"hello, nick," was dashwood's cheerful greeting, as his eyes fell on the face of his friend, the great detective. "i'm glad to see you, awfully glad, for i reckon i've been through the valley of the shadow."
nick took dashwood's hand and pressed it gently. but their conversation was short, as excitement at that time was to be avoided.
"he will be as good as new in a few weeks," said doctor holcomb, when nick, chick, and leonard were outside the door, and after the reason of nick's appearance in disguise had in a measure been explained. "he came here with a fractured skull, and to-day, the conditions being favorable, i removed a piece of bone which was pressing on the brain, and which would, if permitted to remain, have affected his memory."
doctor holcomb returned to his patient, and leonard, followed by the two detectives, went back to his room. the door was again closed and locked.
"you brought dashwood here, mr. leonard," said nick, when they were all seated, "and turned him over to doctor holcomb. what sort of story did you tell the doctor?"
"i said that dashwood was the victim of a murderous assault, that i was present and tried to prevent it, and[95] that, for good family reasons, i did not want the facts to get to the public. the doctor knows me of old, and he asked no embarrassing questions."
"now, as to your after-actions, some of which were peculiar. i desire a full explanation."
"they can easily be explained. i went home, the doctor's carriage taking me to within a few blocks of my house. i was utterly exhausted, but i could neither sleep nor think coherently. my main anxiety was my daughter. it was essential that she should be at home. i arose early, with my mind on no other subject, swallowed a hasty breakfast, and hurried up-town to a telegraph office. after i had sent the telegram, i went to the office in the factory building to try to compose my thoughts, to figure out what i ought to do. i soon convinced myself that the occurrences on the wharf were unknown to the police, but i was worried somewhat when, on looking over the morning papers, i learned of the suicide of luke filbon. his body had been found on the wharf an hour or more after the time of the assault on dashwood. had he witnessed it? had he left behind any statement?
"i was considering this matter when you, mr. carter, came in. i did not tell you the truth. i could not, and now you know why i could not. after you had gone, i studied over what you had said, and the fear that you were working on the dashwood case was allied with another fear that you suspected me, and that your suspicions might induce you to make a visit to my house,[96] for the purpose of investigation. when i returned home the night before, i placed the five thousand dollars in notes in a drawer which i always kept locked. in the morning i changed my clothes. on leaving the house to send the telegram i gave no thought to the notes, the other articles in the drawer, or anything else, for at that time i believed i was safe from suspicion of any knowledge of what had happened on the wharf.
"now, hours afterward, in my office, the fact was borne home to me that, if you did search my rooms, you would have cause for the gravest suspicion, for the muddy trousers and the handkerchief which was stained with rust from wiping my hands upon it after i had picked up and thrown into the river the section of pipe used as a weapon by cora reesey, would speak against me. and there were the notes and the correspondence. i thought of all these matters, and realized what a fool i had been in leaving the suspicious evidences behind.
"but i dared not go home, and i dared not attempt to leave town before the inquest, for i might be already under surveillance, and attempted flight would be looked upon as an admission of guilt. in an agony of mind impossible to describe, i stayed in town until after i had given in my testimony before the coroner. then, in desperation, i resolved to flee. i must take chances of arrest. but i was not molested. i went to a remote section of the city, telephoned to doctor holcomb to call for me at a certain house next day—that was yesterday—and then resigned myself to circumstances. the[97] doctor came, and i explained my situation by saying that my business affairs were badly tangled, and that, for the benefit of all concerned, it was necessary for a few days that i should keep away from my creditors."
"why did you write a note to me signed 'c. r.'?" asked nick.
"because i wanted to stave off a discovery of john dashwood's retreat until the operation should have been performed."
"have you allowed your daughter all these days to remain in ignorance of her husband's whereabouts and condition?"
"i have relieved her mind," said leonard impatiently and nervously. "i met her train at madison, while she was on her way from chicago to st. louis, and i there informed her that john was all right and would show up in a few days. since then i have written to her, my words carrying the same assurance. she believes in me, mr. carter"—the look which he bestowed on nick was pathetic—"and, if i have deceived her, it has been for her own good. to-day she shall know the truth, and to-morrow will find her at her husband's bedside."
"and you—you are going away, are you? why, if i may ask?"
nick's voice was not pleasant. it was sharp, severe.
"because my business is a failure; because i am sick of st. louis; because, with the few thousands i have secured, i may make a fresh start in some new section[98] of the country; because i dislike notoriety, and dashwood's story will——"
"will bring you into the lime-light, eh?"
"yes, that's it."
nick looked hard at leonard.
"you are a queer man, mr. leonard," he said. "shrewd in some respects, utterly lacking in shrewdness in others. let me see, have you explained everything? there is the matter of luke filbon's boat. what did you do with it? turn it adrift, or scuttle it?"
"i—i scuttled it," replied leonard, with a start.
"so i reasoned. and why did you scuttle it?"
"because i feared that it might show blood-stains from john dashwood's wound. the scuttling was a necessary precaution in the justifiable game i was playing."
"now, let me see if i understand the case," said nick judicially. "everything you have done has been mainly in the interest of mrs. dashwood, your daughter. incidentally, you have remembered yourself, and you have taken some interest—a commendable interest, i will admit—in dashwood. you shun notoriety, you want to preserve your good name, to let the dead past bury its dead; and, if in carrying out the plan you have mapped out, your creditors suffer, what of that? it is better so; better for the officers of the law, who will be spared work and bother; better for gabriel leonard, who, amid new scenes, with at least five thousand dollars in his pocket, may begin life over again."
[99]
"i do not intend to cheat my creditors," said leonard, in uneasiness, touched with anger. "i intend to pay them to the last dollar. if i compel them to wait, they shall have full interest."
"yes, i suppose so," remarked nick quietly. "a very fine program; but i am compelled to inform you, mr. leonard, that you will not be able to carry it out."
"not carry it out?" a new fear stealing into his face. "and why not?"
nick carter arose to his feet. "because," he replied, in a voice that cut leonard like a whip, "because your little game will not work. you have told a story which in many particulars is true. but a part of it is false, and there are some things which you have not touched upon. you have not prepared to leave st. louis because your business affairs are in bad shape. you have not concealed john dashwood solely for the purpose of staving off a little notoriety, which a yarn such as you have told to me would have rendered harmless. your alarm over the discoveries made in your room was not occasioned by the probability that you would be suspected of the murder of john dashwood, for, if arrested for that crime, you could have produced the body of the living man, and so confounded the officers. what were your reasons, then, for acting as you have done? i will tell you.
"you were afraid of something that now causes the blood to leave your cheeks, your lips to tremble, and your guilty heart to beat like a trip-hammer. you were[100] afraid to remain longer in st. louis lest the river should speak; should give up its dead and brand you liar and murderer. know now that the river has spoken—it spoke this morning before i came here. know that the body of your victim has been found. gabriel leonard, i arrest you for the murder of lucia massona, alias cora reesey, alias madame ree."
