“So I suppose we’d better be gettin’ into our coats again...”
Ellen had heard and seen enough. Boldly, she turned and glided to another door directly across the corridor. She opened it softly, an inch at a time, stepped inside into Stygian darkness. No one stirred.
She closed the portal in her wake after experiencing the feeling that she was alone. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as she took out her pencil flash and played its tiny beam about.
A moment later she had located a switch and the tiny room was flooded with light.
She was in a washroom of some sort, although she could tell from its size that it was not the one in general use. The little adventuress was as cool as the proverbial cucumber as she usually was when under the stress of peril. Her movements were deliberate, but carried off with a speed and precision truly remarkable.
First, she bent and grasped the fluffy hem of the Eighteenth Century gown. Hurriedly, she drew it upward over her youthful body. A moment later the costume was hidden from view behind a large hamper against the wall. This, of course, left her shapely figure sheathed in the form fitting evening gown of black crepe which she had worn under the other one!
THIS black, daringly-cut creation, backless and with halter-neck, was the identifying costume of the mysterious Domino Lady!
Replacing the orchid mask with a domino of shining black silk, and with a tiny black, snub-nosed automatic in her right fist, Ellen switched off the light, and stepped out into the still deserted corridor.
Once more the intrepid Domino Lady was on the prowl, keeping a midnight engagement of vengeance!
FACING the door of the treasure room, Ellen reached into the low-cut décolletage of her evening frock, drew forth a shining metal ball which has rested snugly in the warm valley of her shapely bosom! Small, compact, it was a powerful weapon when properly used.
Although harmless, it contained a volatile gas which temporarily rendered powerless those persons unfortunate enough to inhale its sickening and paralyzing vapors!
A wicked little smile lighted her piquant face as she softly tried the knob of the door. It surprised her by giving noiselessly before her even pressure, and she slowly shoved it open.
Across the room, the two guards, half dozing and unconscious of her presence, awaited the midnight hour with ill-concealed signs of disgust with their lot. They missed seeing the lovely figure as it crept silently inside!
With a skill born of much practice, Ellen tossed the bomb! The detectives’ first intimation of an intrusion was when the gas container shattered into a million tiny fragments on the table between them, and their lungs began to smart from the fumes of the quick-acting agent! They lunged upward, going for their guns.
“What the —” burst from the lips of the taller of the two as he glimpsed the black-clad figure of the Domino Lady for the first time.
“Hold it!”
The command, softly spoken, cut through the stillness of the room, as the tiny automatic was trained upon the reeling detectives. “One move or one cry, and you get it where it’ll do you the most good! I mean business, men!”
But the word, or the gun were almost superfluous in the face of the volatile gas. It had gotten in its deadly work, and the two detectives slumped groaning to the floor!
The Domino Lady was all speed and precision now. Her left hand whipped a handkerchief from inside her frock — one that had been loaded with a powerful neutralizing powder.
Holding it to her nose and mouth, she darted forward toward the glittering baubles on the table!
Slipping her automatic inside her dress, and working with her right hand, she quickly snapped shut the jewel case, locked it. She didn’t stop to examine the precious loot, but slipped its container beneath her left arm. A swift glance at the unconscious men convinced her that they would slumber peacefully for some minutes to come. If only someone didn’t come in to disturb them before that time was up!
Stooping, she tossed a small black card beside the senseless men. On it, in white ink, was inscribed the legend: The Domino Lady’s Compliments!
A second later, she had spun around and was making for the door. It was a supreme test of nerve to step into the hallway in her disguise, and with Kettrick’s fortune in stones in plain view beneath her arm.
But Ellen was made of stern stuff; she faced the ordeal with a calm fortitude which would have done credit to the fearless Owen Patrick, himself!
She glided into the big corridor, looked swiftly about.
It was deserted!
The haunting strains of Beautiful Lady in Blue came faintly to her ears from the direction of the ballroom.
Was Roge McKane there, perhaps looking for her? The thought gave speed to her movements as she closed the door, darted forward and entered the washroom again.
Ellen swiftly manipulated a small metal lever on the wall of the washroom after switching on the lights. With steady hands, she pulled her costume from behind its concealing hamper.
The tight-fitting creation came off over her shining head, leaving her shapely body clad only in the lacy black scanties! Stooping, she wadded the black dresses and the domino into a small roll. This she placed on the tile floor near the wall.
From her wrist-bag she produced a tiny vial of colorless liquid. The domino and dress, of special construction and previously treated so as to take the acid, were doused with the consuming liquid! A tiny wisp of nauseating smoke eddied upward for a moment, then the gown and domino were nothing but a small pile of dark ashes!
Before dressing, Ellen scooped these ashes up, sifted them into the washbowl. A dash of water from the tap, and they had disappeared from view. Next, she reached for the costume gown, prepared to pull it on over her shining head. Just as she raised it high, she startled. Someone was trying the door of the washroom!
Ellen stood stockstill, the dress suspended in midair while her heart beat like a sledgehammer against her ribs. Was she about to be discovered? Was this to be the end of the Domino Lady?
Chapter 4
ELLEN listened, intently. Nothing happened.
Whoever had tried the door, if indeed someone had actually tried it, had retreated after finding it locked. Or perhaps they awaited her appearance, seeing the light and knowing the single door to be the only means of exit from the washroom! Well, she mused grimly, if that was the way it was, she couldn’t help it; she’d have to take that chance.
Quickly she slipped the voluminous costume gown down over her beautiful body, securing it tightly about the waist. Picking up her orchid mask, she fastened it in place, looked about. Everything was in order.
No one could ever tell that she had been there. With her wrist-bag in hand, she unlocked the door, stepped out into the large corridor!
It was entirely deserted! With a tight little smile on her face and a prayer of thanks in her heart, Ellen made for the further end of the hallway and the ballroom.
The alarm was sounded shortly after. Ellen had again met Roge McKane and they were waltzing when, suddenly, all the lights in the huge ballroom were snapped into coruscating brilliance.
There was tense silence for a moment after the orchestra broke off in the middle of a beat. Then, a very red-faced Ames Kettrick broke into excited speech from the big doorway.
The scowling, heavy-set politician was having difficulty in suppressing his anger. His beautiful wife stood beside him, a bit embarrassed if indications were to be taken at face value.
Her dazzling beauty shone through the troubled look on her lovely face.
Despite her fall from grace in fickle picturedom, Jane Kettrick was still the possessor of a breathtaking beauty. It requires more than mere symmetry of feature and figure to crash one’s personality across to the public through the medium of photographic flashes; and this still-young woman had been a headliner short months before! She squinted her expressive eyes about composedly, in direct contrast with her fiery sixty-year-old husband.
“The Kettrick diamonds have been st
olen!” raged Ames Kettrick.
“And the thief is still on the premises! Every outlet to the house and grounds have been under the watch of an armed detective! No one was admitted without invitation, and no one has left!
Still, two armed men were overcome and the diamonds stolen from under their nose by a person dressed in black and wearing a black domino!
The guards seemed to disagree on just what the robber actually looked like, so everyone must be searched! All will immediately unmask, and searching will start at once!”
A little murmur ran about the room. At the first intimation of trouble, Roge McKane excused himself to Ellen and hurried to the side of Kettrick and his wife. The politician swung on the young detective.
“A fine detective you are, McKane!” he cried, hotly.
“Letting the thief walk off with my property while you dance about with one of the guests! Get busy! You’ll search every single one of the guests! Not a soul leaves this house until the diamonds are found, do you hear? I’m not going to allow a fortune in diamonds to walk off in somebody’s pocket!”
“But some had already left, Mr. Kettrick!” stated Roge McKane, coldly eyeing the frantic millionaire.
“And besides, many of the guests are prominent people, and old friends of yours! You wouldn’t...”
“Yes, dear,” soothed Jane Kettrick, trying to pacify her infuriated husband. “You wouldn’t want to offend...”
“You keep out of this, Jane!” he shrilled at her, rudely.
“I don’t intend to be robbed like this, and let the crook get away with it! If it was man or woman, I’ll get my property back, and see to it that the person who calls themself the Domino Lady is put away where they belong!”
JANE KETTRICK stepped back a pace. “Yes, Ames,” she placated, “but really...”
“Shut up!” he snapped, roughly.
“Didn’t I tell you to keep out of this?” He swung on McKane.
“Search ’em!” he ordered. “Search everyone in the house! You search every single one of them, or I’ll search ’em myself!”
Ellen felt sorry for the ex-actress; it was plain to see, as she retired, that she was badly hurt by her elderly husband’s uncouth actions and rough speech. But Ellen had to laugh at the tableau as Roge McKane started his distasteful task as directed by the irate millionaire.
Before giving up, Jane Kettrick tried to lift her soft voice in protest again, but her husband squelched her with a glare and a curt command.
The stately beauty turned, then, and left the scene. Kettrick looked after her, running his stubby fingers through his thick, black hair, and cursing beneath his breath.
There ensued a slight delay while McKane summoned a woman operative, and then the searching began.
The guests, some of them nationally-known figures, submitted without a murmur; but if looks meant anything, the social and political career of the lordly Kettrick died a sudden death right there!
While the searching was going on, Ames Kettrick paced up and down like an enraged lion, glaring about as though he were in a den of thieves.
His evident suffering brought a tight-lipped smile to Ellen’s face as she watched him while awaiting her turn to be searched.
It made up to her for all her risks to see the crooked politician writhing under the loss of his beloved diamond collection, and to see him putting himself in bad favor with the most influential people in the entire state!
While the guests were submitting to the searchers, a squad of men, summoned by McKane, went over the premises with a fine tooth comb, but to no avail.
After being searched, Ellen walked over to the entrance and talked with Roge McKane who was opening the portal to let out little groups of guests who had undergone Ames Kettrick’s idea of hospitality and entertainment by being searched. The young detective grinned somewhat foolishly, though grimly.
The women held their wraps closely about their shoulders and departed with their noses in the air.
“A silly business,” growled McKane to Ellen. He squinted at Kettrick who was standing nearby, frowning at the departing guests.
“But what can you do with an old fool like that? I can’t feel sorry for his loss or for what this insult to his guests will mean to him in lost friendship and prestige, Ellen! He deserves it.”
She smiled, prettily.
“Yes, I suppose he does,” she murmured, softly, “if all the stories I’ve heard about him are true.”
“Oh, they’re true, right enough!” gritted the disgusted detective. “And I’ll be glad when this mess is over with! Hope I never draw an assignment like this again! I’m sorry for your sake, too, Ellen.”
“Why, that’s not your fault, Roge!” she told him, evenly.
“Will you let me show you how sorry I am,” he asked, softly, “by escorting you to your hotel after this mess is over, Ellen?” His deep voice was softly pleading. “And after I take off this monkey-suit,” he added as a grinning afterthought, indicating his costume.
“If you wish,” laughed Ellen, softly, “and if it won’t be too long until it’s over.”
“Oh, it won’t take long now,” he grinned. “I’ll speed things along for the sake of seeing you away from this place, honey!”
THE last guest left without the diamonds being found. McKane turned with a shrug to his scowling employer.
“Bear in mind,” he told Kettrick, precisely, “that this outrage was committed at your express orders. Have you anything further to offer as a suggestion?” There was no mistaking the sneer in his voice.
“I want you to recover my diamonds!” commanded Kettrick, angrily. He thrust out a pugnacious jaw. “They’re not on the premises, and the guests who were here did not have them. I’m going to give you a list of the ones who had left before the robbery was discovered.
“I’ll expect you to put a man on each of them, McKane, and have them shadowed night and day until my property is recovered. Do you hear that?”
The young detective grunted, and went to call off his men.
Later, after removing his costume and securing the list of names from Kettrick, McKane rejoined Ellen. He looked very handsome in gray tweeds. Ellen laughed softly as he handed her into his coupe.
“Do you think the Domino Lady was present tonight?” She asked, innocently, “and if so, do you think you’ll catch her and recover the diamonds, Roge?”
He was silent as he got the car underway, then he nodded.
“Yes, I’m sure she must have been there, Ellen,” he said, grimly, “because no one else would have had the nerve to pull a thing like that under our noses!
“As far as catching her is concerned, I’m not so sure about that. Still, I’d rather someone else had that privilege, anyway. Darned if I can work up any zeal after Kettrick’s actions tonight! And I’m rather admiring the little lady’s nerve, too!”
He chuckled.
McKane drew into the curb near the Catalan, and Ellen allowed him to kiss her. She laughed at his hungry zeal.
“Will I see you again before we leave, honey?” he pleaded as he stood on the sidewalk beside the car after they had alighted. His boyish eyes burned with a fierce fire.
“If you wish,” she told him, softly, “I haven’t seen half enough of you, Roge! Shall we make it tomorrow evening at nine o’clock promptly?”
“You bet!” He was enthusiastic. “If we can’t make it any sooner!”
He made as if to embrace her right there on the sidewalk, but Ellen eluded him and ran into the hotel. McKane stood for a moment, staring at the doorway through which she had vanished, then turned on his heel and entered the car.
Chapter 5
DAWN wasn’t far off when Ellen Patrick approached the Kettrick mansion for the second time that night. She dismissed the owl cabbie three blocks from the politician’s home, and continued on foot. In rubber-heeled and soled evening slippers, she moved along like some silent shadow of the night.
Crossing the spacious lawn to one side o
f the palatial house, and keeping in the shadows of some overhanging trees, Ellen circled the structure, found a window which was conveniently located, took from her bag a glass cutter and a small roll of chewing gum from her mouth.
Working with silent speed, she circled the glass of the window with the cutter, then, when she had almost completed the circle, placed the gum against the pane. She completed the circle, and the segment of glass from the window, being stuck to the gum, made no noise as she lifted it out.
SHE knew that the burglar alarm would be set. She was prepared for that emergency.
She inserted a cautious arm through the opening in the window, felt with trained fingers until she had found and disconnected the alarm. Then, she raised the window, slid her lithe body into the blackness of the interior.
All was still.
She drew the tiny automatic from her wrist-bag, moved forward on the balls of her feet, guided by the ray from her pencil flash.
Her great brown eyes snapped ominously as she crept along, and it is doubtful, if young McKane had he seen her at that moment, could have readily recognized in her the limpid-eyed girl he had left at the Catalan several hours earlier that night! Presently, she stood at the head of a narrow stairway, leading downward into a dark basement.
She hesitated a moment. Was there someone lying in wait for her in the silent confines before her? Some detective, perhaps, who would shoot on sight without asking questions?
The answer lay fairly in the laps of the gods!
Ellen Patrick slipped slowly down the stairs in the murk. Cautiously, she moved across the concrete floor of the basement. In one corner, brought into sharp relief by the pencil of light from her flash, stood a huge clothes hamper. Leading into it from above were several chutes by which soiled linen was transported from the rooms of the house to the basement laundry. The hamper was half full of linen.
With pink-tipped hands that trembled slightly, the little intruder began sorting through the linen.
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