VIII
ON THE SEARCH
It was late in the afternoon. The Inspector's office had hummed for hourswith messages and reports, and the lull which had finally come seemedgrateful to him. With relaxed brow and a fresh cigar, he sat in quietcontemplation of the facts brought out by the afternoon's inquiries. Hewas on the point of dismissing even these from his mind, when the dooropened and Gryce came in.
Instantly his responsibilities returned upon him in full force. He didnot wait for the expected report, but questioned the detective at once.
"You have been to the hotel," he said, pointing out a chair into whichthe old man dropped with a sigh as eloquent of anxiety as of fatigue."What more did you learn there?"
"Very little. No message has come; no persons called. For them and for usthese two women, Madame Duclos and Miss Willetts, are still an unknownquantity. Their baggage, which arrived while I was there, supplied theonly information I was able to obtain."
"Their baggage! But that should tell us everything."
"It may if you think best to go through it. It is not heavy--a trunk foreach, besides the one they brought with them from the steamer. From thepasters to be seen on them, they have come from the Continental Hotel,Paris, by way of the Ritz, London. At this latter place their stay wasshort. This is proved by the fact that only the steamer-trunk is pastedwith the Ritz label. And this trunk was the one I found in their room atthe Universal. From it Miss Willetts had taken the dress she wore to themuseum. Her other clothes--I mean those she wore on arriving--lay indisorder on the bed and chairs. I should say that they had been tossedabout by a careless if not hasty hand, while the trunk----"
"Well?"
"Stood open on the floor."
"Stood open?"
"Yes, I went through it, of course."
"And found nothing?"
"Nothing to help us to-day. No letters--no cards. Some clothing--somelittle trifles (bought in Paris, by the way) and one little book."
"A name in it?"
"Yes--_Angeline_; and one line of writing from some poem, I judge. I putit back where I found it. When we know more, it may help us to find herfriends."
"And is that all?"
"Almost, but not quite. The young girl had a bag too. It stood on atable----"
"Well?"
"Empty. Everything had been tumbled out--turned upside down and thecontents scattered. I looked them carefully over. Nothing, positivelynothing, but what you would be likely to find in any young girl'straveling-bag. There's but one conclusion to be drawn."
"And what is that?"
"That all these things, such as they were, had been pushed hastily aboutafter being emptied out on the table. That was not the young girl'swork."
"Madame Duclos'!"
"You've hit it. She was in search of some one thing she wanted, and shetook the quickest way of finding it. And----"
"Yes, Gryce?"
"She was in a desperate hurry, or she wouldn't have left the trunk openor all those dainty things lying about. Frenchwomen are methodical andvery careful of their belongings. One other thing I noted. There was aloose nail in the lock of the trunk. Sticking to this nail was a ravelingof brown wool. Here it is, sir. The woman--Madame Duclos--wore a dress ofbrown serge. If my calculations are not wrong and we succeed in getting aglimpse of that dress, we shall find a tear in the skirt--and what ismore, one very near the hem."
"Made to-day?"
"Yes--another token of haste. She probably jerked at the skirt whenshe found herself caught. She could not have been herself to have donethis--for which we may be glad."
"You mean that by this thoughtless action she has left a clue in ourhands?"
"That and something more. That tear in her decent skirt will bother her.She will either make an immediate attempt to mend it, or else do theother obvious thing--buy a new one. In either case it gives us somethingby which to trace her. I have put Sweetwater on that job. He never tires,never wearies, never lets go. No report in yet from the terminals?"
"Not a word. But she will not get far. Sooner or later we shall find herif she does not come forward herself after reading the evening papers."
"She will never come forward."
"I am not so sure. Something not a little peculiar happened at themuseum after you left. We had Reynolds up, and he made a most carefulexamination of that bow for finger-prints. He did not find any. Butfortune favored us in another way almost as good."
"Now you interest _me_."
"We had brought the bow into the Curator's office, and it lay on the longtable in the middle of the room. I had been looking it over (this wasafter Reynolds had gone, of course) and had already noted a certaindefect in it, when on chancing to look up, my eyes fell on a mirrorhanging in a closet the door of which stood wide open. A face was visiblein it--a very white face which altered under my scrutiny into a semblancemore natural. It was that of Correy--you remember Correy, one of theassistants, and an honest fellow enough, but more troubled at this momentthan I had ever seen him. What could have happened?
"Wheeling quickly about, I caught him just as he started to go. He hadopenly declared that he did not know this bow; but it was evident that hedid, and I did not hesitate to say so. Taken unawares, he could not hidehis distress, which he proceeded to explain thus: He did remember thebow, now that he had the opportunity of seeing it closer. He pointed tothe nick I had myself noticed and said that owing to this defect the bowhad been cast aside, and the last time he had handled it----Here hecaught his breath and stopped. Another memory had evidently returned toembarrass him."
"Did you succeed in getting him to acknowledge what it was?"
"Yes, after I had worked with him for some time. He didn't want to talk.In a moment you will see why. Going back to the time he had seen itbefore, he said that he had found it in the cellar in an old box, thecontents of which he had been pulling over in a search for something verydifferent. Amazed to find it there, he had taken it out, examined itcarefully, noted the nick I mentioned and tossed it back again into thebox. This he told, but reluctantly.
"Why reluctantly, I was soon to find out. He was not alone in the cellar.The shadow of some person at his back had fallen across the lid of thebox as he was closing it. He did not recognize the shadow and had notgiven it at the time a second thought, but the remembrance of it cameback vividly when he saw the bow lying before him and realized the partit had played in the morning's tragedy. Was it because he knew that onlya person actively connected with the museum would have access to thatpart of the cellar? I asked. I did not expect an answer, and I did notget it. We looked at each other for a moment, then I let him go."
A momentary silence, which the Inspector broke by saying:
"Later I called the Curator in, and he also recognized the bow asbelonging to the museum. But he volunteered no explanations and in facthad little to say on the subject. He was evidently too much startled bythe direct connection which had thus been made between the crime (oraccident, if you will) and the personnel of the museum."
"That was natural. He should be the first to see that the bow which shotthe arrow must of necessity have been brought into the building by someother door than those at which the doormen stood guard. I had a talkwith those men, and they both declared that no sticks or umbrellas oranything of that nature ever went by them or would be allowed to go bythem, no matter how concealed or wrapped up. But to revert to the matterin hand. So Correy made absolutely no attempt to explain how this weaponhad been carried from cellar to gallery without his knowledge?"
"No. He for one will have a sleepless night."
"Not he alone. I must and will see a way through this maze. To-morrow maybring luck. Ah, I forgot to say that I spent an hour of the three youallowed me with the captain of the steamer which brought over these twowomen. As might be expected, he had no information of any significance togive me; nor could I obtain much from such members of the crew as I couldget hold of. One steward remembered the Englishman, chiefly because he
never showed himself unless the young lady was on deck. But he never sawthem speak."
"Which bears out Travis' story to the last detail."
"Exactly. I think we can depend upon _him_; otherwise we _should_ be atsea."
"Yet his story is a very strange one."
"The whole affair is strange--the strangest I ever knew. But that isn'tagainst it. It's the commonplace case which baffles. We shall get the keyto the whole mystery yet."
"I've no doubt. Is Mr. Travis to be detained?"
"Yes, as witness."
"Does he object?"
"Not at all. Having spoken--told his whole story, as he says--he israther glad than otherwise to be relieved from the common curiosity ofstrangers. He's a rare bird, Gryce. If he stops to think, he must seethat he stands in a more or less ticklish position. But he does notbetray by look or action any doubt of our entire belief in the truth ofall his statements. His only trouble seems to be that he has lost, bythese inhuman means, the girl upon whom he had set his heart. To-morrowwe will confront him with Mrs. Taylor. She should be able to say whetherhe did or did not stand out in the open gallery at the moment MissWilletts fell."
But Mr. Gryce had no encouragement to give him on this head.
"Mrs. Taylor is ill--very ill, as I take it. I stopped at her hotel toinquire. I was anxious about her for more than one reason and the reportI got of her condition was far from favorable. She is suffering cruellyfrom shock. How occasioned, whether by the peculiar and startling deathto which she was a witness or by the strangely coincident fancy to whichshe herself attributes her deep emotion, will have to be decided byfurther developments. Nothing which I was able to learn from doctor ornurse settled this interesting question. Meanwhile, no one is allowed tosee her--or will be till she is on the direct road to recovery. Let ushope that this may be soon, or the inquest may be delayed indefinitely."
"I don't know as that is to be deplored. I imagine we shall find enoughto fill in our time.... Any communications made by her before shecollapsed? Did she send out or receive messages of any kind since herreturn from the museum?"
"She received none; but it is impossible to say whether or not she sentany out. There is a letter-chute very near her door. She may have droppeda letter in that any time before a watch was put upon her. You arethinking, of course, of the anxiety she expressed about her husband, andwhether she took any measures for ascertaining if her fears for him hadany foundation in fact?"
"I was, yes; but I presume this fancy had passed, or else she is too illto remember her own aberrations. Were you able to effect an understandingwith her nurse?"
"Yes; that's fixed. I had a short talk, too, with the proprietor of thehotel. He thinks very highly of Mrs. Taylor. She has lived in the oneapartment for years, and he cannot say enough of her discreet and uniformlife. Though she made no secret of the fact that she does not live withher husband, her conduct has always been such as to insure universalrespect. He did not even make mention of eccentricities. If she is crazy,it is a late development. She seemed to have been all right up to thismorning. Whichever way you turn, you encounter mystery and a closeddoor."
"The papers may spring the lock of that door at any moment. Publicationdoes much in a case of this kind. To-morrow we may be in a much morefavorable position. Meantime, let us recount the facts it is our businessto clear up."
"On what hypothesis?"
"On all hypotheses. We are not sure enough of our premises, as yet, toconfine ourselves to one."
"Very good, these are the ones which seem to me to be of the greatestimportance:
"Whose hand carried the bow from cellar to gallery?
"Was it the same which carried the arrow from one gallery to the other?
"Is it possible for an arrow, shot through the loophole made by thecurving-in of the vase, to reach the mark set for it by Mr. Travis'testimony?
"Which one of the men or women known to be in the museum when this arrowwas released has enough knowledge of archery to string a bow? A mark canbe reached by chance; but only an accustomed hand can string a bow asunyielding as this one.
"Who telephoned to Madame Duclos; and of what nature was the messagewhich sent her from the hotel so precipitately that she not only left themost important part of her baggage behind but went away without makingadequate provision for the young girl confided to her charge?
"Does this mean that she had been made acquainted with the fate of theyoung girl; and if so, by whom?"
"Business enough for us all," was the Inspector's comment as Gryce pausedin this enumeration. "As you put it, I am more and more convinced thatthe key you spoke of a short time ago will be found in this missingwoman's tightly shut hand."
"Which brings us round full-circle to our first conclusion: that MissWilletts' death is not only a crime, but a premeditated one."
"Carried out, not by the one benefited, but by an agent selected for thepurpose."
"An agent, moreover, who knew the ways and possibilities of the place."
"A logical conclusion; but still too incredible for belief. I find ithard to trust to appearances in this case."
"And I also. But as we have both said, time may clear away some of itsincongruities. Meanwhile I have an experiment to propose." And leaningclose to the Inspector, notwithstanding the fact that there was nobodywithin hearing and he knew it, he whispered a few words in his ear.
The Inspector stared.
"To-night?" he asked.
The detective nodded.