The operative glanced about the reading-room. He blinked at the glowing electrics. He recovered his voice as he drew in a deep breath which bulged his chest to barrel proportions.
"I went," he said huskily. "I went to Gramercy Hill Exchange. Found the superintendent.... Fellow, you told me to find, Chief ... I draws him to one side.... I asked about this trouble-hunter.... He ups like I"d hit him.... He says fellow quit to-day.... Says fellow.... Says he was no good.... Says he was tapping joints instead of soldering them. Says he only hired him on account of the shortage of electricians and helpers ... because of the last Army draft."
"Did you get his address?"
"I got it, Chief.... It is over on Fifty-third Street near the River.... I didn"t go.... I wanted to see you first.... There"s more."
"Out with it!"
"The superintendent says he never sent that trouble-hunter over here last night.... There"s a record of sending another man named Frisby."
"Did you see--Frisby?"
"I did, Chief."
"What did he say?" Drew"s fingers had clutched the operative"s arm.
"What did he say?" he repeated grimly.
"Said, that Albert--that"s the trouble-hunter--had stopped him on the way over here and took his place.... Said, he was satisfied.... Albert could have _all_ the jobs on a night like last night. That"s just what Frisby said, Chief!"
Drew loosened his fingers from Delaney"s arm and turned slowly. The portieres swayed slightly. They shook anew. They parted at the center and revealed Loris Stockbridge. Her eyes burned the soft gloom with glazed interrogation. She raised her white hand and pressed back her hair from her forehead. She stepped forward with her knees striking against the stiff satin of her skirt. She swung from Delaney toward Drew.
"What were you saying?" she asked imperiously. "What did you say about a trouble-man? What was it, please?"
"I"m lookin" for one, Miss!" declared Delaney. "I was over at the telephone company"s exchange lookin" for the lad that was here last night and fixed the junction-box in the yard back of the house. Mr.
Drew wants him."
Loris turned toward the detective. "You want him?" she asked softly.
"What do you want him for? Please tell me. I don"t like him, at all."
It was Drew"s turn to draw in his breath. He eyed the girl. He tried to fathom the reason for her simple question and her objection. "Miss Loris," he said, shrugging his square shoulders. "Why, it"s a slight matter. The man has disappeared. We can"t find him. He"s flown--perhaps."
"Is he a little chap with a satchel and a testing set?" she asked. "A nice-mannered, soft-voiced little man who was so obliging, and yet so--oh! I don"t know what I have against him. He"s so sly--don"t you think so, Mr. Dr--e--w?"
"When did you ever see him?" asked Drew, feeling the blood rising to his cheeks at a thought which surged through his brain.
"Meet him? Why! he was here early this afternoon. He was all over the house!"
CHAPTER TWELVE
"SUSPICION FASTENS"
Triggy Drew had been trained in the hardest school in the world. Loris Stockbridge"s statement, delivered with such sincerity and so navely, completely upset him. It was like a gentle reminder that, as a hunter of men, he had failed. He took the blow with flaming cheeks and an almost stopped heart.
Delaney realized that something of moment in the case had happened. He stared at his chief, then turned his eyes upon Harry Nichols, who stepped through the portieres and stood by Loris" side.
"What is it, Chief?" asked the operative. "Was there anything in what she said?"
"Anything!" exclaimed Drew, recovering himself with a tossing shrug of his shoulders. "Anything? Everything! The man we want is----"
"Found?" breathed Loris clutching Nichols" arm.
"Not yet--but _very_ soon!" said the detective with sanguine eyes. "We want that trouble-hunter, Delaney," he added gathering in the details for action as he spoke. "You"ll have to hurry right over to the address and see if you can round him up. If he isn"t there--get him! I want him brought here at once. He"s got much to explain!"
"I"ll go right now," said Delaney, starting toward the reception room.
"Wait," said Drew.
Delaney turned at the portieres.
"Don"t phone me here," the detective warned. "Don"t do anything by telephone. We"re on the trail of a man or men who can tap wires. He or they may have a confederate in this house. Be careful--get your suspect and bring him here. We"ll try him with the footprints. We"ll check up with the fingerprints. Then, if he don"t cave in, we"ll turn him over to Fosd.i.c.k and the Third Degree. I firmly believe that Albert, whom I saw in the library and who was in this house in the early afternoon of this day, is implicated in the murder. Strange that I never suspected him."
"I"m going!" growled Delaney, tearing his eyes away from Loris and glancing through the curtains. "I"m right after him, Chief. I won"t stop till I get him, either."
"If you don"t make it in thirty minutes," said Drew glancing sharply at his watch, "if you don"t make it by then--come back here. Perhaps something will have turned up in the meantime. Get that?"
"Sure, Chief! Good-by!"
Delaney had pa.s.sed through the portieres, crossed the reception room and pressed aside the tapestries leading to the hallways, before Drew stepped to the broad doorway and motioned for Loris and Nichols to take their former positions. He waited until they were seated with their faces in the shadow cast by the overhead silken hangings. He spoke then, and to the point.
"This case," he said, thrusting his hands in his coat pockets and striding back and forth. "This case is clearing clue by clue. The trouble-man, whom some one let into the house this afternoon, is the missing link in the chain of circ.u.mstance and applied deduction. Who let him in?"
"I did!"
Drew stopped in his stride. "You, Nichols?" he questioned sharply. "Why did you let him in?"
"Because I asked Harry to," defended Loris with heat. "I heard the bell ring. I sent the maid downstairs. She came back and told me that a man from the telephone company was waiting to look over the connections.
She said that he said that there was trouble with the wires."
"I don"t believe it!" exclaimed Drew; "that is," he added hastily, "I don"t believe there was anything the matter at all. In the light of what Delaney has told me, that fellow came here last night, when some one else named Frosby or Frisby was sent. Now why would he want to take another"s place? For one reason only--the same reason that he came here this afternoon. This reason concerns your future health and security.
We had one death in this house which followed his first visit. We don"t want anything to happen after his second visit."
"You are right, Mr. Drew," said Nichols. "I was careless. I went down stairs and talked with the fellow. It was just a few minutes after I arrived from downtown. He seemed so plausible that I asked the Central Office Detective at the door, who gave the permission. It was all my fault, I guess."
"Where did this fellow go? What did he do in the house?"
"He went into the library and tested the phone there. The connection seemed to be all right. Then he went down stairs and tested the butler"s "phone. The butler had been taken as a material witness by Fosd.i.c.k. I followed the man. He didn"t do anything but test and then talk with Franklin Official--I think it was."
"Are you sure he talked over the phone? It"s ridiculously easy for a person to hold down the hook and make believe they are talking to most anybody."
"I don"t know about that, Mr. Drew," said the captain, turning toward Loris. "Did he talk to anybody when he used this "phone, Miss Stockbridge?"
"I believe so, Harry. I really thought he did."