Markham went straight to the point.
I understand you were at the switchboard yesterday afternoon and last night until ten oclock. Is that correct?
Spively swallowed hard, and nodded his head. Yes, sir.
What time did Miss Odell go out to dinner?
About seven oclock. Id just sent to the restaurant next door for some sandwiches
Did she go alone? Markham interrupted his explanation.
No. A fella called for her.
Did you know this fella?
Id seen him a couple of times calling on Miss Odell, but I didnt know who he was.
What did he look like? Markhams question was uttered with hurried impatience.
Spivelys description of the girls escort tallied with Jessups description of the man who had accompanied her home, though Spively was more voluble and less precise than Jessup had been. Patently, Miss Odell had gone out at seven and returned at eleven with the same man.
Now, resumed Markham, putting an added stress on his words, I want to know who else called on Miss Odell between the time she went out to dinner and ten oclock when you left the switchboard.
Spively was puzzled by the question, and his thin arched eyebrows lifted and contracted.
Idont understand, he stammered. How could any one call on Miss Odell when she was out?
Some one evidently did, said Markham. And he got into her apartment, and was there when she returned at eleven.
The youths eyes opened wide, and his lips fell apart.
My God, sir! he exclaimed. So thats how they murdered her!laid in wait for her! He stopped abruptly, suddenly realizing his own proximity to the mysterious chain of events that had led up to the crime. But nobody got into her apartment while I was on duty, he blurted, with frightened emphasis. Nobody! I never left the board from the time she went out until quitting time.
Couldnt any one have come in the side door?
What! Was it unlocked? Spivelys tone was startled. It never is unlocked at night. The janitor bolts it when he leaves at six.
And you didnt unbolt it last night for any purpose? Think!
No, sir, I didnt! He shook his head earnestly.
And you are positive that no one got into the apartment through the front door after Miss Odell left?
Positive! I tell you I didnt leave the board the whole time, and nobody couldve got by me without my knowing it. There was only one person that called and asked for her
Oh! So some one did call! snapped Markham. When was it? And what happened?Jog your memory before you answer.
It wasnt anything important, the youth assured him, genuinely frightened. Just a fella who came in and rang her bell and went right out again.
Never mind whether it was important or not. Markhams tone was cold and peremptory. What time did he call?
About half past nine.
And who was he?
A young fella Ive seen come here several times to see Miss Odell. I dont know his name.
Tell me exactly what took place, pursued Markham.
Again Spively swallowed hard and wetted his lips.
It was like this, he began, with effort. The fella came in and started walking down the hall, and I said to him: Miss Odell isnt in. But he kept on going, and said: Oh, well, Ill ring the bell anyway to make sure. A telephone call came through just then, and I let him go on. He rang the bell and knocked on the door, but of course there wasnt any answer; and pretty soon he came on back and said: I guess you were right. Then he tossed me half a dollar, and went out.
You actually saw him go out? There was a note of disappointment in Markhams voice.
Sure, I saw him go out. He stopped just inside the front door and lit a cigarette. Then he opened the door and turned toward Broadway.
One by one the rosy petals fall, came Vances indolent voice. A most amusin situation!
Markham was loath to relinquish his hope in the criminal possibilities of this one caller who had come and gone at half past nine.
What was this man like? he asked. Can you describe him?
Spively sat up straight, and when he answered, it was with an enthusiasm that showed he had taken special note of the visitor.
He was good-looking, not so oldmaybe thirty. And he had on a full-dress suit and patent-leather pumps, and a pleated silk shirt
What, what? demanded Vance, in simulated unbelief, leaning over the back of the davenport. A silk shirt with evening dress! Most extrordinry!
Oh, a lot of the best dressers are wearing them, Spively explained, with condescending pride. Its all the fashion for dancing.
You dont sayreally! Vance appeared dumb-founded. I must look into this. And, by the bye, when this Beau Brummel of the silk shirt paused by the front door, did he take his cigarette from a long flat silver case carried in his lower waistcoat pocket?
The youth looked at Vance in admiring astonishment.
How did you know? he exclaimed.
Simple deduction, Vance explained, resuming his recumbent posture. Large metal cigarette-cases carried in the waistcoat pocket somehow go with silk shirts for evening wear.
Markham, clearly annoyed at the interruption, cut in sharply with a demand for the operator to proceed with his description.
He wore his hair smoothed down, Spively continued, and you could see it was kind of long; but it was cut in the latest style. And he had a small waxed moustache; and there was a big carnation in the lapel of his coat, and he had on chamois gloves.
My word! murmured Vance. A gigolo!
Markham, with the incubus of the night clubs riding him heavily, frowned and took a deep breath. Vances observation evidently had launched him on an unpleasant train of thought.
Was this man short or tall? he asked next.
He wasnt so tallabout my height, Spively explained. And he was sort of thin.
There was an easily recognizable undercurrent of admiration in his tone, and I felt that this youthful telephone operator had seen in Miss Odells caller a certain physical and sartorial ideal. This palpable admiration, coupled with the somewhat outré[34] clothes affected by the youth, permitted us to read between the lines of his remarks a fairly accurate description of the man who had unsuccessfully rung the dead girls bell at half past nine the night before.
When Spively had been dismissed, Markham rose and strode about the room, his head enveloped in a cloud of cigar smoke, while Heath sat stolidly watching him, his brows knit.
Vance stood up and stretched himself.
The absorbin problem, it would seem, remains in statu quo[35], he remarked airily. How, oh how, did the fair Margarets executioner get in?
You know, Mr. Markham, rumbled Heath sententiously, Ive been thinking that the fellow may have come here earlier in the afternoonsay, before that side door was locked. Odell herself may have let him in and hidden him when the other man came to take her to dinner.
It looks that way, Markham admitted. Bring the maid in here again, and well see what we can find out.
When the woman had been brought in, Markham questioned her as to her actions during the afternoon, and learned that she had gone out at about four to do some shopping, and had returned about half past five.
Did Miss Odell have any visitor with her when you got back?
No, sir, was the prompt answer. She was alone.
Did she mention that any one had called?
No, sir.
Now, continued Markham, could any one have been hidden in this apartment when you went home at seven?
The maid was frankly astonished, and even a little horrified.
Where could any one hide? she asked, looking round the apartment.
There are several possible places, Markham suggested: in the bathroom, in one of the clothes-closets, under the bed, behind the window draperies.
The woman shook her head decisively. No one could have been hidden, she declared. I was in the bathroom half a dozen times, and I got Miss Odells gown out of the clothes-closet in the bedroom. As soon as it began to get dark I drew all the window-shades myself. And as for the bed, its built almost down to the floor; no one could squeeze under it. (I glanced closely at the bed, and realized that this statement was quite true.)
What about the clothes-closet in this room? Markham put the question hopefully, but again the maid shook her head.
Nobody was in there. Thats where I keep my own hat and coat, and I took them out myself when I was getting ready to go. I even put away one of Miss Odells old dresses in that closet before I left.
And you are absolutely certain, reiterated Markham, that no one could have been hidden anywhere in these rooms at the time you went home?
Absolutely, sir.
Do you happen to remember if the key of this clothes-closet was on the inside or the outside of the lock when you opened the door to get your hat?
The woman paused, and looked thoughtfully at the closet door.
It was on the outside, where it always was, she announced, after several moments reflection. I remember because it caught in the chiffon of the old dress I put away.
Markham frowned and then resumed his questioning.
You say you dont know the name of Miss Odells dinner companion last night. Can you tell us the names of any men she was in the habit of going out with?
Miss Odell never mentioned any names to me, the woman said. She was very careful about it, toosecretive, you might say. You see, Im only here in the daytime, and the gentlemen she knew generally came in the evening.
And you never heard her speak of any one of whom she was frightenedany one she had reason to fear?
No, siralthough there was one man she was trying to get rid of. He was a bad characterI wouldnt have trusted him anywhereand I told Miss Odell shed better look out for him. But shed known him a long time, I guess, and had been pretty soft on him once.
How do you happen to know this?
One day, about a week ago, the maid explained, I came in after lunch, and he was with her in the other room. They didnt hear me, because the portières were drawn. He was demanding money, and when she tried to put him off, he began threatening her. And she said something that showed shed given him money before. I made a noise, and then they stopped arguing; and pretty soon he went out.
What did this man look like? Markhams interest was reviving.
He was kind of thinnot very talland Id say he was around thirty. He had a hard facegood-looking, some would sayand pale blue eyes that gave you the shivers. He always wore his hair greased back, and he had a little yellow moustache pointed at the ends.
Ah! said Vance. Our gigolo!
Has this man been here since? asked Markham.
I dont know, sirnot when I was here.
That will be all, said Markham; and the woman went out.
She didnt help us much, complained Heath.
What! exclaimed Vance. I think she did remarkably well. She cleared up several moot points.
And just what portions of her information do you consider particularly illuminating? asked Markham, with ill-concealed annoyance.
We now know, do we not, rejoined Vance serenely, that no one was lying perdu[36] in here when the bonne[37] departed yesterevening.
Instead of that fact being helpful, retorted Markham, Id say it added materially to the complications of the situation.
It would appear that way, wouldnt it, now? But, thenwho knows?it may prove to be your brightest and most comfortin clue. Furthermore, we learned that some one evidently locked himself in that clothes-press, as witness the shifting of the key, and that, moreover, this occultation did not occur until the abigail had gone, or, let us say, after seven oclock.
Sure, said Heath with sour facetiousness; when the side door was bolted and an operator was sitting in the front hall, who swears nobody came in that way.
It is a bit mystifyin, Vance conceded sadly.
Mystifying? Its impossible! grumbled Markham.
Heath, who was now staring with meditative pugnacity into the closet, shook his head helplessly.
What I dont understand, he ruminated, is why, if the fellow was hiding in the closet, he didnt ransack it when he came out, like he did all the rest of the apartment.
Sergeant, said Vance, youve put your finger on the crux of the matter. Y know, the neat, undisturbed aspect of that closet rather suggests that the crude person who rifled these charming rooms omitted to give it his attention because it was locked on the inside and he couldnt open it.
Come, come! protested Markham. That theory implies that there were two unknown persons in here last night.
Vance sighed. Harrow and alas! I know it. And we cant introduce even one into this apartment logically. Distressin, aint it?
Heath sought consolation in a new line of thought.
Anyway, he submitted, we know that the fancy fellow with the patent-leather pumps who called here last night at half past nine was probably Odells lover, and was grafting on her.
And in just what recondite way does that obvious fact help to roll the clouds away? asked Vance. Nearly every modern Delilah has an avaricious amoroso[38]. It would be rather singular if there wasnt such a chap in the offing, what?
Thats all right, too, returned Heath. But Ill tell you something, Mr. Vance, that maybe you dont know. The men that these girls lose their heads over are generally crooks of some kindprofessional criminals, you understand. Thats why, knowing that this job was the work of a professional, it dont leave me cold, as you might say, to learn that this fellow who was threatening Odell and grafting on her was the same one who was prowling round here last night. And Ill say this, too: the description of him sounds a whole lot like the kind of high-class burglars that hang out at these swell all-night cafés.
Youre convinced, then, asked Vance mildly, that this job, as you call it, was done by a professional criminal?
Heath was almost contemptuous in his reply. Didnt the guy wear gloves, and use a jimmy? It was a yeggmans job, all right.
Chapter VIII. The Invisible Murderer
(Tuesday, September 11; 11.45 a.m.)
Markham went to the window and stood, his hands behind him, looking down into the little paved rear yard. After several minutes he turned slowly.
The situation, as I see it, he said, boils down to this:The Odell girl has an engagement for dinner and the theatre with a man of some distinction. He calls for her a little after seven, and they go out together. At eleven oclock they return. He goes with her into her apartment and remains half an hour. He leaves at half past eleven and asks the phone operator to call him a taxi. While he is waiting the girl screams and calls for help, and, in response to his inquiries, she tells him nothing is wrong and bids him go away. The taxi arrives, and he departs in it. Ten minutes later some one telephones her, and a man answers from her apartment. This morning she is found murdered, and the apartment ransacked.
He took a long draw on his cigar.
Now, it is obvious that when she and her escort returned last night, there was another man in this place somewhere; and it is also obvious that the girl was alive after her escort had departed. Therefore, we must conclude that the man who was already in the apartment was the person who murdered her. This conclusion is further corroborated by Doctor Doremuss report that the crime occurred between eleven and twelve. But since her escort did not leave till half past eleven, and spoke with her after that time, we can put the actual hour of the murder as between half past eleven and midnight. These are the inferable facts from the evidence thus far adduced.
Theres not much getting away from em, agreed Heath.
At any rate, theyre interestin, murmured Vance.
Markham, walking up and down earnestly, continued:
The features of the situation revolving round these inferable facts are as follows:There was no one hiding in the apartment at seven oclockthe hour the maid went home. Therefore, the murderer entered the apartment later. First, then, let us consider the side door. At six oclockan hour before the maids departurethe janitor bolted it on the inside, and both operators disavow emphatically that they went near it. Moreover, you, Sergeant, found it bolted this morning. Hence, we may assume that the door was bolted on the inside all night, and that nobody could have entered that way. Consequently, we are driven to the inevitable alternative that the murderer entered by the front door. Now, let us consider this other means of entry. The phone operator who was on duty until ten oclock last night asserts positively that the only person who entered the front door and passed down the main hall to this apartment was a man who rang the bell and, getting no answer, immediately walked out again. The other operator, who was on duty from ten oclock until this morning, asserts with equal positiveness that no one entered the front door and passed the switchboard coming to this apartment. Add to all this the fact that every window on this floor is barred, and that no one from up-stairs can descend into the main hall without coming face to face with the operator, and we are, for the moment, confronted with an impasse.