The Mystery of the Hidden Room Read online

  CHAPTER III

  THE POLICE

  "Ruth!"

  My cry startled her. Dropping the pistol and flinging out her arms, shelaughed hysterically and stumbled toward me. Something in my face,perhaps the horror I could not help revealing, arrested her before shereached me.

  "Carlton! Surely you can't think I killed him!" she cried. "It--it wouldbe too monstrous!" And with a fluttering sigh she sank in a heap on thefloor.

  Tenderly I gathered her limp form in my arms and was on the point ofbearing her from the room when suddenly without any warning the studywas flooded with light and Philip Darwin's secretary was standingobsequiously before me.

  "Shall I telephone for a doctor, Mr. Davies? And for the police?" with aglance at his erstwhile master.

  At mention of the police I frowned though I knew of course that theirpresence was inevitable. But there was no need to bring them buzzingabout our ears any sooner than was absolutely necessary.

  "A doctor, yes. The police can wait," I said abruptly.

  "Just as you say, Mr. Davies," he returned with a leering smile. "I'llcall Dr. Haskins."

  He stepped to the table and picked up the phone and while he summonedthe doctor I looked at him more attentively. He was just as Ruth haddescribed him and instinctively distrust of this pale-faced secretaryarose in my mind, distrust of him and his pussy-footing ways. I had notheard him enter the room behind me. For ought I knew to the contrary hemight have been in the study when the shot was fired, sulking among theshadows in the corner while awaiting a chance to kill his employer. Butthen how in the name of all the gods had Ruth come by the pistol!

  Which brought me back to the realization that I was still holding herunconscious form in my arms. I must carry her upstairs to her room. YetI disliked intensely leaving the secretary alone with the dead, fearingI knew not what perversion of justice, dreading also that he might takethe opportunity to summon the police before I was ready for them.

  I glanced around the study and was relieved to find that the roompossessed only one door, that by which I had entered, whose key wasstill in the lock, but on the inside. Ordering the secretary to lead theway to Ruth's apartments, I closed and locked the door of the studybehind me, and pocketing the key followed him up the broad staircase.

  Hardly had I laid Ruth upon her bed when a sharp ring startled me, and Iglanced apprehensively at Orton. Could it be that others besidesourselves had heard the shot?

  "No one could hear anything. The grounds are too extensive," he said,answering my unspoken thought. "That must be the doctor. He lives only ashort distance from here."

  Much as I disliked him I could have blessed him for those words, foralready the plan to keep the police from questioning Ruth that nightwas simmering in my brain.

  "Bring him here at once," I commanded, and Orton slipped noiselesslyfrom the room.

  I heard him opening the front door, heard the sound of voices apparentlyin consultation, and then the doctor's step upon the stair. I hadexpected an old family physician. The man who stepped briskly across thethreshold was small and slight, almost a boy in years, yet having an airof knowing his business to perfection. Without ostentation, and alsowithout asking needless questions, he examined Ruth quietly andattentively while I explained that she was suffering from the shock ofhaving discovered her husband's murdered body.

  "And, Doctor, could you not give her an opiate to insure a perfectnight's rest," I added in a lower tone.

  He gave me a swift appraising glance from his keen eyes, then as ifsatisfied, nodded to himself.

  "Yes, I think you are right. It is far more important to save her reasonthan that the police should have the satisfaction of questioning her."

  As he administered the dose to the now conscious girl I mentally decidedthat there was not very much that escaped this young doctor'sobservation.

  "Is there no one to stay with Mrs. Darwin?" he inquired in adissatisfied tone. "Where is her maid?"

  "She sleeps in the servants' wing, Dr. Haskins," replied Orton.

  "Go and get her," ordered the doctor briefly.

  When the maid arrived on the scene, only half awake and very muchtousled as if she had flung on her clothes without regard to appearance,the doctor bade her establish herself in the boudoir. Then satisfiedthat there would be someone within call in case of necessity, he askedto be conducted to the scene of the tragedy.

  "You have notified the police?" questioned Dr. Haskins as we descendedthe stairs.

  "No," I replied. "I waited to hear your verdict first."

  "Better send for them at once," was his reply.

  "I will do it, Dr. Haskins," put in the secretary eagerly.

  As Orton moved to the hall phone I inserted the key in the lock of thestudy door and opened it with some trepidation, remembering what laywithin. I had forgotten to turn out the lights and as we entered fromthe semi-obscurity of the hall, the chair and its horrible occupantseemed literally to spring out at us as we approached. To the doctordeath was a familiar sight, but I could not bear to watch him as heprobed the wound with skillful fingers, so I turned away and desirous ofhaving something other than my thoughts to occupy my mind, I tookcognizance for the first time of this room where the crime had beencommitted.

  The study, as I remarked before, lay to the left of the hall and likeits counterpart, the drawing-room, it was exceedingly large, a goodforty feet in length at the very least. Again, like its counterpart, theside opening upon the garden was a series of French windows hung withvelvet draperies of a rich brown that harmonized perfectly with theluxurious appointments of the room. Whatever one might say for hismorals, one could certainly find no fault with Philip Darwin's taste infurnishing his study. It was the den of a sybarite, not the conventionalstudy of the modern business man. The only jarring notes were suppliedby the mahogany table directly in the center of the room, at whose headstood the chair in which the dead man lay, and by an immense safe letinto the narrower wall, whose highly varnished surface reflectedDarwin's face as clearly as any pier-glass would have done.

  For a space I stood gazing at the safe, wondering what any man wouldwant with such a gigantic contraption when I became conscious of thereflection of the doctor's occupation. With a feeling of nausea I swungaway toward the windows when, struck by a sudden idea, I hastilyexamined them. It had occurred to me that while we were standing idlethe murderer had probably made good his escape through one of them,since there was no other means of egress which he could have used withimpunity. Imagine then my feelings to find that the windows were notonly locked, but were also supplied with burglar alarms, which precludedbeyond the shadow of a doubt their recent use by anyone intent uponescaping from the study!

  With dwindling hope I tried the safe and finding that locked also, Ireturned to the table, where despite my aversion I could not helpglancing at the man who, living, had destroyed my happiness and who,dead, was about to bereave me of all hope as well.

  I had known Philip Darwin very slightly, a mere bowing acquaintance, sothat it was a distinct shock to me to discover that he was sofine-looking a man. I had always accounted him handsome in a bold,dashing way, with his dark hair, his gold eyeglasses, and his neatlytrimmed coal black Vandyke; but, death, that dread visitant that playssuch queer tricks upon us mortals, had ennobled his countenance andrejuvenated him by wiping away all traces of the dissipation which oflate had coarsened his features and left its marks beneath his eyes andaround his mouth. Had it not been for that red stain which seemed tomock me as I gazed, I would have said that he was merely asleep, sogracefully did he repose in the big chair, the left hand holding a smallhandkerchief upon his knee, the right flung out across the arm of thechair.

  Just then I noticed that the doctor was gravely regarding the pistol asit lay on the floor beside the chair, and recalling where I had lastseen it, I hesitantly asked the question whose answer I knew before thewords had left my lips.

  "Is there any possibility of suicide?"

  "None at all," rep
lied Dr. Haskins. "He has been shot through the leftlung and death occurred from internal hemorrhage. The absence of powderstains and the fact that the bullet entered at an angle preclude theidea of suicide."

  "Then Mr. Darwin was not killed instantly?" I asked.

  "No. I should judge that he had lived at least twenty minutes after theshot was fired."

  It could not have been more than twenty minutes, or at most, a half-hoursince I had heard the report that had turned my world so suddenly upsidedown! Had he then been alive when I carried Ruth from the room? Had Ilocked him in to breathe his last alone, when perhaps I might have savedhis life? The thought was too horrible to contemplate!

  "Doctor!" I cried. "You mean he has only just died? That something couldhave been done to save him?"

  The doctor looked at me in some surprise. "Nothing could have been doneto save him," he answered quietly. "From the condition of the body----"

  But we had no time for further discussion for a great pounding hadensued at the front door and in a few moments Orton returned with thepolice. There were five of them, the Sergeant and his two men and acouple of detectives from the Central Office, and they made an imposingarray as they entered the room.

  The Sergeant, a mild-looking man, nodded to us pleasantly enough,deplored the necessity which had brought him to the house, and orderedhis men to guard the premises and to permit no one to leave the placeunder any circumstances, while the detectives made the rounds of theroom, examining everything from the carpet to the ceiling.

  "I do not believe I can be of further use," said Dr. Haskins. "Let meknow when the inquest is called and I shall be glad to give mytestimony."

  The Sergeant took down his name and address, and, when the doctor wasgone, turned to me and asked me who I was. I mentioned the name of thebrokerage firm with which I was connected and of which I had the honorof being the junior partner. The name of that firm was a well-known onethroughout the city and its effect upon the Sergeant was instantaneous.Glancing at me with marked respect he asked me to give him an account ofthe affair. It was precious little that I could tell him, however. I hadbeen in the drawing-room, had heard the shot, and on rushing in hadfound Darwin dead.

  While the Sergeant was transcribing this information in his notebook theyounger of the two detectives, who had been glancing over the objectsupon the table, spoke up.

  "It was an inside job, then, Sergeant. The windows are all locked andanyone leaving by the door would have encountered this gentleman comingin," and he looked at me very suspiciously indeed.

  The worthy Sergeant scratched his chin and looked perplexed. Then hiseye fell on Orton standing meekly in the doorway.

  "Hello, where the devil did you come from?" he asked.

  "I--I'm the man who sent for you, who just let you in," he stammered,whether from fright or awe I don't know. "I'm Mr. Darwin's secretary."

  "I see. What do you know about this affair?"

  He was opening his mouth to say I know not what when he caught my eye. Iwas determined that Ruth should have a night's rest if I had to go tojail as the consequence.

  "I heard the shot and when I entered the room Mr. Davies was looking atthe body," he said with a malicious glance in my direction.

  I could have laughed aloud as the Sergeant regarded me from beneathfrowning brows. I was a prominent man and he dared not risk a falsearrest.

  "Are you the only two people awake in this house?" he inquired, to gaintime.

  "Mrs. Darwin heard the shot but she was prostrated by the news and thedoctor does not wish her disturbed until morning," I said, purposelygiving the wrong impression by my statement.

  Again the Sergeant's troubled glance rested upon me. "What are you doinghere at this time of night, Mr. Davies?" he asked abruptly.

  "I came here on important business," I answered.

  At this juncture the older detective whispered something to the Sergeantand handed him a paper he had taken from the table drawer.

  "Mr. Davies, I am under the painful necessity of keeping you undersurveillance until the arrival of the coroner. You will remain in thishouse until that time."

  I bowed. "Then you have no objections to my retiring?" I asked.

  "None at all, Mr. Davies. Gregory," he called, and when the burlypoliceman appeared in the doorway, "You will accompany Mr. Davies to hisroom and see that he does not attempt to leave the house."

  "Very good, sir," saluted the policeman.

  "Good night, Sergeant," I said. "I am sorry to put you to so muchtrouble." Then I touched Orton upon the shoulder. "If you will be sokind I should like to be shown to a vacant room and might I borrow asuit of pajamas?"

  I linked my arm through his and forced him to accompany me upstairs. Bydint of hinting that he had no way of proving that he was not in thestudy at the fatal moment and that my word had far more weight than his,should I choose to cast suspicion upon him, I frightened the cowardlyfellow into promising to keep his knowledge to himself for that night atleast. That the police were bound to learn that Ruth was also in thestudy was inevitable, but at any rate I should have gained her a fewmore hours of freedom, for whichever way I looked at it the case wasblack against her.