Part 25 (1/2)

At each place Marsh left his name, and a message for Morgan to ring up at once if he came in.

Marsh was now in a quandary. He remembered that he had not asked Morgan to look anything up that morning and therefore knew of no place where he might endeavor to obtain a trace of him. The case had now reached a point where immediate action was necessary, yet he could not act alone. Of course, he could have called upon the Secret Service Division at the Federal Building, but he had special reasons for wanting Morgan's and Tierney's a.s.sistance at this time rather than that of Secret Service men. After long consideration, therefore, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing he could do except stay by his telephone and wait. It never occurred to Marsh that anything of a serious nature could have happened to the detectives on the crowded city streets. The only plausible explanation of the delay might be that Morgan and Tierney had discovered some new clue which they thought of sufficient importance to follow up before keeping their appointment with him. Marsh accepted this explanation readily, because he realized that there were still many loose ends to the case that would permit of new developments at any moment.

When four o'clock came, however, and there was still no word from Morgan, Marsh decided that something must have happened to the two men. He had had ample evidence of the desperate and daring character of their opponents. To raise a hue and cry in the Police Department would utterly defeat his plans. Whatever he did must be carried out quietly. So far as he knew, at this time, there were only two possible sources of information--one, the house on Oak Street; the other, the closed house at Hubbard Woods. First he would get a report from the man on watch at Oak Street. If nothing had occurred there, he would then carry out his proposed raid on the Hubbard Woods house with some of his own men.

Having reached this decision Marsh put on his coat and hat and went down to the corner of Lawrence Avenue to wait for a bus. A stream of motor cars swept steadily by and when one of these turned into the curb and stopped, Marsh paid little attention to it. He was astounded, therefore, when a man opened the door, and addressing him, said, ”Step in and be quick about it!” Marsh gave the man a sharp glance, then noticing that one of the man's arms was extended toward him, he dropped his eyes and saw that the coat sleeve was pulled down over the hand, while the barrel of an automatic projected about an inch from the sleeve. Marsh looked about him quickly. The policeman in front of his house was too far away to be of any a.s.sistance, if, in fact, his attention could be attracted at all. In the other direction, the nearest people were two women, one of whom was pus.h.i.+ng a baby carriage. He then saw that another man had descended from the driver's seat and was approaching him. Marsh stepped back and his right hand shot toward his right hip pocket.

Not that he had any intention of drawing a gun while so carefully covered by the other man, but he had a thought.

”Easy, easy!” cried the man. ”You haven't a chance in the world! Do you want to get b.u.mped off right now?”

Marsh murmured something inaudible and withdrew his hand. The man with the gun signaled to his companion. This man came up and felt around Marsh's hip pockets.

”Aw, he's kiddin',” the fellow exclaimed. ”He ain't got any gun at all.”

Marsh's thought had been correct.

”All right,” said the man with the gun, smiling. ”Let's go.”

It had flashed through Marsh's mind that what was now happening to him might have also happened to Morgan and Tierney. If such was the case it was more than likely that these men would take him to the same place, and that was just the information he wanted. As for getting him into that place, that was a different matter. To carry out his quickly formed plan, it was necessary for Marsh to sit with his left side away from this man, who would probably join him in the car, so without further hesitation he climbed into the car and settled back in the far corner of the seat. The man followed and sat down at Marsh's right, pulling the door to after him. The other man climbed back to his seat at the wheel and started the car. They went down Sheridan Road, and turning through the next street, made the circuit of the block, returning again to Sheridan Road and moving swiftly north.

After a time the man turned to Marsh, and said, ”If you take things easy you'll get out of this with a whole skin, but if you start anything--GOOD night!”

Marsh smiled but said nothing.

”Oh, I know you're a cool customer,” the man appraised, ”but if you think you're going to put anything over on us this time, you've made a b.u.m guess.”

”It's hardly likely,” replied Marsh, ”that an unarmed man would try any tricks while you sit there with that automatic. The fact is, however, that you fellows are giving yourselves a lot of trouble for nothing.”

”What do you mean?” snapped the man.

”I mean that I have already offered you my services. All you had to do was to tip me the word.”

The man looked at Marsh suspiciously for a moment. ”Do you mean that?” he said.

”I see no reason why you should doubt my word.”

”All right,” returned the man. ”Hand over those papers you've got and I'll drop you out at the next street.”

”What papers do you mean?” queried Marsh.

”There you go--stalling again. No use; the boss said to bring you up, and I guess he knows best.”

”I don't know where you get that idea about any papers,” said Marsh.

”I can show you quickly enough that the only papers I have on me are of a personal nature and of no use to anyone else.”

”Maybe so--maybe so. But after we get you under lock and key, we know d.a.m.n well where we can find them.”

Thus the argument continued at intervals until they were far up into the North Sh.o.r.e suburbs. Darkness had fallen and the interior of the car was absolutely black except when they pa.s.sed an occasional street light or an automobile. As Marsh had told Morgan, if you can only make them talk long enough, they grow careless. Pa.s.sing under the last street light, Marsh had observed that the automatic was no longer leveled in his direction.

The car was of the limousine type, with a gla.s.s part.i.tion shutting off the driver so that unless he happened to look around he would not know what was going on within the car. Marsh figured that now darkness had fallen, the driver's attention would be directed entirely to the road ahead, for street lights along the suburban section of Sheridan Road were few and far between.

”It's getting warm in here,” said Marsh. He raised his right hand and pushed his hat back on his head. At the same time his left hand withdrew the automatic from his coat pocket and the next instant it was pressed into the ribs of the man beside him.