and Lucille Darrel's positive statement rathersettled the matter.
Mr. Chapin looked at it, but could see nothing unusual about it. It wasnot bright, like a new pin, yet it was not yellowed with age. It wasmerely a _pin_, and nothing more could be made of it.
"It's a blind," said Hughes, with conviction. "Those people, whoeverthey may be, pretend they're after this pin, but really they think youhave a real diamond pin left you by your aunt, and they're after that."
"That might be," agreed Chapin. "Did the search indicate anything of thesort, Iris?"
"I can't say. If so, at least, that girl made a big bluff of hunting anordinary pin. I tried to fool her. I had put a pin of hers in the frillof my blouse, and I kept looking toward it, but furtively, as if eludingher attention. She caught on, and she examined that frill in everyplait! She found the pin I had put there, of course, and she tookspecial care of it, though pretending it was of no particularimportance. I put one, as if hidden, in my petticoat ruffle, too, andshe fairly pounced on that, but she gave me a glance to see if I noticedher satisfaction! Oh, we played our parts, and it was diamond cutdiamond, I can tell you. I couldn't help liking her; she's really a nicegirl, and she must have been made, or hired, to do what she did. Shemade me take down my hair, and she brushed it herself, in hope offinding a pin in it! And I did think of hiding it there at first, but Ithought it safer where I put it. You see, it couldn't lose out, andthere was little likelihood of her thinking to feel in the hem of myskirt."
"Very well done; you're a heroine, Miss Clyde, indeed you are! But, Ifear the end is not yet. When they find they haven't the right pin----"
"How can they possibly know?" exclaimed Miss Darrel. "How can they tellthat they haven't?"
"They must be able to tell, because they were not satisfied with thepins Mr. Pollock took from here."
"Pollock!" cried Iris. "It wasn't Pollock who ran that car to-day."
"No, but it's his affair. He sent the little car for you----"
"How did he know I'd be out there and with the pin in my possession?"
"He's been on the watch, all day, likely. Oh, you don't know thecleverness of a really clever villain. But give me an idea which way youwent."
"I have no idea. You see, all the time the shades were up the shawl wasover my head, and when she took the shawl off I couldn't see out atall."
"You've no notion what road you traveled?"
"Not a bit, after we left this place. I think they made unnecessaryturns, for the car turned around often."
"You see what clever rascals we have to deal with?" grumbled Hughes."And you recognized no landmarks?"
"Not one."
"What was the house like?"
"Fairly nice; old-fashioned, but not antique at all. Decent furnishings,but no taste, and nothing of real value. Commonplace, all through."
"The hardest kind of a house to trace!"
"Yes, there was nothing distinctive at all."
"No people in it?"
"Not that I know of. I heard no sound. Flossie took me into a littlesitting room to undress, not a bedroom. Everything was clean, butordinary. Of course, I'd know the room if I saw it again, but I've noglimmering of an idea where it was."
"Strangest case I ever heard of!" mused Mr. Chapin. "I think the pin hassome especial value. Maybe it is of gold, inside."
"Nonsense!" said Lucille, scornfully, "that amount of gold wouldn't beworth anything! I'm inclined to the radium theory, though I don't knowa thing about the stuff."
"Well, I'm going to hide this pin, right now," said Iris, "and I wantyou all to see where I put it. I'm afraid to put it in the bank or inMr. Chapin's safe, for those people would get it somehow. But here areonly Mr. Chapin and Mr. Hughes and Miss Darrel and myself. We are alltrustworthy, and I'll hide it. Then, I shall devote my life to thesolving of the mystery of the pin and Aunt Ursula's death--for, I thinkthey are very closely connected."
"I believe you!" cried Hughes, "and I agree that the best place to hidethe thing is in this house. Where, now?"
"In Auntie's room," said Iris, solemnly, and she led the way to UrsulaPell's sitting room. "This place is barred and we can lock the door tothe other room, and keep it locked. See, I shall put it in this big easychair, that Auntie loved to sit in. I'll tuck it well down in betweenthe back and the seat upholstery, and no one can find it. Then, if weever discover wherein its value lies, we know where the pin is, and canget it."
"I suppose that's all right," said Mr. Chapin, a little dubiously, "butin a safe----"
"No, Miss Clyde's idea is best," asserted Hughes. "How cleverly she hidthe thing in her skirt
hem, didn't she? Let her alone for the rightdope about this. As she says, we four know where it is, and that's allthat's necessary. I believe the people who want this pin will stick atnothing, and if it's in any ordinary safe they'll get it."
"But what _could_ they want of it?" repeated Lucille, plaintively. "Justas a surmise, what _could_ they want of it?"
"I'll tell you!" cried Iris, with a flash of inspiration. "It's a clueor a key to where the jewels are hidden! Oh, it must be! That's why theywant it!"
"Clue? How?" said Lucille, in bewilderment.
"I don't know, but, say, the pin is the length of--of----"
"I don't know what you're getting at," said Chapin, "but all pins arethe same length."
"What!" cried Hughes, "indeed they're not!"
"Oh, well, I mean there are only a few lengths. The pins that girl tookfrom Iris to-day are just the same as this one, aren't they?"
"About," said Iris; "of course, pins differ, but the ones we use aregenerally of nearly the same length. But I'm sure the length or weightof this pin----"
"Weight!" exclaimed Hughes; "suppose a certain weight, goldsmith'sscales, you know--would open a delicately adjusted lode on a safe----"
"You're romancing, man," and Mr. Chapin smiled, "but it does seem thatthe pin must have some significance. It would be just like Ursula Pellto call it a valuable pin, when it really was a valuable pin, in somesuch sense as a key to a hiding-place."
"But how?" repeated Lucille; "I don't see how its weight or length couldbe a key----"
"Nor I," agreed Hughes, "but I believe it is, all the same! I've a lotof confidence in Miss Clyde's intuition, or insight, or whatever youchoose to call it. And I believe she's on the right track. I confess Ican't see how, but I do think there may be some connection between thispin and the hidden jewels----"
"But what good does it do, if we can't find it?" objected Lucille.
"We will find it," declaimed Iris, her eyes shining with strong purpose,"we must find it. And if we do, we'll be indebted to these people forputting us on the right track."
"They'll probably turn up again, pin-hunting," mused Mr. Chapin.
"Let 'em!" said Iris, scornfully, "I'm not afraid of them. They'redetermined, Lord knows! But they're not dangerous."
"They gagged you----"
"But not in a ruffianly manner! No, I'm not afraid. If Miss Darrel willlet me stay here a while longer, I believe I can ferret out----"
"Stay as long as you like, dear child," and Lucille smiled kindly onher, "and I'll help you. I'm fond of puzzles, myself, and maybe I canhelp more than you'd think!"
"Now, I want to go and see Win, and tell him all about it," Irisannounced; "mayn't I?"
"I think I can arrange that----" began Hughes; but Lucille said, "Notnow, Iris, you must have some food first. Why, you've had no dinner atall, and it's after four o'clock!"
"I'm not hungry," Iris insisted, but Miss Darrel carried her off to thedining room.
"Mighty queer mix-up," Hughes said to the lawyer.
"It is so, but I can't think there's any importance to that pin. Thesetheories don't hold water."
"I dunno's they do, but they've got to be looked into. That pin's safefor the present, I think, safer'n it'd be in a bank. That is, unlesssomebody was lookin' in the window. Miss Clyde was mighty careful todraw the shades in the other room, but she forgot it in here--and so didI."
"Oh, there's nobody to look in. The house is so far back from the road,and none of the servants are of the prying sort."
"That's all very well, but I believe in taking every precaution. Say,Mr. Chapin, has it ever struck you that Win Bannard might be in cahootswith these pin people?"
"Winston? Good heavens, no! What do you mean?"
"Well, nothing in particular, but you know I arrested Bannard because Ithought he killed his aunt--and I've had no reason to change my mind."
"How----"
"Don't say 'how did he get out?' Just remember that the murderer _did_get out, and we must find him first, and then he'll tell us how."
"Oh, not Win Bannard!"
"Then, who? Who else had motive, opportunity, and--well, you know hisfinances are in a bad way?"
"No, I didn't know it."
"Well, they are. And he told some of his pals in New York on Saturdaynight that he'd touch his aunt for five thousand on Sunday! How's that?"
"Did he really?"
"He really did. And we've more counts against him, too. Oh, WinstonBannard has a lot to explain! But I don't want to talk here. These arestate secrets."
"But tell me, how did you find out so much about Bannard?"
"By inquiries I got afoot, and they panned out pretty good. Why, I'vegot a witness to prove that he stopped at the Red Fox Inn that Sunday,just as he said he did, but it was on his way _up_ here, not on his way_back_, as he declares!"
"Hughes, that's bad!"
"Bad? You bet it is! I'm sorry for Bannard, but I've got to track himdown. I'll be going now; I've a heap to see to. Tell the ladies good-byefor me."
The detective went off and Lawyer Chapin, with the privilege of a familyfriend, went to the dining room, where Iris was trying to eat, all thewhile excitedly telling Lucille further details of the kidnappingaffair.
"I'm terribly interested," Miss Darrel was saying, "and I want you tostay here, Iris, till it's all cleared up. And I want to get a bigdetective up from the city. I don't think very much of Hughes, do you,Mr. Chapin?"
"Not much, no. But big detectives are very expensive."
"If one can find Iris' inheritance, she won't mind the cost."
"And if he doesn't succeed?"
"Then I'll pay it!" Lucille spoke positively and with a determined shakeof her head. "I've money of my own, and I'll pay if he doesn't find thejewels, and if he does Iris can reward me, eh, girlie?"
"Of course I will! Oh, Lucille, do you mean it? I'm so glad. You knowWin isn't guilty, I know he isn't, and a fine detective could find outwho is, and how he did the murder, and then he can find the jewels, andeverything will be cleared up!"
"Don't go too fast," cautioned Chapin, "even a great detective wouldfind this a hard case, I'm sure."
"But if he fails, Miss Darrel will pay his fee, and if he succeeds, Iwill, and gladly! And I'll give you a big present too," she addedglancing brightly at Lucille.
"Now, I'm going to see Win," Iris went on, pushing back from the table,"but first, let's talk over this detective matter." She led the way backto the sitting room, which had come to be the general rendezvous fordiscussions.
She looked around the room, thoughtfully. "If we have a detective," shesaid; "he'll ask first of all if anything has been touched. The placehasn't been much disturbed, has it?"
"Very little," agreed Lucille. "And we can be careful that nothing elseis touched."
"And I'm going to pick up and put away anything that can be considered aclue." Iris took up the old pocket-book, as she spoke. "We've all lookedon this as no account, because the contents are missing; perhaps thedetective will be interested in the empty pocket-book."
"Then there's the New York paper," suggested Lucille.
Iris winced. "They think that implicates Win," she said, slowly, "but Idon't! So I'm going to take that, too. The cigarette stub Mr. Hughestook away with him. But everybody smokes that brand. Now, what else?"
"The check-book," said Chapin, gravely. "Be careful, Iris. Everythingdoes seem to point to Win, you know."
"It seems to, yes, but does it? You know yourself, Mr. Chapin, anybodymight have a New York Sunday paper--oh, well, I'm going ahead, because Iknow Win is innocent, and these seeming clues may help to find the realvillain."
"Good stuff, you are, Iris!" declared the lawyer, looking at heradmiringly. "Go in and win!"
"Win for Win!" and Iris smiled brightly.
"Are you in love with him?" cried Lucille, who had not thought of such athing.
"Yes," said Iris, simply. "Now, Mr. Chapin, are you going to help me?"
"Certa
inly I am, if I can. How?"
"Well, first of all, I've changed my mind about that pin. I don't thinkI'll leave it where it is. I did think it wise, but it seems to me thatanyone searching thoroughly, desperately, would look in the chaircushions, and so, I think I'll ask you to put it in your safe,but--don't tell Mr. Hughes we've changed its hiding-place."
"Very well, Iris; the pin is certainly yours, and if you give it to mefor safe-keeping, I'll do my best to protect it."
"And don't tell Mr. Hughes, for he's liable to want to see what it'smade of. I'll give it to you now."
"Draw the shades first, don't fail to use every precaution. That'sright; I'll switch on a light. Why do you have this table light on thislong cord?"
"It was put in lately, and it was less trouble to do it that way. NowI'll get the pin. It does seem ridiculous to make such a fuss over apin!"
"Here's a little box," said Mr. Chapin, taking an empty one from thedesk, "we can put it in this."
"Why, where is it?" said Iris, looking blank. "I stuck it right in thiscorner."
But the pin was gone!
Search as they would, in the soft cushions, there was no pin there. Norhad it sunk through the upholstery material. The closely woven brocadewould not permit of that. They faced the astounding fact--the pin wasgone!