"Oh, by the way, any word of Norton?"
"I"m coming to that. She inquired for Norton. The curator has given a good description. But he was out--hadn"t been there for some time. She seemed to be very much upset over something. She went away. After that we"ve lost her."
"Not another trace?"
"Wait a minute. We had this Rockledge call to work on. So we started backward on that. It was Whitney"s place, I found out. We could locate the car at the start and at the finish. He left the Prince Edward Albert and went up there first. Then he must have come back to the city again. No one at the hotel saw him the second time.
"What then?" hastened Craig.
"She may have met him somewhere, though it"s not likely she had any intention of going away. All the rest of those people you have up there seem to have gone prepared. We got something on each of them. Also you"ll be interested to know I"ve got a report of your own doings. It was right, Kennedy, I don"t blame you. I"d have done the same with Burke on the job. How are you making out? What? You"re cracking a crib?
With what?"
O"Connor whistled as Kennedy related the story of the blow-pipe. "I think you"re on the right track," he commended. "There"s nothing to show it, but I believe Whitney told her something that changed her mind about going up there. Probably met her in some tea room, although we can"t find anything from the tea rooms. Anyhow, Burke"s out trailing along the road from New York to Rockledge and I"m getting reports from him whenever he hits a telephone."
"I wish you"d ask him to call me, here, if he gets anything."
"Sure I will. The last call was from the Chateau Rouge,--that"s about halfway. There was a car with a man and a woman who answers her description. Then, there was another car, too."
"Another car?"
"Yes--that"s where Norton crosses the trail again. We searched his apartment. It was upset--like Whitney"s. I haven"t finished with that.
But we have a list of all the private hacking places. I"ve located one that hired a car to a man answering Norton"s description. I think he"s on the trail. That"s what I meant by another car."
"What"s he doing?"
"Maybe he has a hunch. I"m getting superst.i.tious about this case. You know Luis de Mendoza has thirteen letters in it. Leslie told me something about a threat he had--a curse. You better look out for those two greasers you have up there. They may have another knife for you."
Kennedy glanced over at the de Moches, not in fear but in amus.e.m.e.nt at what they would think if they could hear O"Connor"s uncultured opinion.
"All right, O"Connor," said Craig, "everything seems to be going as well as we can expect. Don"t forget to tell Burke I"m here."
"I won"t. Just a minute. He"s on another wire for me."
Kennedy waited impatiently. He wanted to finish his job on the safe before some one came walking in and stopped it, yet there was always a chance that Burke might turn up something.
"h.e.l.lo," called O"Connor a few minutes later. "He"s still following the two cars. He thinks the one with the woman in it is Whitney"s, all right. But they"ve got off the main road. They must think they"re being followed.
"Or else have changed their destination," returned Craig. "Tell him that. Maybe Whitney had no intention of coming up here. He may have done this thing just to throw these people off up here, too. I can"t say. I can tell better whether he intended to come back after I"ve got this safe open. I"ll let you know."
Kennedy rang off.
"Any news of Inez?" asked Lockwood who had been fuming with impatience.
"She"s probably on her way up here," returned Craig briefly, taking up the blow-pipe again.
Alfonso remained silent. The Senora could scarcely hide her excitement.
If there were anything in telepathy, I am sure that she read everything that was said over the wire.
Quickly Craig resumed his work, biting through the solid steel as if it had been mere pasteboard, the blow-pipe showering on each side a brilliant spray of sparks, a gaudy, pyrotechnic display.
Suddenly, with a quick motion, Kennedy turned off the acetylene and oxygen. The last bolt had been severed, the lock was useless. A gentle push of the hand, and he swung the once impregnable door on its delicately poised hinges as easily as if he had merely said, "Open sesame."
Craig reached in and pulled open a steel drawer directly in front of him.
There in the shadow lay the dagger--with its incalculably valuable secret, a poor, unattractive piece of metal, but with a fascination such as no other object, I had ever seen, possessed.
There was a sudden cry. The Senora had darted ahead, as if to clasp its handle and unloose the murderous blade that nestled in its three-sided sheath.
Before she could reach it, Kennedy had seized her hand in his iron grasp, while with the other he picked up the dagger.
They stood there gazing into each other"s eyes.
Then the Senora burst into a hysterical laugh.
"The curse is on all who possess it!"
"Thank you," smiled Kennedy quietly, releasing her wrist as he dropped the dagger into his pocket, "I am only the trustee."
XXIV
THE POLICE DOG
Craig faced us, but there was no air of triumph in his manner. I knew what was in his mind. He had the dagger. But he had lost Inez.
What were we to do? There seemed to be no way to turn. We knew something of the manner of her disappearance. At first she had, apparently, gone willingly. But it was inconceivable that she stayed willingly, now.
I recalled all the remarks that Whitney had ever made about her. Had the truth come out in his jests? Was it Inez, not the dagger, that he really wanted?
Or was he merely the instrument of one or all of these people before us, and was this an elaborate plan to throw Kennedy off and prove an alibi for them? He had been the partner of Lockwood, the intimate of de Moche. Which was he working for, now--or was he working for himself alone?
No answer came to my questions, and I reflected that none would ever come, if we sat here. Yet there seemed to be no way to turn, without risking putting ourselves in a worse position than before. At least, until we had some better plan of campaign, we occupied a strategic advantage in Whitney"s own house.
The hours of the night wore on. Midnight came. This inaction was killing. Anything would be better than that.
Suddenly the telephone startled us. We had wanted it to ring, yet when it rang we were afraid of it. What was its message? It was with palpitating hearts that we listened, while Craig answered.
"Yes, Burke," we heard him reply, "this is Kennedy."
There came a pause during which we could scarcely wait.
"Where are you now? Cold Stream. That is about twelve miles from Rockledge--not on the New York road--the other road. I see. All right.
We"ll be there. Yes, wait for us."
As Craig hung up the receiver, we crowded forward. "Have they found her?" asked Lockwood hoa.r.s.ely.