CHAPTER XVI
THE LADY WITH THE VIOLET PERFUME
"I won't have it," Kirby said flatly. "If Miss McLean tells her storyto the district attorney he'll probably arrest her. It'll come outabout her sister an' the papers will run scare-heads. No need of ita-tall. Won't hurt me to stay here a few days if I have to."
Jack, dapper and trim, leaned on his cane and watched his cousin. Hefelt a reluctant admiration for this virile cousin so picturesquelycompetent, so clean-cut and four-square of mind. Was he in love withthe Wild Rose from Wyoming, whose spirit also was like a breath fromthe sweet hill pines? Or was his decision only the expression of anative chivalry that went out to all his friends and perhaps to allwomen?
"They'd certainly arrest her," Jack commented. "From a lawyer's pointof view there's every reason why they should. Motive for the crime,sufficient; intention to force the victim to make reparation or punishhim, declared openly; opportunity to commit it, confessed; presence onscene and eagerness to escape being seen there, admitted. The caseagainst her is stronger than the one against you." He offered thislast with a smile decorously but not wholly concealed.
"Yet she couldn't possibly have done it!" the cattleman replied.
"Couldn't she? I wonder." The Beau Brummel stroked his bit ofmustache, with the hint of insolence his manner often suggested.
"Not possible," said Lane forcefully. "Uncle James was a big,two-fisted fighter. No slip of a girl could have overpowered him an'tied him. It's not within reason." He spoke urgently, though still inthe low murmur both the cousins were using in order not to be overheard.
Jack put a neat, highly polished boot on the desk of the sergeant ofpolice. "Ever hear of a lady called Delilah?" he asked lightly.
"What about her?" In Kirby's quiet eye there was a warning.
The man-about-town shrugged his well-tailored shoulders. "They have away, the ladies. Guile, my son, is more potent than force."
"Meaning?"
"Delilah chloroformed Samson's suspicions before she sheared his locks."
Kirby repressed an anger that he knew was worse than futile. "It youknew Miss McLean you couldn't misjudge her so. She thinks an' acts asstraight as a man."
"I don't say she did it, old top. I'm merely pointing out that it'spossible she did. Point of fact your friend made a hit with me. I'dsay she's a game little thoroughbred."
"You an' James will regard what she told you as confidential, ofcourse."
"Of course. We're of your mind, too, though I put her proposition toyou. Can't see anything to be gained by airing her story unless it'sabsolutely necessary on your account. By the way, James wants me totell you that he thinks you won't have to spend another night at thisdelightful hotel the city keeps for its guests. Bond has beenpractically agreed on."
"Fine. Your brother's a brick. We're goin' to run down this business,he an' I, an' drag the truth to light."
A glitter of sardonic mockery shone out of the dark eyes of Cunningham."You'll work together fine and Sherlock-Holmes this thing till it's asclear as mud," he predicted.
By the middle of the afternoon Kirby was free. After he had talkedover with James a plan of campaign, he called Rose up on the telephoneand told her he would be right out to Cherokee Street.
She came to meet him in the stuffy parlor of the boarding-house withhand outstretched.
"Oh, Kirby, I'm so glad to see you and so sorry I was such a horridlittle beast last time we met. I'm ashamed of myself. My temperexplodes so--and after you came to Denver to help me and gave up somuch for me. You'll forgive me, won't you?"
"You know it, Rose," he said, smiling.
"Yes, I do know it," she cried quickly. "That makes it worse for me toimpose on you. Now you're in trouble because of me. I should thinkyou'd pretty near hate me."
"We're in trouble together," he corrected. "I thought that wassupposed to bring friends closer an' not to drive them apart."
She flashed a quick look at him and changed the subject ofconversation. Just now she could not afford to be emotional.
"Are you going back to Twin Buttes?"
"No. I'm goin' to find out who killed James Cunningham an' bring theman to justice. That's the only way to clear us both before the world."
"Yes!" she cried eagerly. "Let me help you. Let's be partners in it,Kirby."
He already had one partner, but he threw him overboard instantly.James Cunningham was retired to the position of an adviser.
"Bully! We'll start this very minute. Tell me all you know about whathappened the evenin' of the murder."
She told again the story she had confessed to his cousins. He askedquestions, pushed home inquiries. When she mentioned the woman who hadpassed her on the stairs he showed a keen interest.
"You say you knew it was a woman with the man by the perfume. Whatkind of perfume was it?"
"Violet."
"Did you notice a violet perfume any other place that night?"
"In your uncle's living-room."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"So did I."
"The woman I met on the stairs, then, had just come from your uncle'srooms."
"Looks like it," he nodded in agreement.
"Then we've got to find her. She must have been in his apartment whenhe was killed." The thought came to Rose as a revelation.
"Or right after."
"All we've got to do is to find her and the man with her, and we'vesolved the mystery," the girl cried eagerly.
"That's not quite all," said Kirby, smiling at the way her mind leapedgaps. "We've got to induce them to talk, an' it's not certain theyknow any more than we do."
"Her skirts rustled like silk and the perfume wasn't cheap. I couldn'treally see her, but I knew she was well dressed," Rose told him.
"Well, that's somethin'," he said with the whimsical quirk to his mouthshe knew of old. "We'll advertise for a well-dressed lady who usesviolet perfume. Supposed to be connected with the murder at theParadox Apartments. Generous reward an' many questions asked."
His badinage was of the surface only. The subconscious mind of therough rider was preoccupied with a sense of a vague groping. Thethought of violet perfume associated itself with something else inaddition to the darkness of his uncle's living-room, but he did notfind himself able to localize the nebulous memory. Where was it hisnostrils had whiffed the scent more recently?
"Don't you think we ought to see all the tenants at the Paradox andtalk with them? Some of them may have seen people going in or out. Orthey may have heard voices," she said.
"That's a good idea. We'll make a canvass of the house."
Her eyes sparkled. "We'll find who did it! When two people look forthe truth intelligently they're bound to find it. Don't you think so?"
"I think we'll sure round up the wolf that did this killin'," hedrawled. "Anyhow, we'll sleep on his trail for a moon or two."
They shook hands on it.