Part 40 (1/2)

Also a personal one. He had every reason to believe that he would never be discovered.”

”Then, Mr. Drew, he would have called me up on the phone later and done what he did--to father? He would have told me who he was over the telephone, and--and----”

”Yes, Miss Stockbridge. Yes, be calm, though. He is beyond the pale now. You will never hear from him again. Be a.s.sured of that!”

Drew leaned in his chair and glanced at Delaney. The big operative fidgeted in his seat, squirmed, reached for the tea-pot, then drew back his hand and started drumming the table with his fingers.

Nichols disengaged his arm from behind Loris and squared his shoulders.

He moved forward. ”I'm going to ask a question for Miss Stockbridge,”

he said. ”Did you ever suspect her?”

”Never!” declared Drew.

”Or me?”

The detective hesitated before he answered. His smile cleared the air as he said. ”Once--for about an hour. That was when I found out that you were partly German. I got over it, though.”

”So did I,” declared Nichols. ”I got over the German part in no time. I enlisted!”

”That's a good answer! The best one I know!”

Delaney turned to his chief. He drew in his legs. ”There's a question I'd like to ask,” he said.

”What is it?”

”That magpie?”

Drew eyed Loris. ”It's her bird now,” he said. ”She may not want it dragged back here again. I shouldn't think she would.”

”I don't!” exclaimed Loris. ”I wish that you would explain how you followed the clew, though. It talks so seldom, and then when it does talk it says such nonsense it's a perfect enigma.”

”That bird,” said Drew, ”was the fine turning point of the case. Before it was brought into the office, downtown, I had no clew to start from.

There was no indication to show from whence the blow had fallen. Your father was slain for a motive. He was talking to Morphy when he died.

Cuthbert had connected the two men.”

”Through the two booths?” asked Loris.

”Yes. Through the booths at Grand Central. Their conversation was probably a brief one. Morphy undoubtedly gloated a minute or two, then told Mr. Stockbridge that his time had come on this earth. Naturally Mr. Stockbridge asked who was talking. Morphy answered by stating who he was, and also that he was at Sing Sing. Mr. Stockbridge repeated this statement aloud. He probably said, 'What, Sing Sing?' or 'Ah, Ossining!' or words to that effect. The bird heard it and remembered it.”

”How strange!” exclaimed Nichols.

”Not at all,” said Drew, leaning forward. ”It was just like a magpie to pick out the one salient part of a conversation and repeat it. The couplet 'Sing Sing' was one it had never heard. It is so striking to even a bird. It probably came with such emphasis, there was no forgetting it!”

The group facing the detective was silent for a long minute. Delaney moved uneasily as Nichols toyed with his cup. Loris breathed in suppressed wonder at the tiny clew which had overthrown the best laid plans on the part of Morphy and his confederate. It was like an echo of a dead voice coming back to confront a murderer. She s.h.i.+vered as she widened her eyes and stared at Drew.

”There's another question,” she said. ”How did the trouble-man get into this house in the first place, Mr. Drew?”

”I was responsible. He forced my hand!”

”How?”