Part 38 (1/2)
”I don't have to tell you,” added the chief, ”that it's rather a delicate matter. Either the man is the victim of circ.u.mstances--in which case we'll have to release him with profound apologies and begin all over again--or he's a mighty clever crook. We can't afford to take any chances. The case as it finally stands will have to be presented in court, and, therefore, must be proof against the acid test of shrewd lawyers for the defense, lawyers who will rely upon the newspaper advertis.e.m.e.nt and Thurene's spotless record as indications of his innocence.”
”That being the case, Chief, why take any chances right now? The case hasn't gotten into the papers, so why not release Thurene?”
”And keep him under constant surveillance? That wouldn't be a bad idea.
The moment he started to leave the country we could nab him, and meanwhile we would have plenty of time to look into the matter. Of course, there's always the danger of suicide--but that's proof of guilt, and it would save the Service a lot of work in the long run. Good idea!
We'll do it.”
So it was that Robert J. Thurene of New Haven was released from custody with the apologies of the Secret Service--who retained the counterfeit money, but returned the real bills--while Spencer Graham went to work on the Baltimore end of the case, four operatives took up the job of trailing the stationer, and Rita Clarke found that she had important business to transact in Connecticut.
Anyone who didn't know Rita would never have suspected that, back of her brown eyes lay a fund of information upon a score of subjects--including stenography, the best methods of filing, cost accounting, and many other points which rendered her invaluable around an office. Even if they found this out, there was something else which she kept strictly to herself--the fact that she was engaged to a certain operative in the United States Secret Service, sometimes known as Number Thirty-three, and sometimes as Spencer Graham.
In reply to Spencer's often-repeated requests that she set a day for their wedding, Miss Clarke would answer: ”And lose the chance to figure in any more cases? Not so that you could notice it! As long as I'm single you find that you can use me every now and then, but if I were married I'd have too many domestic cares. No, Spencer, let's wait until we get one more BIG case, and then--well, we'll say one month from the day it's finished.”
Which was the reason that Graham and his fiancee had a double reason for wanting to bring Thurene to earth.
The first place that Graham went to in Baltimore was the Pennsylvania station, where he made a number of extended inquiries of certain employees there. After that he went to the newspaper office, where he conferred with the clerk whose business it was to receive the lost and found advertis.e.m.e.nts, finally securing a copy of the original notice in Thurene's handwriting. Also some other information which he jotted down in a notebook reserved for that purpose.
Several days spent in Baltimore failed to turn up any additional leads and Graham returned to Was.h.i.+ngton with a request for a list of the various places where counterfeit fifty-dollar bills had been reported during the past month. The record sounded like the megaphonic call of a train leaving Grand Central Station--New York, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Troy, and points north, with a few other cities thrown in for good measure. So Spencer informed the chief that he would make his headquarters in New York for the next ten days or so, wired Rita to the same effect, and left Was.h.i.+ngton on the midnight train.
In New York he discovered only what he had already known, plus one other very significant bit of evidence--something which would have warranted him in placing Thurene again under arrest had he not been waiting for word from Rita. He knew that it would take her at least a month to work up her end of the case, so Graham put in the intervening time in weaving his net a little stronger, for he had determined that the next time the New Haven stationer was taken into custody would be the last--that the government would have a case which all the lawyers on earth couldn't break.
Early in December he received a wire from Rita--a telegram which contained the single word, ”Come”--but that was enough. He was in New Haven that night, and, in a quiet corner of the Taft grille the girl gave him an account of what she had found.
”Getting into Thurene's store was the easiest part of the whole job,”
she admitted. ”It took me less than a day to spot one of the girls who wanted to get married, bribe her to leave, and then arrive bright and early the following morning, in response to the 'stenographer wanted'
advertis.e.m.e.nt.”
”Thurene's had a lot of practice writing ads lately,” remarked Graham, with a smile.
”What do you mean?”
”Nothing. Tell you later. What'd you find in the store?”
”Not a thing--until day before yesterday. I thought it best to move slowly and let matters take their own course as far as possible. So I contented myself with doing the work which had been handled by the girl whose place I took--dictation, typing, and the rest. Then I found that the correspondence files were in shocking shape. I grabbed the opportunity to do a little night work by offering to bring them up to date.
”'Certainly,' said the boss, and then took good care to be on hand when I arrived after dinner that night. The very way he hung around and watched every movement I made convinced me that the stuff was somewhere on the premises. But where? That's what I couldn't figure out.
”Having demonstrated my ability by three hours of stiff work on the files, I suggested a few days later that I had a first-hand knowledge of cost accounting and that I would be glad to help get his books in shape for the holiday business, the old man who usually attends to this being sick. Again Thurene a.s.sented and again he blew in, 'to explain any entries which might prove troublesome.' I'll say this for him, though--there isn't a single incriminating entry on the books. Every purchase is accounted for, down to the last paper of pins.
”Then, when I felt that I had wormed myself sufficiently well into his good graces, I hinted that I might be able to help out by supervising the system in the engraving department--checking up the purchases, watching the disburs.e.m.e.nts, keeping an eye on the stock and so on.
Rather to my surprise, he didn't offer any objection. Said that my work had been of so much help elsewhere that he would be glad to have me watch the engravers' work.
”It was there that I got my first real lead--at least I hope it's a lead. Back of the engraving department is a small room, locked and padlocked, where the boss is supposed to ride his personal hobby of amateur photography. I asked one of the men the reason for guarding a dark room so carefully, and he replied that Thurene claimed to be on the verge of making a great discovery in color photography, but that the process took a long time and he didn't want to run the risk of having it disturbed. I'm to have a look at his color process to-night.”
”What?” cried Graham. ”He's going to show you what is in the double-locked room?”
”That's what he's promised to do. I haven't the least hope of seeing anything incriminating--all the evidence will probably be well hidden--but this morning I expressed a casual interest in photography and remarked that I understood he was working on a new color process. I did it mainly to see how he would react. But he never batted an eyelid.
'I've been making some interesting experiments recently,' he said, 'and they ought to reach a climax to-night. If you'd care to see how they turn out, suppose you meet me here at nine o'clock and we'll examine them together.'”