University of Virginia Library

18. XVIII

Major Barry's face was glowing with satisfaction as he sat in Cary's cell the next morning and rehearsed for his benefit the search in the Delaneys' rooms.

"I tell you, that little girl's a wonder, Fairfax!" he exclaimed. "She was in a nasty fix there, with the evidence of her cousin's guilt, which she had found herself, in her hand. She naturally didn't want to implicate him, and yet she had to exonerate you. I was sorry for the child."

The taut lines of Cary's face had relaxed in a tender smile.

"But you say she wouldn't let it go when the detective suggested that the `C' on the case stood for my name?"

The major laughed boyishly.

"No, sir! She spoke up loud and clear then, all right! Now, the next thing is to discover what was heard through that dictograph."

"That seems like an almost hopeless quest, now that Pat's gone," answered Fairfax gloomily.

Can't tell, my boy; luck's begun running for us now, and I wouldn't be surprised at anything. It was too bad Sturgis couldn't arrange about bail yesterday. I had hoped, when I telephoned, that you would be out last night."

"Apparently it couldn't be done. There's always so much red tape in a case like this."

"I wanted to come down and tell you all about the discovery myself, but I knew Sturgis would give you the facts, and I really felt that I must go to the Crosbys'. It was fortunate that I did, for that fiend, Maude Crosby, was at poor little Betty neck and crop, and, I think, would have rent her asunder if I hadn't turned up when I did. She's a devil, that woman!" The major's shoulders stiffened and his jaw snapped. "I should like to see her brought to her knees!"

Again the tender smile stole over Cary's face.

"And Betty isn't going to bring action against her uncle?"

"Won't consider it for a minute," returned the major. "Nothing I could say or do would convince her that she is making a mistake. She won't hear of a lawsuit."

"Well, after all, it's Betty's money, and she's the one to decide. It isn't as if she will really need it now."

"No; there's comfort in that thought. You're not going to let her go back to France, are you, Fairfax?" asked the major, eying the other man's face anxiously.

"She's not going out of this country for some time, if I have anything to say about it, and she seems to think I have, unless" — a light spread over Cary's face — "I can persuade her to take that trip to Bermuda that you suggested a while ago!"

"That would be great! The sooner the better." Major Barry glanced restlessly at his watch. "It seems to me that Sturgis ought to be along pretty soon now."

A guard appeared at the door and unlocked it; but the man who was with him was not the alert, keen-eyed lawyer, but a slender youth with slack shoulders and narrow, furtive eyes. The major looked inquiringly at Fairfax, who shook his head in answer to the unspoken question. The boy slouched into the cell and touched the brim of his hat awkwardly.

"Mr. Cary," he began in a high, shrill voice, "you don't remember me, but I'm Jim — Jim Murphy. I used ter work fer Mr. Crosby."

A sudden flash illumined Cary's memory, and he held out his hand cordially.

"Why, Jim!" he exclaimed. "Of course I remember you! You used to take care of Steadfast."

The boy grasped his hand and wrung it.

"I sure did, Mr. Cary!"

"Sit down, Jim, sit down; of course I remember you, and so does Major Barry, I'm sure." The major nodded pleasantly to the boy, and Fairfax went on: "Weren't you with Pat the night he died? I seem to recall seeing you at the hotel."

He looked searchingly into Jim's face.

"Yes, sir; that's what I come ter see ye about. I wuz with Pat till late that night."

Jim was sitting on the edge of his chair, nervously twisting his hat around in his big-knuckled hands.

"Then you came back after I went away?"

"Yes, sir."

"Was Molly alive when you left?" The major asked the question eagerly, leaning far out of his seat.

"Yes, sir; she came in two or three times ter see how Pat wuz gettin' along."

Mr. Sturgis had arrived in time to hear the boy's words, and the three men looked at one another in undisguised pleasure.

"Well," exclaimed the major triumphantly to Fairfax, "that lets you out! I wish we had known this before," he added, turning to Murphy.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I didn't know nothin' about what happened after I lef' till about a week ago. The night Pat got smashed up I went to Texas with Mr. Vinton's horses. We wuz on a ranch, and didn't often get the newspapers. I wuz kind o' surprised that Molly didn't let me know how Pat wuz, but she an' I had had a row, and I s'posed she wuz too mad to write. It wuz only when I had a letter from a friend of mine that I knew" — his voice faltered — "that they wuz both dead."

The muscles of his face twitched, and he put his big hand over his mouth.

"This is most important evidence!" announced the lawyer.

"I knowed it would be, sir. I felt awful bad when I heard Mr. Cary wuz up fer murder, and I sez ter meself, `You fer the Great White Way, Jim!' an' I beats it right on. I should think any guy would know he ain't done it — that is, if they knew him at all."

"Who did do it, Jim?" The major's voice was like cold steel.

"Well, when I went away, Mr. Crosby — Mr. Norman Crosby — was in the next room with Molly. He'd been there all evenin', an' they'd been havin' it out hot an' heavy. We could hear 'em, Pat an' I, even with the door shut, but we couldn't make out what they wuz sayin'. Fer a long time Pat hadn't liked the way things wuz goin', so he rigged up one o' them dictograph things in Molly's room and strung the wires into his."

"What was it he suspected?"

The boy moistened his lips.

"He wanted ter find out about the Withers Stake — ye know, when Steadfast got licked?" He glanced interrogatively at Major Barry, who nodded. "Well," he went on, "I'd been givin' Pat some dope about what happened just before that race, when he went off ter dress, an' then Molly had let drop enough ter put him wise that somethin' wuz wrong. I wuz in the stable all the time Pat wuz gone. Mr. Norman an' Molly didn't know it, but I wuz in the stall just the other side of Steadfast's."

He stopped, and his face became ghastly.

"Why did you think — "

Jim swallowed hard.

"Molly an' me had been pals since we wuz kids, an' I wuz kind o' sore when she dropped me," he half whispered. "I knowed Mr. Norman wuz rushin' her, an' I wanted ter find out how far things had gone, so I hid an' listened."

Jim's big hand clenched, and a red light gleamed in the deep-set eyes.

He wuz tellin' her that he loved her, an' he kissed her. Then he went inter Steadfast's stall, an' I heard Molly askin' him what he wuz doin'. He said he wuz fixin' things so that he an' Molly could go off on a trip an' have a bang-up time. It wuz after I told Pat that that he got the dictograph; an' the night Pat died we heard the whole thing. Molly told him that she'd seen him dope Steadfast, an' there wasn't no use in his denyin' it, an' she'd fix him, all right, if he didn't do as he'd promised an' marry her. Pat made me write it all down. He wuz pretty far in, an' he wuz

afraid he'd forget somethin'. He said Mr. Cary had promised ter come back in the mornin', an' he wanted ter have it fer him. So I wrote it down an' hid the paper under the cover o' the table by the bed, where Pat could reach it, an' where Molly wouldn't be apt ter find it. Then I had ter go. As it was, I nearly missed my train."

"Your testimony will be invaluable in clearing Mr. Cary," remarked Sturgis. "We shall want you to repeat this in court."

"Yes, sir; that's what I come on fer. I wasn't goin' ter let Mr. Cary be put out o' bizness fer what he ain't done. Mr. Cary's on the level, sir! He's all right, an' I couldn't stand by an' see him takin' what ought ter be comin' ter that — "

Jim stopped, and his nostrils quivered.