Part 1 Chapter 10 C of the Adventures of Jimmy Dale This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please go to LibriVox.org The Adventures of Jimmy Dale by Frank L. Packard Part 1 The Man in the Case Chapter 10 C The Alibi concluded A single sheet, closely written on both sides of the paper, was in his hand. It was her writing. There was no mistaking that. But every word, every line, bore evidence of frantic haste. Even that customary formula. Their philanthropic crook, that had prefaced every line she had ever written him before, had been omitted. His eyes traversed the first few lines with that strange indifference that had settled upon him. What, after all, did it matter what it was? He could do nothing, not even save himself probably. And then, with a little start, he read the lines over again, muttering snatches from them, marks day stretch, diamonds, the rust log and stones, wedding, sliding panel and wall of workshop, end of the room near window, ten boards to the right from side wall, press small knot in the wood in the center of the tent board, tonight. It brought a sudden thrill of excitement to Jimmy Dale that, impossible as he would have believed it an instant ago, for the moment overshadowed the realization of his own peril. A robbery such as that, if it were ever accomplished, would stare the country from end to end. It would set New York by the ears. It would lose the police in full cry like a pack of bloodhounds with their leashes slipped. The society columns of the newspapers had been busy for months, featuring the coming marriage of the rust logans daughter to one of the country's young merchant princes. The combined fortunes of the two families would make the young couple the richest in America. The prospective groom's wedding gift was to be a diamond necklace of perfectly matched large tones that would eclipse anything of the kind in the country. Europe, the foreign markets, had been literally combed and ransacked to supply the gems. The stones had arrived in New York the day before. The duty on them alone amounting to over $50,000. All these had appeared in the papers. Jimmy Dale's brows drew together in a frown. On just exactly what percentage the duty was figured, he did not know. But it was high enough on the basis of $50,000. To assume safely that the assessed value of the stones was not less than four times that amount. $200,000 laid down. A quarter of a million. Well, why not? In more than one quarter diamonds were ranked as the soundest kind of an investment. Furthermore, through personal acquaintance with the high contracting parties who were in his own set, he knew each to be true. He shrugged the soldiers. The papers too had thrown the limelight on Mark's district, who though for quite a time the fashion in the social world had up to the present been comparatively unknown to the average New Yorker. His own knowledge of Mark's district went deeper than the superficial biography furnished by the newspapers. The old Hollander had done more than one piece of exquisite jewelry work for him. The old fellow was a character that begat description, eccentric to the point of extravagance and death as a post, but in craftsmanship a modern Selimi. He employed no workmen, lived alone over his shop on one of the lower streets between 5th and 6th avenues near Washington Square and possessed a splendid contempt for such protective contrivances as safes and vaults. If his prospective patrons expost to later on this score before entrusting him with their valuables, they were at liberty to take their work elsewhere. It was Mark's district who honored you by accepting the commission. Not you who honored Mark's district by entrusting him with it. Of what use is it to me, a safe he would explain. It hides nothing. It only says, I am inside. Do not look further. Come and get me. Yes, it is to explode with the nitro glycerin. Poof! And I am deaf and I hear nothing. It is a foolishness that he had a habit of prodding at one with a leveled forefinger. Every night somewhere they are robbed. And have I been robbed? Hey, tell me that. Have I been robbed? It was true. In ten years, though at times having stones and precious metal, aggregating large amounts deposited with him by his customers, Mark's district had never lost so much as gold filings. There was a queer smile on Jimmy Dale's lips now. The knot in the tent board was significant. Mark's district was scrupulously honest. A genius in originality and conception of design. A master in the perfection and delicacy of his finished work. He had been commissioned to design and set the rust-logged necklace. The brain works quickly. All this and more had flashed almost instantaneously through Jimmy Dale's mind. His eyes fell to the letter again and he read on. Halfway through, a sudden whiteness blanched his face and following it, a surgeon tied of red that mounted to his temples. It dazed him. It seemed to rub him for the moment of the power of coherent thoughts. He was wrong. He had not read a rite. It was incredible. Dare devil beyond belief. And yet in its very audacity lay success. He finished the letter, read it once more and his fingers mechanically began to tear it into little shreds. His brain was in a well. A vortex of conflicting emotions. Had Whitey Mark and Lunningham left Bristol Bob's yet, where were they now? Was there time for this? He was tearing at the little tons scraps of paper in his hand. He thrust them suddenly into his pocket and jacked out his watch. It was nearly midnight. The broad muscular shoulders seemed to square back curiously. The jaws to clamp a little. The face to harden and grow cold until it was like stone. With a swift movement, he emptied his glass into the cuspidor. Set the glass back on the table and stepped out from the stall. His destination was Mark's districts. The palace saloon was near the upper end of the bowery and filling a taxicab of which none was in sight. His quickest method was to walk and he started briskly forward. It was not far. And it was barely ten minutes from the time he had left the palace saloon when he swung through Washington Square to Fifth Avenue. And a moment later turned from that store of fare heading west towards Sixth Avenue. Along one of those streets which with the city's northward trend had quite lost any distinctive identity. And from being once a modestly fashionable residential section had now become a conglomerate potpourri of small tradesmen stores, shops and apartments of the poorer class. He knew Mark's districts. He could well have done without the aid of the arc lamp which even if dimly indicated that low almost tumble down two-story structure tucked away between the taller buildings on either side that almost engulfed it. It was late. The street was quiet. The shops and stalls had long since been closed. Mark's districts among them the old Hollanda's name in painted white letters stood out against the background of a darkened workshop window. In the story above the lights too were out. Mark's district was probably faster sleep and he was tone deaf. A glance up and down the street and Jimmy Dale was standing or rather leaning against Mark's district door. There was no one to see and if there were what was there to attract attention to a man standing nonchalantly for a moment in a doorway. It was only for a moment. Those master fingers of Jimmy Dale were walking surely swiftly, silently a little step instrument that was never out of his possession was in the lock and out again. The door opened closed. He drew the black silk mask from his pocket and slipped it over his face. Immediately in front of him the stairs led upward. Immediately to his right was the door into the shop. The modest street entrance was closed the modest street entrance was common to both. The door into the workshop was not locked. He opened it stepped inside and closed it quietly behind him. The place was in blackness. He stood for a moment silent straining his ears to catch the slightest sound reconstructing the plan of his surroundings in his mind as he remembered it. It was a narrow oblong room running the entire debt of the building. A very long room blank walls on either side a window in the middle of the rear wall that gave on a backyard and from the backyard there was access to the lane. Also as he remembered the place it was a riot of disorder. With walk benches and odds and ends strewn without system or reason in every direction. One had need of care to negotiate it in the dark. He took his flashlight from his pocket and preliminary to a more intimate acquaintance with the interior glanced out through the front window near which he stood and with a suppressed cry shrunk back instinctively against the wall. Two men were crossing the street heading directly for the shop door the arc lamp lighted up their faces. It was Inspector Leningan of headquarters and Whitey Mark The quick intake of Jimmy Dale bread was sucked through clenched teeth they were closed on his heels then far closer than he had imagined. It would take Whitey Mark scarcely any longer to open that front door than it had taken him. Closed on his heels his face was rigid he could hear them now at the door. The flashlight in his hand winked down the length of the room it was a dangerous thing to do but it was still more dangerous to stumble into some object and make a noise. He darted forward circling a walk bench a stool a small hand forge again the flashlight was rigid against the side wall near the rear was another walk bench with a sort of coarsce canvas curtain hanging partway down in front of it evidently to protect such things as might be stored away beneath it from dust and Jimmy Dale sprung for it whipped back the canvas and crawled under it he was not an instant too soon as the canvas fell back into place the shop door opened closed and the two men had stepped inside Whitey Mark's voice in a low whisper though it was seems to echo raccoously through the shop maybe we'll have a sweet voice but it seems to echo raccoously maybe we'll have a sweet voice but I got the straight dope on this he's going to make a try for Dutch's sparklers tonight we'll let him go the limit and we don't either of us make a move till he's pinched them and then we get him with the goods on him he can't get away he hasn't a hope there's only two ways of getting in here or getting out this door and window here and a window that's down there at the back you got this and I'll take care of the other end survive right Laniegan answered grimly go ahead there was a sound of footsteps moving forward then a vicious bump then a vicious bump the scraping of some object along the floor and a muffled curse from Whitey Mark use your flashlight advise the inspector in a guarded voice I haven't got one damn it Grilled Whitey Mark it's alright I'll get along again the steps but more weirdly now as though the man were cautiously feeling ahead of him for possible obstacles Jimmy Dale for a moment held his breath he could have reached out and touched the man as the other passed Whitey Mark went on until he had taken up a position against the real world Jimmy Dale had him as he brushed against it then silence fell he was between them now stretched full length on the floor Jimmy Dale raised the lower portion of the canvas away from in front of his face he could see nothing the place was in Stygian blackness but it had been closed and stifling and at least he gave him more air the mini strength was each more interminable than the one that had gone before not a movement not a sound and then through the stillness very faint at first came the regular repressed Britain of Whitey Mark who was much the nearer of the two men and once noticeable almost imperceptible as it was he seemed to pervert the room and fill it with a strange ominous resonance that rose and fell until the blackness palpitated with it slowly very slowly Jimmy Dale's hand crept into his pocket and crept out again with his automatic he lay motionless once more time in any concrete sense seemed to exist fan seat ships began to assume form in the darkness by the door landing and stared uneasily shifting his position slightly was it ours was it only minutes it seemed to ring through the nerve racking stillness it seemed to ring through the nerve racking stillness by the shriek of a hotlin shell and it was only a whisper watch yourself landing down whispered Whitey Mark he's coming down through the yard don't move till I start something let him get his paws on the spark glass silence again and then a low rasping at the window like the gnawing of a rat then inch by inch the sash was lifted there was a sound as of a body forcing its way over the seal cautiously then a step upon the floor inside another and still another the figure of a man loomed up suddenly against the glow of a flashlight as he threw the round white ray inquisitively here and there over the rear wall and now he appeared to be counting the boards one, two, three up to ten his hand ran up and down the tent board again and again he repeated the operation and something like the snarl of a bated beast echoed through the room he have turned to snarl at something in his pocket and the light for a moment showed a black bearded lowering face partially hidden by a peaked cap that was pulled far down over his eyes there was a rip and tear of rending wood as a steel jimmy in lieu of the spring the man evidently could not find bit in between the boards a motored auto-satisfaction and a portion of the wall slid back disclosing what looked like a metal lined cupboard he reached in seized one of a dozen little boxes and wrenched off the cover a blue scintillating gleam seemed to leap out to meet the white ray of the flashlight the man chuckled hoarsely and began to cram the rest of the boxes into his pockets jimmy dale stared on hands and knees he was creeping down from beneath the workbench something caught and tore behind him the canvas curtain and at the sound with a sharp cry the man at the wall wailed the light went out and he sprang toward the window jimmy dale gained his feet and leaped forward a revolver shot caught a lane of fire through the blackness and above the roar of the report white team marks voice in a fierce yell it's alright Lenegan I got him no hell there was a terrific crash of breaking glass he's got away not yet he hasn't gritted jimmy dale between his teeth and his club revolver swung crashing to the head of a dark phone in front of him there was a half sigh half moon the forms lead limply to the floor Lenegan was floundering down the shop leaping obstacles in a mad rush his flashlight peaking out the way jimmy dale stepped swiftly backward and his hand grouped out for the drop light over the end of the bench that he had knocked against in his own rush his fingers clutched it and the lower end of the shop was flooded with light except for his felt heart that lay a little distance away there was no sign of whitey mark the huddled form of the man who but a moment since had chuckled as he pocketed old max district's gems lay sprawled inert upon the floor and Lenegan was staring into the muzzle of jimmy dale's automatic drop that gun Lenegan said jimmy dale coolly and I'll trouble you not to make a noise it might attract attention from the street there's been too much already drop that gun the revolver clattered from Lenegan's hand to the floor a step forward and jimmy dale's toe sent its pin under a bench another step and his revolver still covering the other he had whipped a pair of handcuffs from the officer's side pocket Lenegan as though he had been in the shop Lenegan as though the thought had never occurred to him offered no resistance he was staring in a day sort of way back and forth from jimmy dale to the man on the floor what's this mean he buster suddenly where's your wrist please requested jimmy dale pleasantly no the left one thank you as a handcuff snapshot now go over there and sit down on the floor beside that fellow quick jimmy dale's voice rasped suddenly imperatively still bewildered but a little sullen now Lenegan obeyed jimmy dale's tipped quickly and snapped the other link of the handcuff over the unconscious man's right wrist jimmy dale smiled that's the approved way of taking your man isn't it left wrist to the prisoner's right he's only stunned he'll be around in a moment know him Lenegan shook his head take a good look at him invited jimmy dale you ought to know most of them in the business Lenegan bent over a little closer and then with a amazed cry his free hand shot forward and tore away the other's beard it was whitey mark my god gasped Lenegan quite so said jimmy dale evenly you'll find the diamonds in his pockets and excuse me his fingers were running through whitey marks clothes ah here it is the thin metal case was in his hand a little article that belongs to me and whose loss I am free to admit cost me considerable concern until I was informed that he had only found it without having the slightest idea as to whom it belonged it made quite a difference he had opened the case carelessly before Lenegan's eyes the grey seal I'll say it for you said jimmy dale whimsically this is what probably put the idea into his head after first in some way haven't discovered old marks districts hide in place and if I'd given him time enough he would probably have stuck one of these seals in clumsy imitation of that little centricity of mine on the wall over there to stand the job as draining you begin to get it don't you Lenegan pretty sure fire as an alibi eh and he'd have got away with it too as far as you were concerned he had only to fire that shot smash the window tuck his false beard mustache and picked cap into his pocket put on his own hat that you see there on the floor and yell that the man had escaped he would help you chase the thief too rather need don't you think Lenegan and what the risk too considering the how that would go up at the test of those tones and that known as the slickest diamond thief in the country he would be the first to be suspected except that the police themselves in the person of inspector Lenegan of headquarters would be prepared to prove a perfectly good alibi for him Lenegan's head was thrust forward his eyes had were riveted on white mark my god he said again under his breath then fiercely he'll get his for this it was a moment before Jimmy Dale spoke he was musingly examining the automatic in his hand I am going on Lenegan he observed quietly I require say 15 minutes in which to effect my escape it is of course obvious that an alarm raised by you might prove extremely awkward but a piece of canvas from that bench there together with a bit of string would make a most effective dark I prefer however not to submit you to that indignity instead I offer you the alternative of giving me your word to remain quietly where you are for 15 minutes Lenegan hesitated Jimmy Dale smiled I agree said Lenegan shortly Jimmy Dale stepped back the electric lights which clicked the place was in darkness there was a moment or two of utter stillness then softly from the front end of the shop a whisper if I were you Lenegan I'd take that gun from Whitey's pocket before he comes round and beats you to it and the door closed silently behind Jimmy Dale end of part 1 chapter 10 C part 1 chapter 11 a of the adventures of Jimmy Dale this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please go to LibriVox.org the adventures of Jimmy Dale by Frank L. Packard reading by Roger Maline part 1 the man in the case chapter 11 a the stool pigeon in the subway ten minutes before a freckle faced messenger boy had squeezed himself into a seat beside Jimmy Dale yanked a dime novel from a refractory pocket and blissfully lost to all the world had buried his head in its pages Jimmy Dale's glance at the youngster had equally perforce embraced the lurid title of the thriller dicing with death so imperturbably thrust under his nose at the time he had smiled indulgently but now as he left the subway and headed for his home on Riverside Drive the words not only refused to be ignored but had resolved themselves into a curiously persistent refrain in his mind there were exactly what they purported to be dime novelish of the deepest hue of yellow melodramatic in the extreme but also to him now they were grimly apt and premonitorily appropriate dicing with death there was not an hour not a moment in his day when he was not literally dicing with death when with the underworld and the police allied against him a single false move would lose him the throw that left death the winner the risk of the dual life enforced upon him grew daily greater and in the end there must be the reckoning he would have been a madman to have shut his eyes in the face of what was obvious but it was worth it all and in his soul he knew that he would not have had it otherwise even now tonight, tomorrow, the day after would come another letter from the toxin and there would be another crime of the grey seals blazoned in the press would that be the last affair or would there be another or tonight, tomorrow, the day after would he be trapped before even one more letter came he shrugged his shoulders as he ran up the steps of his house those were the stakes that he himself had laid on the table to wager upon the game he had no quarrel there but if only before the end came or even with the end itself he could find her with his latchkey he let himself into the spacious richly furnished well lighted reception hall and crossing this went up the broad staircase his steps noiseless on the heavy carpet below faintly he could hear some of the servants they evidently had not heard him close the door behind him discipline was relaxed somewhat it was quite apparent with Jason that peer of butlers away Jason, poor chap, was in the hospital typhoid they had thought it at first though it had turned out to be some milder form of infection he would be back in a few days now but meanwhile he missed the old man sorely from the house he reached the landing and turning went along the hall to the door of his own particular den opened the door closed it behind him and in an instant the keen agile brain trained to the littlest things that never escaped it that daily held his life in the balance was alert the room was unusually dark even for night time it was as though the window shades had been closely drawn a thing Jason never did but then Jason wasn't there Jimmy Dale smiling then a little quizzically at himself reached up for the electric light switch beside the door pressed it and his finger still on the button whipped his automatic from his pocket with his other hand the room was still in darkness the smile on Jimmy Dale's lips was gone for his lips now had closed together in a tight drawn line the lights in the rest of the house as witnessed the reception hall were in order this was no accident silent motionless he stood there listening was he trapped at last in his own house by whom the police the thugs of the underworld it made little difference the end would differ only in the method by which it was attained what was that was there a slight stir a movement at the lower end of the room or was it his imagination his hand fell from the electric light switch to the door knob behind his back slowly without a sound it began to turn under his slim tapering fingers whose deft sensitive touch had made him known to the master cracksman of them all and as noiselessly the door began to open it was like a duel a duel of silence what was the intruder whoever he might be waiting for the abortive click of the electric light switch to say nothing of the opening of the door when he had entered was evidence enough that he was there was the other trying to place him exactly through the darkness to make sure of his attack the door was open now and suddenly Jimmy Dale laughed easily aloud and on the instant shifted his position well inquired Jimmy Dale coolly from the other side of the threshold it seemed like a long drawn sigh fluttering through the room a gasp of relief and then the blood was pounding madly at his temples and he was back in the room again the door closed once more behind him oh Jimmy why didn't you speak I had to be sure that it was you it was her voice hers the toxin here she was here here in his house you he cried you here he was pressing the electric light switch frantically again and again her voice came out of the darkness from across the room why are you doing that Jimmy you know already that I have turned off the lights at the sockets of course he laughed out the words almost hysterically your face I have never seen your face you know he was moving quickly toward the reading lamp on his desk there was a quick hurried swish of garments and she was blocking his way no she said in a low voice you must not light that lamp he laughed again shortly fiercely now she was close to him his hands reached out for her touched her and thrilling at the touch swept her toward him Jimmy Jimmy are you mad she breathed mad yes he was mad with the wildest most passionate exhilaration he had ever known he found his voice with an effort these months and years that I have tried until my soul was sick to find you he cried out and you are here now your face I must see your face she had wrenched herself away from him he could hear her breath coming sharply in little gasps he groped his way onward toward the desk wait his tone seemed to ring suddenly vibrant through the room wait before you touch that lamp I put you on your honor not to light it he stopped abruptly my honor he repeated mechanically yes I came here tonight because there was no other way no other way do you understand I came trusting to your honor with the conditions that forced me to do this I had no fear that I was wrong I have no fear now you will not light that lamp and you will not make any attempt to prevent my going away as I came unknown is there any question about it Jimmy I am in your house you don't know what you're saying he burst out wildly I've risked my life for a chance like this again and again I've gone through hell living in squalor for a month on end is Larry the bat in the hope that I might discover who you are and do you think I'll let anything stop me now I tell you no a thousand times no she made no answer there was only her low quick breathing coming from somewhere near him he made another step toward the lamp and stopped I tell you no I said again and took another step forward and stopped once more still she made no answer a minute passed another his hand lifted and swept across his forehead in an agitated way still silence she neither moved nor spoke his hands dropped slowly to his side there was a queer twisted smile upon his lips you win he said hoarsely thank you Jimmy she said simply and your name who you are he was speaking but he did not seem to recognize his own voice the hundred other things I've sworn I'd make you explain when I found you our all taboo as well I suppose yes she said he laughed bitterly don't you know he cried out that between the police and the underworld our house of cards is likely to collapse at any minute that they are hunting the grey seal day and night it is to be always like this that I am never to know until it is too late she came toward him out of the darkness impulsively they will never get you Jimmy she said in a suppressed voice and some day I promise you now you shall have your reward for tonight you shall know everything when the word came from him with fierce eagerness I do not know she answered gently soon perhaps perhaps sooner than either of us imagine and by that you mean what he asked and his hand reached out for her again through the blackness this time she did not draw away there was an instant's hesitation then she spoke again hurriedly a note of anxiety in her voice you are beginning all over again aren't you Jimmy and I have told you that tonight I can explain nothing and besides it is what has brought me here that counts now and every moment is of yes I know he interposed but then at least you will tell me one thing why did you come tonight instead of sending me a letter as you always have before because it is different tonight than it ever was before she replied earnestly because there is something in what has happened that I cannot explain myself because there is danger and where I could not see clearly I feared a trap and so I dare not send what in a letter could at best be the only vague and incomplete details do you see yes said Jimmy Dale but he was only listening in an abstracted way if he could only see that face so close to his he had yearned for that with all his soul for years now and she was here standing beside him and his hand was upon her arm and here in his own den in his own house she called arms for the grey seal from her own lips honor was he but a poor craxotic fool he had only to step to the desk and switch on the light why should he steadied himself with a jerk and drew away his hand she was in his house go on he said tersely do you know or did you ever hear of old Luther Doyle said Jimmy Dale do you know a man named Connie Myers Connie Myers who in the badlands did not know Connie Myers who boasted of the half dozen prison sentences already to his credit yes he knew Connie Myers but strangely enough it was not in the badlands or as Larry the bat that he knew the man or that the other knew him Connie Myers had introduced himself one night several years ago with a blackjack that had just missed its mark as the man had jumped out from a dark hallway in the east side and he, Jimmy Dale had thrashed the other to within an inch of his life he had reason to know Connie Myers and Connie Myers had reason to remember him yes he said with a grim smile I know Connie Myers and the tenement across the street from where you live is Larry the bat that of course you know he leaned toward her wonderingly now of course he ejaculated naturally listen then Jimmy she was speaking quickly now it is a strange story this Luther Doyle was already over fifty when some eight or nine years ago his parents died within and he inherited somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand dollars but the man though harmless enough was mildly insane half-witted, queer and the old couple on account of their son's mental defects took care to leave the money securely invested and so that he could only touch the interest during these eight or nine years he has lived by himself in the same old family house where he had lived with his parents and he has lived in a most frugal even miserly manner his income could not have been less than six thousand dollars a year and his expenditures could not have been more than six hundred his dementia ironically enough from the day that he came into his fortune took the form of a most pitiable and abject fear that he would die in poverty misery and want and so year after year cashing his checks and never trusting the bank with a penny he kept hiding away somewhere in his house every cent he could scrape and save from his income which today must amount at a minimum calculation to fifty thousand dollars and observed Jimmy Dale quietly Connie Myers robbed him of it and her voice was quivering with passion as she caught up his words twice in the last month tried to rob him but the money was too securely hidden twice he broke into Doyle's house when the old man was out but on both occasions was unsuccessful in his search and was interrupted and forced to make his escape on account of Doyle's return tonight an hour ago in an empty house on the second floor of that tenement in the room facing the landing old Luther Doyle was murdered there was silence for an instant and had closed in a tight pressure on his arm the darkness seemed to add a sort of ghastly significance to her words in God's name how do you know all this he demanded wildly how do you know all these things does that matter now she answered tensely you will know that when you know the rest oh don't you understand Jimmy there is not a moment to lose now it was easy to lure a half-witted creature like that anywhere it was Connie Myers who lured him to the tenement and murdered him there but from that point Jimmy I am not sure of our ground I do not know whether Connie Myers is alone in this or not but I do know that he is going to Doyle's house again tonight to make another search for the money there is no question but that old Doyle was murdered to give Connie Myers the house inside out to find the money to give them the whole night to work in without interruption if necessary but Doyle dead in his own house could have interfered no more with them than Doyle dead in that tenement why was he lured to the tenement by Connie Myers when he could much more easily have been put out of the way in his own house Jimmy there is something behind this something more that you must find out there may be others in this besides Connie Myers I do not know but there is something here that I am afraid of Jimmy you must get that man you must get the others if there are others and you must stop them from getting the money in that house tonight do you understand now why I have come here I could not explain in a letter I do not quite seem to be explaining now it would seem as though it was a grey seal that simply the police should be notified but I know Jimmy call it intuition what you will I know that there is need for us for you tonight that behind all this is a tragedy deeper blacker than even the brutal cold blooded murder that is already done her voice in its passionate earnestness died away and an anger cold grim remorseless settled upon Jimmy Dale settled as it always settled upon him at her call to arms his brain was already at work in its quick instant way probing, sifting, planning she was right it was strange it was more than strange that with the added risk the danger, the difficulty the man should have been brought miles to be done away with in that tenement why? Connie Myers took form before him the coarse features the tawny hair that straggled across the low forehead the shifty eyes that were an intermediate color between brown and grey the thin lips that seemed to draw in and give the jaw a protruding belligerent effect and Connie Myers knew him as Jimmy Dale it would have to be then as Larry the bat that the grey seal must work that meant time to go to the sanctuary and change the police he asked suddenly aloud they have not yet discovered the body not yet she replied hardly and that is still another reason for haste there is no telling when they will see here she thrust a paper into his hand here is a plan of old Doyle's house and directions for finding it you must get Connie Myers red handed you must make him convict himself for the evidence through which I know him to be guilty can never be used against him and Jimmy be careful I know I am not wrong that there is still something more behind all this and now go Jimmy go there is no time to lose she was pushing him across the room toward the door go it was she again who was dominant now in his mind who knew if tonight when he was taking his life in his hands again would not be the last and she was here now here beside him where she might never be again she seemed to divine his thoughts for she spoke again a strange new note of tenderness in her voice that thrilled him you must never let them get you Jimmy for my sake it will not last much longer it is near the end and I shall keep my promise but go now Jimmy go go he repeated normally go but you I she slipped suddenly away from a retreating back down the room I will go as I came wait listen he pleaded there was no answer somewhere back there in the darkness still he stood hesitant at the door it seemed that every faculty he possessed urged him back there again to her could he let her escape him now when she was so utterly in his power she who meant everything in his life and then like a cold shock came that other thought she who had trusted to his honor with a jerk his hand swept out and closed upon it good night he said heavily and stepped out into the hall end of part one chapter eleven A reading by Roger Maline part one chapter eleven B of the adventures of Jimmy Dale this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information the adventures of Jimmy Dale by Frank L. Packard reading by Roger Maline part one the man in the case chapter eleven B the stool pigeon continued it seemed for a while even after he had gained the street and made his way again to the subway that nothing was concrete around him that he was living through some fantastical dream his head whirled and he could not think rationally and then slowly little by little his grip upon himself came back she had come and gone with the roar of the subway in his ears its raucous note seeming to strike so perfectly in consonance with the turmoil within him he smiled mirthlessly after all it was as it always was she was gone the night dicing with death the words unbidden came back once more if they were true before they were doubly applicable now it was different tonight from what it had ever been before as she had said usually to the smallest detail everything was laid open clear before him in those astounding letters tonight it was vague at best as he had been murdered Connie Myers had committed the murder under circumstances that pointed strongly to some hidden motive behind and beyond the mere chance it afforded him to search his victims house for the hidden cash what was it Jimmy Dale stared out at the black subway walls the answer would not come station after station passed at 14th Street he changed from the express to a local got out at Aster Place and a few minutes later was walking rapidly down the upper end of the Bowery the answer would not come only the fact itself grew more and more deeply significant the ghastly, callous fiendishness that lured an old, half-witted man to his death had Jimmy Dale in that grip of cold, merciless anger again and there was a dull flush whatever it meant whatever was behind it one thing at least was certain he would get Connie Myers he was close to the sanctuary now it was down the next cross street he reached the corner and turned it heading east but his brisk walk had changed to a nonchalant saunter there were some people coming toward him it was the grey seal now alert and cautious the little group passed by ahead the tenement bordering in the black alleyway loomed up the sanctuary with its three entrances and exits the home of Larry the Bat and across from it was that other tenement that held a new interest for him now where in an empty room on the second floor she had said old Doyle still lay should he go there he was thinking quickly now it would take what he did not have to spare time it was already ten o'clock and granted that Connie Myers had committed the crime only a little over an hour ago the man by this time would certainly be on his way to Doyle's house near Pelham if indeed he were not already there no there was no time to spare the question resolved itself simply into how long since he had already searched twice and failed on both occasions it would take Connie Myers to unearth old Doyle's hiding place for the money Jimmy Dale glanced sharply around him slipped into the alleyway and crouching against the tenement wall moved noiselessly along to the side entrance a moment more and he had negotiated the rickety stairs with practiced soundless tread was inside the squalid quarters of Larry the Bat and the door of the sanctuary perhaps five minutes passed and then where Jimmy Dale the millionaire had entered there emerged Larry the Bat of the aristocracy and the elite of the badlands but instead of leaving by the side door and the alleyway as he had entered he went along the lower hallway to the front entrance and here instinctively he paused a moment at the top of the steps as his eyes rested upon the tenement on the opposite side of the street it was strange that the crime should have been committed there something again seemed to draw him toward that empty room on the second story he had decided once that he would not go that there was not time but after all it would not take long and there was at least the possibility of gaining something more valuable even than time from the scene of the crime itself the evidence he wanted there that would disclose the whole of Connie Meyer's game he went down the steps and started across the street but half way over he hesitated uncertainly as a child's cry came petulantly from the doorway it was dark in the street and likewise it was one of those hot suffocating evenings when in the crowded tenements of the poorer class miserable enough in any case a lack of a single god-given breath of air these two facts apparently irrelevant caused Jimmy Dale to change his mind again he had not noticed the woman with the baby in her arms sitting on the doorstep but now as he reached the curb he not only saw but recognized her and he swung on down the street toward the bowery he could not very well go in without passing her and that was a needless risk he smiled a little wandly once the crime was discovered she would not have hesitated long before informing the place that she had seen him enter there Mrs. Hagen was no friend of his one could not live as he had lived as Larry the bat and not see something in an intimate way of the pitiful little tragedies of the poor around him for bad, tough and disillude as the quarter was there some were simply poor Mrs. Hagen was poor her husband was a day laborer often out of a job and sometimes he drank that was how he, Jimmy Dale or rather Larry the bat had come to earn Mrs. Hagen's entity he had found Mike Hagen drunk one night and in the act of being arrested and had weedled the man away from the officer on the promise that he would take Hagen home and he was Larry the bat a dope fiend a character known to all the neighborhood and Mrs. Hagen had laid her husband's condition to his influence and companionship he had taken Mike Hagen home and Mrs. Hagen had driven Larry the bat from the door of her miserable one room lodging in that tenement with the bitter words on her tongue that only a woman can use when shame and grief and anger are breaking her heart he shrugged his shoulders and in a hurry he retraced his steps but now with the hurried shuffle of Larry the bat where before had been the brisk athletic stride of Jimmy Dale at Aster place again he took the subway this time to the grand central station and well within an hour from the time he had left the sanctuary including the train journey to Pelham he was standing in a clump of trees that fringed a deserted roadway he had passed but a few houses once he was away from Pelham and as well as he could judge there was none now within a quarter of a mile of him except this one of old Luther Doyle that showed up black and shadowy just beyond the trees Jimmy Dale's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the place it was little wonder that known to have money an attempt to rob old Doyle should have been made in a place like this it was even more grimly significant than ever of some deeper meaning that in its loneliness an ideal place for a murder the man should have been lured from there for that purpose to a crowded tenement in the city instead what did it mean why had it been done he shook his head the answer would not come now any more than it had come before in the subway or in the train on the way out when he had set his brain so futilely to solve the problem from a survey of the house Jimmy Dale gave attention to the surroundings the trees on either side the open space in front a distance of fifty yards on the road the absence of any fence and then abruptly he stole forward there was no light to be seen anywhere about the house was it possible that Connie Myers was not yet there he shook his head again impatiently Connie Myers would not have wasted any time as the toxin had said there wasn't the possibility that the crime in that tenement might be discovered at any moment Connie Myers would have lost no time for let the discovery be made let the police identify the body as they most certainly would and they would be out here hot foot Jimmy Dale stood suddenly still what did it mean he had not thought of that before if old Doyle had been murdered here there would not have been even the possibility of discovery until the morning at the earliest and Connie Myers would have had all the time he wanted what was that sound a low muffled tapping like a succession of hammer blows came from within the house Jimmy Dale darted forward reached the side of the house and dropped on hands and knees one question at least was answered Connie Myers was inside the plan that she had given him showed an old fashioned cellar way closed by folding trap doors that was located a little toward the rear and in a moment creeping along he came upon it his hands felt over it it was shut fastened by a padlock on the outside Jimmy Dale's lips thinned a little as he took a small steel instrument from his pocket either through inadvertence or by intention Connie Myers had passed up an almost childishly simple means of entrance into the house one side of the trap door was lifted up silently and silently closed Jimmy Dale was in the cellar the hammering much more distinct now heavy thudding blows came from a room in the front the connection between the cellar and the house as shown in the toxins plan was through another trap door and the floor of the kitchen Jimmy Dale's flashlight played on a short ladder-like stairway and in an instant he was climbing upward the sounds from the front of the house continued now without interruption there was little fear that Connie Myers would hear anything else even the protesting squeak of the hinges as Jimmy Dale cautiously pushed back the trap door and the flooring above his head an inch, two inches he lifted it and his eyes on a level with the opening now appeared into the room the kitchen itself was intensely dark but through an open doorway well to one side so that he could not see into the room beyond there struggled a curiously faint dim glimmer of light and then Jimmy Dale's form straightened rigidly on the stairs the blows stopped and a voice in a low growl presumably Connie Myers reached him here take a drive at it from the lower edge there was no answer save that the blows were resumed again Jimmy Dale's face had set hard Connie Myers was not alone in this then well the odds were a little heavier doubled that was all he pushed the trap door wide open swung himself up through the opening to the floor and the next instant back a little from the connecting doorway his body pressed closely against the kitchen wall he was staring bewildered and amazed into the next room on the floor presumably to lessen the chance of any light rays stealing through the tightly drawn window shades burned a small oil lamp the place was in utter confusion the right hand side of a large fireplace made of rough untrimmed stone and cement and which occupied almost the entire end of the room was already practically demolished and the wreckage was littered everywhere part of the furniture was piled unceremoniously into one corner out of the way and at the fireplace itself working with a sledge and bar were two men one was Connie Myers an ironical glint crept into Jimmy Dale's eyes the false beard and mustache the man wore could deceive no one who knew Connie Myers and that he should be wearing them now as he knelt holding the bar while the other struck at it seemed both uncalled for and absurd the other man heavily built roughly dressed had his back turned and Jimmy Dale could not see his face the puzzled frown on Jimmy Dale's forehead deepened somewhere in the masonry of the fireplace of course was where old Luther Doyle had hidden his money that was quite plain enough and that Connie Myers in some way or other had made sure of that fact was equally obvious but how did old Luther Doyle get his money in there from time to time as he received the interest and dividends whose accumulation according to the toxin comprised his hoard and how did he get it out again alright that'll do grunted Connie Myers suddenly we could pry this one out now lend a hand on the bar the other dropped his sledge in the sideways as he stooped to help Connie Myers his face came into view and with an involuntary start Jimmy Dale crouched farther back against the wall as he stared at the other it was Hagan Mrs. Hagan's husband Mike Hagan my god whispered Jimmy Dale under his breath so that was it that the murder had been committed in the tenement was not so strange now a surge of anger swept Jimmy Dale and was engulfed in a wave of pity somehow the thin, tired face of Mrs. Hagan had risen before him and she seemed to be pleading with him to go away to leave the house to forget that he had ever been there to forget what he had seen what he was seeing now his hands clenched fiercely how realistically how importunately she took form before him she was on her knees clasping his knees imploring him terrified from Jimmy Dale's pocket came the black silk mask slowly almost hesitantly he fitted it over his face Mike Hagan knew Larry the bat why should he have pity for Mike Hagan had he any for Connie Myers what right had he to let pity sway him the man had gone the limit he was Connie Myers accomplice a murderer but the man was not a hardened confirmed criminal like Connie Myers Mike Hagan a murderer it would have been unbelievable but for the evidence before his own eyes now the man had faults brawled enough and drank enough to have brought him several times to the notice of the police but this Dale's eyes had never left the scene before him both men were throwing their weight upon the bar and the stone that they were trying to dislodge they were into the heart of the masonry now seemed to move a little Connie Myers stood up and leaning forward examined the stone critically at the top and bottom prodding it with the bar he turned from his examination abruptly and thrust the bar into Hagan's hands hold it he said tersely I'll strike for a turn crouched on his hands and knees Hagan inserted the point of the bar into the crevice Connie Myers picked up the sledge lower Ben lower he snapped and swung the sledge it seemed to go black for a moment before Jimmy Dale's eyes seemed to paralyze all action of mind and body there was a low cry that was more a moan the clang of the iron bar clattering on the floor and Mike Hagan had pitched forward on his face an inert and huddled heap a half laugh half snarl purled from Connie Myers lips as he snatched a stout piece of cord from his pocket and swiftly nodded the unconscious man's wrist together another instant and picking up the bar prying with it again the loosened stone toppled with a crash into the grate it had come sudden as the crack of doom that blow too quick too unexpected for Jimmy Dale to have lifted a finger to prevent it and now that the first numbed shock of mingled horror and amazement was passed he fought back the quick fierce impulse to spring out on Connie Myers whether the man was killed or only stunned he could do no good to Mike Hagan now and there was Connie Myers he was staring in a fascinated way at Connie Myers behind the stone that the other had just dislodged was a large hollow space that had been left in the masonry and from this now Connie Myers was eagerly collecting handfuls of banknotes that were rolled up into the shape of little cylinders each one grotesquely tied with a string the man was feverishly excited muttering to himself running from the fireplace to where the table had been pushed aside with the rest of the furniture dropping the curious little rolls of money on the table and running back for more and then having apparently emptied the receptacle he wriggled his body over the dismantled fireplace stuck his head into the opening and peered upward kinks in his hut kinks in his hut Connie Myers was muttering I'll drop the bar through from the top maybe there's some guts stuck in the pipe he regained his feet picked up the bar and ran with it into what was evidently the front hall then his steps sounded running upstairs like a flash Jimmy Dale was across the room and at the fireplace like Connie Myers he too put his head into the opening and then a queer unpleasant smile on his lips he bent quickly over the man on the floor Hagen was no more than stunned and was even then beginning to show signs of returning consciousness there was a rattle a clang, a thud and the bar too long to come all the way through dropped into the opening and stood upright Connie Myers' footsteps sounded again returning on the run and Jimmy Dale was back once more in the other side of the kitchen doorway it was all simple enough once one understood the same queer smile was still flickering on Jimmy Dale's lips there was no way to get the money out except the way Connie Myers had got it out by digging it out with the irrational cunning of his mad brain that had put the money even beyond his own reach Old Doyle had built his fireplace with a hollow some 18 inches square and a great wall of solid stonework and from it had run a 2 inch pipe up somewhere to the story above and down this pipe he had dropped his little stirring tide cylinders of banknotes satisfied that his hoard was safe there seemed something pitifully ironic in the elaborate insane craftiness of the old man's fear-twisted, demented mind and now Connie Myers was back in the room again and again a puzzled expression settled upon Jimmy Dale's face as he watched the other for perhaps a minute the man stood by the table sifting the little rolls of money through his fingers gloatingly then impulsively he pushed these to one side produced a revolver laid it on the table and from another pocket took out a little case which as he opened it Jimmy Dale could see contained a hypodermic syringe one more article followed the other two a letter which Connie Myers took out of an unsealed envelope he dropped this suddenly on the table as Mike Hagan three feet away on the floor groaned and sat up end of part one chapter 11b recording by Roger Maline part one chapter 11c of the adventures of Jimmy Dale this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please go to LibriVox.org the adventures of Jimmy Dale by Frank L. Packard reading by Roger Maline part one the man in the case chapter 11c the stool pigeon concluded Hagan's eyes swept bewildered confused around him questioningly at Connie Myers and then resting suddenly on his bound wrists they narrowed menacingly damn you you smashed me with that sledge on purpose he burst out and began to struggle to his feet with a brutal chuckle Connie Myers pushed Hagan back and shoved his revolver under the other's nose sure he admitted evenly and you keep quiet or I'll finish you now instead of letting the police do it he laughed out jarringly you're under arrest you know for the murder of Luther Doyle and for robbing the poor old nut of his savings in his house here Hagan wrenched himself up on his elbow what what do you mean he stammered oh don't worry said Connie Myers maliciously I'm not making the arrest I'd rather the police did that I'm not mixing up in it and by and by he lifted up the hypodermic for Hagan to see I'm going to shoot a little dope into you that'll keep you quiet while I get away myself Hagan's face had gone a grayish white on the side of the money on the table and his eyes kept shifting back and forth from it to Myers face murder he said huskily there is no murder I don't know who Doyle is you said this house was yours you hired me to come here you said you were going to tear down the fireplace and build another you said I could work evenings and earn some extra money sure I did but you don't think I picked you out by accident do you your reputation, my buckle, was just shady enough to satisfy anybody that it wouldn't be beyond you to go the limit sure you murdered Doyle listen to this he took up the letter to the police Luther Doyle was murdered this evening in the tenement at 67 blank street you'll find his body in a room on the second floor you'll find his body in a room on the second floor you'll find his body in a room on the second floor you'll find his body in a room on the second floor you'll find his body in a room if you want to know who did it look in Mike Hagan's room on the floor above there's a paper stuck under the edge of Hagan's table with a piece of chewing gum where he hit it you'll know what it is when you go out and take a look at Doyle's house in Pelham yours truly a friend Mike Hagan did not speak his lips were twitching and there was horror creeping into his eyes do you get me tell your story who'd believe it I got you cinched twice I tried to get this old dub's coin out here and couldn't find it but the second time I found something else a piece of paper with a drawing of the fireplace on it and a place in the drawing marked with an X that was good enough wasn't it that's the paper I stuck under your table this afternoon when your wife was out see somebody's got to stand for the job and if it's somebody else it won't be me get me when I had a look at that fireplace I knew I couldn't do the job alone in a week and I didn't dare blast it with soup for fear of spoiling what was inside and since I had to have somebody help me I thought I might as well let him help me all the way through and stand for it I picked you Mike that's why I croaked old Doyle I wrote this letter while I was waiting for you to show up at the station to come out here with me and I'm going to see that the police get it in the next hour when they find Doyle in the room below yours and that paper in your room and the busted fireplace here I guess they won't look any farther for who did it and say he leaned forward with an ugly grin maybe you think I'm soft to be telling you all this but don't you fool yourself you don't know me you don't know who I am so tell them the truth they won't believe you anyway with evidence like that against you and the neater the story the more they'll think it shows brains enough on your part to have pulled a job like this my god Hagen was rocking on his knees beads of sweat were starting out in his forehead you wouldn't plant a man like that he cried brokenly you wouldn't do it would you my god you wouldn't do that Jimmy Dale's face under his mask was white and rigid there was something primal elemental in the savagery that was sweeping upon him he had it all now all she had been right there was need to night for the grey seal so that was the game inhuman hellish the whole of it Connie Myers to protect himself was railroading an innocent man to death for the crime that he himself had committed there was a cold smile on Jimmy Dale's lips now as he took his automatic from his pocket no it wasn't quite all the game there was still his hand to play he edged forward a little nearer to the door and halted abruptly listening an automobile had stopped outside on the road Hagen was still pleading in a frenzied way Connie Myers was callously folding his letter while he watched the other warily neither of the men had heard the sound and then quick almost on the instant came a rush of feet a crash upon the front door an imperative command to open in the name of the law the police Jimmy Dale's brain was working now with lightning speed somehow the police had stumbled upon the crime in that tenement and as he had foreseen in such an event had identified Doyle but they could not be sure that anyone was present here in the house now they could not see a light any more than he had he must get Mike Hagen away must see that Connie Myers did not get away Myers was on his feet now fear struck in his turn the letter clutched in a tight closed fist his revolver swung out poised in the other hand Hagen too was on his feet and unheated now by Connie Myers was wrenching his wrists apart another crash upon the door another another demand and a harsh voice to open it then someone running around to the window at the side of the house and Jimmy Dale sprang forward there was the roar of a report a blinding flash almost in Jimmy Dale's eyes as Connie Myers whirling instantly at his entrance fired and missed happened quick then in the space of the ticking of a watch before Jimmy Dale flinging himself forward had reached the man like a defiant challenge to their demand it must have seemed to the officers outside that shot of Connie Myers at Jimmy Dale for it was answered on the instant by another through the side window and the shot fired at random the interior of the room hidden from the officers outside by the drawn shades found its mark and Connie Myers was then pitched forward dead upon the floor quick Jimmy Dale flung at Hagan get that letter out of his hand he jumped for the lamp on the floor extinguished it and turned again toward Hagan have you got it he whispered intensely yes said Hagan in a numbed way this way then Jimmy Dale caught Hagan's arm and pulled the other across the room and into the kitchen to the trap door Hagan get down there quick and no noise they don't know how many are in the house when they find him they'll probably be satisfied Hagan stupefied dazed obeyed mechanically and in an instant the trap door closed behind them Jimmy Dale was standing beside the other in the cellar not a sound now he cautioned once more his flashlight winked disfascination it seemed as in its circuit the ray fell upon Hagan fell upon the torn ragged edge of a paper in Hagan's hand with a suppressed cry Jimmy Dale snatched it away from the other it was but a torn half of the letter the other half the other half Hagan where is it he demanded hoarsely Hagan almost in a state of collapse muttered inaudibly the door sounded from above Jimmy Dale shook the man desperately where is it he repeated fiercely he was holding it tight it tore in his hand Hagan stammered does it make any difference oh let's get out of here whoever you are for God's sake let's get out of here any difference Jimmy Dale's jaws were clamped like a steel vice any difference I mean life and death for the man beside him that was all he was reading the portion in his hand it was the last part of the letter beginning with there's a paper stuck under the edge of Hagan's table from above from the floor of the front room now came the Russian trample of feet he could not go back for the other half and any attempt to conceal the fact that Connie Myers had been alone in the house was futile now they would find the torn letter that someone else had been there what was in that part of the letter that was still clutched in that death grip upstairs a sentence from it that he had heard Connie Myers read seemed to burn itself into his brain if you want to know who did it look in Mike Hagan's room on the floor above and then suddenly like light through the darkness came a ray of hope he pulled Hagan to the cellar way and stealthily lifted one side there was a chance desperate enough one in a thousand but still a chance voices from the house came plainly now but there was no one in sight the police to a man were evidently all inside from the road in front showed the lamp glare of their automobile run for the car Jimmy Dale jerked out from between the set teeth and with Hagan beside him steadying the man by the arm dashed across the intervening fifty yards they had not been seen a minute more in the car evidently belonging to the local police for it was headed in the direction of New York and as though it had come from Pelham swept down the road swept around a turn and Jimmy Dale with a gasp of relief straightened up a little from the wheel how much time had he the police must have heard the car but equally occupied as they were they might well give it no thought rather than that it was but another car passing by there was no telephone in the house the nearest house was a quarter of a mile away and that might or might not have a telephone could he count on half an hour he glanced anxiously at the crouched figure beside him he would have to it was the only chance they would telephone the contents of the dead man's half of the letter to the New York police could he get to Hagan's room first look in Hagan's room they're part of the letter red but it did not say for what or exactly where if they found nothing Hagan was safe Connie Meyer's reputation the fact that he was found in disguise at Doyle's house was barring any incriminating evidence quite enough to let Hagan out there would only remain in the minds of the police the question of who beside Connie Meyer's had been in old Doyle's house that night Jimmy Dale smiled a little whimsically well perhaps he could answer that and if not quite to the satisfaction of the police at least to the complete vindication of Mike Hagan but he could not drive through towns and villages with a mask on his face and there ahead now lights were beginning to show and more than ever now with what was before him it was imperative that Mike Hagan should not recognize Larry the bat Jimmy Dale glanced again at Hagan and slowed down the car they were on the outskirts of a town and off to the right he caught the twinkling lights of a street car Hagan he said sharply pull yourself together and listen to me if you keep your mouth shut you have nothing to fear if you let out a word of what's happened tonight you'll probably go to the chair for a crime you know nothing about do you understand keep your mouth shut Hagan nodded his head all right then you get out here and take a street car into New York continue Jimmy Dale crisply but when you get there keep away from your home for the next two or three hours hang around with some of the boys you know and if you're asked anything afterwards say you are batting around town all evening don't worry you'll find you're out of this when you read the morning papers I've got to make my own getaway Hagan standing in the road brushed his hand bewilderingly across his eyes yes but you I never mind about that Jimmy Dale leaned out and gripped Hagan's arm impressively there's only one thing you've got to think of or remember keep your mouth shut no matter what happens keep your mouth shut if you want to save your neck Hagan the car was racing forward again it shot streaking through the streets of the town ahead and Dully over its own inferno echoed shouts cries and execrations of an outraged populace then out into the night again roaring its way toward New York he had half an hour perhaps it was a good thing Hagan did not know or had not grasped the significance of that torn letter with fear and excitement it would puzzle Hagan to find no paper stuck under his table when he came to look for it but that was a minor consideration that mattered not at all half an hour on roared the car towns, black roads, villages wooded lands were kaleidoscopic in their passing half an hour had he done it had he come anywhere near doing it he did not know he had to moderate his speed but by keeping to the less frequented streets he could still drive at a fast pace one piece of good fortune had been his the long motor code he had found in the car with which to cover the regs of Larry the bat and without which he would have been obliged to leave the car somewhere in the outskirts of the city and to trust, like Mike Hagan to other and slower means of transportation he ran the car into a lane slipped off the motor code and from his own pocket whipped out the little metal insignia case and in another moment a diamond shaped grey seal was neatly affixed to the black ebony rim of the steering wheel he smiled ironically it was necessary quite necessary that the police should have no doubt as to who had been in Doyle's house with Connie Myers that night or to whom they had so considerably he was running now through lanes dodging down side streets taking every short cut he knew had he beaten the police to Mike Hagan's room it would be easy then if they were ahead of him then by some means or other he must still get that paper first he was at the tenement now shuffling leisurely up the steps the front door was open he entered and went up the first flight of stairs then along the hall and up the next flight he had half expected the place to be bustling with excitement over the crime but the police evidently had kept the affair quiet for he had seen no one since he had entered but now as he began to mount the third flight he went more slowly someone was ahead of him it was very dark he could not see the steps above died away he reached the landing and a light blazed suddenly in his face and a hard quick grip on his shoulder forced him back against the wall then the flashlight wavered glistened on brass buttons went out and a voice laughed roughly it's only Larry the bat Larry the bat eh it was another voice harsh and curt what are you doing here he was not first after all the telephone message from Pelham it was almost certainly that had beaten him they were ahead of him just ahead of him they had only been a few steps ahead of him going up the stairs just a second ahead of him on their way to Hagan's room Jimmy Dale was thinking fast now he must go too to Hagan's room with them somehow there was no other way there was Hagan's life at stake there was nothing he whined I was just going to borrow the price of a feed from Mike Hagan let me go Hagan eh snapped the questioner are you a friend of his sure I am the officers whispered for a moment together we'll try it decided the one who appeared to be in command we're in the dark anyhow and the thing may be only a steer maybe it'll work his hand fell heavily on Jimmy Dale's shoulder Mrs Hagan know you bruskly sure she does sniffled Larry the bat good rasped the officer well we'll make the visit with you and you do what you're told or we'll put the screws on you see we're after something here and you've blown the whole game savvy you've spilled the gravy understand in the darkness Jimmy Dale smiled grimly it was far more than he had dared to hope for they were playing into his hands but I don't know about any game groveled Larry the bat piteously who in hell said you did growl the officer you're supposed to have snitched the lay to us that's all and mind you play your part come on it was two doors down the hall to Mike Hagan's room and there one of the officers the door burst it open and sprang in the other shoved Jimmy Dale forward it was quickly done the three were in the room the door was closed again came a cry of terror out of the darkness a movement as of someone rising up hardly in bed and then Mrs Hagan's voice what is it who is it Mike the table it was against the right hand wall he sidled quickly toward it strike a light ordered the officer in charge Jimmy Dale's fingers were feeling under the edge of the table a quick sweep along it nothing he stooped reaching farther in another sweep of his arm and his fingers closed on a sheet of paper and a piece of hard gum in an instant they were in his pocket a match crackled and flared up a lamp was lighted Larry the bat sulked sullenly against the wall terror-stricken wide eyed Mrs Hagan had clutched the child lying beside her to her arms and was sitting bolt upright in bed now then no fuss about it said the officer in charge with brutal directness you might as well make a clean breast of Mike's chair in that murder downstairs that here has already told us the whole story come on now out with it murder her face went white my Mike, murder she seemed for an instant stunned and then down the worn thin haggard face gushed the tears I don't believe it she cried I don't believe it come on now cut that out I tell you Larry the bat here has opened everything up wide you're only making it worse for yourself him she was staring now at Jimmy Dale oh god she cried so that's what you are are you a stool pigeon for the cops? well whatever you told them you lie you're the curse of this neighborhood you are and if my Mike is bad at all it's you that helped to make him bad you lie she had risen slowly from the bed a gaunt pitiful figure pitifully clothed the black hair grey streaked streaming thinly over her shoulders still clutching the baby that too was crying now the officers looked at one another and nodded guess she's handling it straight we'll have a look on our own hook the leader muttered she paid no attention to them she was walking straight to Jimmy Dale it's you is it she whispered fiercely through her sobs there would bring more shame and ruined here you that selling my man's life away with your filthy lies for what they're paying you it's you is it that her voice broke there was a frightened uneasy look in Larry the bat's eyes his lips were twitching weakly he drew far back against the wall and then glancing miserably at the officers as though in treating their permission began to edge toward the door for a moment she watched him her face white without rage her hand clenched at her side and then she found her voice again get out of here she said in a choked strained way pointing to the door get out of here you dirty skate sure mumble Larry the bat his eyes on the floor sure he mumbled and the door closed behind him end of part one


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