Part 20 (2/2)
”Yes. When I had damaged the cross by stepping on it, I thought my old friend, Mrs. Darcy, would be the best one to keep my secret. I took the cross to her the night before she was killed, and she promised to have her cousin fix it without telling him whose it was and get it back to me, secretly, in a day or so.
”I thought Cynthia could then wear it again without her husband knowing it had ever been out of her possession. But the murder changed all my plans. As soon as I could, I went to the shop to look for the cross.
I thought perhaps it might have been put in one of the showcases, or laid on the shelf, perhaps forgotten. Really I was so distressed, I didn't know what to think. I did not want to tell any one what I was looking for, so I went about quietly. But I could not find it. Then I was obliged to ask Darcy about it, secretly, of course, and without hinting as to the owners.h.i.+p.
”But he had never seen it. He said Mrs. Darcy had not given it to him, nor asked him to repair it. Nor was it in the shop, as far as he knew, and he went over all the stock to furnish a list to the police, so they could tell whether or not there had been a robbery.”
”And there was none?”
”None, unless you call the taking of the diamond cross a theft. For that alone is missing. And I'd give half my fortune to get it back.
Cynthia's husband may ask about it at any moment, and what excuse can she give?”
”It is rather a ticklish matter,” agreed the detective. ”Well, I'll see what I can do. First I thought you wanted me to work on the murder case. But as I am already engaged on that, to try to clear Darcy, I can as well include the diamond cross mystery also. I wonder if they have any connection.”
”I don't see how they can have. Mrs. Darcy may merely have put the cross away secretly, and it may take a careful search of the place to find it.”
”Maybe so. I'll have to nose around a bit.”
There came a knock on the office door.
”Come!” called out the colonel.
His clerk handed him a telegram. Tearing it open the detective read a message from one of his agents in a distant western city: It said:
”Spotty Morgan arrested here to-day. Big diamond cross found on him.
Do you want him?”
”Do I want him?” fairly yelled the colonel. ”I should say I did!
Here, get me Blake on the long distance. This is no time for a wire.
I've got to telephone!” And he hurried to a private booth in a back office, leaving Grafton to himself.
After he had telephoned. Colonel Ashley sat in silence in the booth, musing.
”Now I wonder,” he said to himself, ”if Grafton is telling me the truth. Almost any one would believe his story--it sounds straight enough--and yet I can't take any chances. I guess I mustn't lose sight of you, Aaron Grafton.
”And perhaps Larch isn't so bad a chap as you'd have me believe. Trust a disgruntled lover for saying the worst about the other chap. Yes, I can't afford to take any chances. You may know a bit more about this murder than you're telling me, even considering the latest from my friend Spotty. Yes, you may be playing a double game, Mr. Aaron Grafton.”
CHAPTER IX
INDICTED
”Well, Spotty, I've got to hand it to you! Certainly you did put one over on me!”
”Not intentional, Colonel. So help me--not intentional!”
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