CHAPTER XXXVII
ON THE GRILL
In spite of the fact that his mind had at times moved toward his cousinJames as the murderer, Kirby experienced a shock at this accusation.He happened to glance at Olson, perhaps to see the effect of it uponhim.
The effect was slight, but it startled Kirby. For just an instant theDry Valley farmer's eyes told the truth--shouted it as plainly as wordscould have done. He had expected that answer from Hull. He hadexpected it because he, too, had reason to believe it the truth. Thenthe lids narrowed, and the man's lip lifted in a sneer of rejection.He was covering up.
"Pretty near up to you to find some one else to pass the buck to, ain'tit?" he taunted.
"Suppose you tell us the whole story, Hull," the Wyoming man said.
The fat man had one last flare of resistance. "Olson here says he seenme crack Cunningham with the butt of my gun. How did he see me? Wheredoes he claim he was when he seen it?"
"I was standin' on the fire escape of the Wyndham across thealley--about ten or fifteen feet away. I heard every word that wassaid by Cunningham an' yore wife. Oh, I've got you good."
Hull threw up the sponge. He was caught and realized it. His onlychance now was to make a clean breast of what he knew.
"Where shall I begin?" he asked weakly, his voice quavering.
"At the beginning. We've got plenty of time," Kirby replied.
"Well, you know how yore uncle beat me in that Dry Valley scheme ofhis. First place, I didn't know he couldn't get water enough. If hegive the farmers a crooked deal, I hadn't a thing to do with that.When I talked up the idea to them I was actin' in good faith."
"Lie number one," interrupted Olson bitterly.
"Hadn't we better let him tell his story in his own way?" Kirbysuggested. "If we don't start any arguments he ain't so liable to getmixed up in his facts."
"By my way of figurin' he owed me about four to six thousand dollars hewouldn't pay," Hull went on. "I tried to get him to see it right,thinkin' at first he was just bull-headed. But pretty soon I got wiseto it that he plain intended to do me. O' course I wasn't goin' tostand for that, an' I told him so."
"What do you mean when you say you weren't goin' to stand for it. Myuncle told a witness that you said you'd give him two days, then you'dcome at him with a gun."
The fat man mopped a perspiring face with his bandanna. His eyesdodged. "Maybe I told him so. I don't recollect. When he's sore afellow talks a heap o' foolishness. I wasn't lookin' for trouble,though."
"Not even after he threw you downstairs?"
"No, sir. He didn't exactly throw me down. I kinda slipped. If I'dbeen expectin' trouble would I have let Mrs. Hull go up to his roomswith me?"
Kirby had his own view on that point, but he did not express it. Herather thought that Mrs. Hull had driven her husband upstairs and hadgone along to see that he stood to his guns. Once in the presence ofCunningham, she had taken the bit in her own teeth, driven to it bytemper. This was his guess. He knew he might be wrong.
"But I knew how violent he was," the fat man went on. "So I slipped mysix-gun into my pocket before we started."
"What kind of a gun?" Kirby asked.
"A sawed-off .38."
"Do you own an automatic?"
"No, sir. Wouldn't know how to work one. Never had one in my hands."
"You'll get a chance to prove that," Olson jeered.
"He doesn't have to prove it. His statement is assumed to be trueuntil it is proved false," Kirby answered.
Hull's eyes signaled gratitude. He was where he needed a friend badly.He would be willing to pay almost any price for Lane's help.
"Cunningham had left the door open, I reckon because it was hot. Istarted to push the bell, but Mrs. Hull she walked right in an' ofcourse then I followed. He wasn't in the sittin'-room, but we seen himsmokin' in the small room off'n the parlor. So we just went in on him.
"He acted mean right from the start--hollered at Mrs. Hull what was wedoin' there. She up an' told him, real civil, that we wanted to talkthe business over an' see if we couldn't come to some agreement aboutit. He kep' right on insultin' her, an' one thing led to another.Mrs. Hull she didn't get mad, but she told him where he'd have to headin at. Fact is, we'd about made up our minds to sue him. Well, hewent clean off the handle then, an' said he wouldn't do a thing for us,an' how we was to get right out."
Hull paused to wipe the small sweat beads from his forehead. He wasnot enjoying himself. A cold terror constricted his heart. Was heslipping a noose over his own head? Was he telling more than heshould? He wished his wife were here to give him a hint. She had thebrains as well as the courage and audacity of the family.
"Well, sir, I claim self-defense," Hull went on presently. "A man'sgot no call to stand by an' see his wife shot down. Cunningham reachedfor a drawer an' started to pull out an automatic gun. Knowin' him, Iwas scared. I beat him to it an' lammed him one over the head with mygun. My idea was to head him off from drawin' on Mrs. Hull, but Ireckon I hit him harder than I'd aimed to. It knocked him senseless."
"And then?" Kirby said, when he paused.
"I was struck all of a heap, but Mrs. Hull she didn't lose her presenceof mind. She went to the window an' pulled down the curtain. Then wefigured, seein' as how we'd got in bad so far, we might as well try abluff. We tied yore uncle to the chair, intendin' for to make him signa check before we turned him loose. Right at that time the telephonerang."
"Did you answer the call?"
"Yes, sir. It kept ringing. Finally the wife said to answer it,pretendin' I was Cunningham. We was kinda scared some one might buttin on us. Yore uncle had said he was expectin' some folks."
"What did you do?"
"I took up the receiver an' listened. Then I said, 'Hello!' Fellow atthe other end said, 'This you, Uncle James?' Kinda grufflike, I said,'Yes.' Then, 'James talkin',' he said. 'We're on our way over now.' Iwas struck all of a heap, not knowin' what to say. So I called back,'Who?' He came back with, 'Phyllis an' I.' I hung up."
"And then?"
"We talked it over, the wife an' me. We didn't know how close James,as he called himself, was when he was talkin'. He might be at thedrug-store on the next corner for all we knew. We were in one hell ofa hole, an' it didn't look like there was any way out. We decided tobeat it right then. That's what we did."
"You left the apartment?"
"Yes, sir."
"With my uncle still tied up?"
Hull nodded. "We got panicky an' cut our stick."
"Did anybody see you go?"
"The Jap janitor was in the hall fixin' one of the windows that wasstuck."
"Did he say anything?"
"Not then."
"Afterward?"
"He come to me after the murder was discovered--next day, I reckon itwas, in the afternoon, just before the inquest--and said could I lendhim five hundred dollars. Well, I knew right away it was a hold-up,but I couldn't do a thing. I dug up the money an' let him have it."
"Has he bothered you since?"
Hull hesitated. "Well--no."
"Meanin' that he has?"
Hull flew the usual flag of distress, a red bandanna mopping aperspiring, apoplectic face. "He kinda hinted he wanted more money."
"Did you give it to him?"
"I didn't have it right handy. I stalled."
"That's the trouble with a blackmailer. Give way to him once an' he'sgot you in his power," Kirby said. "The thing to do is to tell himright off the reel to go to Halifax."
"If a fellow can afford to," Olson put in significantly. "When you'vejust got through a little private murder of yore own, you ain't exactlyfree to tell one of the witnesses against you to go very far."
"Tell you I didn't kill Cunningham," Hull retorted sullenly. "Some oneelse must 'a' come in an' did that after I left."
"Sounds reasonable," Olson murmured with heavy sarcasm.
"Was the hall lit when
you came out of my uncle's rooms?" Kirby askedsuddenly.
"Yes. I told you Shibo was workin' at one of the windows."
"So Shibo saw you and Mrs. Hull plainly?"
"I ain't denyin' he saw us," Hull replied testily.
"No, you don't deny anything we can prove on you," the Dry Valley manjeered.
"And Shibo didn't let up on you. He kept annoyin' you afterward," thecattleman persisted.
"Well, he--I reckon he aims to be reasonable now," Hull said uneasily.
"Why now? What's changed his views?"
The fat man looked again at this brown-faced youngster with thesingle-track mind who never quit till he got what he wanted. Why washe shaking the bones of Shibo's blackmailing. Did he know more than hehad told? It was on the tip of Hull's tongue to tell something more, adamnatory fact against himself. But he stopped in time. He was indeep enough water already. He could not afford to tell the dynamiccattleman anything that would make an enemy of him.
"Well, I reckon he can't get blood from a turnip, as the old sayin'is," the land agent returned.
Kirby knew that Hull was concealing something material, but he saw hecould not at the present moment wring it from him. He had not, inpoint of fact, the faintest idea of what it was. Therefore he couldnot lay 'hold of any lever with which to pry it loose. He harked backto another point.
"Do you know that my cousin and Miss Harriman came to see my uncle thatnight? I mean do you know of your own eyesight that they ever reachedhis apartment?"
"Well, we know they reached the Paradox an' went up in the elevator.Me an' the wife watched at the window. Yore cousin James wasn't withMiss Harriman. The dude one was with her."
"Jack!" exclaimed Kirby, astonished.
"Yep."
"How do you know? How did you recognize them?"
"Saw 'em as they passed under the street light about twenty feet fromour window. We couldn't 'a' been mistook as to the dude fellow. O'course we don't know Miss Harriman, but the woman walkin' beside theyoung fellow surely looked like the one that fainted at the inquestwhen you was testifyin' how you found yore uncle dead in the chair. Ireckon when you said it she got to seein' a picture of one of the youngfellows gunnin' their uncle."
"One of them. You just said James wasn't with her."
"No, he come first. Maybe three-four minutes before the others."
"What time did he reach the Paradox?"
"It might 'a' been ten or maybe only five minutes after we left yoreuncle's room. The wife an' me was talkin' it over whether I hadn'tought to slip back upstairs and untie yore uncle before they got here.Then he come an' that settled it. I couldn't go."
"Can you give me the exact time he reached the apartment house?"
"Well, I'll say it was a quarter to ten."
"Do you know or are you guessin'?"
"I know. Our clock struck the quarter to whilst we looked at themcomin' down the street."
"At them or at him?"
"At him, I mean."
"Can't stick to his own story," Olson grunted.
"A slip of the tongue. I meant him."
"And Jack and the lady were three or four minutes behind him?" Kirbyreiterated.
"Yes."
"Was your clock exactly right?"
"May be five minutes fast. It gains."
"You know they turned in at the Paradox?"
"All three of 'em. Mrs. Hull she opened the door a mite an' saw 'em goup in the elevator. It moves kinda slow, you know. The heavy-setyoung fellow went up first. Then two-three minutes later the elevatorwent down an' the dude an' the young lady went up."
Kirby put his foot on the cement bench and rested his forearm on hisknee. The cattleman's steady eyes were level with those of the unhappyman making the confession.
"Did you at any time hear the sound of a shot?"
"Well, I--I heard somethin'. At the time I thought maybe it was a tirein the street blowin' out. But come to think of it later we figured itwas a shot."
"You don't know for sure."
"Well, come to that I--I don't reckon I do. Not to say for certainsure."
A tense litheness had passed into the rough rider's figure. It was asthough every sense were alert to catch and register impressions.
"At what time was it you thought you heard this shot?"
"I dunno, to the minute."
"Was it before James Cunningham went up in the elevator? Was itbetween the time he went up an' the other two went up? Or was it afterJack Cunningham an' Miss Harriman passed on the way up?"
"Seems to me it was--"
"Hold on." Kirby raised a hand in protest. "I don't want any guesses.You know or you don't. Which is it?"
"I reckon it was between the time yore cousin James went up an' theothers followed."
"You reckon? I'm askin' for definite information. A man's life mayhang on this." The cattleman's eyes were ice-cold.
Hull swallowed a lump in his fat throat before he committed himself."Well, it was."
"Was between the two trips of the elevator, you mean?"
"Yes."
"Your wife heard this sound, too?"
"Yep. We spoke of it afterward."
"Do you know anything else that could possibly have had any bearing onmy uncle's death?"
"No, sir. Honest I don't."
Olson shot a question at the man on the grill. "Did you kill the Japservant, too, as well as his boss?"
"I didn't kill either the one or the other, so help me."
"Do you know anything at all about the Jap's death? Did you seeanything suspicious going on at any time?" Kirby asked.
"No, sir. Nothin' a-tall."
The rough rider signaled the taxicab, which was circling the lake atthe foot of the hill. Presently it came up the incline and took on itspassengers.
"Drive to the Paradox Apartments," Kirby directed.
He left Hull outside in the cab while he went in to interview his wife.The lean woman with the forbidding countenance opened the door.
Metaphorically speaking, Kirby landed his knockout instantly. "I'vecome to see you on serious business, Mrs. Hull. Your husband hasconfessed how he did for my uncle. Unless you tell the whole truthhe's likely to go to the death cell."
She gasped, her fear-filled eyes fastened on him. Her hand movedblindly to the side of the door for support.