Part 14 (1/2)
”We have yet to learn the motive; also _why_ a man should wear a robe.
The mask is sensible enough, but why he impeded himself with a robe is beyond us as yet. It would hide his body, to be sure, as the mask would hide his face, but it would certainly greatly affect his chances of escape, if pursued. Cook, why was no investigation ever made before?”
”I don't know, sir. Mr. Odell was very timid.”
”Did you ever go through the tunnel to the well?”
”Yes, sir. I used to go before the mystery began, but never afterward.”
”How about the place in the stairs where the robe was found?”
”That was always there, sir, and used for the gardener's tools.”
”Then the gardener knew of it?”
”Maloney, the older one, did, I am sure; he has been here a long time.”
”Was he here before the mysteries?”
”Yes, sir, he has been five years on the place.”
”Cook, what do you think of the murder of Winthrop Mark?”
It was one of those sudden questions that sometimes bring results.
”I don't know, sir--it is terrible, sir, of course.”
”Where was Maloney yesterday, Cook?”
The man looked long at us. ”He was here when I got up at six o'clock, raking the leaves on the front walk.”
”Indeed!” said Oakes. We could not tell whether the answer surprised him, or not.
”I suppose Mike worked all day?”
”Yes, sir, he was about on the place the entire time.”
Oakes made no remark whatever at this, but dismissed Cook.
”We cannot go too far in presence of the servants,” said he, ”for I am only Clark the agent here, you remember. The time is coming when we may have to declare ourselves and we may need police help to make arrests, but,” he smiled, ”we have Hallen as a friend, I guess.”
Oakes was calmly sanguine, I could see, but of course he did not know that collateral events were brewing of grave importance to us all.
”Now for the robe and mask,” said he.
I handed over the mask, an old affair and considerably worn from usage.
A piece of it was missing, which Oakes replaced with the fragment of paper picked up in the cellar; it fitted exactly, settling the fact that the mask had been worn by the man who fought him in that place.
The detective looked it all over and said: ”This is such as was sold in New York years ago. It is ordinary, and offers no clue as to the owner or the place of purchase. I know the kind.”
The robe was fairly long, and made of old velvet lined with satin, quite s.h.i.+ny inside and out. The name of its maker had been carefully cut away.