A little sheepishly, Corson took the number and called up Dr Weldon. The hearty response of a genial voice a.s.sured the inquirer that Mr Vail had spent the evening before with the doctor, that he had arrived late, having been to a theater, and that the two had played chess until nearly two o"clock, when Mr Vail, surprised at the lateness of the hour, had started for home. That was the extent of Dr Weldon"s information.
"And quite satisfactory," Corson said, with a relieved air. "I had to know, sir, that you weren"t with Sir Herbert. Now, I must find out who was with him,--of either s.e.x."
"You"re all right, Corson," Vail said; "I think you see your duty clearly, and if I can help you in any way, call on me. And, look here, don"t you let any suspicion fasten itself on Bob Moore. That chap"s all right. He"s everlastingly reading murder yarns, but he"s interested in the detective side of them, not the crime side. I wouldn"t say this, but I heard something about his being questioned and I want to stand up for him. In a general way, I mean. And as to this case, it"s very strange, I know, but don"t let its strangeness lead you into impossible theories.
You know, already, that at the time of Sir Herbert Binney"s murder, Bob Moore was up at the tenth floor,--I can testify to that,----"
"Now, I don"t know, Mr Vail," and Corson looked deeply perplexed. "What you say"s true enough, but look here, we"ve only Moore"s word that he found that man dying when he came down. Suppose Sir Herbert came in and Moore stabbed him----"
"And Sir Herbert wrote a paper saying it was women?"
"Well, no,--but maybe Bob wrote that paper himself----"
"You"re getting pretty well tangled up, Corson. Why don"t you put a handwriting expert on that paper, and see if it"s in the dead man"s fist or not?"
"Good idea, Mr Vail! I never thought of it!"
"Try it, and, excuse me, Corson, but I say this in all honesty, I think you"d better get some help. I believe this is a big case and a mysterious one, and it wouldn"t do you any harm to have a colleague to advise with. Do as you like, or as you"re told, but that"s how it looks to me. Now I must be off, but I"ll come home early, for I"m interested to know how things go."
"Hold on a minute, Mr Vail; you know Moore pretty well. Do you think it"s possible that he knows who did it, knows who the women are, even perhaps saw the thing done, and then helped them to get away and disposed of the weapon?"
"Anything is possible, Corson, but I think what you suggest is exceedingly improbable. I know Moore only from my chats with him now and then in the elevator, and that"s all I can say. To me, anything crooked in that young man seems decidedly unlikely."
Vail went off leaving a sadly perplexed detective behind him, who felt that he didn"t know which way to turn, and was inclined to follow the advice he had received regarding a colleague.
Corson was anxious for further talk with the members of the Prall household, but they had not made appearance yet and he hesitated to call them.
He decided to run down to the Magnifique at once, when he received unexpected help from the telephone operator, Julie Baxter.
"Sir Herbert has a lot of telephone calls from ladies," she said, with a meaning glance.
"Is that so? Did he have any yesterday?"
"Yes, he did. About five o"clock, a skirt called him up and they had a merry confab."
"Who was she?"
"Dunno; but he called her "Babe.""
"Not very definite! Most girls get called that! What did she say?"
"How should I know that?" and Julie"s big eyes stared haughtily at him.
"By the not unheard of method of using your ears. What did she say?"
Really eager to tell, Julie admitted that she listened in, and that an appointment was made for dinner at the Magnifique. Further details she could not supply.
Whereupon Corson carried out his plan of going to the big hotel at once.
He hunted down the head waiter of the grill room of the night before, and, having found him asleep in his room, waked him up and proceeded to interrogate him.
"You bet Sir Herbert Binney was here," the man declared, when he got himself fully awake; "he had two of the prettiest little squabs I ever saw, along, and they had a jolly dinner."
"And then?"
"Then they all went off to the theater, and after the show he brought them back, also two more,--four of "em in all,--and they had supper."
"All amicable?"
"Oh, yes,--that is, at first. Later on, the girls got jealous of each other, and--well, the old chap"s a softy, you know, and they pretty much cleaned him out."
"Just what do you mean?"
"Well, he made them presents, or promised them presents,--he"s terribly rich,--and each of those girls was afraid somebody else would get more than she did. So, they squabbled quite a lot."
"Sir Herbert was good natured?"
"Yep; he just laughed and let "em fight it out among themselves."
"Now, look here, did any of those four girls get angry enough to wish Sir Herbert any harm?"
"Did they? Why, I heard Babe Russell say she was going to kill him, and Viola Mersereau, she said, if she was sure it would never be discovered, she"d shoot him herself."
"Are you sure of these things? Because--somebody did kill Sir Herbert Binney about two o"clock this morning."
"What! Who did it?"
"We don"t know, but we"ve reason to suspect women."
"That"s the bunch, then! Lord, I didn"t think they"d go so far as that!
But that Viola is a ring-leader,--she"s a vamp, if there ever was one!
And little Russell! Well, she"s soft and babyish looking but she"s got the temper of a wildcat! And they were out for the goods, those young she"s! They"re all straight, you know, but they"re just little greedies.
And that man was their natural prey. Why, they could get anything out of him! Not pearl necklaces and diamonds,--I don"t mean that,--but fans and vanity-cases and silk stockings and lockets and such trifles. Not trifles in the aggregate, though. That man must have spent a good big roll on "em last night."
"How do you mean, spent it?"
"Why, he"d give this one or that one a yellowback to buy a new hat, say,--and then the others would tease for new hats. And maybe, if he didn"t have the kale, he"d give "em checks, or he"d tell "em they could have the hat or the scarf or whatever charged to him. But he was strict.
He told each one the limit she should pay, and if she paid more, they couldn"t be friends any more. It was a queer mix-up, but all friendly and decent. He was just like a big frolicsome boy, and the girlies were like soft little kittens, playful,--but, kittens can scratch."
"And they did?"
"Yes, there was more real ill nature shown last night than ever before.
Sir Herbert wasn"t as generous as usual; I daresay he"s tired of the game,--anyway, they couldn"t bamboozle him to more than little trinkets, and I think Viola was out for furs. And furs mean money. But he only smiled when she hinted and she spoke more plainly, and then when he didn"t agree she got mad."
"You seem to know all about it."
"Couldn"t help knowing. They took no pains to be quiet, and I was around most of the time, and finally I became interested to see how it would come out."
"And how did it?"