CHAPTER VII
MR. MERRITT INSTRUCTS ME
Fred's letter was a great relief to me. I had not dared to allow mythoughts to dwell on the man whom I had seen in May Derwent's apartmenton that eventful night. The supposition, however, that it was herbrother, explained everything satisfactorily. Nothing could be morelikely than that this angel of mercy should give shelter to thisreturned prodigal, and try to save him from the punishment he so richlydeserved. But what cared I what _he_ had done? She--she--was immaculate.
At the hospital that morning, I was in such good spirits that I had somedifficulty in keeping my elation within bounds. As it was, I noticedthat several nurses eyed me with suspicion.
My preoccupation about Miss Derwent's affairs had been so greatthat I had hardly given a thought to the mysterious murder, and wasconsequently very much surprised, on returning home that afternoon, tofind the detective patiently awaiting me.
"Well, Mr. Merritt," I exclaimed; "glad to see you; what can I do foryou? Anything wrong with your heart, or your liver, or your nerves, eh?"
"Well, Doctor, I guess my nerves are pretty near all right," heanswered, with a slow smile.
"I'm glad to hear it. Won't you sit down?"
He selected a comfortable chair, and we sat down facing each other. Iwondered what could be coming next.
"Now, Doctor," he began, in a matter-of-fact voice, "I'd like you totell me all you know of the murder."
He had taken me completely by surprise, but I am learning to control myfeatures, and flatter myself that I did not move a muscle as I quietlyreplied:
"This is a very strange question, and I can only answer that I knownothing."
"Oh, hardly as little as that," the detective rejoined, with irritatingcomplacency.
"Just as little as that," I asserted, with some warmth.
"Well, Doctor, if that is the case, you can no doubt explain a fewthings that have been puzzling me. In the first place, will you tell mewhy, if you were not expecting another victim, you showed such surpriseat the sight of the corpse? What reason could you have had for beingso deeply interested in the relative positions of your roof--not youroffice, mind you, but your roof--and the room in which the body wasfound, unless you had noticed something unusual from that point ofobservation? Why were you so sure that the Derwent's flat was occupied,if you had not seen some person or persons there? By the way, I noticedthat from your roof I could look directly into their windows. Again, youbetrayed great surprise when Miss Derwent lifted her veil. Why did youdo so, except that you had previously seen a very different lookingperson in her apartment? And why did you select the Atkins's twoservants out of all the people in the building, to question about acertain noise, but that you yourself had heard a scream coming fromtheir premises? And, lastly, you showed an unexplained interest in theback door of the Rosemere, which is particularly suggestive in view ofthe fact that this window is exactly opposite to it. I need only addthat your presence on the roof during some part of Wednesday night,or early Thursday morning, is attested by the fact that I found somepipe-ash near the chimney. You smoke a pipe, I see" (pointing toa rack full of them); "your janitor does not, neither do your twofellow-lodgers. Besides that, all the other occupants of this house arewilling to swear that they have not been on the roof recently, and thoseashes could not have been long where I found them; the wind would havescattered them. You see, I know very little, but I know enough to besure that you know more."
I was perfectly dumbfounded, and gazed at the detective for some momentswithout speaking.
"Well, granted that I was on the roof during a part of Wednesday night,what of it? And if I did hear or see anything suspicious, how can youprove it, and above all, how can you make me tell you of it?"
"I can't," rejoined Mr. Merritt, cheerfully. "I can only ask you to doso."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I shall have to delay satisfying my curiosity till we meet incourt, but I do not doubt that my patience will then be adequatelyrewarded, for a skilful lawyer will surely be able to get at manydetails that would escape me, and I hardly think that you would resortto perjury to shield two women whom I am convinced you never laid eyeson before yesterday, and have certainly not seen since." The detectivepaused.
I still hesitated, for I felt an extreme reluctance to furthercompromise that poor girl by anything I might say.
"Come, Doctor," he urged, leaning forward and placing his hand on myknee, "don't you think it would be better for all parties for you totell me what you know? I am as anxious to shield the innocent as youcan be. By withholding valuable information you may force me to put ayoung lady through a very trying and public ordeal, which I am suremight be easily spared her, if I only knew a few more facts of thecase."
This last argument decided me, and making a virtue of necessity Igave him a minute account of all I had seen and heard. When I came todescribing the man's prolonged search Mr. Merritt nodded several timeswith great satisfaction.
"Can't you tell me a little more how this man looked?" he eagerlyinquired. "You must have seen him pretty clearly while he was movingaround that lighted room. Had he any hair on his face?"
"Well," I confessed, "it is a funny thing, but I can't for the life ofme remember; I've tried to; sometimes I think he was clean shaven, andagain I am sure he had a small moustache."
The detective glared at me for a moment; it was difficult for him toforgive such aggravating lack of memory. To be given such an opportunityand to foozel it! He heaved a sigh of resignation as he inquired:
"Can you remember how he was dressed?"
"Oh, yes," I replied with alacrity, anxious to retrieve myself, "he hadon a white shirt and dark trousers, and his sleeves were rolled back."
"Did he close the windows before he left?"
"Yes, and he pulled down the blinds also."
"You are sure that you saw no one in the apartment resembling MissDerwent?"
"Quite sure; the woman I saw was taller and had flat, black hair."
"What do you mean by 'flat'?"
"Why, nowadays girls wear their hair loose; it bulges away from theirfaces; but hers lay tight to her head in a flat, black mass," Iexplained.
I then harped on the probability of the return of Miss May's prodigalbrother, and suggested the possibility that the dark-haired woman mightbe his wife.
"Well, well, Doctor! This is all very interesting. The story of thebrother, especially. You see, I had already discovered that a man hadspent many hours in her apartment----"
"How did you find that out?" I interrupted.
"Oh, quite easily," rejoined the detective; "as soon as all theexcitement was over yesterday, I made McGorry open the Derwent'sapartments for me. You may imagine what a fuss he made about it. Wellanyhow he got me----"
"But why did you want to get in?" I inquired; "did you suspect her?"
"No," he replied, "I did not. But in my profession you take no chances.Impressions, intuitions, are often of great value, only you must becareful always to verify them. I was almost sure that the young lady wasinnocent, but it was my business to prove her so. Now, it is certainthat the person, or persons, who smuggled the corpse into the room whereit was found, must, at one time or another, have had the key of thatapartment in their possession, and there are only three people whom weknow of as yet who were in a position to have had it. These three are:Miss Derwent, the French butler, and, of course, McGorry. So far I havenot been able to connect the latter two, even in the most indirect way,with the catastrophe. Unfortunately, that is not the case with the younglady. One person, at least, has identified the body as that of hervisitor, and your behaviour," he added, with a smile, "led me to believethat you suspected her of something. Not of the crime, I felt sure ofthat, but of _what_, then? I determined to find out, and now that I havedone so, let me tell you that I am still convinced of her innocence."
I jumped up and shook him by the hand. "So am I, so am I," I exclaimed.
"But this is a very queer case
," he continued, "and I shall need all theassistance you can give me, if----"
"You shall have it," I broke in, enthusiastically; "anything I can do.But tell me, first, how you found out about Miss Derwent's brother?"
"Not so fast, young man! At present, we know nothing about a brother. Ionly said that I had discovered in the apartment traces of the recentand prolonged presence of a man, and I may add of a man of some means."
"How did you find that out? Especially about his means?" I inquired,with a smile.
"Quite easily. In the parlor, which was the first room I entered, Inoticed that every piece of furniture had been lately moved from itsplace. Now, this was too heavy a job for a girl to have undertakensingle-handed. Who helped her, I wondered? Her visitor of Tuesdayevening might have been the person, but for various reasons I wasinclined to doubt it. I thought it more likely to have been the womanwhose existence your behaviour had led me to infer. I next examined thedining-room. A few crumbs showed that it had been used, but I could findno traces of her mysterious companion. The library had not even beenentered. On the floor above, the front bedroom alone showed signs ofrecent occupation. Two crumpled sheets were still on the bed, and in thedrawers were several articles of woman's apparel. Returning to the lowerfloor by the back stairs, I found myself in the kitchen. Here, in themost unexpected place, I discovered an important clue." Mr. Merrittpaused, and looked at me with a gleam of triumph in his eye.
"Yes, yes, and what was that?" I inquired, breathlessly.
"Only the odor, the very faintest ghost of an odor, I may say, ofcigar-smoke."
"In the kitchen?" I exclaimed, incredulously.
"In the kitchen," repeated the detective. "I at once drew up the blinds,and looked out. The window opened directly on the fire escape, withnothing opposite but the roofs of some low houses. Pulling out mymagnifying glass, I crawled out. I soon satisfied myself that the stairsleading up and down had not been recently used; on the other hand, I wasequally sure that someone had very lately been out on the small landing.So I sat down there and looked about me. I could see nothing. At last,by peering through the bars of the iron flooring, I thought I coulddiscern a small brown object, caught in between the slats of the landingbelow. I climbed down there mighty quick, I can tell you, and in amoment held the butt end of a cigar in my hand. It was, as I hadsuspected, from the delicate odor it had left behind, one which had costabout fifty cents. I now extended my search downward, and examined everywindow-sill, every crevice, till I reached the basement, and, as aresult of my hunt, I collected five cigar stumps, all of the samebrand. From the number, I concluded that whoever had been in theapartment had been there a considerable time. From his only smoking inthe kitchen or on the fire-escape, I gathered that he was anxious toleave no traces of his presence; and lastly, from the quality of hiscigars, I judged him to be a man of means. So you see I had discovered,even without your assistance, that, although Miss Derwent may have toldus the truth, she certainly had not told us all of it."
I nodded gloomily.
"What you tell me of this dark-haired woman is still more puzzling," thedetective continued. "She has covered up her tracks so well that notonly did I find no trace of her, but no one, not even yourself, saw hereither enter or leave the building. And I should never have dreamedof her existence if I had not noticed your surprise when Miss Derwentlifted her veil. Now, the first thing to be done is to try and findthis strange couple, and we will begin by tracing the man whom you sawleaving the Rosemere with a market-basket. It will be easy enough tofind out if he is nothing but a local tradesman, and if he is _not_,then in all probability he is the man we want. The detective who iswatching Miss Derwent----"
"A detective watching Miss Derwent!" I exclaimed.
"Why, yes. What did you expect? I sent one down with her to the countryyesterday."
Perhaps I ought to have been prepared for it, but the idea of a commonfellow dogging May Derwent's footsteps, was quite a shock to me, so Iinquired, with considerable ill-humor: "And what does he report?"
"Nothing much. The young lady returned to her mother, as she said shewould, and since then has kept to her room, but has refused to see adoctor."
"Have you discovered yet who the dead man really is?" I asked, after aslight pause.
"No," answered the detective, with a troubled look, "and I can't make itout. Jim and Joe each persists in his own identification. I expected Jimto weaken, he seemed so much less positive at first, but whether he hastalked himself into the belief that the corpse is that of the younglady's visitor, or whether it really does resemble him so much as togive the boy grounds for thinking so, I can't make out."
"I see, however, that _you_ believe the murdered man to be Mrs. Atkins'sfriend, of whose history and whereabouts she was so strangely ignorant."
"Well, I don't know," the detective replied. "We have found out that anAllan Brown did engage a berth on the midnight train to Boston."
"Really? Why, I was sure that Allan Brown was a creation of the littlelady's imagination. By the way, it is a strange coincidence that twomysterious Allans are connected with this case."
"Yes, I have thought of that," the detective murmured; "and Allan isno common name, either. But it is a still stranger circumstance thatneither of Allan Brown nor of the murdered man (I am now taking forgranted that they are not identical) can we discover the slightest tracebeyond the solitary fact that an upper berth on the Boston train wasbought on Tuesday afternoon, by a person giving the former's name, andwhose description applies, of course, equally to both. Mrs. Atkinsvolunteers the information that Brown was a stranger in the city, and sofar I have no reason to doubt it. Now, a man who can afford to wear adress suit, and who is a friend of a woman like Mrs. Atkins, presumablyhad fairly decent quarters while he was in town. And yet inquiries havebeen made at every hotel and boarding-house, from the cheapest to themost expensive, and not one of them knows anything of an Allan Brown,nor do they recognize his description as applying to any of their lateguests. The deceased, of course, may have had rooms somewhere, or aflat, or even a house, in which case it will take longer to trace him;although even so, it is remarkable that after such wide publicity hasbeen given to his description, no one has come forward and reportedhim as missing. The morgue has been crowded with idle sightseers, butnobody as yet claims to have seen the victim before."
"That is queer," I assented, "especially as the dead man was in allprobability a person of some prominence. He certainly must have beenrich. The pearl studs he wore were very fine."
"Oh, those were imitation pearls," said the detective, "and I aminclined to think that, far from being wealthy, he was, at the time ofhis death, extremely badly off, although other indications point to hishaving seen better days."
"Really!" I exclaimed.
"Yes; didn't you notice that his clothes, although evidently expensive,were all decidedly shabby? That his silk socks were almost worn out;that his pumps were down at the heel?"
"Yes, I did notice something of the kind."
"But those large imitation pearls blinded you to everything else, Isee," Mr. Merritt remarked, with a smile.
"I suppose so," I acknowledged; "they and the sleeve-links with thecrest."
"Ah, those are really interesting, and for the first time in my life Ifind myself wishing that we were more careful in this country about theuse of such things. Unfortunately, we are so promiscuous and casual inadopting any coat-of-arms that happens to strike our fancy that thelinks become almost valueless as a clue. Still, I have sent one of themto an authority in heraldry, and shall be much interested to hear whathe has to say about it. By the way, did anything else strike you aspeculiar about the corpse?"
"No," I answered, after a moment's reflection.
"It did not seem to you odd that no hat was found with the body?"
"Dear me! I never noticed that. How singular! What could have become ofit?"
"Ah, if we only knew that we should be in a fair way to solving thismystery. For I have fou
nd out that, whereas the description of MissDerwent's visitor and Mrs. Atkins's friend tally on all other points,they differ radically on this one. The former wore a panama, whereasthe latter wore an ordinary straw hat. Now, one of those hats must besomewhere in the Rosemere, and yet I can't find it."
"Mr. Merritt," I inquired, "have you any theory as to the motive of thismurder?"
"Not as yet," he replied. "It may have been jealousy, revenge, ora desire to be rid of a dangerous enemy, and if you had not givenit as your opinion that the man met his death while wholly orsemi-unconscious, I should have added self-defence to my list ofpossibilities. The only thing I am pretty sure of is--that the motivewas not robbery."
"Look here, Mr. Merritt, I can't help wondering that, whereas you havetreated Miss Derwent with the utmost suspicion, have made a thoroughsearch of her apartment, and have even sent a sleuth to watch her, yetyou have shown such indifference to Mrs. Atkins's movements. Surelysuspicion points quite as strongly to her as to the young lady?"
"No, it doesn't," replied the detective. "The key! You forget the keycannot so far be connected with her. But, may I ask, who told you that Ihad neglected to make inquiries about the lady?"
"Nobody; I only inferred," I stammered.
"You were wrong," continued Mr. Merritt. "I have made every possibleinquiry about Mrs. Atkins. I have even sent a man to Chicago to find outfurther particulars, although I have already collected a good deal ofinteresting information about the little lady's past life."
"Really? And was there anything peculiar about it?"
"No; I can't exactly say there was. Mrs. Atkins is the only daughter ofa wealthy saloon-keeper, John Day by name, and is twenty-six years old.Nothing is known against her except that in that city she chose hercompanions from amongst a very fast crowd. There is also a rumor, whichthe Chicago detective has not been able to verify, that when she wasabout sixteen or seventeen years old, she eloped with an Eastern man,from whom she was almost immediately divorced. At any rate, she has beenknown for a good many years as Miss Day, and has lived at home with herfather. The memory of her marriage, if indeed she ever was married, hasgrown so dim that a great many people, among whom may be numbered someof her intimate friends, have never heard of it, and vehemently deny thewhole story. I hope, however, soon to find out the facts of the case.Young Atkins met his wife last winter at Atlantic City, and at once fellin love with her. His father, who is a very wealthy contractor, wasstrongly opposed to the match. He was very ambitious for his son, andthought the daughter of a saloon-keeper, whose reputation was none ofthe best, was no desirable wife for his boy."
"But they married in spite of him," I said.
"Yes, and old man Atkins has become reconciled to them, and makes them avery handsome allowance."
"How long have they been married?" I asked.
"Since the fifteenth of April," replied the detective, "and they werenot married in Chicago, but in this city. I guess the lady was not overanxious to introduce her husband to her former pals."
"I suppose you have searched her apartment for a possible clue,--thehat, for instance?"
"Yes, but as she has not been out since Wednesday, I have not been ableto make as thorough a search as I should like. She is a shy bird, and Idon't want to frighten her till I have a few more facts to go on. If shethinks herself watched she may become wary, while now, I hope she willmake use of her fancied security to do something which may give us alead."
"Well, Mr. Merritt, I conclude from all this that, although you areunable to trace the possession of the key to Mrs. Atkins, nevertheless,your suspicions point towards her?"
"Certainly not. There is nothing to connect her with the tragedy, exceptthe fact that one negro boy identified the corpse as that of one of hervisitors. On the contrary, the more I look into this case, the less do Isee how the lady could be involved in it. Let us suppose that she didkill the man. Where could she have secreted him during the twenty-fourhours that must have elapsed before the body was finally disposed of?The only place of concealment on the lower floor of her apartment is acoat closet under the stairs, and I doubt very much whether a small,unmuscular woman like Mrs. Atkins is capable of dragging so large a maneven for a short distance."
"But," I suggested, "the murder may have been committed in the hall,just a step from this hiding-place."
"Yes, that is, of course, possible. But there is still anotherobjection. The closet is so small that I do not believe a man couldbe got into it without doubling him up, and of that the body shows nosigns. Besides, if Mrs. Atkins is guilty, we must believe her husband tobe her accomplice, for who else could have helped her hide her victim?Now, you must know that the Atkins men, both father and son, bearmost excellent reputations, especially the young man, of whom everyone speaks in the highest terms, and I do not think that a personunaccustomed to deceit could have behaved with such perfect composurein the presence of a corpse of which he had criminal knowledge."
"But he did show some emotion," I urged.
"Oh, yes; I know what you mean,--when he learned that the man wasmurdered on Tuesday night he seemed startled."
"Well, how do you account for that?"
"I don't account for it. Why, Doctor, in a case like this there are ahundred things I can't account for. For instance, what was the cause ofMrs. Atkins's scream? You have no idea; neither have I. Why did she showsuch emotion at the sight of the corpse? I am not prepared to say. Whydid she appear so relieved when she heard that the murder occurred onTuesday? I can formulate no plausible explanation for it. And these areonly a few of the rocks that I am running up against all the time."
"But look here. If you really believe Miss Derwent and Mrs. Atkins bothinnocent, who do you think killed the man?"
"I don't know. Oh, I am aware that the detective of fiction is alwayssupposed to be omniscient, but my profession, Doctor, is just like anyother. There is no hocus-pocus about it. To succeed in it requires,in the first place, accurate and most minute powers of observation,unlimited patience, the capacity for putting two and two together.Add to this an unprejudiced mind, and last, but not least, respect,amounting to reverence, for any established _fact_. Now, the only_facts_ we have as yet gathered about this murder are: that the man wasyoung, dissipated, and was stabbed through the heart by some very smallinstrument or weapon; that his assailant was an inmate of the Rosemere;that the crime was committed on Tuesday night; and, lastly, that whoeverplaced the body where it was found must, at one time or another, havehad the key to the outside door in his or her possession. Whateverelse we may think or believe, is purely speculative. We presume, forinstance, that the man was poor. As for the other facts we have gleanedabout the different inmates of the building, till we know which one ofthem had a hand in this tragedy, we cannot consider what we have learnedabout them as throwing any light on the murder. About that, as I saidbefore, we know mighty little, and even that little is the result ofthirty-eight hours' work, not of one man alone, but of seven or eight."
"Indeed!" I exclaimed.
"Now, both ladies deny that they knew the deceased, and perhaps theyare right. It is, of course, possible that there was a third man inthe building that evening, who was also tall, dark, and wore a pointedbeard. It is not likely, however. Such a coincidence is almost unheardof. Still it is possible, and that possibility must be reckoned with.Now, I must be off," said Mr. Merritt, rising abruptly from his chair,"and if you hear any more of the young lady's movements, let me know.There's my address. In the meantime, thank you very much for what youhave already told me." And before I could get out one of the twentyquestions that were still burning on my lips, the man was gone.
For some minutes I sat quite still, too miserable to think connectedly.Alas! my fears had not been groundless. The poor girl was in evengreater trouble than I had supposed. I believed the detective to be adecent chap, who would keep his mouth shut, but how dreadful to thinkthat her reputation depended on the discretion of any man. Should itbecome known that she had received one young
man alone in an emptyapartment, while another was seen there at three o'clock in themorning, it would mean social death to her. Oh, for the right to offerher my protection, my services!
Of course, it was now absolutely necessary to trace the man who spentTuesday evening with her, and to prove beyond doubt that he was stillalive. I wished that this might be done without her knowledge, so as tospare her the shock of finding herself suspected of a crime.
Again I thought of Fred, and at once sent him a few lines, begging himto let me know whether he or his sister knew of any friend or admirer ofMiss Derwent who resembled the enclosed description, and if either ofthem did know of such a person, please to telegraph me the man's name,and, if possible, his address. While giving no reasons for my questions,I again enjoined the greatest secrecy.
The House Opposite: A Mystery Page 7