XI
FOOTSTEPS
WANTED--A WOMAN CALLING HERSELF ANTOINETTE Duclos, just arrived from Europe on the steamer _Castania_, who after taking rooms at the Universal for herself and her steamer companion, Angeline Willetts, left the hotel in great haste late in the afternoon of May twenty-third and has not been heard of since.
In person she is of medium height, but stocky for a Frenchwoman. Dark hair, black eyes, with an affection of the lid which causes the left one to droop. Her dress consisted of skirt and jacket of a soft shade of brown. Hat indistinguishable. She carried, on leaving the hotel, a dark brown leather bag of medium size, long and narrow in shape. Her only peculiarity, saving the one drooping eyelid, is a hesitating walk. This is particularly obvious when she attempts to hasten.
It is to be hoped that this person on hearing of Miss Willetts' death, will communicate at once with the clerk of the hotel.
If in two days this does not occur, a reward of five hundred dollars will be given to the man or woman who can give definite news of this Frenchwoman's whereabouts.
Police Headquarters, Mulberry St.
This notice, appended to such particulars of the tragedy as appeared inall the morning papers, roused the city--I may even say the country--toeven greater wonder and excitement than had followed the first detailsgiven in the journals of the evening before.
Would anything come of it?
Morning passed; no news of Antoinette Duclos.
Afternoon: messages of all kinds leading to much work, but bringing noresult.
Five o'clock: a missive from the directors of the museum to the effectthat under the peculiar circumstances and the seeming absence of anyfriends of the deceased, they would be glad to furnish the meansnecessary to the proper care and burial of the young woman killed in suchan unhappy manner within their walls.
A half-hour later, Gryce, for whose appearance the Inspector had beenanxiously waiting, came in with his report. A chair was pushed up forhim, for he was an old man and had had a sleepless night, as we know,besides two days of continued work. But he did not drop into it, as theInspector expected, or give any other signs of exceptional fatigue; yetwhen he had seated himself and they were left alone, he did not hasten tospeak, though he evidently had much to say, but remained quiet, holdingcounsel, as it were, in his old way, with some small object he had pickedup from the desk before him.
At last the Inspector spoke:
"You have been on the hunt; what did you find?"
"Not much, Inspector--and yet enough to disturb me in a way I was notlooking for. Of course, in studying the situation carefully, you haveasked yourself how the man who shot the arrow from behind the upperpedestal got away. He did not wait as Travis did till the firstexcitement had abated and the way was, in a manner, cleared for an escapeinto the court. For X, as we will call him, was certainly among those Isaw lined up before me at the moment I bade them one and all to returnand stand until released, in the exact spot occupied by them when thefirst alarm rang out. After the surprise Travis gave us we had thebuilding searched from roof to cellar. Not another soul was found in itwhose name was not registered on the chart. As I have already said, theguilty one had managed to escape immediately upon the flight of thearrow, though how, even then, he could have got below in the time he didis a mystery which trips me up every time I think of it. But letting thatgo for the present, he did get there and get there unnoticed. How? Now,there are three ways of escape from behind either of those pedestals. Theway Travis took, that is, toward the front, and round through the suiteof rooms headed by the one marked H, to the rear staircase; the moredirect one of an immediate exit from the gallery through Sections VI andVII to this same staircase; and (the only one worth considering) astraight plunge for the door behind the tapestry and so down by thewinding staircase beyond, into the Curator's office. The unknown neverwent Travis' way, and he couldn't have gone the other without runninginto the arms of Correy; so he must have made use of the hidden door. Soconvinced was I of this, after last night's discovery eliminated Travisas a suspect, that I made it my first duty this morning to examine thisdoor and the mysterious little passageway back of it. When first notifiedof this door, we had been assured that it had not been opened in years,that the only key remaining to it was the one the Curator showed ushanging from the ring he drew from his own pocket; and acting upon thesestatements, which I would not allow myself to doubt for a moment, wedecided to open the door in our own way, which we immediately did. Theresult was the instant discovery that some one had passed through thisdoor and down these stairs very much later than years ago. We could see,without taking a step beyond the doorway, traces of a well-shod foot inthe dust lying thickly on every tread. These traces were so many and soconfused that I left them for Stevens' experienced eye and deftmanipulation to separate and make plain to us. He is making anexamination of them now, and will be able to report to you before night."
The Inspector was a man of little pretense. He felt startled and showedit.
"But this is a serious matter, Gryce."
"Very serious."
"No mere visitor to the museum would have presumed upon this venture."
"No."
"Which means----"
"That some one actively connected with it had a guilty hand in thisdeplorable affair."
"I am afraid so."
"Some one well acquainted with the existence of this door and who hadmeans of opening it. The question is--who?"
In saying this, Mr. Gryce studiously avoided the Inspector's eye; whilethe Inspector in his turn looked up, then down--anywhere but in thedetective's direction. It was a moment of mutual embarrassment, broken,when it was broken, by a remark which manifestly avoided the issue.
"Possibly those traces you speak of were not made at the time youspecify. They may have been made since, or they may have been madebefore. Perhaps the Curator was curious and tried his hand at a littledetective work on his own account."
"He hadn't the chance. Every portion of the building has been verythoroughly guarded since first we entered it. He may have gone up priorto the shooting. That is open to dispute; but if he had done so, why didhe not inform us of the fact when he showed us the key? The Curator isthe soul of honor. He would hardly deceive us in so important a matter."
The quick glance which this elicited from the Inspector awoke nocorresponding flash in the eye of the imperturbable detective. Hecontinued to shake his head over the small object he was twirlingthoughtfully about between his thumb and finger, and only from hisgeneral seriousness could the Inspector gather that his mind was no moreat rest than his fingers. Was this why his remark took the form of aquestion?
"Where was the Curator when you forced open that door behind thetapestry? Was he anywhere in the building?"
"No, sir; he has not been there to-day. He was ill last night, and he isill to-day. He sent us his excuses. If he had been in the building, Idoubt whether I would have given the order to burst open the door. Iwould simply have requested him to use his key. And he would have done soand kept his own counsel. I do not know as I can say as much for any ofhis subordinates. Happily, no spying eye was about at that time; andStevens will be sure to see that he is not watched at his work if hehas to lock the door upon the whole bunch of directors."
"This is to be a secret investigation, then?"
"I would so advise."
"With every reporter headed off, and anyone likely to report to areporter headed off also?"
"Do not _you_ advise this?"
"I do. Anything more?"
"Not till we hear from Stevens."
They had not long to wait. Sooner than they expected the expert mentionedcame in. He held a batch of papers in his hand, which at a gesture fromthe Inspector he spread out before them. Then he spoke:
"One man and one man only has passed down those stairs. But that man haspassed down them twice--once with rubbers on and once without. There aresigns equally plain of his having gone up the
m, but only once, and at thetime he wore the rubbers. I took every pains possible to preserve andphotograph the prints, but as you see, great confusion was caused by thesecond line of steps falling half on and half off the other. All I dareread there is this: A quick run up and a quick run down by a man inrubbers, and then a second run down by the same man in shoes. That's thewhole story. These other scraps of paper," he went on as he saw theInspector's eye travel to some small bits lying on the side, "are what Ihave to show as the result of my search on and about the western pedestalfor finger-prints. A gloved hand drew that bow. See here: this is animpression I obtained from the inner edge of the pedestal in question."
He pulled forward a small square of paper; the sewing of a kid glove wasplainly indicated there.
When Stevens had gone, the Inspector exclaimed meaningly:
"Gryce! Name your man; we shall get on faster."
The aged detective rose.
"I dare not," he said. "Give me one--two days. I must have time tothink--to collect my evidence. A name once mentioned leaves an echo. Whenmy echo rings, it must carry no false sound. Remember, I did not sleeplast night. When I present this case to you as I see it, I must be at mybest. I am not at my best to-day."
This was doubtless true, but the Inspector had not discovered it.