Chapter XIV _Bad News_
Mary Louise's first impulse, upon leaving Miss Tracey's home, was to rushright over to Corinne Pearson with a demand to see the necklace which shehad worn at the dance the night before. But she had not taken more than afew steps before she saw the foolishness of such a proceeding. In thefirst place, Corinne would not be likely to show her the necklace; in thesecond place, Mary Louise could tell nothing by examining it. She wasn'ta connoisseur in rubies; it was doubtful whether she could spot a realstone if she saw one. No, nothing was to be gained by a visit to thePearsons' at this time.
So instead she directed her course towards home, resolving to discuss thewhole affair with her father, if he had returned from his business trip,as her mother had expected.
She found him on the porch, reading the Sunday paper and smoking hispipe. He was a big man with a determined chin and fine dark eyes whichlighted up with joy at the sight of his daughter.
"Mary Lou!" he exclaimed, getting up out of his chair and kissing her. "Iwas so afraid you wouldn't be home to see me!"
"I just had to see you, Daddy," returned the girl. "I need your help."
"Sit down, dear. Your mother tells me that you are engaged in someserious business. I feel very proud of my detective daughter."
"I'm afraid I'm not so good after all," she replied sadly. "Now that I'mreally up against a hard problem, I don't know which way to turn. I'dlike to tell you about it, if you have time."
She seated herself in the hammock and took off her hat. It was lovely andcool on the shaded porch after the heat of the Riverside streets.
"Of course I have time," Mr. Gay assured her. "Begin at the beginning."
"I will, Daddy. Only, first of all, you must promise not to tellanybody--except Mother, of course. Miss Grant seems to dread publicity ofany kind."
"Why?"
"The reason she gives is that she firmly believes some member of her ownfamily to be guilty and wants to avoid scandal. But I think there'sanother--a deeper reason."
"And what do you think that is, Mary Lou?"
"A desire to keep her possession of a ruby necklace a secret. She kept ithidden in the mattress of her bed and never mentioned it to anybodyexcept one trusted nephew."
Mr. Gay wrinkled his brows. "I guess you had better tell me the facts inorder, dear."
Mary Louise settled herself more comfortably in the hammock, and told herstory, just as everything had happened. When she finally came to thedescription of the robbery the previous night, and of her own shamefultreatment at the hands of the thief, her father cried out in resentment.
"Don't tell Mother about my being bound up and put in the closet," shebegged. "It would worry her sick."
"It worries me sick!" announced Mr. Gay. "And I don't want you to spendanother night at that dreadful place.... In fact, I forbid it!"
Mary Louise nodded: she had been expecting the command.
"Then may I bring Elsie Grant home with me while her aunt is in thehospital?" she asked.
"Yes, I suppose so--if your mother is willing." But his consent wasrather reluctant; Mary Louise sensed his distrust of the orphan.
"Daddy, do you think Elsie is guilty?" she asked immediately.
"I don't know what to think. You believe that your intruder was a woman,don't you? Then, if it was a woman in Miss Grant's family, how manypossible suspects have you?"
Mary Louise checked them off on her fingers. "Old Mrs. Grant, Mrs.Pearson, Corinne Pearson--and Elsie."
"Which are most likely to have heard about the necklace? Old Mrs. Grantand Elsie, I should say, offhand."
"Yes," agreed his daughter. "And I'm sure Mrs. Grace Grant wouldn'tsteal. Besides, she's too old to get down a ladder."
"Hold on a minute!" cautioned her father. "You're not sure that yourthief got away in that manner. Suppose, as you are inclined to believe,she was at Dark Cedars when you arrived last night, and suppose she didhide in the closet until she thought you were asleep. When she finishedher job, why couldn't she have walked down the stairs and out thedoor--it must unlock from the inside--while you were still locked in thecloset?"
"That's true. But wouldn't Elsie have heard her?"
"Probably. But, then, she'd have been likely to hear anybody getting outof a window.... Yes, I think suspicion points to the young girl, with onepossible exception."
"You mean Corinne Pearson?"
"No, I don't. I think the very fact that she wore a red necklace to thedance practically proves her innocence. If she even knew her aunt owned aruby necklace, she wouldn't have done that, after she was caught inanother theft."
Mary Louise sighed: she felt as if her visit to Miss Tracey had beenwasted time, and she said as much to her father. But he reassured herwith the statement that real detectives make many such visits, which mayseem to lead to nothing, but which all have their part in leading to thecapture of the criminal.
"Then whom else do you suspect, Daddy?" she asked.
"The most obvious person of all. The person who had every reason tobelieve that there was something valuable hidden in Miss Grant's bed fromthe way the old lady guarded it. The person who made up all the storiesabout ghosts to throw you girls off the track. I mean Hannah, of course."
"Hannah!" repeated Mary Louise in amazement. She had never thought of heras guilty since her interview with her that very first day.
"You may be right, Daddy. But if she was going to steal, why did she doit at night, when we were there? She had plenty of chance all day aloneat Dark Cedars--except for William, her husband."
"Yes, but then you would immediately suspect her or William. This threwyou off the track."
Mary Louise pondered the matter seriously.
"I still can't believe that, Daddy. Knowing Hannah as I do, I would stakemy word on the fact that both she and old Mrs. Grant are absolutelyhonest."
"Well, it may not have been a member of the family at all," observed Mr.Gay. "Maybe it was an outsider, someone who had heard a rumor about thenecklace and visited the house systematically at night, searching for it.That would account for those strange noises and the disturbances. Itmight even have been the person who owned the necklace in the firstplace, who would know, of course, that it was still at Dark Cedars. Thereis only one thing to do that I can see, and that is to notify thepawnshops and jewelers all over the country."
"But that would take forever," protested Mary Louise. "And besides, wecouldn't mention Miss Grant's name without her permission."
Mr. Gay smiled; there was a great deal for Mary Louise to learn about thedetective business.
"It wouldn't take any time at all," he said. "The police have a list ofall such places and a method of communication. And Miss Grant's name neednot be mentioned--my name is sufficient. But I wish we could get a moreaccurate description of the necklace."
"I wish we could. I'll try to see Miss Grant again tomorrow."
"It doesn't make so much difference, however," her father told her. "Ifthe rubies are real, they can easily be detected. It isn't likely thatmany ruby necklaces are being pawned at the same time."
"Will you do this for me, Daddy?" asked Mary Louise, rising from thehammock and opening the screen door. "I just want to say 'hello' toMother, and then I must be on my way. I'm due back at Dark Cedars at twoo'clock."
Mr. Gay frowned.
"Must you go, dear? I don't forbid it, in broad daylight, but I don'tlike it."
"Yes, I must get my suitcase, Daddy. And bring Elsie back, if she wantsto come."
"All right, Mary Lou. I'll drive you over, if our dinner isn't ready. AndI'll come back for you about five o'clock, so that I'm sure of gettingyou home here safely before dark."
It was a simple matter for Mary Louise to gain her mother's consent tobring Elsie Grant home with her. Believing the girl to be just a poordowntrodden orphan, Mrs. Gay adopted a motherly, sympathetic attitude,totally unaware that both Jane Patterson and Mr. Gay suspected the girlof t
he crime. She was delighted that her daughter had decided to leaveDark Cedars.
"It's bad enough to have your father away on dangerous work, withouthaving to worry about you too, Mary Louise," she said as she kissed herdaughter good-bye. "Be back in time for supper."
"I will," promised the girl. "Daddy is going to drive me over and comeback for me."
During the short ride in her father's car the theft was not mentioned. Ifpossible, Mary Louise wanted to forget it for the time being. She hatedto go to Dark Cedars and eat Hannah's dinner as Elsie's guest and all thewhile suspect one or the other of them of a horrible crime.
Mr. Gay left Mary Louise at the hedge, and she ran up the path lightly,just like an ordinary girl visiting one of her chums for a Sunday dinner.But Elsie did not come out to meet her, and she had to knock on the doorto gain admittance.
In a minute or two Hannah answered it.
"Hello!" she said. "Ain't Elsie with you?"
Mary Louise shook her head.
"No. She said she'd stay and help you," she replied. "Didn't she tell youabout what happened last night?"
"No!" Hannah's eyes opened wide. "Was the spirits here again?"
"Somebody was here," answered Mary Louise. "Haven't you been up in MissGrant's room?"
The woman shook her head.
"No, I ain't. I've been too busy out in the garden helpin' William andgettin' dinner ready. I figured you girls'd make your own bed. Elsiealways did most of the upstairs work."
"Well, I couldn't very easily make the first bed I slept in," remarkedMary Louise. "Because the mattress was torn to pieces."
"Miss Mattie's?" gasped Hannah, in genuine terror. She looked sofrightened that Mary Louise could not believe she was acting.
"Yes. Somebody bound and gagged me and locked me in the closet and thenproceeded to strip the bed. They must have found Miss Grant's preciousnecklace--for that's what it was, John Grant said."
The servant woman bowed her head.
"May the Lord have mercy on us!" she said reverently. "It's His way ofpunishin' Miss Mattie fer keepin' the thing her dead mother warned heragin'." She looked up at Mary Louise. "Eat your dinner quick," she said."Then let's get out of here, before the spirits come agin!"
"But where's Elsie?" insisted Mary Louise, knowing that it was no use toargue with Hannah about the "spirits."
"She went off soon after you girls left. I thought she changed her mindand went to Sunday school. She had on her green silk."
"And hasn't she come back all morning?" demanded Mary Louise in dismay.
"Nary a sign of her."
Mary Louise groaned. This was bad news--just what she had been fearingever since her conversations with Jane and with her father. If Elsie hadrun away, there could be only one reason for her going: she must beguilty!
"I had better go right home and see my father," she said nervously.
"You set right down and eat your dinner, Miss Mary Louise!" commandedHannah. "You need food--and it's right here. You ain't a-goin' to take nohot walk on an empty stomach! Besides, Elsie may come in any minute. Sheprobably run down to show them colored people her pretty green dress."
Mary Louise's eyes brightened.
"Abraham Lincoln Jones's family?" she inquired.
"Yeah. Elsie's awful fond of them. They kind of pet her up, you know."
Mary Louise smiled and sat down to her dinner. The food tasted good, forit was fresh from the garden, and Hannah was an excellent cook. But allthe time she was eating she kept her eyes on the door, watching, almostpraying that Elsie would come in.
"Maybe you had better not touch that room of Miss Grant's," she cautionedHannah. "I think it might be better to leave it just as it is--for thesake of evidence. My clothes are in your old room now, and I'll get themfrom there."
"Don't you worry!" returned the woman, with a frightened look in hereyes. "I ain't givin' no spirits no chance at me! I'm leavin' the minutethese dishes is done, and I ain't comin' back day or night. If Elsieain't home by the time I go, you can take the key, Miss Mary Louise, andturn it over to Miss Mattie."
Mary Louise nodded: perhaps this was for the best.
"I'll leave my suitcase on the porch while I run down to see the Jonesfamily," she said, as she finished her apple pie. "And you had betterclear out the refrigerator and take all the food that is left, because,if I find Elsie, I'll take her home with me."
"Maybe she's havin' a chicken dinner with them colored people," returnedHannah and for the first time since Mary Louise's arrival she smiled.