The Mark of Cain Page 10

  CHAPTER X STRYKER'S HANDKERCHIEF

  It was soon after this, that the reporter, Pinckney, came again to seeAvice. The girl liked the wide-awake young man, and granted him aninterview.

  "Shall I announce your engagement to Judge Hoyt?" he asked, gravely, butwith intense interest.

  "No, indeed!" said Avice, with spirit.

  "You're not going to lose all that fortune?"

  "Not necessarily. But I object to having my engagement announced beforeit has taken place! Oh, _do_ all these things have to be in the papers?"

  "Certainly they do; and that's why you'd better tell me the truth than tohave to stand for all the yarns I'd make up."

  "Oh, _don't_ make up a lot of stuff, _please_ don't!"

  "Well, I won't, if you'll give me a few facts to work on. First, do youthink that Swede killed your uncle?"

  "Oh, I don't know what to think! But I'm going to get the best detectiveI can find, and let him find out all he can. I believe uncle was killedby some robber, and his reference to Cain was merely the idea of amurderer. Uncle often talked that way."

  "Look here, Miss Trowbridge, I don't want to butt in, I'm sure; but I'm abit of a detective, myself, in an amateur way. Don't you want me to,--butI suppose you want a professional."

  "I think I do want a professional," began Avice, slowly; "still Mr.Pinckney, if you have a taste for this sort of thing, and know how to goabout it, I might work with you more easily than with a professionaldetective. I'm going to do a lot myself, you know. I'm not just going toput the matter in an expert's hands."

  "I hardly know what to say, Miss Trowbridge; I'd like to take up thecase, but I might muff it awfully. I suppose you'd better get the realthing."

  "Well, until I do, why don't you have a try at it? If you discoveranything, very well; and if not, no harm done."

  Jim Pinckney's face glowed. "That's great of you!" he cried; "I'd like totake it up on that basis, and if I don't find out anything of importancein a few days, engage any Sherlock Holmes you like."

  But a few days later when Pinckney again called on Avice, he was in adiscouraged mood.

  "I can't find out anything," he said. "The whole case is baffling. I wentto the scene of the crime, but could find no clues. But, what do youthink, Miss Trowbridge? When I reached the place where they found Mr.Trowbridge, there was that young office boy, looking over the premises."

  "That Fibsy, as he calls himself?"

  "Yes; I asked him what he was doing, and he said, 'Oh, just pokin'around,' and he looked so stupid that I feel sure he had foundsomething."

  "He's just smart enough for that," and Avice smiled a little.

  "Yes, he is. I asked him to come here today, and I thought you and Iwould both talk to him, and see if we can learn anything of his find. Ifnot, I admit I am at the end of my rope, and if you choose, perhaps,you'd better get a real detective on the case."

  "I spoke to Judge Hoyt about that, and he agreed. But Mr. Landon doesn'twant a detective. Ah, here's Fibsy, now. Come in, child."

  The boy had appeared at the door with a beaming face, but at Avice'scalling him "child," his countenance fell.

  "I ain't no child," he said, indignantly; "and say, Miss Avice, I foundsome clues!"

  "Well, what are they?"

  "A shoe button, and a hunk o' dirt."

  "Interesting!" commented Pinckney. "Just what do you deduce from them?"

  Then Fibsy rose up in his wrath. "I ain't a-goin' to be talked to likethat! I won't work on this case no more!"

  "Sorry," said Pinckney, grinning at him. "Then I suppose we'll have tocall in somebody else. Of course, he won't do as well as you, but ifyou've decided to throw the case over, why----"

  "Aw, can the guyin'!" and with a red, angry face, Fibsy jumped up andfairly ran out of the room and out of the house.

  "Now you've made him mad," said Avice, "and we'll never know what hefound in the way of clues."

  "He said, a shoe button, and some mud! We could hardly expect much fromthose treasures."

  Then Judge Hoyt came. His calls were frequent, and he continually triedto persuade Avice to announce their engagement. But the girl was perverseand said she must first solve the mystery of her uncle's death. The judgewas always willing to listen to her latest theories, but though he neversaid so, Avice felt pretty certain that he did not suspect the Swede.

  She told him of Fibsy's finds, and he said curiously, "What did he meanby mud?"

  "He didn't say mud," corrected Avice, "he said dirt I think he meant soilor earth."

  "How would that be a clue? Any one can get some soil from the place, ifthey don't take too much. A few square feet might be valuable."

  "Why pay any attention to that rubbishy boy?" exclaimed Pinckney. "Whynot get a worth-while detective, and let him detect?"

  "Yes, that's the thing to do," agreed Hoyt. "Duane stands well in theprofession."

  "Alvin Duane! just the man," and Pinckney looked enthusiastic. "But he'sa bit expensive."

  "Never mind that," cried Avice; "I must find uncle's murderer at anycost!"

  "Then let's have Duane," and Judge Hoyt reached for the telephone book.

  Meantime the administrators of law and justice were pursuing the uneventenor of their way, hoping to reach their goal, though by a tortuousroute.

  "It's a mighty queer thing," said District Attorney Whiting, "I'm deadsure the western chap killed his uncle; we've even got his uncle's wordfor it, and yet I can't fasten it on him."

  "But," said the chief of police to whom this observation was addressed,"aren't you basing your conviction on that curious coincidence of names,Cain and Kane? To my mind that's no proof at all."

  "Well, it is to me. Here's your man named Kane. He's mad at his victim.He goes to the place where the old man is. And as he kills him, the oldman says, 'Kane killed me.' What more do you want? Only, as I say, we'vegot to have some more definite proof, and we can't get it."

  "Then you can't convict your man. I admit it's in keeping with that youngfellow's western ways to kill his uncle after a money quarrel, but youmust get more direct evidence than you've dug up yet."

  "And yet there's no one else to suspect. No name has been breathed as apossible suspect; the idea of a highway robber is not tenable, for thewatch and money and jewelry were untouched."

  "What about the Swede?"

  "Nothing doing. If he had killed the man, he certainly would have done itfor robbery? What else? And then he would not have come forward and toldof the dying words. No, the Swede is innocent. There's nobody to suspectbut Landon, and we must get further proofs."

  The District Attorney worked hard to get his further proof. But thoughhis sleuths searched the woods for clues, none were found. They had thebare fact that the dying man had denounced his slayer, but nocorroboration of the murderer's identity, and the neighborhood of thecrime was scoured for other witnesses without success.

  The district attorney had never really thought the Swede committed themurder. A grilling third degree had failed to bring confession and dailydevelopments of Sandstrom's behavior made it seem more and moreimprobable that he was the criminal.

  And so Whiting had come to suspect Kane Landon, and had kept him undercareful watch of detectives ever since the murder, in hope of findingsome further and more definite evidence against him.

  But there were no results and at last the district attorney began todespair of unraveling the mystery.

  And then Groot made a discovery.

  "That Stryker," he said, bursting in upon Whiting in great excitement,"that butler,--he's your man! I thought so all along!"

  "Why didn't you say so?" asked the other.

  "Never mind chaffing, you listen. That Stryker, he's been taking out abig insurance. A paid-up policy, of,--I don't remember how much. But hehad to plank down between eight and nine hundred dollars cash to get it.And he used his bequest from old Trowbridge to do it!"

  "Well?"

  "Wel
l, here's the point. You know how those premiums work. After Strykeris sixty years and six months old, he can't get insured at all,--in thatcompany any way, and at those rates."

  "Well?"

  "Well, and Friend Stryker reaches his age limit next week!"

  "You're sure of this?"

  "Sure, I'm sure! I got it from the agent Stryker dealt with. The oldfellow has been fussing over that insurance off and on for years; andnow, just at the last minute, a man up and dies who leaves him enoughmoney to get his insurance. Is it a coincidence?"

  "At any rate we must look into it," said Whiting, gravely. "What have youdone?"

  "Done? I've just found this out! Now's the time to begin doing. I'llsearch his rooms first, I think, and see if I can nail any sort ofevidence. And by the way, on the day of the murder, it was Stryker's dayout, and he's never given any definite or satisfactory account of how hespent the afternoon. For one thing, he wasn't definitely asked, fornobody thought much about him, but now I'll hunt up straws, to see howthe wind blows."

  Groot went off on his straw hunt, and as it turned out, found far moredecided proof of the wind's direction than straws.

  Inspector Collins and he came back together with their news.

  "It's Stryker, all right," said Collins to the district attorney; "thehandkerchief is his."

  "The handkerchief his?"

  "Yes, we found others in his dresser just like it. It's a peculiarborder, quite unmistakable, and the size and textures are the same. Oh,it's his handkerchief, for sure. And Sandstrom found it, just as he said,and he was scared out of his wits,--remember he saw the police there withthe body,--so he hid the handkerchief, and was afraid even to wash it."

  "What'd he take it for?"

  "Plain theft. Thought he'd make that much. Same way he took the milkbottle. Say, maybe Stryker laid a trap for Mr. Trowbridge, and maybesomebody else did tell him of it, over the telephone, as a warning!"

  "Arrest Stryker as soon as possible," said Whiting, "perhaps we'd betterlet the Swede go."

  "Sure let him go. He won't make any trouble. I've got to know him prettywell, and I sort of like him." Groot's shrewd, old face showed a gleam ofpity and sympathy for the wronged prisoner. "But how could we know it wasStryker's handkerchief?"

  "Where can we find him? Is he at home?"

  "Guess he is now," returned the detective. "They expected him in aboutfive o'clock. I'll go to the house myself, and a couple of chaps with thebracelets can hang around outside till I call 'em."

  At the Trowbridge house, Groot was admitted as usual. His visits had beenrather frequent ever since the crime, but as he had done nothingdefinite, the family paid little attention to him.

  He asked for Avice, and found her, with Judge Hoyt, in the library.

  "Come in, Groot," said the lawyer. "What's up now?"

  "Where's the man, Stryker?" asked Groot, in lowered tones. "Is he in?"

  "I think so," said Avice, "he always is, at this hour. Do you want to seehim?"

  "Yes, mighty bad, he's the murderer!"

  "What!" exclaimed both his hearers together.

  "Yes, no doubt about it," and Groot told the story of the handkerchief.

  Avice looked simply amazed, but Judge Hoyt said, "I've looked for thisall along."

  "Whyn't you give us a hint, Judge?"

  "I hadn't enough to base my idea on, to call it a suspicion. I neverthought of the handkerchief being his. As a matter of fact, I ratherthought it was Mr. Trowbridge's own, and that the murderer, whoever hewas, had used it and left it without fear of its incriminating himself.Surely no one would leave his own handkerchief on the scene of his crime!Are you sure it's Stryker's?"

  "Positive. But all that can be proved and investigated later. Now we wantto nail our bird and jail him. Will you send for him, Miss Trowbridge?"

  "Certainly," and Avice rang a bell, a sorrowful look coming into her eyesat thought of suspecting the old servant.

  A parlor-maid appeared, and Avice asked her to send the butler to them.

  "Won't he bolt?" asked Groot, fearing to lose his quarry at the lastmoment.

  "Why should he?" said Avice, "any more than yesterday? He doesn't knowhe's suspected, does he?"

  "Oh, no, he couldn't know it."

  "Then he'll be here in a minute."

  While waiting, Groot told them, in low tones, about Stryker's insurancematter.

  "Time up next week!" repeated Judge Hoyt. "That looks bad, very bad. I'veheard Stryker speak of insuring, several times, but I thought nothingabout it. He wasn't asking my advice, merely discussing it as a businessproposition. When I've been here of an evening with Mr. Trowbridge, weoften spoke with Stryker almost as to a friend. He's an old and trustedservant. I'm desperately sorry to learn all this."

  "So am I," said Avice. "I do want to track down uncle's murderer,--but Idon't want it to be Stryker!"

  The parlor-maid returned. "Miss Avice," she said, "Stryker isn't in thehouse."

  "Isn't?" cried Groot, starting up; "where is he?"

  "I don't know, sir, but he can't be far away. The second man says thatStryker was in his pantry and he answered a telephone call there, andthen he just flung on his hat and coat and went out."

  "He's escaped!" shouted Groot, dashing out of the room and downstairs,two at a time.

  And he had. Search of the house showed no trace of the vanished butler,save his belongings in his room. And among these were severalhandkerchiefs, indisputably from the same lot as the one found at theplace of the crime. And a further search of the rooms of every inmate ofthe household showed no other such handkerchief.