CHAPTER XII
THE HIDDEN DOOR
He ran swiftly west, past the house on the corner, past the areawaywhere he had secreted himself last night, into Park Avenue, always onthe course taken by the limousine. And, when he came to Black's number,he saw the limousine drawn up, waiting. In the upper story of the smallbut expensive house lights burned. He pressed the electric button,sighing his relief. He was grimly determined to see the thing through.His resolution was stimulated by his memory of the queue, coiled like aserpent, watching to strike with fangs bearing the poison of degradationand death. Nora stood within reach of that, perhaps, was already itsvictim. So when the door was opened by a sleek serving-man, he did nothesitate.
"I must see Mr. Black."
The servant displayed a mild astonishment at his tone.
"I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Black is not at home."
The lights he had noticed upstairs and the limousine gave Garthconfidence.
"Mr. Black," he said, "is the brother-in-law of the president of theSociety for Social Justice."
The servant nodded.
"Then he will see me."
The other was shocked.
"Really, sir--"
Garth gave him a glimpse of his badge, pushed past, and entered thereception hall. The servant turned, staring at him with insolent eyes.
"You'll have to get out of here. Mr. Black has no official connectionwith the society. What do you mean by forcing--"
Garth called:
"Mr. Black! Mr. Black!"
The servant tried to catch his arm.
"This is outrageous."
"Mr. Black!" Garth called again.
And the response he had prayed for, the response he had made up his mindto force at all hazards, came quavering from the upper floor.
"Who is that? What's all this row, Arnold?"
Garth sprang up the stairs, eager and relieved at the quality of thevoice. The young man of the limousine stood at the head, bendinganxiously over, backed against the railing, as if to repel an assault.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Black," Garth said hurriedly. "I have to speak to youabout something too important for delay."
He paused, embarrassed, reluctant to go on, for in the brightly lighteddoorway of the living-room a woman had appeared, small, with anextraordinary grace of figure, and a face which, in a trivial,light-hearted way, impressed him as rarely beautiful. She wore eveningdress. A wrap was draped across her arm. Her resemblance to Manfordestablished her identity beyond debate. She glanced at Garth with anamused curiosity quite at variance with her husband's emotion. Shesmiled tolerantly.
"Quite like a bearer of evil tidings in a play, but even they don't comeupstairs, unannounced."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Black," Garth said apologetically. "Your man drew thelong bow. I couldn't be put off."
But the smiling, graceful figure was a defence, almost incontestable.Nothing short of Nora's danger could have armed him to overcome it. Hewould, however, spare Black's wife as far as possible.
"I wanted to speak to you, Mr. Black, privately."
He turned back to the woman.
"You see I come from your brother, the head of the Society for SocialJustice."
"What can he want at this time of night?" she said.
She advanced to the head of the staircase.
"It makes no difference, John. You weren't coming anyway. I'll tell AuntSarah why--business!"
She laughed lightly and passed on down the stairs.
Garth breathed more freely. He waited until the front door had slammed,until he had heard the motor whir, until he was sure she was started forher reception or dance, unsuspecting the desolation he had brought intoher home. Then he swung on Black.
"Come in here."
He indicated the living-room.
Black followed with uncertain steps. The light shone on his sallow faceout of which heavy eyes looked distrustfully.
"What do you want?" he asked. "What does Manford want?"
"Don't trouble to sit down, Mr. Black," Garth directed. "I've littletime--just enough to tell you that I'm on to you."
Black with an odd, halting motion reached the centre table. His fingersshaking, he lifted a cigarette from a silver box and essayed to strike amatch. The wood splintered. He fumbled aimlessly about the table. Hetook the unlighted cigarette from his mouth. He stammered.
"Wh--what the devil do you mean?"
"No use bluffing," Garth said. "You give yourself away. But don't gettoo scared. I'm the only one who knows."
The other's voice was scarcely audible.
"Who are you?"
Garth threw back his coat lapel, displaying momentarily his badge.
Black's voice rose on a shrill note.
"It's a lie! It's a lie!"
Garth shook his head.
"I watched you last night," he said, "planting money here and there--apretty, generous fancy, just to give people the joy of finding it. Mendon't do such things in their right senses. I've heard of it, but thefact that you were the brother-in-law of the head of an organizationthat was after these cases offered a more likely explanation. Put meoff the track. Thought you were working for him. Now that I've had agood look at you, there's no question."
Black made a last pitiful effort.
"This is blackmail."
"I have my price," Garth admitted.
Black sat on the table edge.
"I'll put them on to you down town--through Manford."
Garth laughed outright.
"You! You'd never have the nerve. Give a police surgeon one good look atyou!"
Black fumbled in one of the drawers. He lifted out a cheque book.
"How much?" he asked with dry lips.
"Not money," Garth said.
He felt every nerve in his body tighten.
"When I saw you making a fool of yourself last night," he went on, "youhad come straight from a house you are going to get me in to-night."
The cheque book fluttered to the floor.
"Wh-what for?"
"To save a woman," Garth answered. "It's enough for you to know thatthey've trapped her there, and that she means too much to me--"
Black turned on him with a snarl.
"You mean you love her. Then maybe you can understand. What about mywife?"
"Black," Garth said quietly, "you stand a better chance of sparing yourwife if you meet my price. I promise to do all I can to keep you out ofthe scandal. I'll get you away clean if it can be done. All I ask is,that for your wife's sake, you'll try to be a man. But now you listen.By gad, if you refuse to do this thing, I'll raise a scandal that willfinish you once for all. I'll shout the thing from the housetops. I'lltake you to a cell within the next ten minutes. What about your wifethen? Look at me. I'm not bluffing. I hate it, but I've no choice. It'slife and death to me, and, since it's all I've got, I'm going to useyour reputation to make it life."
Black sank into a chair, covering his face.
"You do mean it. I can't do it. I tell you I can't do it."
Garth stood over the man. As he fought, there came back to him with anadvocacy not to be denied, the memory of Nora's altered face, out ofwhich, however, her eyes, unalterable, had glanced at him with adefinite appeal.
"Yes you can," he said savagely. "They'll let you vouch for a--friend.And if you don't, you'll give the game away to a jury and a crowdedcourtroom."
Black's hands dropped. He stared straight ahead. He did not answer.
Garth reached out and grasped the telephone. Black stumbled to his feetand tore at Garth's arm.
"What are you going to do?"
"Call for a patrol wagon to drive up to your exalted home."
"No, no, no!"
"Then you agree?"
"You'll come with me alone?"
"Yes."
"Then I agree."
The gleam in Black's eye was revealing. It retarded Garth's relief. Itwarned him that, entering the place alone, he could be handled, as,perhaps, Nora had been handled.
"I'll get my hat and coat," Black said.
"No," Garth answered. "From now on you'll stick to me like a brother."
He took the receiver from the telephone and got the inspector at thestation house. While Black protested, he instructed the inspector tohave a man follow Black and himself, and, no matter what house theyentered, to surround that entire block and to keep a watch on everyhouse front. If he could communicate in no other way, Garth promised tofire his revolver twice, if possible, from a front window.
Black shrank back.
"But you said--alone."
"Alone," Garth answered, "but that's what's going to happen once I'm in.I'm not throwing my life away. Are you ready, or do you prefer the celland your picture in the morning papers?"
Black led the way without further protests down the staircase. At thefoot he broke down again. Garth warned him and helped him on with hisovercoat.
"You leave me no choice," Black whimpered. "No choice."
Garth drew him to the sidewalk.
"If you waste time steering me wrong," he said, "I'm through. And don'tforget I have a gun. Try to throw me down once we're in, I'll use it."
Black made an effort to square his shoulders. He crossed the avenue witha lurching gait. Garth glanced back. A dark figure skulked after them.So that was all right. The inspector would know their destinationimmediately.
"One thing," Garth asked. "How did you have the nerve to drive yourlimousine to the place last night?"
"I didn't," Black answered. "I picked it up in Third Avenue."
He did not speak again, and Garth no longer urged him. He walkedstraight for the block in which he had been at his folly last night. Buthe did not pause there. He continued across Lexington Avenue and madeconfidently for the deserted, dust-filled house which just now hadmocked the police. Garth, amazed, followed him to the basement door.
Black took a key from his pocket, and with the ease of long habitinserted it through the obscurity in the lock. The door opened and Garthwalked into the blackness with a quickening suspense. His apprehensionwas for Nora rather than himself. What had happened to her when she hadstepped into the dusty hall? Her only chance was that he would not becaught in this somber pit as she had probably been. He put his hand onhis revolver.
"Go first," he whispered.
The darkness was so complete that Garth had to keep his fingers on theother's arm to avoid stumbling against the walls. Yet his guide wentwith a quick assurance to the rear door which he opened with anotherkey. They stepped beneath a rough shelter of corrugated iron such as ishastily thrown up for the protection in summer of washboards, or, inwinter, for the storing of wood. Black proceeded beneath this shelteralong the fence to the corner. Garth noticed a large accumulation ofrubbish in the yard, souvenirs, doubtless, of indolent and utilitarianneighbors.
Black stooped. Evidently he had given a signal which Garth had not seenor heard, for straightway he arose and leant against the fence, waiting.
"What now?" Garth asked.
Black raised his finger to his lips.
Garth looked down at a rustling among the rubbish. A thin piece offlagging had opened at his feet as if hinged like a trap-door, leavingvisible the top of a flight of rough wooden steps.
Black stepped down and Garth followed. The steps led diagonally underthe angle of the fence. Others rose into the corner of the adjacentyard. If this was their destination it was neither to one side nordirectly behind the empty house used as an entrance. Garth marvelled atthe simplicity of the contrivance. Two men in half a day could haveaccomplished the entire excavation and arranged the steps. Moreover,without a definite clue the police would never suspect such an entrance.
While Black carefully lowered the flag on the other side Garth glancedaround. They stood in the kitchen shed of a house which, of course,faced the next street. Garth had no doubt that the place was masked witha physician's office, or, perhaps, an appeal for boarders, who,nevertheless, would always fail to find rooms available at the hour oftheir application. He saw nothing of the man who had admitted them byraising the flag. He was more disturbed than before, since he couldpicture the inspector's bewilderment on learning that he had entered thehouse which had been so recently raided and combed.
Garth had small time for speculation. He saw Black press an electricbutton. Faintly he heard the response from a muffled bell--two ringsshort, and one long. Almost at once the door opened a crack, but nogleam of light came through. Black muttered something unintelligible toGarth, and led him into a darkness as complete as that which hadoppressed him in the empty house. Yet in spite of it he was sure it wasa woman who had admitted them.
"This way," Black said.
Garth followed, scarcely breathing. Where would he find Nora? How wouldhe find her?
A door opened ahead, and at last there was a light--a subdued, brownlight, unhealthy, suggestive of a melancholy repose.
Black went first, then Garth, into an inner hallway, which was saturatedwith this aberrant radiance.
Garth turned sharply to inspect the woman who had followed them in. Hedrew back. He controlled his gasp of relief and gratitude, for it wasNora herself who had opened the door for them and who stood now on thethreshold of the hall. Yet he saw that his presence, instead of bringingto them a grateful welcome, had drawn into her eyes a fear which quicklyapproached despair.
She wore the apron and the cap of a housemaid, transparent hints as tohow she had found an entrance and remained here, unmolested. Herfeatures, in addition, were subtly changed, so that one, less acquaintedwith them than Garth, might have passed her unrecognizing.
His astonishment had held him longer than was discreet. He turned at asound to find his conductor gone. He knew what that portended. He cursedhis carelessness.
Nora took his arm.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered tensely. "Go before it's toolate. I knew they suspected trouble to-night, but I never dreamed ofyour getting in here alone. Go--the way you came."
"To be caught in the yard?" he scoffed. "That fellow's given me away bythis time. They'll watch that exit first."
He ran along the hallway. The strange brown light appeared to have giventhe air a substantial resistance. He breathed it with distaste. Itchoked him. At the foot of the stairs Nora caught his arm again.
"Where are you going?"
"Up there," he answered. "I haven't the ghost of a show in thissuffocating basement. They'll look for me here first."
He climbed the stairs. She followed him.
"Jim," she breathed, "it's hopeless. They'll never let you out."
He turned at the head of the stairs. The same dim, unreal light wasrepugnant in his lungs here. A repellent odor, not to be classified,crept into his nostrils, made him want to cough. Heavy purple hangingswere draped across two doorways.
"Tell me the lay-out," he whispered. "Quick! The yard isn't the onlygetaway?"
"Except the roof and the front," she whispered back, "and they'relocked. The head one keeps the keys. For God's sake, Jim, try to get outof this house before it's too late."
He pointed to one of the draped doorways. It was at the end of the hall,but the hall appeared to him too short.
"Is that the front door?"
She shook her head.
"Only leads to the front of the house. That's planted, of course--aboarding house. I tell you that door's locked."
"Then how can I get to a front window?"
"You can't, Jim."
He tried to plan.
"Then how am I--"
A heavy step seemed to set the thick, brown air in lazy motion. It camefrom a nearby room. It approached. Garth glanced at the purple hangings,expecting them to part on one who would discipline without mercy hispresumption.
"Jim! They've got you, and if they see me with you--"
She spread her arms.
"They know you're a detective. Your only hope is that they shouldn'tsuspect me. And I can't lose all I've done. Hit me, Jim."
&nbs
p; "Nora!"
"Trust me," she begged, "and we've a chance. They mustn't doubt me. Hitme, Jim. Take hold of me. Clap your hand over my mouth. Quick!"
He drew back. He knew she was right, but he couldn't, all at once, bringhimself to obey.
"I've my gun," he muttered.
"It's worthless."
The footsteps were nearer. They had persisted with a measured, anunhurried purpose. Garth drew his revolver. The curtains waved.
Suddenly Nora screamed. She flung herself upon him tigerishly.
"Jim!" she whispered. "Now!"
The contact swept him with a bitter, distorted content. He had to forcehimself to grasp her shoulders, and to bend them back. Her hand rose.Scarcely understanding her intention, he saw her strike herself sharplyacross the face. An ugly, reddish mark survived. There was a suggestionof tears in her voice.
"You coward, Jim!"
The curtains were wider, but always, as he forced her back, he combattedthe desire to draw her closer instead, to heal with his lips the scarwith which his precipitancy had marked her.
She cried out again. He glanced at the curtains. He let her go, staringwith a sense of loathing at a yellow, wrinkled face, which protrudedfrom the purple, and permitted him to see, glistening above it, a braidof hair, serpent-like and perilous.
The leering face was withdrawn. Garth heard a low whistle modulated onan unfamiliar, minor interval.
"Don't resist them, Jim," Nora whispered. "I'll do what I can."
Then she turned and ran, screaming, through the curtains.
Garth dashed for the hidden door which led to the front of the house. Ifonly he could break through there, reach a window, and signal theinspector, but when he tore the curtains back he faced panels of anexceptional stoutness, unquestionably built to deaden sound as well asto form a competent barricade. He surrendered to the realization that hewas caught in the heart of this evil house. He wondered if Nora'sstrategy retarded his captors.
A stealthy shuffling turned him from the door so that he faced the hall.He had heard that same sound last night when the diminutive Chinaman hadapproached him. Now he saw three of the same mold whose queues appearedto writhe in the brown and stifling light as they glided along the hall,their talon-like hands outstretched.
He guessed that the picture was intended to terrify, to impress upon himthe futility of resistance, yet while he had his revolver the success ofsuch an attack was remote.
"Stay where you are," he said, puzzled, trying to understand. "Come anycloser and I'll shoot."
The yellow mouths grinned. Then, when it was too late, Garth understoodthe trick. A rush of colder air on his back informed him that the heavydoor was open. He stood between two fires. In fact, before he couldturn, his wrists were grasped. Two leering faces were close to him, butas the revolver was wrenched from his hand, he pulled the trigger twice.With the great door open those explosions might penetrate beyond thehouse wall, might carry even to the inspector's men on the sidewalk.
They had at least aroused in the thick brown twilight of the house arestless, incoherent stirring. Voices muttered. Steps pattered here andthere. A muffled bell commenced to complain. Through the curtains fromthe inner room stepped a man--a white man with cruelly intelligentfeatures. Garth realized that he probably faced the head of thisorganization which for so long had outwitted the police.
Garth laughed with an effort at bravado.
"That was a signal," he said. "Block's surrounded. They'll be in herebefore you can light a joss stick. Call these things off, or you're asgood as in the chair."
Upstairs the stirrings increased. Someone shrieked.
Nora appeared at the man's elbow. Her face was twisted with an abandonedterror.
"Men in the yard!" she gasped.
Garth guessed that it was a part of her scheme to turn the hunt fromhim, to give him that one moment he needed. And it worked. He felt hishands released. The Chinamen crouched along the wall, as if trying toconceal themselves, whining pitifully.
Garth jumped through the front hall. The vestibule door was locked andthe key was missing. There was no time to conquer locks. His opportunitywas limited. So he ran into the front room. The window catch baffledhim. He didn't dare wait to fumble with it. He raised his fists andcrashed them through the glass. His hands, scratched and bleeding alittle, waved a frantic appeal. He shouted. And he heard answeringvoices and the pounding of feet. He saw figures glide into view andspring up the steps. The battering of shoulders filled the house with aturmoil that drowned its own increasing agitation.
He went back to the inner hall.
"Nora!" he called.
He pushed through the curtains into a room fantastic with Orientalfurnishings. Black, in a panic, had Nora in his grasp. The girlstruggled mutely.
"Drop her, Black!"
Black turned.
"That ends our bargain," Garth said harshly.
"She tried to stop me," Black quavered.
"He's the brother-in-law," Garth said scornfully, "of the very man who'sbeen trying in his useless way to smash this gang. What do you think ofthat?"
Nora came forward. She was shocked, but it was clear she failed to sharehis scorn. As the front door yielded she put her hand on his arm.
"Have you ever seen his wife, Jim?" she asked simply.
He nodded.
"So have I," she went on. "She's the one I'm thinking of. She's tooyoung, too happy, to have her whole life stained by this thing."
But Garth's anger persisted. Black, however, in response to Nora's nod,slipped behind the window curtains. The inspector, Manford, and a numberof detectives rushed in.
"Get your men through the house," Nora advised.
The inspector motioned the men to go. He lumbered over to Nora. He puthis arms around her. An excessive gratitude moistened his eyes andthickened his voice.
"Thank the Lord!"
"Thank Jim," she said, "although he risked everything by appearinghere."
"If you'd told us more of your plans," Garth said, "we would have workedbetter together."
"I didn't dare," she answered. "I knew so little myself. So muchdepended on success."
Manford's fragile fingers pulled at his moustache. The humor in his eyesdid not quite veil a real admiration.
"Well!" he said gaily. "Let me congratulate you, inspector. The police_have_ put something worth while over--through a woman."
Garth, whose eagerness had carried him closer to the girl, noticed forthe first time on her neck a bruise left by Black's urgent fingers. Asudden, unreasoning temper swept him with the necessity for atonement.Impulsively he burst out:
"Inspector, one of the beasts you want is behind those curtains."Nora cried out.
"Jim! You might have let me have that. His wife!"
The inspector glanced from one to the other.
"What's on your mind, Nora?"
Manford laughed easily.
"No sentiment in this game, young woman. If we thought of the wivesthere'd be few arrests."
With an air of satisfaction, as if the climactic feature of the raid hadbeen reserved for his importance, he snatched the curtains open. Blackcowered in the embrasure of the boarded window, glaring out at hisbrother-in-law. He moistened his lips.
"Don't let them tell Anna, Billy."
Manford's satisfaction, founded on a self-imposed superiority, suddenlyexpired. He became rather pitifully human. His cheeks darkened. Hisinsinuating antagonism for the inspector dwindled and faltered, finally,into a passionate mendicancy. He would meet any terms to spare hissister's entanglement in the destroying scandal.
"I'm afraid you might think the police didn't do its duty," theinspector said softly. "I just heard your own motto--no sentiment forthe wives."
Garth had not shifted his glance from Nora. Her disapproval more andmore impressed him, yet, with the bruise still eloquent on her whiteneck, he forced himself only with distaste to bargain.
"He's my prisoner, Manford. If the inspector says the wor
d we'll tamperwith the law and get him away and home. There's one condition. He doesas I say for the next couple of years--takes any treatment I suggest."
"Don't worry. I'll see to that," Manford said. "It's good of you,Garth."
He turned to his brother-in-law.
"Are you willing, John?"
Black stumbled from the embrasure. He reached out his hands appealingly.
"Yes, yes. I want to--with all my heart."
"Then, inspector--" Manford began.
The inspector winked good-humouredly.
"Since we're all such old friends I agree. I've never had a come-backyet from reading a little humanity and mercy into the law. You've a gooddeal to learn about police work, young man. Let's start your educationnow. We'll see what the boys have bagged."