"Speech! Speech!"
"At the Gold Nugget--whatever he called himself there--Edward Clayte was ten years younger than he had seemed at the bank; he appeared to weigh a dozen pounds more; threw out his chest, walked with his head up, and therefore would have been estimated quite a bit taller. This personality was an opposite of the other. Bank clerk Clayte was demure, un.o.btrusive; this man wore loud patterns. The bank clerk was silent; this man talked to every one around him, tilted his hat over one eye, smoked cigars just as those men were doing that day in the lobby; acted like them, was one of them. In the Gold Nugget, Clayte was a very average Gold Nugget guest--don"t you see? Commonplace there, just as the other Clayte had been commonplace in a bank or an office."
Her voice ceased. On the silence it left, Worth spoke up quietly.
"Bull"s eye as usual, Bobs. Every word you say is true. And at the Gold Nugget, his name was Henry J. Brundage. He had room thirty on the top floor."
Skeet clapped her hands, jumped up and came around the table to kiss Barbara on the ear, and tell her she was the most wonderfullest girl in the world.
"Heh!" I flared at Worth. "Find that all out to-day in San Francisco?"
"No."
"Oh, it was the Brundage clew that took you south?"
"Yep. Left Louie on the job at the hotel while I was away. To-day, I went after Brundage"s automobile. Found he"d kept one in a garage on Jackson Street."
"It"s gone, of course--and no trace," Barbara murmured.
"Gone since the day of the bank theft," Worth nodded. "He and the money went in it."
"Say," I leaned over toward him, "wouldn"t it have saved wear and tear if you"d told me at the first that you knew Skeels couldn"t be Clayte?"
"Oh, but, Jerry, you were so sure! And Skeels wasn"t possible for a minute--never in his little, piking, tin-horn life!"
I don"t believe I had seen Worth so happy since he was a boy, playing detective. I glanced around and pulled myself up; we certainly weren"t making ourselves very entertaining for the Vandemans. There they sat, at their own table, like handsome figureheads, smiling politely, pretending a decent interest.
"All this must be a bore to you people," I apologized.
"Not at all--not at all," Vandeman a.s.sured us.
"Well then if you don"t mind--Worth, I"ll go and use Vandeman"s phone--put my office wise to these Brundage clews of yours."
Worth nodded. No social scruples were his. I had by no means given up the belief that Skeels in jail at Tiajuana, would still turn out to be one of the gang.
I had just got back to the table from my phoning when the doorbell rang; we saw the big Chinese slip noiselessly through the rear into the hall to answer it, coming back a moment later, announcing in his weighty, correct English,
"Two gentlemen calling--to see Captain Gilbert."
"Ask for me?" Worth came to his feet in surprise. "Who told them I was here?"
"I do not know," the Chinaman spoke unnecessarily as Worth was crossing to the door. "I did not ask them that."
"Use the living room, Worth," Vandeman called after him. "We"ll wait here."
With the closing of the door, conversation languished. Even Skeet was quiet and seemed depressed. My ears were straining for any sound from in there. As I sat, hand dropped at my side, I suddenly felt under shelter of the screening tablecloth, cold, nervous fingers slipped into mine.
Barbara wasn"t looking at me, but I gave her a quick glance as I pressed her gripping small hand encouragingly.
She was turned toward Vandeman. Pale to the lips, her great eyes fixed on the eyes of our host, I saw with wonder how he slowly stirred a spoon about in his emptied coffee cup, and stared back at her with a face almost as colorless as her own. The bride glanced from one to the other of them, and spoke sharply,
"What"s the matter with you two? You"re not uneasy about Worth"s callers, are you?"
"No-no-no--" Vandeman was the first to come out of it, responding to her voice a good deal as if she dashed cold water in his face, his eyes breaking away from Barbara"s, his lips parted in a nervous smile. He ran a hand through his hair--an inelegant gesture for him at table--and laughed a little.
"We ought to be in there," Barbara said to me, a curious stress in her voice.
"How funny you talk, Barbie," Skeet quavered. "What do you think"s wrong?" And Ina spoke decidedly,
"Worth is one person in the world who can certainly take care of himself, and would rather be let alone."
"If you think there is anything we should do--?" Vandeman began anxiously, and Skeet took a look around at our faces and fairly wailed,
"What is it? What"s the matter? What do you think they"re doing to Worth in there, Barbie?"
"I"d think they were arresting him," Barbara said in a low, choked tone, "Only they don"t know--"
"Arresting him!" I broke in on her, startled, getting halfway to my feet; then as remembrance came to me, sinking back with, "Certainly not.
The murderer of Thomas Gilbert is already in the county jail. I arrested Eddie Hughes this morning."
"You arrested--Eddie Hughes!" It was a cry from Barbara. The cold little hand was jerked from mine. Twisting around in her chair, she stared at me with a look that made me cold. "Then you"ve moved those two steel bolts for c.u.mmings."
I jumped to my feet. On the instant the door opened, and in it stood Worth, steady enough, but his brown tanned face was strangely bleached.
"Jerry," he spoke briefly. "I want you. The sheriff"s come for me."
CHAPTER XXVI
MRS. BOWMAN SPEAKS
Midnight in the sheriff"s office at San Jose. And I had to telephone Barbara. She"d be waiting up for my message. The minute I heard her voice on the wire, I plunged in:
"Yes, yes, yes; done all I could. A horse can do no more. They"ve got Worth. I--" The words stuck in my throat; but they had to come out--"I left him in a cell."
A sound came over the wire; whether speech or not, it was something I couldn"t get.
"He"s taking it like a man and a soldier, girl," I hurried. "Not a word out of him about my having gone counter to his express orders, arrested Hughes, and pulled this thing over on us."
"Oh, Mr. Boyne! Of course he wouldn"t blame you. Neither would I. You acted for what you thought was his good. The others--"
"Vandeman"s already gone home. Tell you he stood by well, Barbara--that tailor"s dummy! Surprised me. No, no. Didn"t let Jim Edwards come with us; so broken up I didn"t want him along--only hurt our case over here, the way he is now."
"Your case?" she spoke out clearly. "What is the situation?"
"A murder charge against Worth on the secret files. Hughes is out--c.u.mmings got him--took him, don"t know where. Can"t locate him."