Part 16 (1/2)

”Pa.s.s it up to the judge and see whether he recognizes it,” requested Britz.

The judge returned the photograph with a negative toss of his head.

”Do you recall Arthur Travis?” asked Britz of the clerk.

A wave of recollection instantly swept across the clerk's mind.

”Sure,” he replied. ”Pleaded guilty to attempted post office robbery.

Was sent away for two years and half. He's in the Federal prison at Atlanta now. And, by George! that picture resembles him slightly. Only Travis was the ordinary, shabby specimen we invariably get here.”

”Who defended Travis?” inquired the detective.

”Tom Luckstone was his lawyer. But no defense was offered. The prisoner simply pleaded guilty.”

”Thanks!” Britz returned the photograph to his pocket and started for the door. In the corridor Greig laid a detaining hand on Britz's elbow.

”Why--lieutenant--” he gasped,--”that was a photograph of Herbert Whitmore.”

”Precisely,” said Britz. ”And we're going to hop on board the next train for Atlanta.”

CHAPTER X

Three days later Britz and Greig returned from Atlanta. It had been a tiresome journey, fifty-five hours of the seventy-two having been spent in a Pullman coach. But the information which they had obtained kept their energies awake. So that when their train drew into the new Pennsylvania station at ten o'clock, they hastened through the illuminated corridors and out into the refres.h.i.+ng night air, with elastic steps and excitement in their eyes.

A telegram sent en route had kept Manning at his desk, awaiting his subordinates. He greeted Britz with unconcealed satisfaction, acknowledging at the same time that he had grown heartily tired of directing the Whitmore investigation.

”It is one awful mess,” said he with a comprehensive shrug of his broad shoulders. ”And it appears to be getting worse all the time!”

”Let me tell my story first,” interrupted Britz. ”Mine's an eye-opener!”

The three men disposed themselves in comfortable att.i.tudes about the chief's desk, bit the ends off fresh cigars, and prepared for a long interchange of information.

”Well, I discovered where Whitmore spent the six weeks of his absence from business,” began Britz.

”Where?” The chief's face lit with an expression of eagerness.

”In jail,” said Britz, and for the life of him he was unable to smother the smile that struggled to his lips. ”Right here in the city,” he added. ”In the Tombs.”

”Well, I'll be hung!” In his astonishment, the chief could think of no adequate exclamation beyond the commonplace one which issued from his widely parted lips.

”Yes,” pursued Britz, ”Greig and I have been treated to a series of surprises--even now I haven't recovered entirely from my bewilderment.”

”Well, go ahead and spring them,” urged Manning. ”They can't be much more astounding than the one I've b.u.mped into.”

”In the first place,” said Britz, arranging in chronological order in his mind, the incidents which he was about to narrate, ”the man that was captured trying to break into the post office at Delmore Park, was Herbert Whitmore. Judging from the statements of Julia Strong and the butler in the Whitmore house, it is obvious that Whitmore sent a letter to Mrs. Collins, with whom he was in love. Something transpired to make him regret having sent the note and he decided to steal it out of the post office. He was caught before he had succeeded in 'jimmying' the door, so that the letter must have been delivered at the Collins house.

I take it, from the threats which Collins made against Whitmore, that he intercepted the note and that a lively scene between him and his wife followed.

”As for Whitmore, he did a most sensible thing. He kept his ident.i.ty effectually concealed. Before arriving at the post office he had disguised himself in cheap, shabby clothes, so that when he was captured no one thought he was other than an ordinary burglar. At the police station, and subsequently in the Federal court, he gave his name as Arthur Travis. It was such an unusual name for a cheap post office burglar that I determined instantly there was some connection between the attempted robbery and Whitmore's murder.