The Mark of Cain Page 15

  CHAPTER XV THE TRAP THAT WAS SET

  When, in his conversation with Judge Hoyt, Terence McGuire stated thathis wardrobe purchases were made under the guidance and jurisdiction ofhis sister, he was creating a fabrication of purest ray serene. For, inthis sorry scheme of things, no sister had been allotted to Fibsy, nor,until that moment, had he ever felt need of one. So, the need arising, asister easily sprang, full fledged, from the red head of the well-namedinventor.

  Fibsy, likewise was unprovided with parents, and lived with a dotingaunt. This relative, a knobby-coiffured spinster, was of the firmlygrounded opinion that the orb of day has its rising and setting in herprodigy of a nephew. That he was not a bigoted stickler for the truth,bothered her not at all, for Fibsy never told his aunt lies, at leastnone that could possibly matter to her.

  Now, being temporarily out of a business position, and not minded to goat once to Philadelphia, Fibsy was giving Aunt Becky the ecstatic blissof having him at home for a time.

  He was mostly absorbed in thoughts and plans of his own, but when she sawhim, hands in pockets, sprawled bias on a chair, she forbore to botherhim; and, like Charlotte, went on cutting bread and butter, to which sheadded various and savory dishes for her pet's demolition.

  Nor were her efforts unappreciated.

  "Gee! Aunt Beck, but this is the scream of a strawberry shortcake!" wouldbe her well-earned reward. "You sure do beat the hull woild fer cookin'!"

  And Aunt Becky would beam and begin at once to plan for supper.

  "There's no use talkin'" said Fibsy, to himself, as he writhed andtwisted around in the dilapidated rocker that graced his sleeping-room;"that milk bottle, with the old druggy stuff in it, means sumpum. HereI've mumbled over that fer weeks an' ain't got nowhere yet. But I got anorful hunch that it's got a lot to do with our moider. An' I've simplygotto dig out what!"

  Scowling fearfully, he racked his brain, but got no answer to his ownquestions. Then he turned his thoughts again to Miss Wilkinson's strangeaccount of that queer telephone message. "That's the penny in the slot!"he declared. "I jest know that rubbish she reels off so slick, is the keyclue, as they call it. Me for Wilky, onct again."

  Grabbing his hat he went to interview the stenographer. She too, had notyet taken another place, though she had one in view.

  Obligingly she parroted over to Fibsy the lingo of the message.

  "Did the guy say he'd _give_ the Stephanotis to Mr. Trowbridge, or they'd_get_ it?" he demanded, his blue eyes staring with deep thought.

  "W'y, lemmesee. I guess he said,--oh, yes, I remember, he said, I guesswe'll _find_ some Stephanotis--"

  "Oh, did he? Are you sure?"

  "Pretty sure. What dif, anyhow?"

  But Fibsy didn't wait to answer. He ran off and went straight to theTrowbridge house.

  "Miss Avice," he said, when he saw her, "Please kin I look at Mr.Trowbridge's c'lection, if I won't touch nothin'? Oh, please do lemme,won't you?"

  "Yes, if you promise to touch nothing," and Avice led the way to theroom, with its glass cases and cabinets of shallow drawers that held thestuffed birds and mounted insects so carefully arranged by thenaturalist.

  Rapidly Fibsy scanned the various specimens. Eagerly he scrutinized thelabels affixed to them. Oblivious to the amused girl who watched him, hedarted from case to case, now and then nodding his shock of red hair, orblinking his round blue eyes.

  After a time, he stood for a moment in deep thought, then with a littlefunny motion, meant for a bow, he said, abstractedly, "Goo' by, Lady.Fergive me fer botherin--" and rapidly descending the stairs he ranoutdoors, and up the Avenue.

  Half an hour later, he was at the door of a large college building,begging to be allowed to see Professor Meredith.

  "Who are you?" asked the attendant.

  "Nobody much," returned Fibsy, honestly. "But me business is important.Wontcha tell Mr.----here, I'll write it, it's sorta secret--" and takinga neat pad and pencil from his pocket, the boy wrote, "Concerning theTrowbridge murder," and folded it small.

  "Give him that," he said, with a quiet dignity, "and don't look inside."

  Then he waited, and after a moment was given audience with the Professorof Natural History.

  "You wished to see me?" said the kindly voice of a kind-faced man, andFibsy looked at him appraisingly.

  "Yessir. Most important. And please, if you don't want to tell me what Iask, don't laugh at me, will you?"

  "No, my lad, I rarely laugh at anything."

  The serious face of the speaker bore out this assertion, and Fibsyplunged at once into his subject.

  "Is there a bug, sir, named something like Stephanotis?"

  "Well, my child, there is the Scaphinotus. Do you mean that?"

  "Oh, I guess I do! I think maybe, perhaps, most likely, that's the trick!What sort of a bug is it?"

  "It's a beetle, a purplish black ground-beetle, of the genusCarabidae,----"

  "What! Say that again--please!"

  "Carabidae?"

  "Caribbean Sea! Stephanotis!"

  "No, Scaphinotus. That is, the Scaphinotus Viduus, Dejean,----"

  "Oh, sir, thank you."

  "Did you say this has something to do with the Trowbridge case? Mr.Trowbridge was a friend of mine,--"

  "Oh, please sir, I don't know but I think this here beetle business willhelp a lot. Do these pertikler bugs show up in Van Cortlandt Park woods?"

  "Yes, they may be found there. I've set traps there for them myself--"

  "How do you set a trap for a beetle, kin I ask?"

  "Why, you're really interested, aren't you? Well it's a simple matter. Wetake a wide-mouthed bottle,----"

  "Say, a milk bottle?"

  "Yes, if you like. Then put it about a half-inch of molasses andasafoetida----"

  A whoop from Fibsy startled the Professor. "What's the matter?" he cried.

  "Matter, Sir! Didn't you read the accounts of the Trowbridge murder inthe papers?"

  "Not all of it. I get little time to read the papers,----"

  "Well, then, this here bottle o' stuff--does it smell bad?"

  "Oh, the asafoetida is unpleasant, of course, but we get used to that. Wenext sink this bottle in the ground, up to its neck, and----"

  "And you call it a trap!"

  "Yes, a trap to catch unwary insects. Not very kind to them, butnecessary for the advancement of science. You seem a bright lad, wouldyou care to see some fine specimens of----"

  "Oh, sir, not now, but some other day. Oh, thank you fer this spiel aboutthe bugs! But who was the guy what did it? _You_ didn't telephone Mr.Trowbridge to go after Stephanotises, did you?'"

  "Scaphinotus, the name is. No, I didn't telephone him. I haven't seen Mr.Trowbridge for years."

  "Oh, yes, I remember, you an' him was on the outs. Well, I'm muchobliged, I sure am! Goo' by, Sir." and with his usual abruptness ofdeparture, Fibsy darted out of the door, leaving the Professor bewilderedat the whole episode.

  Back to Miss Wilkinson the boy hurried, to verify his new discoveries.

  "Say, Yellowtop," he began, "did you sure hear Caribbean _Sea_?"

  "Yep, fer the thoity thousandth time,--yep!"

  "Sure of the Sea?"

  Miss Wilkinson stared at him. "Gee, Fibsy, you are a wiz, fer sure! I wasa thinkin' that the guy jest said Caribbean, but I knew he musta meantSea, so I 'sposed I skipped that woid."

  "Naw, he didn't say it. Wot he said wuz, Carabidae."

  "It was! I know it now! What's that mean?"

  "Never mind. What d'you mean, sayin' the feller said things he didn't sayat all? He said Scaphinotus too, not Stephanotis."

  "I can't tell any difference when you say 'em."

  "Never mind, you don't have to. Now, turn that thinker of yourn backward,and remember hard. Don't it seem to you like the guy said somebody'd seta trap, no matter who, and that he and Mr. Trowbridge'd get theStephanotis and the Carib--whatever it was,--outen the trap?"

/>   "Yes, it does seem like he said that, only that ain't sense."

  "Never you mind the sense. I'm lookin' after that end. An' then, wasn'tMr. Trowbridge tickled to death to go an' get these queer things from thetrap?"

  "Yes, said he had a nengagement, but he'd break it to get theStephanotis--"

  "Sure he would! In a minute! All right, Wilky. You keep all this underyour Yellowtop; don't squeak it to a soul. Goo' by."

  "Sumpum told me not to go off to Philadelphia so swift," the boy mused,as he went home. "Now, here I am chock-a-block with new dope on thismurder case, an' I dunno what to do with it. If I tell the police first,maybe Miss Avice won't like it. And if I tell Judge Hoyt first, maybe thepolice'll get mad. There's that Duane guy, but he don't know enough to goin when it rains. I wisht I was a real detective. Here I am just a kid,an' yet I got a lot o' inside info that orta be put to use. Lemmesee, whodo I want to favor most? Miss Avice, o'course. But sure's I go to her,that Pinckney feller'll butt in, an' he does get my goat! I b'lieve I'lldo the right thing, an' take it straight to the strong arm o' th' law."

  Fibsy went to the Criminal Court Building, and by dint of wheedling,fighting, coaxing and, it must be admitted, lying, he at last obtainedaccess to the district attorney's office, for the boy declined to entrusthis secrets to any intermediary.

  Judge Hoyt was there and Detective Groot. Also Mr. Duane, looking a bitdespairing, and several others, all discussing the Trowbridge case.

  Fibsy was a little frightened, not at the size of his audience, butbecause he was not sure he wanted all those present to know of his news.And yet, after all, it might not prove of such great importance as heexpected. He had misgivings on that score, as well as on many others.

  But Mr. Whiting, though he greeted the boy with a nod, was in no hurry tolisten to him, and Fibsy was given a chair and told to wait. Nothingloath, he sat down and pretended to be oblivious to all that was beingsaid, though really he was taking in every thing he could hear.

  At last the district attorney, in a preoccupied way told him to tell hisstory, and to make it as brief as he could.

  But when the boy began by simply stating that he had discovered what wasthe meaning of the mysterious telephone message and also what relationthe milk bottle bore to the trip to the woods, all eyes and ears gave himattention.

  Knowing the importance of the occasion and anxious to make a goodimpression, Fibsy strove to make his language conform, as far as hecould, to the English spoken by his present audience.

  "So I asked Perfesser Meredith," he related, "and he told me there is abeetle named Scaphinotus, and it's of the Carabidae fambly."

  He had obtained these names in writing from the Professor, and hadlearned them, unforgettably, by heart.

  "What!" exclaimed Whiting, more amazed at this speech from the boy, thanits bearing on the matter in hand.

  "Yessir; an' I says to myself, 'that's the meanin' of Wilky's puffumerydope and Caribbean Sea." In his excitement, Fibsy forgot his intendedelegance of diction.

  "But the girl said she overheard _Sea_," said Judge Hoyt, looking inamazement at the boy.

  "Yessir, I know. I read that in my Pus-shol-ogy book. It says that whatyou expect to hear, you hear. That is, Wilky heard Caribbean, as shethought, an' she natchelly spected to hear Sea next, so she honestthought she did!"

  "That is psychological reasoning," said Whiting. "It's Muensterberg'stheories applied to detection. I've read it. And it's true, doubtless,that the girl thought she heard Caribbean, expected to hear Sea next, andassumed she did hear it."

  "Yessir," cried Fibsy, eagerly; "that's the guy, Musterberg,--or whateverhis name is. I'm studyin' him, 'cause I'm goin' to be a detective."

  "Now, let us see how this new angle of vision affects our outlook," saidJudge Hoyt, ignoring the boy, and turning to the district attorney.

  "It gives us a fresh start," said Whiting, musingly. "And here's my firstthought. Whoever telephoned that message, not only knew of Mr.Trowbridge's interest in rare beetles, but knew the scientific names forthem."

  "Right," agreed Hoyt, "and doesn't that imply that we must start afreshfor a suspect? For, surely, neither Stryker the butler, nor Mr. Landonwould have those names so glibly on his tongue."

  "Also, it was somebody who knew how to set the trap,--the milk-bottletrap. Terence, my boy, you did a big thing, this morning. How did youcome to think it out?"

  "I thought such a long time, sir." Fibsy's manner was earnest and not atall conceited. "I thought of every thing I could find in me bean toexplain those crazy words that Wilky,--Miss Wilkinson said she heard. An'I knew the goil well enough to know she heard jest about what she saidshe did, an' so, I says to myself, there _must_ be some meanin' to 'em.An' at last, I doped it out they must have sumpum to do with Mr.Trowbridge's bug c'lection. He'd go anywhare or do anythin' fer a new bugor boid. So I went an' asked Miss Avice to let me give the c'lection theonce-over. An' she did, an' then I saw a name sumpum like Wilky'sStephanotis, an' I was jest sure I was on the right track. So I ups an'goes to see Perfesser Mer'dith,--an' there you are!"

  Fibsy's face glowed, not with vanity, but with honest pride in his ownachievement.

  The boy was sent away, with an assurance that his assistance would beduly recognized at some other time, but that now he was in the way.

  Not at all offended, he took his hat, and with his funny apology for abow he left the room.

  "Looks bad," said Groot.

  "For whom?" asked Whiting.

  "Landon, of course. He knows all that scientific jargon. He's a collegeman,----"

  "He never was graduated," said Judge Hoyt.

  "No matter; he gathered up enough Latin words to know names and things.Or he looked them up on purpose. Then he set the milk bottle trap,--whathappens? Do the things crawl in?"

  "Yes," said Hoyt. "Attracted by the odor of the drug, and the molasses,they crawl to the edge, tumble in, and can't get out."

  "H'm, well, Landon knows all this, and he sets the trap and baits hisuncle as well as the beetles. He tempts him with a promise of thisStephanotis bug, and off goes uncle, willingly. Then Landon meets himthere, or goes with him,--it's all one,--and he stabs him, and Mr.Trowbridge lives long enough, thank goodness,--to say Kane killed me! Youcan't get away from that speech, Mr. Whiting. If there hadn't been anysuspect named Kane, we might say Mr. Trowbridge meant Cain,--anymurderer. But with the only real suspect bearing that very name, it's tooabsurd to look any further. Then the murderer having thoughtfullyprovided himself with a handkerchief belonging to the next possiblesuspect, wipes the bloody blade on that and throws it where it'll befound. Could anything be clearer? Who wants money right away? Who hasjust quarreled with the victim? Who is impudent and insolent whenquestioned about it? Who is now enjoying his ill-gotten gains, and hasalready used a lot of money for the purpose he told his uncle about thatfirst day he saw him? Answer all those questions, and then doubt, if youcan, who murdered Rowland Trowbridge!"

  Groot spoke quietly, but forcibly, and all present realized there was noanswer save the one he indicated.

  Judge Hoyt looked aghast. "It's incredible!" he exclaimed. "KaneLandon----"

  "You mean any other theory or suspicion is incredible, Judge," saidWhiting. "I have thought this was the only solution for some time. I havehad a strict watch kept on Landon's movements, and he has spent thatmoney, as Groot says. In every way he seems guilty of this crime and Isay the time has come to arrest him."

  And so Kane Landon was arrested for the murder of his uncle, RowlandTrowbridge, and was taken to The Tombs.