CHAPTER XVI What Happened to Zizi
"Just like a kitten!" Zizi sputtered; "just like a little, day-oldkitten! Ugh! I'm as mad as a wet hen!"
She was sitting on the bank of the lake, dripping wet, daubed with mud,her black eyes snapping with anger.
When she had been thrown into the pool, the big, entangling cape hadcaught in the sedge grass that bordered the water, and clutching this,the girl had hung on till she could manage to slip her slim little feetfrom the rope that bound them. A stiff rope and clumsily tied, it hadbeen possible to free herself, though she might not have been able to doit, but for her experiences as a moving picture actress. It was not thefirst time she had been flung into water, for her slim agility had proveduseful in film thrillers, and acrobatic feats were her long suit.
Able, too, to remain under water for a few moments without breathing, shehad freed herself from the rope, and scrambled up the bank almost asrapidly as she had been sent to her intended doom.
She had pulled the cloth from her mouth, and sat, breathing in good air,but too exhausted to rise.
"If he'd only spoken, drat him!" she muttered, "and yet it _must_ havebeen that wretch! I _know_ it was, but how can I prove it? Oh, I wish itwasn't so dark! And I'm so _wet_!"
She got up now, and tried to wring the water from the cloak that shestill clutched round her. Beside that she had on her nightdress, and athin silk kimono, both of which were wetly clinging to her slim littlebody.
Throwing the still soaking wet cloak about her, and shivering as itsopped against her, she went toward the house.
It stood, still and sombre, a black thing amid blacker shadows. The aspenbranches soughed eerily, but no other sound broke the silence. The greatdoors were closed, the windows all shut, and no sign of life was visible.
Zizi hesitated. Should she whistle beneath Penny Wise's window, or----
The alternative she thought of seemed to her best, and she drew her wetdraperies about her and scuttled off at a smart pace toward the village.
Barefooted as she was, she chose grassy ground whenever possible, but herfeet were sadly cut and bruised before she reached her destination.
This was the house of Dan Peterson, and a ring at his doorbell, broughtthe sound of a hastily flung-up window, and a sharp "Who's there?"
"Me," said Zizi, truthfully, "please let me in."
Not quite certain of the identity of his caller, but touched by thepleading little voice, Peterson came downstairs, followed by his wife.
A few words of explanation resulted in Zizi's being put into warm, dryclothes, and tucked into bed by Mrs. Peterson, who admonished her to'sleep like a baby till mornin'.'
Which, nothing loth, Zizi did.
Morning at Black Aspens brought a shock of surprise.
It was Hester who first discovered the absence of Zizi from the Room withthe Tassels.
Hester had been fond of the child from the beginning, and in spite of herfifteen years, and her even older world-knowledge, Zizi was a child, inmany ways. Hester mothered her whenever possible, though Zizi's naturalefficiency made little assistance really necessary. But Hester loved towait on her, and so, this morning, when, going into the room with a canof hot water, she found no sleepy little occupant of the great bed, sheran straight upstairs to Miss Carnforth's room.
"Where's that child?" she demanded as Eve opened the door to her loudknock.
"What child? Who?"
"Zizi. She's gone! Sperrited away! What have you done with her?"
"Hush, Hester! You act crazy----"
"And crazy I am, if any harm's come to that girl! Where is she?"
Doors opened and heads were thrust out, as the voice of the irate Hesterwas heard about the house.
Penny Wise, in bathrobe and slippers, appeared, saying, "What's up? Zizidisappeared?"
"Yes," moaned Hester, "her bed's been slept in, but she ain't nowhere tobe found. Oh, where can she be?"
"Be quiet," commanded Wise. He ran downstairs, and examined the doors andwindows minutely. Except for those that Hester or Thorpe had opened thatmorning, all were locked as they had been left the night before.
"She may be in the house somewhere," suggested Norma, wide-eyed andtearful.
"Not she," said Wise. "She would hear our commotion, and come to us. Ziziis not one to play mischievous tricks."
"But how did she get out?"
"How did Vernie's body get out?" asked Braye, gravely. "There's no chancefor a human marauder this time."
"No," and Professor Hardwick looked over the great locks and bolts on thefront doors, and examined the window catches.
Pennington Wise looked very serious.
"Don't talk any foolishness about spooks," he said, sternly; "I don'twant to hear it. Zizi has been carried off by mortal hands, and if anyharm has been done her it will go hard with the villain who isresponsible!"
"Who could have done it--and why?" cried Eve.
"Those who know the most about it, are often the loudest in theirlamentations," Wise returned and stalked off to his room.
Breakfast was eaten in a silence that seemed portentous of impendingtrouble. Pennington Wise was deep in thought and apparently had noknowledge of what he was eating nor any consciousness of the people abouthim.
During the meal a note was brought to him by a messenger from thevillage. He read it and slipped it in his pocket without a word.
After breakfast he requested the entire household, including theservants, to gather in the hall.
He addressed them in grave, earnest tones, without anger or undueexcitement, saying, in part:
"I have made considerable progress in the investigations of the tragediesthat have occurred in this house. I have learned much regarding thecrimes and I think I have discovered who the guilty party is. I may say,in passing, that there is not, and has not been any supernaturalinfluence at work. Any one who says that there has, is either blindlyignorant of or criminally implicated in the whole matter. The two deathswere vile and wicked murders and they are going to be avenged. Thekidnapping of Zizi is the work of the same diabolical ingenuity thatcompassed the deaths of two innocent victims. A third death, that of myclever child assistant, was necessary to prevent discovery, hence Zizi'sfate."
"Is she dead?" wailed Hester, "oh, Mr. Wise, is she dead?"
"I will tell you what happened to her," said Wise, quietly. "She wastaken from her bed in the so-called haunted room, she was carried out ofthe house, and a bundle of bricks was tied to her, and she was throwninto the lake. That's what happened to Zizi."
Milly screamed hysterically, Norma Cameron cried softly and Eve Carnforthexclaimed, with blazing eyes, "I don't believe it! You are making thatup! How can you know it? Why didn't you rescue her?"
The men uttered various exclamations of incredulity and horror, and theservants sat, aghast.
Pennington Wise surveyed rapidly one face after another, noting theexpression of each, and sighing, as if disappointed.
"She is not dead," he said, suddenly, and watched again the telltalecountenances.
"What!" cried Wynne Landon, "bricks tied to her, and thrown in the lakebut not drowned! Who saved her life?"
"She herself," returned Wise, "didn't you, Zizi?"
And there she was, in the back of the hall, behind the group, everymember of which turned to see her. Peterson was with her, and the twocame forward.
Zizi was garbed in clothes that Mr. Peterson had lent her, and though toolarge, she had pinned up the plain black dress until it looked neithergrotesque nor unbecoming.
"Yes, I'm here," she announced, "but only because a bag o' bones can't besunk by a bag o' bricks! Your Shawled Woman,--only he didn't have hisshawl over his head,--carried me off about as easy as he might havesneaked off a doll-baby! Then,--shall I tell 'em all, Pen?"
"Yes, child, tell it all, just as it happened."
"Well, he stuffed a bale of cotton into my mouth, which same was soakedwith chloroform,
so, naturally I couldn't yell; likewise, I didn't knowjust where I was at for a few minutes."
"Who was he?" exclaimed Braye, "what did he look like?"
"Was it the skull face?" asked Eve.
"Nixy on the bone face!" returned Zizi, "he was a plain clothes man incivilian dress, with a black mask over his patrician features."
"Don't you know who it was?" and Eve's voice was intense and strained.
"Not positively," Zizi answered. "Well, he picked me up like I was afeather, and how he got out of the house I've no idea, but I felt abreeze of night air, and there was I by the bank of the lake, and therewas he, busily engaged in tying a load of bricks to my ankles!"
"Did you scream?" asked the Professor, absorbed in the account.
"My dear man, how could I, with my mouth chock-a-block with a large andelegant bundle of gag? I was thankful that my wits were workin', letalone my lung power! Well, he tossed me in the nasty, black lake, andthat's where he spilled the beans! For ground and lofty tumbling intolakes is my specialty. I'm the humble disciple of Miss Annette Kellerman,and not so awful humble, either! So, I held my breath under water longenough to wriggle my feet out of those ropes, the old stupid didn't knowhow to tie anything but a granny slip knot! and I scrambled out, just asmy windpipe was beginning to go back on me."
"You make light of it, Zizi, but it was a narrow squeak," said Wise,looking at her gravely.
"You bet it was! If he'd had a softer rope, I'd been done for. It was thestiffness of that rope, and--well, the stiffness of my upper lip,--thatrescued your little Ziz from a watery grave, and horrid dirty old water,too!"
Wise slipped his arm round the child, and told her to go on with thestory.
"Then," she proceeded, "I squz out what wetness I could from my fewscanty robes, in which I was bedecked, and I borrowed the long cloak,which friend Kidnapper had kindly wrapped me in."
"What kind of a cloak?" asked Eve.
"Nothing very smart," said Zizi, nonchalantly, "looked to me like anold-fashioned waterproof,--the kind they wore, before raincoats came in.Only, it _wasn't_ waterproof, not by several jugs full! But I wrung itout all I could, and then I tried to get in the house. But,--it was alllocked up, and as it seemed a pity to disturb all you sound sleepers, Iran to the village and begged a lodging with my friend, Mr. Peterson. Heand his wife were most kind, and put me in a nice dry, little bed, thathad no tassels or ghosts attached to it. I sent Mr. Wise a note, as soonas I could, so he wouldn't worry."
"That was the note I received at the breakfast table," Wise informedthem. "Now, you see, there is a real man at the bottom of the villainygoing on up here. He desired to remove Zizi, lest she discover his crime,and I daresay, he planned to dispose of me also, if he could manage it.His seems to be a will that stops at nothing, that is ready to commit anycrime or any number of crimes to save his own skin. Has anybody presentany idea of the identity of this man? Any reason to suspect any one? Anylight whatever to throw on the situation?"
"No!" declared Landon, "we have not! I speak for myself, and for allpresent, when I say we have no knowledge of a wretch answering to thatdescription! Nor did I suppose that such existed! Can you track him down,Mr. Wise? Is your power sufficient to discover and deal death to thisbeast you describe?"
"I hope so," and Penny Wise carefully scrutinized the face of thespeaker. "I think, Mr. Landon, that with Zizi's help, with theenlightenment her awful experience gives us, I can get the criminal andthat in a short time."
"Good!" exclaimed Hardwick. "I am not vindictive, but I confess I neverwanted anything more than to see brought to justice the man who couldconceive and carry out such diabolical crimes!"
"Are you sure they are one and the same?" asked Braye, "I mean the manwho killed Mr. Bruce and Vernie, and the one who carried off Miss Zizi?"
"Yes," said Wise, thoughtfully. "There are not two such, I should say.But the quest of one person is my immediate business. If I find there areothers implicated, I shall get them, too. I am not more incensed over theattack on Zizi than on your two friends, but I don't deny it has given mean added wrong to avenge. But for the child's strong nerve, and cleverquickness of action, she would now lie at the bottom of the lakewhere----"
He stopped abruptly.
"Go away, all of you," he said, in a low, strained voice. "I mean, goabout your business, but leave me to myself for a time. Peterson, come inhere."
He went into the Room with the Tassels. Peterson followed, and Ziziglided in beside them. The door closed and the group left in the halllooked at one another in perplexity and horror.
"I can't understand, Wynne," said Milly, "who took Zizi away?"
"I don't know, dear; what do you think, Professor?"
"I think in so many directions, that I'm sure none of them is right.Awful things suggest themselves to my mind, but I can't believe them, andI dismiss them, half thought out."
"That's the way with me," sighed Braye. "It looks now as if there must besome one who gets in from outside the house, and who is responsible forall the inexplicable happenings. Of course, that would point to Stebbins,we must all admit that."
The servants had left the hall, so Braye permitted himself this freedomof speech.
"I don't say it's Stebbins," the Professor mused, "but I do think it'ssome one from outside. There may be a village inhabitant who is possessedof a homicidal mania, that's the theory that seems to me the only onepossible. And we must assume, now, that there is a secret way to get inand out of the house."
"If so, that clever detective ought to find it," argued Braye.
"Perhaps he will," said Hardwick, "also, perhaps he has. He doesn't tellall he knows. Now, this is certain. All here present are, I am thankfulto say, free from any breath of suspicion. For last night, you, Braye,and the detective and I all slept with our doors open, and none of uscould have left our rooms without being observed by the others. The sameis true of the ladies, and of course, Mrs. Landon can vouch for herhusband."
"Don't talk that way," said Norma, with a shudder. "You know none of uscould be suspected."
"Not by ourselves," agreed the Professor; "nor by each other, of course.But by an outsider, or by the servants, or by the detectives,--it isindeed a good thing to have matters arranged as they are. I feel adecided satisfaction in knowing that no unjust suspicion can attachitself to any one of our party."
"That's so," and Braye nodded. "But it doesn't get us any nearer to thereal criminal. I incline to the Professor's idea of a man of homicidalmania, in the village. They say, that's a real disease, and that suchpeople are diabolically clever and cunning in carrying out their criminalimpulses."
"But how could such a man get in?" asked Eve, her eyes wide with wonder.
"We don't know," said Braye, "but there must be a secret entrance. Why,Stebbins as good as admitted there was, but he wouldn't tell where itwas. However, it's unimportant, how he got in, if he did get in."
"Do you mean that some such person acted the ghost,--and--all that?" saidNorma, dubiously. "But, if so, how could he kill Mr. Bruce and Vernie?Oh, it's too ridiculous! Those two deaths were not occasioned by anycrazy man from East Dryden! It's impossible."
"Come out for a little stroll, Norma," said Braye to her, seeing hownervously excited the girl was. "A breath of fresh air will do you good,and we can do nothing here."
They went out into the pleasant August sunshine, and strolled toward thelake.
"Not that way," begged Norma. "It's too horrible. Oh, Rudolph, who do yousuppose tried to drown that poor little Zizi?"
"Nobody, Norma. She made up that yarn."
"Oh, no, Rudolph, I don't think so!"
"Yes, she did. That Wise is trying to get at his discoveries in thetheatrical fashion all detectives love to use, and that movie actress ispart of his stock in trade. She fell in the lake, all right, I daresay,but the tale about the bogey man is fictitious, be sure of that."
"But how did she get out of the house, and leave all the doors lockedbehind her?"
/> "Perhaps, as the Professor suggested, Wise knows of the secret entrance,if there is one, and of course, Zizi does too. Or, that little monkeycould have scrambled down from the second-story window, she's as agile asa cat! Anyway, Norma, she wasn't pitched in the lake by the same villainthat did for Uncle Gif and Vernie."
"Who could that have been?"
"Who, indeed?"
"Rudolph, tell me one thing,--please be frank; do you think any one weknow--is,--is responsible for those deaths?"
Braye turned a pained look at her. "Don't ask such questions, dear," hesaid. "I can't answer you,--I don't want to answer."
"I am answered," said Norma, sadly. "I know you share the--the fear, Iwon't call it a suspicion,--that Eve and I do. And--Rudolph, Milly fearsit, too. She won't say so, of course, but I know by the way she looks atWynne, when she thinks no one notices. And she's so afraid Mr. Wise willlook in that direction. Oh, Rudolph, must we let that detective goon,--no matter what he--exposes?"
"Landon got him up here," said Braye, "no, the Professor really heard ofhim first, but Landon urged his coming."
"Milly didn't. Could Wynne have been prompted by--by bravado?"
"I don't know, dear. Please don't talk of it, Norma. It seems----"
"I know, it seems disloyal to Wynne for us even to hint at such a thing.But if we could help him----"
"How?"
"Oh, I don't know. I suppose we oughtn't to condone,--and, too, Rudolph,if this should remain undiscovered, should be all hushed up, you know,and if nobody should really accuse--you know who--wouldn't _your_ life bein danger?"
"Hush, Norma, I won't listen to such talk! Has Eve put you up to allthis?"
"She and I have talked it over, yes. She is so anxious for you."
"For me?"
"Yes; you know Eve--cares a great deal for you."
"Hush, dear, you're not yourself to-day. And I don't wonder. The awfultimes we're going through are enough to upset your nerves. But neverspeak of Eve Carnforth and me in that tone! You know, Norma, I love youand you only. I want you for my own, my darling, and when we get awayfrom these awful scenes, I shall woo and win you!"
The Room with the Tassels Page 16