The Poisoned Pen(Fiscle Part-3) - Arthur B. Reeve (best detective novels of all time TXT) 📗

Room

Next To His Was Vacant.

 

Our Interview With Hanford Was Short And Unsatisfactory. He Either

Was Or At Least Posed As Representing A Third Party In The Affair,

And Absolutely Refused To Permit Us To Have Even A Glance At The

Photographs.

 

"My Dealings," He Asserted Airily,  "Must All Be With Mr. Bennett,

Or With Mr. Travis,  Direct,  Not With Emissaries. I Don't Make Any

Secret About It. The Prints Are Not Here. They Are Safe And Ready

To Be Produced At The Right Time,  Either To Be Handed Over For The

Money Or To Be Published In The Newspapers. We Have Found Out All

About Them; We Are Satisfied,  Although The Negatives Have Been

Destroyed. As For Their Having Been Stolen From Travis,  You Can

Put Two And Two Together. They Are Out And Copies Have Been Made

Of Them,  Good Copies. If Mr. Travis Wishes To Repudiate Them,  Let

Him Start Proceedings. I Told Bennett All About That. To-Morrow Is

The Last Day,  And I Must Have Bennett's Answer Then,  Without Any

Interlopers Coming Into It. If It Is Yes,  Well And Good; If Not,

Then They Know What To Expect. Good-Bye."

 

It Was Still Early In The Forenoon,  And Kennedy's Next Move Was To

Go Out On Long Island To Examine The Library At Travis's From

Which The Pictures Were Said To Have Been Stolen. At The

Laboratory Kennedy And I Loaded Ourselves With A Large Oblong

Black Case Containing A Camera And A Tripod.

 

His Examination Of The Looted Library Was Minute,  Taking In The

Window Through Which The Thief Had Apparently Entered,  The Cabinet

He Had Forced,  And The Situation In General. Finally Craig Set Up

His Camera With Most Particular Care And Took Several Photographs

Of The Window,  The Cabinet,  The Doors,  Including The Room From

Every Angle. Outside He Snapped The Two Sides Of The Corner Of The

House In Which The Library Was Situated. Partly By Trolley And

Partly By Carriage We Crossed The Island To The South Shore,  And

Finally Found Mcloughlin's Farm Where We Had No Trouble In Getting

Half A Dozen Photographs Of The Porch And House. Altogether The

Proceedings Seemed Tame To Me,  Yet I Knew From Previous Experience

That Kennedy Had A Deep Laid Purpose.

 

We Parted In The City,  To Meet Just Before It Was Time To Visit

Miss Ashton. Kennedy Had Evidently Employed The Interval In

Developing His Plates,  For He Now Had Ten Or A Dozen Prints,  All

Of Exactly The Same Size,  Mounted On Stiff Cardboard In A Space

With Scales And Figures On All Four Sides. He Saw Me Puzzling Over

Them.

 

"Those Are Metric Photographs Such As Bertillon Of Paris Takes,"

He Explained. "By Means Of The Scales And Tables And Other Methods

That Have Been Worked Out We Can Determine From Those Pictures

Distances And Many Other Things Almost As Well As If We Were On

The Spot Itself. Bertillon Has Cleared Up Many Crimes With This

Help,  Such As The Mystery Of The Shooting In The Hotel Quai

D'orsay And Other Cases. The Metric Photograph,  I Believe,  Will In

Time Rank With The Portrait Parle,  Finger Prints,  And The Rest.

 

"For Instance,  In Order To Solve The Riddle Of A Crime The

Detective's First Task Is To Study The Scene Topographically.

Plans And Elevations Of A Room Or House Are Made. The Position Of

Each Object Is Painstakingly Noted. In Addition,  The All-Seeing

Eye Of The Camera Is Called Into Requisition. The Plundered Room

Is Photographed,  As In This Case. I Might Have Done It By Placing

A Foot Rule On A Table And Taking That In The Picture,  But A More

Scientific And Accurate Method Has Been Devised By Bertillon. His

Camera Lens Is Always Used At A Fixed Height From The Ground And

Forms Its Image On The Plate At An Exact Focus. The Print Made

From The Negative Is Mounted On A Card In A Space Of Definite

Size,  Along The Edges Of Which A Metric Scale Is Printed. In The

Way He Has Worked It Out The Distance Between Any Two Points In

Part 3 Chapter 12 (The Campaign Grafter) Pg 145

The Picture Can Be Determined. With A Topographical Plan And A

Metric Photograph One Can Study A Crime As A General Studies The

Map Of A Strange Country. There Were Several Peculiar Things That

I Observed To-Day,  And I Have Here An Indelible Record Of The

Scene Of The Crime. Preserved In This Way It Cannot Be Questioned.

 

"Now The Photographs Were In This Cabinet. There Are Other

Cabinets,  But None Of Them Has Been Disturbed. Therefore The Thief

Must Have Known Just What He Was After. The Marks Made In Breaking

The Lock Were Not Those Of A Jimmy But Of A Screwdriver. No

Amazing Command Of The Resources Of Science Is Needed So Far. All

That Is Necessary Is A Little Scientific Common Sense,  Walter.

 

"Now,  How Did The Robber Get In? All The Windows And Doors Were

Supposedly Locked. It Is Alleged That A Pane Was Cut From This

Window At The Side. It Was,  And The Pieces Were There To Show It.

But Take A Glance At This Outside Photograph. To Reach That Window

Even A Tall Man Must Have Stood On A Ladder Or Something. There

Are No Marks Of A Ladder Or Of Any Person In The Soft Soil Under

The Window. What Is More,  That Window Was Cut From The Inside. The

Marks Of The Diamond Which Cut It Plainly Show That. Scientific

Common Sense Again."

 

"Then It Must Have Been Some One In The House Or At Least Some One

Familiar With It?" I Exclaimed.

 

Kennedy Nodded. "One Thing We Have Which The Police Greatly

Neglect," He Pursued,  "A Record. We Have Made Some Progress In

Reconstructing The Crime,  As Bertillon Calls It. If We Only Had

Those Hanford Pictures We Should Be All Right."

 

We Were Now On Our Way To See Miss Ashton At Headquarters,  And As

We Rode Downtown I Tried To Reason Out The Case. Had It Really

Been A Put-Up Job? Was Travis Himself Faking,  And Was The Robbery

A "Plant" By Which He Might Forestall Exposure Of What Had Become

Public Property In The Hands Of Another,  No Longer Disposed To

Conceal It? Or Was It After All The Last Desperate Blow Of The

Boss?

 

The Whole Thing Began To Assume A Suspicious Look In My Mind.

Although Kennedy Seemed To Have Made Little Real Progress,  I Felt

That,  Far From Aiding Travis,  It Made Things Darker. There Was

Nothing But His Unsupported Word That He Had Not Visited The Boss

Subsequent To The Nominating Convention. He Admitted Having Done

So Before The Reform League Came Into Existence. Besides It Seemed

Tacitly Understood That Both The Boss And Cadwalader Brown

Acquiesced In The Sworn Statement Of The Man Who Said He Had Made

The Pictures. Added To That The Mere Existence Of The Actual

Pictures Themselves Was A Graphic Clincher To The Story.

Personally,  If I Had Been In Kennedy's Place I Think I Should Have

Taken Advantage Of The Proviso In The Compact With Travis To Back

Out Gracefully. Kennedy,  However,  Now Started On The Case,  Hung To

It Tenaciously.

 

Miss Ashton Was Waiting For Us At The Press Bureau. Her Desk Was

At The Middle Of One End Of The Room In Which,  If She Could Keep

An Eye On Her Office Force,  The Office Force Also Could Keep An

Eye On Her.

 

Kennedy Had Apparently Taken In The Arrangement During Our Morning

Visit,  For He Set To Work Immediately. The Side Of The Room Toward

The Office Of Travis And Bennett Presented An Expanse Of Blank

Wall. With A Mallet He Quickly Knocked A Hole In The Rough

Plaster,  Just Above The Baseboard About The Room. The Hole Did Not

Penetrate Quite Through To The Other Side. In It He Placed A Round

Disc Of Vulcanised Rubber,  With Insulated Wires Leading Down Back

Of The Baseboard,  Then Out Underneath It,  And Under The Carpet.

Some Plaster Quickly Closed Up The Cavity In The Wall,  And He Left

It To Dry.

 

Next He Led The Wires Under The Carpet To Miss Ashton's Desk.

There They Ended,  Under The Carpet And A Rug,  Eighteen Or Twenty

Huge Coils Several Feet In Diameter Disposed In Such A Way As To

Attract No Attention By A Curious Foot On The Carpet Which Covered

Them.

 

"That Is All,  Miss Ashton," He Said As We Watched For His Next

Move. "I Shall Want To See You Early To-Morrow,  And,--Might I Ask

You To Be Sure To Wear That Hat Which You Have On?"

 

It Was A Very Becoming Hat,  But Kennedy's Tone Clearly Indicated

That It Was Not His Taste In Inverted Basket Millinery That

Prompted The Request. She Promised,  Smiling,  For Even A

Suffragette May Like Pretty Hats.

 

Craig Had Still To See Travis And Report On His Work. The

Candidate Was Waiting Anxiously At His Hotel After A Big Political

Mass Meeting On The East Side,  At Which Capitalism And The Bosses

Had Been Hissed To The Echo,  If That Is Possible.

 

"What Success?" Inquired Travis Eagerly.

 

"I'm Afraid," Replied Kennedy,  And The Candidate's Face Fell At

The Tone,  "I'm Afraid You Will Have To Meet Them,  For The Present.

The Time Limit Will Expire To-Morrow,  And I Understand Hanford Is

Coming Up For A Final Answer. We Must Have Copies Of Those

Photographs,  Even If We Have To Pay For Them. There Seems To Be No

Other Way."

 

Travis Sank Back In His Chair And Regarded Kennedy Hopelessly. He

Was Actually Pale. "You--You Don't Mean To Say That There Is No

Other Way,  That I'll Have To Admit Even Before Bennett--And Others

That I'm In Bad?"

 

"I Wouldn't Put It That Way," Said Kennedy Mercilessly,  I Thought.

 

"It Is That Way," Travis Asserted Almost Fiercely. "Why,  We Could

Have Done That Anyhow. No,  No,--I Don't Mean That. Pardon Me. I'm

Upset By This. Go Ahead," He Sighed.

 

"You Will Direct Bennett To Make The Best Terms He Can With

Hanford When He Comes Up To-Morrow. Have Him Arrange The Details

Of Payment And Then Rush The Best Copies Of The Photographs To

Me."

 

Travis Seemed Crushed.

 

We Met Miss Ashton The Following Morning Entering Her Office.

Kennedy Handed Her A Package,  And In A Few Words,  Which I Did Not

Hear,  Explained What He Wanted,  Promising To Call Again Later.

 

When We Called,  The Girls And Other Clerks Had Arrived,  And The

Office Was A Hive Of Industry In The Rush Of Winding Up The

Campaign. Typewriters Were Clicking,  Clippings Were Being Snipped

Out Of A Huge Stack Of Newspapers And Pasted Into Large Scrap-

Books,  Circulars Were Being Folded And Made Ready To Mail For The

Final Appeal. The Room Was Indeed Crowded,  And I Felt That There

Was No Doubt,  As Kennedy Had Said,  That Nothing Much Could Go On

There Unobserved By Any One To Whose Interest It Was To See It.

 

Miss Ashton Was Sitting At Her Desk With Her Hat On Directing The

Work. "It Works," She Remarked Enigmatically To Kennedy.

 

"Good," He Replied. "I Merely Dropped In To Be Sure. Now If

Anything Of Interest Happens,  Miss Ashton,  I Wish You Would Let Me

Know Immediately. I Must Not Be Seen Up Here,  But I Shall Be

Waiting Downstairs In The Corridor Of The Building. My Next Move

Depends Entirely On What You Have To Report."

 

Downstairs Craig Waited With Growing Impatience. We Stood In An

Angle In Which We Could See Without Being Readily Seen,  And Our

Impatience Was Not Diminished By Seeing Hanford Enter The

Elevator.

Part 3 Chapter 12 (The Campaign Grafter) Pg 146