CHAPTER XIII
MR. WRANDALL PERJURES HIMSELF
Smith arrived at eleven, somewhat after the fashion of the Hawkshawsof "yellow back" fame, who, if our memory serves us right, were sopunctual that their appearance anywhere was described as being inthe "nick o' time," only in this instance he was expected and didnot "drop from the sky," as the saying goes.
Mr. Wrandall met him at the station and escorted him in a roundaboutway to Southlook, carefully avoiding the main village thoroughfareand High street, where the fashionable colony was intrenched. Mr.Smith, being an experienced detective, was not surprised to find(after the introduction), that Mr. Wrandall's attorney had been afellow-passenger from town. If he was impressed, he did not oncebetray the fact during the four mile spin to Sara's. On the contrary,he seemed to be entirely absorbed in the scenery.
Mr. Wrandall had said, without shaking hands: "We will repair atonce to Mrs. Challis Wrandall's house, Mr. Smith. She is expectingyou. I have informed her of your mission."
"I think we'd better discuss the matter between ourselves, Mr.Wrandall, before putting it up to--"
"There is nothing in connection with this unhappy affair, sir, thatcannot be discussed first-hand with her," said his employer stiffly.
"Just as you like, sir," said Smith indifferently. "I have talkedit over with old man Carroll. He understands."
"I am quite sure he does, Mr. Smith," said the other, with emphasis.Mr. Smith successfully hid a smile.
He took his seat beside the chauffeur.
"I am surprised," he observed to the driver, as a "feeler," "thatyou haven't changed bodies."
"Mr. Wrandall ordered the limousine, sir," said the chauffeur.
"Oh, I see. Keeps it on hand for rainy days, I suppose."
"It's Mrs. Wrandall's idea," explained the man. "Women are fussyabout their hair. We always have a limousine handy."
"It is a handy thing to have about," said Mr. Smith drily, as helooked out of the corner of his eye and remarked the two men behindhim. They were in very close conversation.
"The boss usually takes the other car. He likes the wind in hisface, he says. I don't know why he ordered the limousine to-day."
"Probably there's something in the wind to-day he doesn't like,"remarked Smith, after which he devoted himself assiduously to theroad ahead, not being a practiced motorist.
As they were ascending the steps in Sara's exotic garden, Smithventured a somewhat sinister remark.
"These steps are not good for a man with a weak heart, Mr. Wrandall.I hope yours is sound."
"Quite, Mr. Smith. Have no fear," said Mr. Wrandall, with an acutesense of divination. "You will also find it to be in the rightplace."
"Umph," said Mr. Smith.
Sara did not keep them waiting long in the morning room. She camein soon after they were announced, followed by Mr. Carroll, who hadspent the night at Southlook. Hetty Castleton was not in evidence.
She motioned them to seats after Mr. Wrandall had ceremoniouslyintroduced his lawyer, and as unceremoniously neglected to do asmuch for Smith.
"This is Mr. Smith, I presume," said she, with a slight upliftingof her eyebrows. She took a chair facing the detective.
"Yes, my dear," said her father-in-law. "Joseph Smith."
"Benjamin, if you please," corrected Mr. Smith.
"I regret to state that my memory for names does not go back tothe Old Testament," said Wrandall, with a frosty smile.
"There are no Smiths in the Old Testament," said the detectivegrimly.
"I understand, Mr. Smith, that you are prepared to charge me withthe murder of my husband."
She said it very quietly, very levelly. Smith was a bit staggered.
"Well, I--er--hardly that, Mrs. Wrandall," he said, disconcerted.
"Will you be good enough to come to the point at once?"
"My report in this matter, madam, is to be made to Mr. Wrandallhere, as I understand it," said the detective, his jaw stiffening."We don't, as a rule, report our findings to--well, to the personwe suspect. It isn't what you'd call regular. Mr. Wrandall hasemployed me to make the investigation. He can hardly expect me toreveal my findings to you."
"My dear Sara--" began Mr. Wrandall.
"As this is a rather intimate conference, Mr. Smith," interruptedSara, with a gracious smile for her father-in-law, "I fancy we havenothing to gain, one way or another, by recriminations. You havealready consulted Mr. Carroll, and I have talked it over with Mr.Wrandall. That was to have been expected, I believe. As I understandthe situation, you are somewhat curious to know just how much itis worth to me to have the matter dropped."
Smith eyed her steadily.
"That is the case, precisely," he said briefly.
"Then you are not really interested in having the guilty personbrought to justice?"
"I am not an officer of the law, madam. I am a private individual,working for private ends. It is for Mr. Wrandall to say whether mydiscoveries shall be related in court. I respectfully submit thatI am acting within my rights. My deductions have been formed.That is as far as I can go without his authority. He has offered areward, and he has gone farther than that by engaging us to devoteour time, brains and energies to the case. I am in this position atpresent: our firm cannot accept the reward he has offered withoutdeliberately declaring to the world that we can put our hand onthe slayer of his son. As I cannot produce the actual proof thatwe have found that person, I am in honour compelled to submit ourfindings so far as they have gone, and then either to withdraw fromthe matter or carry it on to the end, as he may elect. Our timeis worth something, madam. We have made a careful and exhaustiveinvestigation. We have come to the point where we can go no fartherwithout more or less publicly associating you with our theories.I spoke to Mr. Carroll yesterday, it is true, and I am here to-dayto lay my facts before Mr. Wrandall--and his attorney, I see. Mr.Carroll chose to call me a blackmailer. He may be correct in hislegal way of looking at it. But he is wrong in assuming that MYmotives are criminal. I submit that they are fair, open and aboveboard."
There was a moment's silence following this astonishingly succinctsumming up of his position. The three men had not taken their eyesfrom his shrewd, frank face during that clever speech. They hadnothing to say. It had been agreed among them that Sara was to dothe talking. They were to do the watching.
"You put the case very fairly, Mr. Smith," said she seriously. "Ithink your position is clear enough, assuming of course that youhave any real evidence to support your theories, whatever they maybe. I am perfectly free to say that you interest me."
"Interest you?" he said, in some exasperation. He had expected herto fly into a passion. "Don't you take me seriously, madam?"
"As far as you have gone, yes."
Mr. Wrandall could hold in no longer. He was most uncomfortable.
"See here, Smith, out with it. Let us have your story. Mydaughter-in-law is not in the least alarmed. You've been on thewrong track, of course. But that isn't the point. What we want nowis to find out just where we stand."
"You put it in a rather compromising way, Mr. Wrandall. The pronoun'we' is somewhat general, if you will permit me to say so. Do youexpect me to discuss my findings in the presence of Mrs. Wrandalland her counsel?"
"Certainly, sir, certainly. You need have no hesitancy on thatscore. I dare say you came here knowing that what you were to saywould go no further than these four walls."
"Would you say that, sir, if I were to submit proof that wouldmake it look so black for Mrs. Wrandall that you couldn't very welldoubt her complicity in the crime, even though you saw fit to letit go no further than these four walls?"
Mr. Wrandall hesitated. A heavy frown appeared between his eyes;his fingers worked nervously on the arm of the chair.
"I may say to you, Mr. Smith, that if you produce conclusive proofI shall do my duty as a law-respecting citizen. I would not hesitateon that score."
Sara looked at him through half-closed lids. His jaws were firmlyset.<
br />
Smith seemed to be reflecting. He did not speak for a long interval.
"In the first place, it struck me as odd that the man's wife didnot take more interest in the search that was made immediatelyafter the kill--after the tragedy. Not only that, but it is ofrecord that she deliberately informed the police that she didn'tcare whether they caught the guilty party or not. Isn't that true?"
The question was directed to no one in particular.
It was Sara who answered.
"Quite true, Mr. Smith. And if it will interest you in the least,I repeat that I don't care even now."
"You were asked if you would offer a reward in addition to the smallone announced by the authorities. Why didn't you offer a reward?"
"Because I did not care to make it an object for well-meaningdetectives to pry into the affairs of indiscreet members of society,"she said.
"I see," said he reflectively. "May I be so bold as to ask why youdon't want to have the guilty punished?"
She looked at Mr. Wrandall before offering a reply to this directquestion.
"I can't answer that question without publicly wounding Mr.Wrandall."
"We understand each other, Sara," said the old man painfully. "Ithink you would better answer his question."
"Because my husband courted the fate that befell him, Mr. Smith.That is my reply. While I do not know what actually transpired atthe inn, I am reasonably certain that my husband's life was takenby some one who had suffered at his hands. I can say no more."
"The eye for an eye principle, eh?" There was deep sarcasm in theway he said it. As she did not respond to the challenge, he abruptlychanged tactics. "Where were you on the night of the murder, Mrs.Wrandall?"
She smiled. "I thought you knew, Mr. Smith."
"I have reason to believe that you were at Burton's Inn," he saidbluntly.
"But you wouldn't be at all sure about it if I said I wasn't there,would you, Mr. Smith?"
"I don't quite get you, Mrs. Wrandall."
"I mean to say, if I made it worth your while to change youropinion," she said flatly.
He cleared his throat. "You couldn't change my opinion, so there'san end to that. You could stop me right where I am, if that's whatyou mean. I'm perfectly frank about it, gentlemen. You needn'tlook as if you'd like to kill me. I'm not anxious to go on withthe investigation. I don't know enough up to date to be sure of aconviction, but I guess I could get the proof if it is to be found.This is a family affair, I take it. Mr. Wrandall here doesn't wantto--"
Mr. Wrandall struck the arm of his chair a violent blow with hisclenched fist.
"You have no authority, sir, to make such a statement!" he exclaimed."I want it distinctly understood that I would give half of what Ipossess to have the slayer of my son brought to justice."
"But you don't want this thing to go any further so far as Mrs.Challis Wrandall is concerned," said Smith coolly.
"Of course not, you miserable scoundrel!" cried the other in arage. "She's no more guilty than I am."
"Don't call names, Mr. Wrandall," said Smith, a steely glitter inhis eyes. "I am prepared to lay before you certain facts that Ihave unravelled, but I am not willing to give them to Mrs. Wrandall."
"My daughter-in-law spent the night at her own apartment, waitingfor my son," said Wrandall, regaining control of himself. "That ispositively known to me, sir. Positively!"
"How can you be sure of that, Mr. Wrandall?" asked Smith sharply.
The gaunt old face, suddenly very much older than it had beenbefore, took on a stern, defiant expression.
"I spoke with her over the telephone at half past nine o'clock thatnight," said he steadily.
Smith was not the only one to be surprised by this startlingdeclaration. Sara Wrandall's eyes widened ever so slightly, andone might have detected a sharp catch in her breath.
"She called you up?" asked Smith, after a moment to collect hiswits.
Mr. Wrandall was not to be trapped. He had made up his mind tolie for Sara in this hour of need, and he had considered well hismethods.
"No. I called up the apartment."
"How did you know she was at her apartment?"
"I did not know it. I called up to speak with my son. She answeredthe call, Mr. Smith."
He arose from the chair. Smith also came slowly to his feet, thelook of astonishment still on his face.
"And now, sir," went on the old man, levelling a bony finger athim, "I think we can dispense with your services. I will give youcredit for one thing: you are plain-spoken and above board. Youwant money and you don't beat about the bush. If you will instructyour office to send to me a bill for services, I will pay it. Iengaged you, and I am ready to pay for my stupidity. My car willtake you back to the station."
Smith picked up his hat and fumbled with it for a moment, plainlydismayed.
"If I have been on the wrong lead, Mr. Wrandall, I am willingto drop it and start all over again. I suppose your reward stillstands. I am sure we can--"
"It does not stand, sir. I shall withdraw it this very day. Godknows if I had thought it would lead us to this pass, it shouldnever have been offered. Now, go, sir."
Smith held his ground doggedly. "There are a few points I'd liketo--"
"No!"
"For the sake of justice and--"
Sara interrupted the man. She had crossed to Mr. Wrandall's side,a queer light in her eyes. Her hand fell upon his trembling oldarm and he felt a thrill pass from her warm, strong fingers intothe very core of his body.
"Mr. Smith, will you give me an off-hand estimate of what yourservices amount to in dollars and cents up to date?"
"You don't owe me anything, Mrs. Wrandall," said Smith, flushinga dull red.
"You came here to give me a chance, Mr. Smith, feeling that I wasactually implicated. You had a price fixed in your mind. You stillhave your doubts, in spite of what Mr. Wrandall says. It occurredto you that it would be worth considerable to me if the investigationwent no farther. You realised that you could not have brought thiscrime home to me, because you could not have found REAL, satisfyingevidence. But you could have gone to the newspapers with yoursuspicions, and you could have made one-half the world believe thatan innocent person was guilty of a foul crime. The world loves itssensations. It would have gloated over the little you could havegiven it, and it would have damned me unheard. I owe you somethingfor sparing me a fate so wretched as that. Your price: What is it?"
"Sara!" cried Mr. Wrandall, aghast.
"My dear Mrs. Wrandall," cried Carroll, blinking his eyes, "youare not thinking of--"
"I am thinking of paying Mr. Smith his price," said Sara calmly.
"Why, damn it all," roared Carroll, "you countenance his ridiculousassertions--"
"No; I do nothing of the sort, Mr. Carroll, and Mr. Smith knows itquite as well as you do. He still has it in his power to set thetongues to wagging. We can't get around that, gentlemen. I want topay him to drop the case entirely. The reward has been withdrawn.Will it satisfy your cupidity, Mr. Smith, if I agree to pay to youa like amount?"
"Good Lord!" gasped Smith, staggered.
"I cannot permit--" began Mr. Wrandall.
She looked him squarely in the eye and the words died on his lips.
"I prefer to have it my way," she said. "I will not accept favoursfrom Mr. Smith--nor any other man." Wrandall alone caught thesignificance of the last four words. She would not accept the favourof a lie from him! And yet she would not humiliate by denying himin the presence of others. "Mr. Carroll will attend to this matter forme, Mr. Smith, if you will call at his office at your convenience.I shall make but a single stipulation in addition to the oneinvolved: you are to drop the case altogether. Mr. Wrandall hasalready dismissed you. You are under no further obligations to himor his family. I respectfully submit to all of you, gentlemen, thatwhen the investigations go so far astray as they have gone in thisinstance, it isn't safe to let them continue with the possible chanceof proving unwholesome to other innocent persons, tow
ard whom, insome justice, attention might be drawn. The young woman now in thefar West is a sickening example. I refer to the Ashtley girl. If,by any chance, the right person should be taken, I will do my part,Mr. Wrandall, with the same purpose if not the same spirit thatactuates you, but I am opposed to baring skeletons to gratifythe morbid curiosity of a public that despises all of us because,unhappily, we are what we are. I trust I make myself plain to you.I loved my husband. I have no desire to know the names of womenwho were his--we will say--who were in love with him."
Mr. Wrandall bowed his head and said not a word. His attorney, whohad been a silent listener from the beginning, spoke for the firsttime.
"If Mr. Smith will call at my office to-morrow, I will attend tothe closing of this matter to his entire satisfaction. Mr. Wrandallhas already authorised me to settle in full for his time and--patience."
"I don't like to take money in this way--"
"We won't discuss ethics, Mr. Smith."
"Just as you like, then. I'm only too happy to be off the job. Goodmorning, madam. Good morning, gentlemen."
He stalked from the room. Watson was waiting in the hall.
"This way," he said, indicating the big front door.
Smith grinned sheepishly. "'Gad, they don't even think I can finda front door," he said.
Redmond Wrandall turned to the two men after he heard the door ofhis automobile slam in the porte-cochere.
"Gentlemen, I believe it is unnecessary to announce to you that Idid not speak over the telephone with my daughter-in-law on thatwretched night," he said slowly.
They nodded their heads.
"I am not a good liar. Do you think the fellow believed me?"
"No," said Sara instantly. "He is accustomed to better lying thanyou can supply. But it doesn't in the least matter. He knows, however,that you spoke the truth when you said I was in my apartment, eventhough you are not sure of it yourself, Mr. Wrandall. I will notpresume to thank you for what you did, but I shall never forgetit, sir."
He regarded her rather austerely for a moment. "I am glad you donot thank me, Sara," he said. "You are not to feel that you areunder the slightest obligation to me."
"I regret that you felt it necessary to perjure yourself," shesaid levelly, and then broke into a soft little laugh as she laidher hand on his arm once more. "Come! Let us have a semi-publicview of Hetty's portrait."
He looked up alertly at the mention of the girl's name.
"By the way, where is Miss Castleton?" he asked, drawing a longbreath as if the air had suddenly become wholesome.
"She is back yonder in the living-room, having her last sittingto Brandon Booth. Just a few finishing touches, that's all. I hearthem laughing. The day's work is done."
She led the way down the long hall, followed by the old gentlemen,who came three abreast, hoary retainers at the heels of youth.