Death Points a Finger
Page 17
The communication was on an oblong sheet of cheap notepaper,evidently torn from a scratch pad. The message was inscribed inhand printed characters. The features of the group were compoundedof relief, deadly anger, hope, fear. Norah was of a sanguinedisposition. She thought of other kidnappings, but she chose todwell rather on those that ended happily. This note spelled hope.She sobbed in an access of relief, being held close in herbrother's arms. Jack was clumsily and tenderly patting hershoulder, making endearing and comforting sounds.
She looked up and dried her eyes, glancing from one to the otherof the four capable men in the group. A glow of confidence intheir combined ability gave her new hope.
"What shall we do," she asked piteously. "Shall we do what theysay or--"
The men exchanged glances. Professor Brierly finished hersentence: "Or notify the authorities?" She nodded mutely.
After a long pause, Matthews answered slowly. "Everything I cando, dear, everything I have is at your disposal and will be usedto help find Tommy. But it is for you to say what we do about it."
Professor Brierly said gently:
"John voices my sentiments, Mrs. Van Orden. All I can do, all Ihave is at your disposal toward finding your boy. The CanadianPolice are a very efficient organization. But we take a certainrisk in calling in the authorities on this quest. The same, ofcourse, applies to publicity. Mr. Hale, I am sure, will respectthat. I realize that it is hard to wait because whatever tracesthere are may be obscured by the passage of time. On the otherhand, calling in the police, with its resultant publicity, mayforce the kidnappers to the very step we all fear. Therefore, I amafraid that the responsibility for decision must lie with you, mydear."
The men looked in unhappy silence at the struggle the young womanwas undergoing. Her features betrayed her hopes and fears. Finallytwirling the plain gold band on her finger she said:
"It can do no particular harm to wait a day or two, can it? Wemust not do anything to--to--anger them must we? Oh, I don't knowwhat to say!"
She turned swiftly and hurried out. The men turned toward oneanother in mute inquiry. Three of them were startled at what theysaw in the features of Professor Brierly. Even Matthews had neverseen such profound, unutterable, implacable rage as now possessedthe old scientist. They were all accustomed to outbursts of wrathand impatience at stupidity or stubbornness when he was crossed;these passed quickly. Never had even Matthews, of the three whoknew him best, seen the deadly anger that now blazed in the deeplysunken eyes. Professor Brierly was about to speak, but his emotionwas too deep for utterance. He stammered, stopped and left theroom.
When he returned shortly he said with repressed emotion:
"I can condone all kinds of property crime; they may be caused byneed or greed; they may be the result of bad home influence. I cancondone crimes of passion; even the laws differentiate betweenthese and deliberate murder. But there is no mitigation or excusefor this kind of deed, a crime that takes an infant from its homeand makes others suffer. I shall see to it," his words werecarefully spaced and came slowly, "that-the-men-responsible-for-this-arepunished." He shook his head violently as if to shake off an unpleasantpicture. He held up the envelope and enclosure once more. He lookedup when Norah came in dry-eyed. She stood leaning wearily against thetable running her hand through her disheveled hair.
"Have you decided?" asked Professor Brierly.
"Yes, Professor, we will wait a day or two. I--I--am afraid."
A day and night spent in an agony of apprehension came to an endthe following morning with the receipt of the following message:
_Professor Herman Brierly:_
_Go home to New York, you will hear from us there._
It was printed on the same cheap notepaper. Again, as the firstmessage, it bore the postmark of Magog. It had no signature.McCall pointed to the address on the envelope:
"Is this the way you have all your mail addressed, to the postoffice at Lentone or--"
"Some of the mail is addressed this way; some of it is addresseddirectly to me and is left in the mail box nailed up to a tree atthe entrance to this trail."
"What will you do about this, Professor?"
"I ought to go, of course, but--"
"To New York?" wondered Jimmy. "You would think the kidnappers,would rather deal with you here. They run much more chance ofbeing caught in New York than up here. It seems--"
He stopped and looked curiously at Matthews. The latter wasstaring intently out upon the water. Without taking his eyes fromthe object that engaged his rapt attention, he said tensely:
"Someone give me the binoculars, quick!"
Norah handed him the glasses. He carefully focused them and lookedlong and earnestly out upon the water. The three men and the youngwoman followed his gaze and saw only the usual scattered craft onthe surface of the lake.
Matthews with a muttered exclamation, put down the glasses,snatched an automatic from a drawer in a table and raced towardthe little wharf, throwing over his shoulder:
"Be back soon."
The others followed him to the lake slowly. They saw him get intothe sea sled to which the outboard motor was attached, start itand go roaring off in the direction toward which he had had hisglasses focused. The anxious groups watched intently.
They saw one of the bobbing craft turn and go racing toward theopposite shore in a north-westerly direction, with Matthews inpursuit.
The watchers stood there with bated breath, being quite certainthat this impromptu pursuit had something to do with Tommy'sdisappearance. Their sea sled was fast and Matthews was adept athandling it. To their dismay they saw the distance betweenMatthews and the other boat widening. The pace of Matthews' boatslowed; it stopped altogether. They saw Matthews tinkering withthe motor. Then they saw him take up the oar and begin paddlingback laboriously.
He hailed a passing launch which towed him back to their wharf.Matthews' face was grim drawn as he reached his friends. Theylooked their mute inquiry.
Matthews unscrewed the motor from its place and carried it upabove the water line. Then he turned to face them.
"Somebody was watching us from that boat with a pair of glasses. Icaught the flash of the sun on his lenses. There was one man inthe boat. I couldn't get a good look at him, he wore a floppy,big-brimmed straw hat well over his face.
"My gas gave out when I went after him. This wasn't an accident orcarelessness on my part either. I filled the tank yesterdayafternoon. Someone punctured the tank during the night. The puppybarked during the night but he barks a lot at nothing. See!"
He turned the motor over and pointed to a place near the bottom ofthe tank, where they saw a small hole with the ragged edge of themetal glinting with a freshness that the rest of the metal did nothave. He continued:
"It's not a sure thing I could have caught him, if I had gas; thatwas a pretty fast boat, faster than this I think."
"Will you recognize the boat if you see it again?" asked Jimmy.
Matthews shook his head slowly.
"I'm not sure. There's any number of sea sleds on this lake justlike it. That's not the important thing though. I should havetaken the glasses along. When my gas gave out I could have had agood look at their motor. There may be a lot of boats like thatbut not many motors that can develop that speed. It will be asimple thing to attach that motor to another boat."
He went on with grim irony: "That's simple enough. If we had tenthousand men we could comb the thirty-odd miles of lake andexamine every motor on it, thus narrowing the search down tomotors capable of a speed--why are they watching, why--"
"Yes," went on McCall, "why this, and why do they want ProfessorBrierly to go back to New York? Why in the name of common senseNew York? Is it--is it--" his features lit up. "Is it becausesomeone is interested in seeing that Professor Brierly does notinterfere in the affairs of Camp Higginbotham in the next fewdays?"
There was no answer. Professor Brierly's bushy eyebrows werebristling. He was staring at the faces of the group unseeingly.
"This is more than a mere kidnapping. With the eyes of twocountries focused on this section the kidnapping can be predicatedon one of two hypotheses. The kidnappers are crazy or they wantProfessor Brierly in New York. Mac's guess seems a good one. Theywant Professor Brierly away from here; that's a cinch. They--"
"Jimmy," interrupted Matthews, "are you influenced in what you sayby your hope that Professor Brierly will help solve the riddle ofthe Tontine groups and help your story?"
He obviously was still in the grim mood that was so apparent onhis return from the futile chase. Jimmy did not answer the charge.He was looking at Matthews gravely. Jack reddened under the stare.
"I'm sorry, Jim. That was rotten! But thinking of Tommy--" Jimmynodded:
"All right, old man, forget it, you didn't say anything. But I amwondering about this request to go to New York. I can't helpthinking there is something in this request that doesn't appear onthe face of it." He turned to Professor Brierly: "What are yougoing to do, sir?" Professor Brierly looked mutely at Norah. Sheshook her head helplessly.
For the next twenty-four hours the group suffered that, which ishardest to bear under the circumstances, inactivity. Twenty-fourhours after the receipt of the second note there came a third, onthe familiar cheap notepaper. This time it was postmarked Lentone,Vermont. It read:
_"Professor Brierly was told to go to New York. We will not standany fooling. Enclosed is a sample of what we will do. If he doesnot start at once more will follow."_