The unknown seven A detective story
“You are right, of course. It would only put him on his guard. You
prefer not to let him know that he is under suspicion.” She laughed
gently, as if amused at something. “Besides, it is doubtful whether a
search of Carmody’s house would reveal any clews to Reeves’ fate. The
professor is a chemist, and I understand there are certain chemical
processes by which bodies can be made to disappear completely, leaving
no trace.”
“Then you think Reeves has been murdered?”
“Don’t you?” she asked quickly.
Cole smiled. Instead of answering the question he asked another. “How
can you be so sure that Carmody will not leave his house to-night?”
“Because he has the best of reasons for staying in.”
“What are they?”
“One is that his engagement for to-night was canceled by telephone at
four o’clock this afternoon.”
Cole gave her a puzzled stare. “How do you know that?”
She laughed a little. “There are ways of finding out,” she said
mysteriously. “Tapped wires, for instance. But the professor’s
principal reason for staying in to-night is that he is well aware that
you are watching him. You see, Mr. Cole, he has more shrewdness than
you have been giving him credit for. And the fact that he is staying in
on your account shows that he has great respect for your ability.”
She had raised her head a trifle, and Cole gave her a long, bewildered
glance. He half expected to see a smile on her lips, but her face was
grave.
“Are you one of Reeves’ relatives?” he asked abruptly.
“Oh, no!”
“Then how——”
“I have certain sources of information. Sources so vast that you would
be staggered if I were to tell you of them. Please don’t look at me
like that. I am not insane, neither am I subject to hallucinations. The
fact that I happen to know more about the Carmody case than you do is
no reflection on your ability as an investigator. It merely shows that
your equipment is inadequate. Care to hear more?”
“What else do you know?”
“I know that the case you are working on is only one minor angle of a
vast mystery. The disappearance of Malcolm Reeves is nothing but an
incident. Reeves himself was only an insignificant puppet in one of
the greatest games ever played. All you have seen so far is one of the
minor threads in the woof. I am always mixing my metaphors, but I know
you won’t mind. Mr. Cole, this affair has ramifications that may some
day rock the whole continent.”
“I feel considerably shaken up already,” admitted Cole. “You realize,
of course, that you are using strong words?”
“No stronger than the situation demands.”
“If it is as bad as all that why doesn’t somebody put a stop to it?”
“Because——” She checked herself and regarded him intently. “Well,
because the man who is big enough for the task has not yet been found.”
Again Cole cast a glance at the window. The car had made several
turns in the last few minutes. He caught only a blurred view of his
surroundings, but he thought they were traversing one of the cavernlike
streets near the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
“Have you heard enough?” she asked.
“Just enough to give me an appetite for more.”
“In that case you must trust me implicitly and obey me without
questions. I am taking desperate chances in confiding in you, Mr. Cole,
and certain precautions are absolutely necessary. Will you promise me
on your honor that you will not try to ascertain the location of the
place I shall take you to?”
Cole considered. There was a flavor of mystery about the adventure that
appealed to him, but the prospect of learning something more about the
Carmody case was an even greater temptation. From what little the woman
had so far told him he surmised that she must have unusual sources of
information. Much that she had said coincided with what he already
knew, so he had no cause to doubt her truthfulness.
“You have my promise,” he told her.
The car made another turn, swung down a dark block, then veered again
to the south. Cole caught a hazy glimpse of dark, towering skyscrapers.
The woman looked at him fixedly, as if in doubt. “I believe you are a
man of your word, Mr. Cole, but promises are sometimes broken in spite
of the best intentions. Please don’t be offended.”
She produced a scarf and with a deft touch covered his eyes, securing
the bandage with a firm knot at the back. Cole chuckled amusedly. He
might be walking into a trap, but it would not be the first time, and
he had great confidence in his ability to take care of himself in any
situation that might come up.
After continuing its zigzagging course a few minutes longer the car
stopped. His mysterious conductress touched his arm as they stepped
out. She guided him across the sidewalk and up a few stone steps, and
then they traversed what appeared to be a long corridor. Finally Cole
found himself in a narrow inclosure which he guessed to be an elevator.
“We are in one of the tallest office buildings in New York,” the woman
whispered in his ear, “but you’re not likely to guess its name.”
The door clanked shut, and the cage shot swiftly upward. Cole felt
a rush of wind in his ears. He maintained a languid composure, but
inwardly he marveled. A modern skyscraper was the last place he would
have expected the woman to take him to. He tried to estimate the number
of floors they were passing. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty——
Still the cage darted upward, and then it stopped so suddenly that
he caught his breath sharply. They stepped out, and the girl removed
the scarf from his eyes. He gazed around him bewilderedly. All about
him, with the exception of a single elevator shaft was a vast expanse
of blank wall. There was no sign of doors or windows, and the only
illumination was a small electric bulb in the ceiling.
“We came up in a private elevator,” the woman explained. “This is the
top floor. To the public at large and to most of the tenants of the
building it practically does not exist. This way, Mr. Cole.”
She stepped to one of the corners of the triangular space, of which the
elevator shaft formed the center, and Cole followed. In the dim light
he could not see exactly what happened, but the woman’s hand went out
and then a narrow portion of the wall slid back. They stepped through
an aperture, and instantly the opening closed behind them. They were in
a long corridor with doors on each side.
“Surprised?” she asked, starting to lead him down the hall.
“Rather. Never expected to find such mysterious contrivances in a
modern office building.”
Her only reply was a low laugh. The floor of the corridor was
luxuriously carpeted; the doors on either side had a solid appearance.
Cole’s amazement grew. He wondered what was beyond the massive doors
and what was the nature of this establishment that was hidden behind
blank walls. He had little time for speculation, for his companion
opened a door and bade him enter.
“Excuse me, Mr. Cole,” she murmured when she had switched on the light.
“I shall be back directly.”
The door closed, and she was gone. Alone, Cole looked about him, and
his eyes opened wide in astonishment.
CHAPTER II
TEMPTATION
For a moment Cole forgot that he was in a building devoted to the
pursuits of commerce. The room in which he stood, bordered by walls of
paneled walnut, was worthy of a Fifth Avenue mansion. It struck him as
a bit grotesque. From an elevator he had stepped, through a blank wall,
into a magnificence that fairly dazzled him. It was like an “Arabian
Nights” adventure. As he looked about him he saw quiet elegance
everywhere, without a taint of showiness. For some time he stood lost
in admiration, then he noticed that the room had no windows. A moment
later he discovered that the door was locked on the outside. Despite
the splendor that surrounded him he was virtually a prisoner.
He sat down and smoked a cigarette, waiting for his strange conductress
to return. Evidently the walls were solidly built, for no sounds
reached him. The air was fresh and pure despite the absence of windows,
hinting that there was a concealed ventilator somewhere in the room.
The armchair was comfortable, and he stretched out his lean figure,
slightly short of six feet. The man suggested mental force rather
than bodily strength, but a great surprise awaited any antagonist who
underestimated Cole’s physical prowess. He was far stronger than the
average man, and his endurance was phenomenal. His gray eyes, with a
faint humorous twinkle in their depths, were fixed on the door. His
dark face, slightly lined about the mouth and the outer corner of the
eyes, bore a look of mild expectancy. In moments of repose he looked as
though he had not a care in the world. His friends often wondered how
he managed to maintain the freshness and sparkle suggestive of a recent
needle shower. Perhaps it was because he was thoroughly in love with
his work and had learned to shake off the minor frets and irritations
of life.
In the midst of his musings the door opened, and he stared rather
rudely at the vision that entered. It was the woman, and she had
undergone an amazing transformation since he last saw her. He wondered
whether the shimmering gown she wore had been designed by Poiret
himself. Its delicate rose color afforded a charming contrast to her
complexion, a sort of luminous white that somehow escaped being pale.
Standing there, with a faint smile on her lips, her face fringed by an
aureole of fine-spun gold, she was easily the most bewitching woman
Cole had ever seen.
He rose, bowed, and gazed appreciatively at the simple, but strikingly
effective, ornament she wore at her throat.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” she murmured. “Sit down, please, and
smoke as much as you like. I want to talk with you.”
Cole sat down. He wondered if she had arrayed herself like this for the
sole purpose of having a talk with him.
“You promised to tell me something more about the Carmody case,” he
reminded her. “I suppose you brought me to this charming place so
that we might have a quiet talk without danger of interruption or
eavesdropping.”
She sat down a short distance from him. By degrees the smile faded from
her lips. A curiously solemn expression crept into her face. “Haven’t I
told you enough, Mr. Cole?”
“What little you told me was only a provocation. It gave me a taste for
more. By the way, you have the advantage over me. Won’t you tell me
your name?”
“You may call me Miss Brown.”
“The name doesn’t fit you,” he objected.
“Names never do fit. That’s one of the ironies of existence. For the
present, until we know each other better, it will have to be Miss
Brown. I had to tell you a little about the Carmody case in order to
get your attention. I hope I convinced you that it is quite useless
for you to continue at work on a case that is so enormous in scope and
presents such insuperable difficulties, Mr. Cole.” A pleading note had
come into her voice. “Can anything persuade you to drop the Carmody
case?”
She bent forward a little. With hands clasped across her knee, she
studied him intently, and Cole looked into the deepest, bluest eyes he
had ever seen.
“Drop the Carmody case!” he exclaimed.
“You must drop it, Mr. Cole! If you knew more about it, what terrible
things you are going up against, you would willingly drop it without
further argument. You would recognize your utter helplessness in the
matter, not to mention a number of other things.”
Cole was momentarily speechless. He found himself strangely impressed
by her big, sorcerous eyes, full of mute pleading and entreaty.
“I don’t understand. You don’t realize what you are saying. Why should
I drop the case?”
“Because of the things I have told you.”