Part 24 (1/2)
”A STOCKHOLDER.”
”Well?” demanded Kennedy, looking up.
”That can have only one meaning,” a.s.serted Denison.
”What is that?” inquired Kennedy coolly, as if to confirm his own interpretation.
”Why, another robbery--here in New York, of course.”
”But who would do it?” I asked.
”Who?” repeated Denison. ”Some one representing that European combine, of course. That is only part of the Trust method--ruin of compet.i.tors whom they cannot absorb.”
”Then you have refused to go into the combine? You know who is backing it?”
”No--no,” admitted Denison reluctantly. ”We have only signified our intent to go it alone, as often as anyone either with or without authority has offered to buy us out. No, I do not even know who the people are. They never act in the open. The only hints I have ever received were through perfectly reputable brokers acting for others.”
”Does Haughton know of this note?” asked Kennedy.
”Yes. As soon as I received it, I called him up.”
”What did he say?”
”He said to disregard it. But--you know what condition he is in. I don't know what to do, whether to surround the office by a squad of detectives or remove the radium to a regular safety deposit vault, even at the loss of the emanation. Haughton has left it to me.”
Suddenly the thought flashed across my mind that perhaps Haughton could act in this uninterested fas.h.i.+on because he had no fear of ruin either way. Might he not be playing a game with the combination in which he had protected himself so that he would win, no matter what happened?
”What shall I do?” asked Denison. ”It is getting late.”
”Neither,” decided Kennedy.
Denison shook his head. ”No,” he said, ”I shall have some one watch there, anyhow.”
CHAPTER XV
THE ASPHYXIATING SAFE
Denison had scarcely gone to arrange for some one to watch the office that night, when Kennedy, having gathered up his radioscope and packed into a parcel a few other things from various cabinets, announced: ”Walter, I must see that Miss Wallace, right away. Denison has already given me her address. Call a cab while I finish clearing up here. I don't like the looks of this thing, even if Haughton does neglect it.”
We found Miss Wallace at a modest boarding-house in an old but still respectable part of the city. She was a very pretty girl, of the slender type, rather a business woman than one given much to amus.e.m.e.nt.
She had been ill and was still ill. That was evident from the solicitous way in which the motherly landlady scrutinized two strange callers.
Kennedy presented a card from Denison, and she came down to the parlor to see us.
”Miss Wallace,” began Kennedy, ”I know it is almost cruel to trouble you when you are not feeling like office work, but since the robbery of the safe at Pittsburgh, there have been threats of a robbery of the New York office.”
She started involuntarily, and it was evident, I thought, that she was in a very high-strung state.