The on the Farm Part 3 (2/2)
They were walking toward the building in which Jamieson's offices were located, and Bessie was hurrying their progress as much as she could.
”I don't like Mr. Holmes. I'm afraid of him,” she said. ”I know that sounds dreadful, but it's true--”
”Why, Bessie, how absurd!” she exclaimed. ”I've known him for years and years, and he's one of the nicest, kindest men in town.”
”But, Miss Eleanor, do you remember when you asked him about Hedgeville, he said he'd never been there?”
”Yes, and I thought, as soon as I asked him, that he would probably have to tell me just that. Hedgeville's out of the way. You never saw automobile parties on trips going through, did you?”
”No, we didn't. About the only people who came there in automobiles came to see someone--and usually Farmer Weeks.”
”There, you see!”
”But, Miss Eleanor, Mr. Holmes knows all about Hedgeville! He's been there ever so many times! I thought this morning, as soon as he stopped to talk to you, that I'd seen him before somewhere, but I wasn't sure.”
”Why, what do you mean? Are you sure now?”
”Yes, I was sure the minute he put on those goggles and his cap. He's driven to Hedgeville a lot in the last year. The last time wasn't more than three weeks ago, and he was in that same car, and wore the same cap and goggles.”
Eleanor stopped, looking very thoughtful.
”I think you must be mistaken, Bessie,” she said. ”There's no reason why he shouldn't tell us if he'd ever been there, and he certainly couldn't have forgotten it if he's been there as often as you say. Can't you see that! What object could he have in trying to deceive us?”
”I don't know. I can't guess that unless--well, I can tell you who it was he saw when he was there--every time. It was Farmer Weeks. And I think he was there the day before they took Zara's father away. I'm not sure, but I think so.”
”If you could be certain,” said Eleanor, doubtfully, ”that would make it different, Bessie. We'll tell Mr. Jamieson, and see what he thinks. But I'm sure you must be mistaken.”
CHAPTER VI.
A SUDDEN TURN.
Jamieson was in his office when they entered.
”Well, I wondered where you two were!” he exclaimed, by way of greeting. ”I tried to get you on the telephone a couple of times, but I supposed you were probably on your way here.”
”We telephoned before we left the house, but we understood that you would be busy,” said Eleanor. ”So we started to walk into town, and Mr. Holmes saw us, and took us for a ride in his car. I hope it hasn't made any difference--that you didn't want us? Have you found out anything, Charlie?”
”No, it didn't make any difference,” said the lawyer, gloomily. ”As for finding out things, well, I have, and I haven't! There's no trace of Zara, but there's other news.”
”What is it?”
”Well, it's mighty queer, I'll say that for it. When I went to see Zara's father this morning, he refused to see me--sent out word that he didn't want me to act as his lawyer any more. He's got another lawyer, and who do you suppose it is?”
The two girls stared at him, surprised and puzzled.
”Brack!” exclaimed Jamieson. ”What do you know about that for a mess, eh? If half of what I believe is right, Brack's his worst enemy. He's hand in glove with the people who are responsible for all his trouble, and yet here he goes and gets the scoundrel to act as his lawyer!”
”Oh, what a shame!” said Eleanor, indignantly. ”And he wouldn't even see you to explain?”
”Absolutely not! I tried to get them to let me in, and I sent him an urgent message, telling him it was of the utmost importance for us to have a talk, but I couldn't budge him.”
Eleanor was flushed with resentment.
”Well, that settles it!” she said, indignantly. ”If people don't want to be helped, one can't help them. He and Zara will just have to look out for themselves, I guess. Bessie, don't you think Zara must have gone with those people in the car willingly?”
”Yes, I do,” said Bessie. ”But--”
”Then I think she and her father are an ungrateful pair, and they deserve anything that happens to them! I'm certainly not going to worry myself about them any more, and I should think you would drop the whole thing, Charlie Jamieson, and attend to your own affairs!”
”Hold on! You're going a bit too fast, Eleanor,” he said, laughing lightly. ”Let's see what Bessie thinks about it.”
Bessie, who had flushed too, but not with anger, when Eleanor thus gave her resentment full play, was glad of the chance to speak.
”I do think Zara went off willingly and of her own accord,” she said. ”I'm sure of that, because she couldn't have been taken away without my hearing something.”
”Well, then,” began Eleanor, ”doesn't that prove--”
”But if Zara was willing to go off that way, I believe it's because she thought she was doing the right thing,” Bessie went on, determinedly. ”Someone must have seen her and told her something she believed, though perhaps it wasn't true.”
”Of course!” said Jamieson, heartily, ”That's what I've thought from the start, and don't you see who it probably was? Why, Brack! He was in the neighborhood yesterday morning and he must have seen her. He might have told her anything--any wild story. You see, we are pretty much in the dark about this affair yet. We don't know why these people are so keen after Zara's father, or why they've put up this job on him. So I don't think I'll get mad and drop it just because Zara and her father have probably been fooled into acting in a way that would seem likely to irritate me.”
Eleanor was regretful at once.
”Oh, you're ever so much more sensible than I am, Charlie,” she said. ”It made me angry to think they were acting so when all we wanted was to help them, and I lost my temper.”
”I suspect that that is just what Brack hoped I would do, Eleanor. And it makes me all the more determined to stick to the case. You see, I'm actually lawyer for Zara's father still, and unless I consent to a change of lawyers, he'll have trouble putting Brack in my place. Brack knows that, too, if he doesn't--and he knows, also, that I know one or two things about him that make it a good idea for him to be careful, unless he wants to be disbarred.”
”Then you'll keep on working and you'll try to find out what's become of Zara, too?”
”Yes. I looked up the number that Bessie saw--the number of that car. And it's just as I thought. They were careful enough to use a false number. There's no such number recorded as the one that was on the car.”
”But don't you suppose you can find anyone who saw it before they had a chance to change the numbers?”
”I'm working on that line now, but we haven't got any reports yet. I've gone to see the district attorney--the one who looks after the counterfeiting cases as well as the other, who's just in charge of local affairs. And I've convinced them that there's something very queer afoot here. Judge Bailey, who will prosecute Zara's father for counterfeiting, agrees with me that it looks as if a case had been worked up against him by someone who wants to make trouble for him, and he's pretty mad at the idea that anyone would dare to use him in such a crooked game. So we'll have a friend there, if I can get any evidence to back our suspicions.”
Suddenly Eleanor remembered what Bessie had thought of Mr. Holmes, her suspicion that she had seen him in Hedgeville, and the incident of finding Zara's ribbon. And she made Bessie tell the lawyer her story.
He laughed when he heard it, much to Bessie's distress.
”I don't think very much of that idea,” he said. ”Mr. Holmes is one of our wealthiest and most respected citizens. He'd never let himself or his car be mixed up in such a business. And I'm sure he doesn't know Brack, and has never had anything to do with him.”
”But it is Zara's ribbon! I'm positive of that,” insisted Bessie. ”And he's the same man I saw at Farmer Weeks' place in Hedgeville, too.”
”No, no; I'm afraid you're mistaken, Bessie.”
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