Part 6 (1/2)
Write me immediately. Collie.”
He placed the sc.r.a.ps carefully in his wallet. There was nothing more to be done here apparently. As we pa.s.sed down the corridor we could hear a man apparently raving in good English and bad French. It proved to be Millefleur--or Miller--and his raving was as overdone as that of a third-rate actor. Madame was trying to calm him.
”Henri, Henri, don't go on so,” she was saying.
”A suicide--in the Novella. It will be in all the papers. We shall be ruined. Oh--oh!”
”Here, can that sob stuff,” broke in one of O'Connor's officers. ”You can tell it all when the chief takes you to headquarters, see?”
Certainly the man made no very favourable impression by his actions.
There seemed to be much that was forced about them, that was more incriminating than a stolid silence would have been.
Between them Monsieur and Madame made out, however, to repeat to Kennedy their version of what had happened. It seemed that a note addressed to Miss Blaisdell had been left by some one on the desk in the reception-room. No one knew who left it, but one of the girls had picked it up and delivered it to her in her dressing-room. A moment later she rang her bell and called for one of the girls named Agnes, who was to dress her hair. Agnes was busy, and the actress asked her to get paper, a pen, and ink. At least it seemed that way, for Agnes got them for her. A few minutes later her bell rang again, and Agnes went down, apparently to tell her that she was now ready to dress her hair.
The next thing any one knew was a piercing shriek from the girl. She ran down the corridor, still shrieking, out into the reception-room and rushed into the elevator, which happened to be up at the time. That was the last they had seen of her. The other girls saw Miss Blaisdell lying dead, and a panic followed. The customers dressed quickly and fled, almost in panic. All was confusion. By that time a policeman had arrived, and soon after O'Connor and the coroner had come.
There was little use in cross-questioning the couple. They had evidently had time to agree on the story; that is, supposing it were not true. Only a scientific third degree could have shaken them, and such a thing was impossible just at that time.
From the line of Kennedy's questions I could see that he believed that there was a hiatus somewhere in their glib story, at least some point where some one had tried to eradicate the marks of the poison.
”Here it is. We found it,” interrupted O'Connor, holding up in his excitement a bottle covered with black cloth to protect it from the light. ”It was in the back of a cabinet in the operating-room, and it is marked 'Ether phosph.o.r.e”.' Another of oil of turpentine was on a shelf in another cabinet. Both seem to have been used lately, judging by the wetness of the bottoms of the gla.s.s stoppers.”
”Ether phosph.o.r.e, phosphorated ether,” commented Kennedy, reading the label to himself. ”A remedy from the French Codex, composed, if I remember rightly, of one part phosphorus and fifty parts sulphuric ether. Phosphorus is often given as a remedy for loss of nerve power, neuralgia, hysteria, and melancholia. In quant.i.ties from a fiftieth to a tenth or so of a grain free phosphorus is a renovator of nerve tissue and nerve force, a drug for intense and long-sustained anxiety of mind and protracted emotional excitement--in short, for fast living.”
He uncorked the bottle, and we tasted the stuff. It was unpleasant and nauseous. ”I don't see why it wasn't used in the form of pills. The liquid form of a few drops on gum arabic is hopelessly antiquated.”
The elevator door opened with a clang, and a well-built, athletic looking man of middle age with an acquired youngish look about his clothes and clean-shaven face stepped out. His face was pale, and his hand shook with emotion that showed that something had unstrung his usually cast-iron nerves. I recognised Burke Collins at once.
In spite of his nervousness he strode forward with the air of a man accustomed to being obeyed, to having everything done for him merely because he, Burke Collins, could afford to pay for it and it was his right. He seemed to know whom he was seeking, for he immediately singled out O'Connor.
”This is terrible, terrible,” he whispered hoa.r.s.ely. ”No, no, no, I don't want to see her. I can't, not yet. You know I thought the world of that poor little girl. Only,” and here the innate selfishness of the man cropped out, ”only I called to ask you that nothing of my connection with her be given out. You understand? Spare nothing to get at the truth. Employ the best men you have. Get outside help if necessary. I'll pay for anything, anything. Perhaps I can use some influence for you some day, too. But, you understand--the scandal, you know. Not a word to the newspapers.”
At another time I feel sure that O'Connor would have succ.u.mbed. Collins was not without a great deal of political influence, and even a first deputy may be ”broke” by a man with influence. But now here was Kennedy, and he wished to appear in the best light.
He looked at Craig. ”Let me introduce Professor Kennedy,” he said.
”I've already called him in.”
”Very happy to have the pleasure of meeting you,” said Collins, grasping Kennedy's hand warmly. ”I hope you will take me as your client in this case. I'll pay handsomely. I've always had a great admiration for your work, and I've heard a great deal about it.”
Kennedy is, if anything, as impervious to blandishment as a stone, as the Blarney Stone is itself, for instance. ”On one condition,” he replied slowly, ”and that is that I go ahead exactly as if I were employed by the city itself to get at the truth.”
Collins bit his lip. It was evident that he was not accustomed to being met in this independent spirit. ”Very well,” he answered at last.
”O'Connor has called you in. Work for him and--well, you know, if you need anything just draw on me for it. Only if you can, keep me out of it. I'll tell everything I can to help you--but not to the newspapers.”
He beckoned us outside. ”Those people in there,” he nodded his head back in the direction of the Millefleurs, ”do you suspect them? By George, it does look badly for them, doesn't it, when you come to think of it? Well, now, you see, I'm frank and confidential about my relations with Blan--er--Miss Blaisdell. I was at a big dinner with her last night with a party of friends. I suppose she came here to get straightened out. I hadn't been able to get her on the wire to-day, but at the theatre when I called up they told me what had happened, and I came right over here. Now please remember, do everything, anything but create a scandal. You realise what that would mean for me.”
Kennedy said nothing. He simply laid down on the desk, piece by piece, the torn letter which he had picked up from the basket, and beside it he spread out the reply which Blanche had written.
”What?” gasped Collins as he read the torn letter. ”I send that? Why, man alive, you're crazy. Didn't I just tell you I hadn't heard from her until I called up the theatre just now?”
I could not make out whether he was lying or not when he said that he had not sent the note. Kennedy picked up a pen. ”Please write the same thing as you read in the note on this sheet of the Novella paper. It will be all right. You have plenty of witnesses to that.”