“Yes.”
“A sort of cowardice induced by shock?”
“I suppose so, sir.”
“Um!” Frake grunted. “Very peculiar. You were so shocked by the tragedy that you could not notify the clerk. And yet you were not too much shocked to remain for several minutes with the body, ransack the desk — “
“What’s that?” Purden cried.
“Your finger prints are on the desk with Mrs. Crend’s,” Frake told him. “They must have been put there since the furniture was polished yesterday. You were seen coming into the house, Purden. A few minutes later Peter Podd, who saw you enter, saw you go out. You acted strangely, he says. You rushed away without telling anybody that Mrs. Lennek was dead. Don’t you see how it looks, Purden?”
“You — you mean that I might have killed her?”
“You had the opportunity, and your actions certainly were very peculiar. And you ransacked that desk! You’d better tell the truth, Purden!”
There was a peculiar ring in Detective Frake’s voice. Purden was silent for a moment, and all in the room watched him closely. Finally he lifted his head and spoke in low tones.
“I — I have told you the truth,” he said. “I went into the apartment and found her, as I stated. I thought, of course, that she had committed suicide.”
“Know of any reason why she should?” Frake asked.
“No,” Purden replied. “But she — she was nervous and hysterical often. And sometimes she was despondent, too. Despite the fact that she had wealth at her command, she did not seem to have much peace of mind. She said that her sister took her to task frequently, especially for being friendly with me.”
“Did she ever hint at suicide?”
“Not in so many words. She has made the remark to me that she wished she was dead — but in the way so many persons make the remark now and then. But, when I saw her there, and the tumbler on the floor, I thought she had killed herself. I — I was afraid of — “
“Scandal, perhaps?”
“I suppose so, though there was no reason for being afraid of that. My relations with Mrs. Lennek were strictly honorable. But I — I was afraid of being connected with the affair, afraid of newspaper publicity. I ran over to the desk and looked, thinking she might have left letters — perhaps one addressed to me.”
“Did you find one?”
“I found no letters at all,” Purden replied. “If she wrote any, she did not leave them on the desk. But you have been saying that she did not commit suicide, but was murdered. I suppose my actions were peculiar. I cannot explain them. But I have told you the truth, and the whole truth!”
“You beast! You killed her!”
The words came from Mrs. Howard Crend. Madison Purden seemed to flinch, and then he turned his head and looked her straight in the eyes.
“I did not kill her,” he said, as though stating an ordinary fact. “Why should I? I hoped to make her my wife. I believe that she would have married me. If you are accusing me of being mercenary, my marriage to her would have put a fortune into my hands, whereas her death puts it forever beyond my reach.”
Detective Frake let him talk. He was watching Madison Purden carefully.
“If she was murdered,” Purden continued, “I did not do it. And if you are looking at bare facts, opportunities, and motives, why single out me? You might have done it, Mrs. Crend, since you would profit by her death. But I have cleared you. We know what time you visited the apartment, and I have said that I was there ten or fifteen minutes before that, and that she was dead then, And — and I saw the janitor in front of her door. A moment later I found that door open half a foot or so, something very unusual. For all I know, Peter Podd, the janitor, might just have come out of that door; he might have been in there killing — “
“Don’t you say that!” Peter Podd exclaimed. “I ain’t been in that apartment since yesterday when the furniture polisher was at work, and I went to tell him to do an apartment on the third floor next.”
“I am merely showing —” Purden began.
But Detective Frake stopped him.
“Pardon me, but I am not done with my questions,” he said. “That will do for the present, Mr. Purden. Go back to your other seat. Peter Podd, take this chair, please.”
Madison Purden arose and went back across the room. Peter Podd shuffled forward,, holding his cap in his hands and twisting it nervously. His old face suddenly was gray as he sat down before the detective. His left hand went up and fumbled uncertainly at his chin.
CHAPTER VII.
CONFESSION.
DETECTIVE SAM FRAKE looked at the old janitor closely, seemed to be studying him for a time, and Peter Podd grew nervous beneath the scrutiny. He twisted his cap in his fingers again, gulped, licked at his lips, tugged at his thin mustache
“Well, Podd?” the detective asked, after a silence of a couple of minutes.
“I — I don’t know just what you want me to say, sir,” the old janitor replied.
“I want you to tell the truth about everything — the whole truth, Podd.”
“Of course, I’ll do that, sir,” Peter Podd said. “But I — I don’t know where to begin. That’s what puzzles me, sir.”
“You have had some trouble with Mrs. Lennek?” Detective Frake asked.
“No, sir. No real trouble, sir. She — she was terrible to me, but I always held my tongue. We had orders to always be polite to tenants, sir. And I never said a word to her, no matter how unjust she was, Mr. Frake.”
“Um!” Frake grunted. “Now what is all this about Mrs. Lennek complaining about you?”
“She told the superintendent, sir, that I had been discourteous to her, and she wanted me discharged right away. But I hadn’t, sir. Although that didn’t make any difference to her. She didn’t care, I suppose, if an old man was kicked out of his job and left to starve. I was worried, sir. I was afraid that I could not get another good job by next winter — and I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
“What did the superintendent tell you about it?” Detective Frake asked.
“Why, he as good as said, sir, that he didn’t believe that I had been discourteous to her. But she threatened that she wouldn’t renew her lease, sir, unless I was discharged.”
“I understand, Podd. And so you were feeling pretty angry at her, were you?”
“Yes, sir,” Podd answered frankly. “But I — I decided to see her if I could, sir, and ask her to tell the superintendent to let me stay.”
“You were in the rear hall downstairs when Marie Dolge left this afternoon, weren’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” Podd replied. “I like the young woman, and I was telling her my troubles. I told her that I intended asking Mrs. Lennek to have some mercy on me, sir. And Miss Dolge told me that I’d better wait a little, because Mrs. Lennek was in a tantrum.”
“And what did you do, Podd?”
“Well, I — I waited, sir. I hated to ask her, you see, being afraid that she would use hard words to me, but I knew that I had to do it as soon as possible, or else get discharged. So I finally made up my mind to do it, sir. I went up the back stairs and forward to the door of her suite.”
“What time was this, Podd?”
“It was at half past three, sir,” Podd answered. “I remember that distinctly. I went to the door, sir. The door was open a few inches, and I wondered a bit at that And I thought that maybe Mrs. Lennek was going out, had opened the door, and then stepped back to get something she had forgotten.”
“What did you do?”
“I — I guess I lost my courage, sir. I didn’t want to speak to her if she was going some place and was in a hurry. So I turned away from the door, intending to watch and see. And then I saw Mr. Purden coming, and I went on toward the front of the hall.”
“So you didn’t go into Mrs. Lennek’s apartment at
all?”
“Not at all, sir,” replied Peter Podd. “I went to the front of the hall and fussed around there for a time. One of the tenants came out and talked to me about changing some furniture, and then I started to the rear of the building again. I supposed that I’d have to wait, if Mrs. Lennek had a caller.”
“What else, Podd?”
“I passed the door, sir. It was still open about halfway. After I passed it I heard somebody come out, and I turned and saw that it was Mr. Purden.”
“He was alone?”
“Yes, sir, he was alone.”
“What did Mr. Purden do?”
“He hurried along the hall and went down the front stairs, sir. His face was white, and he looked scared. I watched him, and he went right down the stairs. I suppose he left the building, sir. I wondered if he had quarreled with Mrs. Lennek, and whether she’d have another tantrum.”
“Podd. When you passed that door as you went back, you say that it was open?”
“Yes, sir; It was open about halfway, sir.”
“Did you hear any sounds coming from the apartment?”
“No, sir,” Peter Podd replied. “I was listening, too. I was wondering whether Mrs. Lennek was going out with Mr. Purden, and whether I’d get a chance to speak to her. I didn’t hear a sound, sir.”
“What did you do then, Podd?”
“I went down the back stairs, sir, and to the servants’ entrance once more. A few minutes later I went through the hall and toward the front, thinking I might see the superintendent, and I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Crend come. Then I supposed that I’d not get a chance to speak to Mrs. Lennek at all. So I went to my own room, and I was there, sir, until I heard about the lady being found dead.”
“How did you hear that?”
“The superintendent told me first, sir, and asked me to stand by so everything could be done with as little publicity as possible. Those were the words he used, sir. I was to let the coroner’s men in. That’s all I know about it.”
Detective Sam Frake reflected silently for a time. Peter Podd still twisted his cap nervously in his hands, licked at his lips, and glanced furtively around the room at the others.
“Podd,” he asked finally, “did you really think there was hope that Mrs. Lennek would ask the superintendent not to discharge you?”
“I — I really didn’t think so, sir, but I was going to ask her a last time.”
“Are you quite certain, Podd, that you didn’t ask her, and that she refused — and that you killed her for refusing?”
“Don’t say that, sir!” Peter Podd exclaimed. “I never went into the apartment, sir — never saw her. I heard Mr. Purden coming just as I was going to ring. I never killed her, sir!”
“That will do!” Frake said. “Go back to your other seat, Podd.”
Peter Podd staggered back across the room and collapsed into a chair. Detective Sam Frake looked after him, pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes, scratched thoughtfully at his chin.
Then Detective Frake got up and faced them. “Remain as you are until I return, please,” he said.
He hurried out into the hall and closed the door after him. The fingerprint man was waiting.
“How about the milk in the bottle?” Frake asked.
“The chemist telephoned a few minutes ago. The milk in the bottle is all right. And he confirmed the coroner man’s report.”
“Um!” Frake grunted. “Anything else?”
“No, sir.”
Frake went on to the Lennek apartment, entered the boudoir, and used the telephone once more. Then he looked again at the desk and the chest of drawers in the corner, and stood back and surveyed the room. Out in the hall again, he held a whispered conversation with the finger-print man, and with another detective who was on guard in the hall and awaiting Frake’s orders.
Then Frake went back into the room where his people were waiting. He could almost feel the animosity in the air. Marie Dolge and Peter Podd sat apart from the others, evidently feeling highly uncomfortable. Mr. and Mrs. Crend were on a divan in a corner, the latter weeping softly. Madison Purden sat aloof, and Attorney Garder was in another corner acting like an interested man awaiting developments.
Frake sat down and looked them over.
“Well, you have heard one another questioned,” he said. “But there are some queer things that you do not know, and which I am going to relate to you. It is these queer things that decided us it might be a case of murder rather than suicide. From the answers you have given me, and as I look at the affair now, there are certain deductions that are reached easily.”
He stopped and glanced around at them again. They watched nervously.
“At three o’clock, according to Miss Dolge, Mrs. Lennek was alive,” Detective Frake continued. “At three-forty-five, Mr. and Mrs. Crend found her dead. Mr. Purden admits that he called at three-thirty, and that Mrs. Lennek was dead then, and so we know there need be no suspicion of either Mr. or Mrs. Crend committing the murder between three and three-thirty, when, it would appear, Mrs. Lennek died.”
“Then that Madison. Purden —” Mrs. Crend began.
Detective Frake stopped her with a motion of his hand and a glare.
“Between three and three-thirty, as far as we know, two persons only could have entered the apartment. I refer to Madison Purden and Peter Podd. Of course, some one could have entered immediately after the maid left, committed the crime, and got away before Podd or Mr. Purden called in the neighborhood of three-thirty. But Podd declares he was at the front door about three-thirty, and Mr. Purden admits he celled at that hour.”
“She telephoned to me and to Mr. Garder almost on the tick of three-thirty, so she was alive then,” Mrs. Crend interrupted. “Somebody must have killed her right after she telephoned.”
“Very well, we’ll consider those phone messages again,” Frake said. “There is a great deal peculiar about them. You are certain, Mrs. Crend, that it was half past three when you received your telephone message?”
“Yes,” Laura Crend replied.
“And she said that she had called up to tell you good-by?”
“Yes. I supposed she meant an elopement. Possibly she meant that she was going to take her own life.”
“It would be plausible, if we considered the suicide theory, that she took poison as soon as she telephoned, and that Mr. Purden came into the apartment a moment later. The poison she swallowed would cause death instantly. But we are not considering the suicide theory, but one of murder. You are certain when she telephoned?”
“Yes.”
“And what about you, Mr. Garder,” Detective Frake asked the attorney.
“It was a minute or two after half past three when she telephoned me,” the attorney replied. “I touched the button immediately to call my chauffeur, and I stepped right out into the hall, and glanced at my watch. It was a little after half past three.”
“Sure of it?”
“Yes, sir!”
“And both you and Mrs. Crend feel certain that it was Mrs. Lennek’s voice you heard?”
“I’m sure of it!” Mrs. Crend said, “Do you suppose I wouldn’t know my sister’s voice?”
“It was Mrs. Lennek’s voice,” Attorney Garder declared.
“This is the first puzzle,” Detective Frake declared. “If she telephoned at half past three, and Mr. Purden found her dead an instant later, it stands to reason that she must have done the telephoning from her boudoir, doesn’t it?”
“Certainly!” Attorney Garder said.
“Very well. And the switchboard girl in the office downstairs, who came on duty at noon, has declared to me that no call came from the apartment of Mrs. Lennek after she came on duty at twelve o’clock! How are we to explain that?”
There was silence for a moment.
“Why, that is not possible!” M
rs. Crend cried then. “Madge certainly telephoned to me at half past three.”
“And she telephoned to me,” Attorney Garder said.
“The switchboard girl is sure that she did not telephone from the apartment at all,” Detective Sam Frake said. “Nobody called from Mrs. Lennek’s apartment, and no call came in from the outside after noon, she says. She would know, of course. And she tells me that she is certain, because she was not so busy as usual. And she always watched - for Mrs. Lennek’s calls, she says, because Mrs. Lennek had such a sweet, low voice, and she liked to hear it! You all know that Mrs. Lennek did have a peculiarly sweet voice.”
“And I heard that voice at half past three!” Mrs. Crend declared. “Do you suppose my sister could have telephoned from outside the apartment?”
“If she had telephoned from some other apartment in the building, the switchboard girl would have noticed it,” Frake replied. “And she could not have telephoned from outside the building at half past three and then returned to her apartment and been dead at almost the same moment. Moreover, nobody saw her go out or come in.”
“It puzzles me,” Attorney Garder declared. “I am sure that it was Mrs. Lennek’s voice I heard. Yet it seems she was dead at that time, or within a couple of minutes afterward. And if the switchboard girl says she did not telephone from the apartment — Oh, I give it up!”
“There is another little shock due you,” said Detective Frake. “Miss Dolge says her mistress was alive at three. You two persons declare she telephoned at half past three. Mr. Purden admits that he found her dead a couple of minutes after half past three. The Crends were here at a quarter of four, and the coroner’s physician came here at four o’clock precisely. According to all that, she had been dead no longer than half an hour when the coroner’s physician had his first look at the body.”
“Yes,” said Attorney Garder.
“And the coroner’s physician, ladies and gentlemen, declares that Mrs. Lennek had been dead for more than an hour when he arrived at four o’clock.”
“Preposterous!” Attorney Garder exclaimed.
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