CHAPTER XVI. BURKE PLOTS.
The butler entered.
"A man to see you, sir," he said.
Gilder made a gesture of irritation, as he sank into the chair at hisdesk.
"I can't see any one to-night, Thomas," he exclaimed, sharply.
"But he said it was most important, sir," the servant went on. He heldout the tray insistently.
The master took the card grudgingly. As his eyes caught the name, hisexpression changed slightly.
"Very well," he said, "show him up." His glance met the wondering gazeof his son.
"It's Burke," he explained.
"What on earth can he want--at this time of night?" Dick exclaimed.
The father smiled grimly.
"You may as well get used to visits from the police." There wassomething ghastly in the effort toward playfulness.
A moment later, Inspector Burke entered the room.
"Oh, you're here, too," he said, as his eyes fell on Dick. "That's good.I wanted to see you, too."
Inspector Burke was, in fact, much concerned over the situation thathad developed. He was a man of undoubted ability, and he took a keenprofessional pride in his work. He possessed the faults of his class,was not too scrupulous where he saw a safe opportunity to make a snugsum of money through the employment of his official authority, was readyto buckle to those whose influence could help or hinder his ambition.But, in spite of these ordinary defects, he was fond of his work andwishful to excel in it. Thus, Mary Turner had come to be a thorn in hisside. She flouted his authority and sustained her incredible effronteryby a restraining order from the court. The thing was outrageous to him,and he set himself to match her cunning. The fact that she had involvedDick Gilder within her toils made him the more anxious to overcome herin the strife of resources between them. After much studying, he hadat last planned something that, while it would not directly touchMary herself, would at least serve to intimidate her, and as well makefurther action easier against her. It was in pursuit of this schemethat he now came to Gilder's house, and the presence of the young manabruptly gave him another idea that might benefit him well. So, hedisregarded Gilder's greeting, and went on speaking to the son.
"She's skipped!" he said, triumphantly.
Dick made a step forward. His eyes flashed, and there was anger in hisvoice as he replied:
"I don't believe it."
The Inspector smiled, unperturbed.
"She left this morning for Chicago," he said, lying with a manner thatlong habit rendered altogether convincing. "I told you she'd go." Heturned to the father, and spoke with an air of boastful good nature."Now, all you have to do is to get this boy out of the scrape and you'llbe all right."
"If we only could!" The cry came with deepest earnestness from the lipsof Gilder, but there was little hope in his voice.
The Inspector, however, was confident of success, and his tones rangcheerfully as he answered:
"I guess we can find a way to have the marriage annulled, or whateverthey do to marriages that don't take."
The brutal assurance of the man in thus referring to things that weresacred, moved Dick to wrath.
"Don't you interfere," he said. His words were spoken softly, buttensely.
Nevertheless, Burke held to the topic, but an indefinable change in hismanner rendered it less offensive to the young man.
"Interfere! Huh!" he ejaculated, grinning broadly. "Why, that's whatI'm paid to do. Listen to me, son. The minute you begin mixing up withcrooks, you ain't in a position to give orders to any one. The crookshave got no rights in the eyes of the police. Just remember that."
The Inspector spoke the simple truth as he knew it from years ofexperience. The theory of the law is that a presumption of innocenceexists until the accused is proven guilty. But the police are out ofsympathy with such finical methods. With them, the crook is presumedguilty at the outset of whatever may be charged against him. If needbe, there will be proof a-plenty against him--of the sort that theunderworld knows to its sorrow.
But Dick was not listening. His thoughts were again wholly with thewoman he loved, who, as the Inspector declared, had fled from him.
"Where's she gone in Chicago?"
Burke answered in his usual gruff fashion, but with a note of kindlinessthat was not without its effect on Dick.
"I'm no mind-reader," he said. "But she's a swell little girl, allright. I've got to hand it to her for that. So, she'll probably stop atthe Blackstone--that is, until the Chicago police are tipped off thatshe is in town."
Of a sudden, the face of the young man took on a totally differentexpression. Where before had been anger, now was a vivid eagerness. Hewent close to the Inspector, and spoke with intense seriousness.
"Burke," he said, pleadingly, "give me a chance. I'll leave for Chicagoin the morning. Give me twenty-four hours start before you beginhounding her."
The Inspector regarded the speaker searchingly. His heavy face wasdrawn in an expression of apparent doubt. Abruptly, then, he smiledacquiescence.
"Seems reasonable," he admitted.
But the father strode to his son.
"No, no, Dick," he cried. "You shall not go! You shall not go!"
Burke, however, shook his head in remonstrance against Gilder's plea.His huge voice came booming, weightily impressive.
"Why not?" he questioned. "It's a fair gamble. And, besides, I like theboy's nerve."
Dick seized on the admission eagerly.
"And you'll agree?" he cried.
"Yes, I'll agree," the Inspector answered.
"Thank you," Dick said quietly.
But the father was not content. On the contrary, he went toward the twohurriedly, with a gesture of reproval.
"You shall not go, Dick," he declared, imperiously.
The Inspector shot a word of warning to Gilder in an aside that Dickcould not hear.
"Keep still," he replied. "It's all right."
Dick went on speaking with a seriousness suited to the magnitude of hisinterests.
"You give me your word, Inspector," he said, "that you won't notify thepolice in Chicago until I've been there twenty-four hours?"
"You're on," Burke replied genially. "They won't get a whisper out of meuntil the time is up." He swung about to face the father, and therewas a complete change in his manner. "Now, then, Mr. Gilder," he saidbriskly, "I want to talk to you about another little matter----"
Dick caught the suggestion, and interrupted quickly.
"Then I'll go." He smiled rather wanly at his father. "You know, Dad,I'm sorry, but I've got to do what I think is the right thing."
Burke helped to save the situation from the growing tenseness.
"Sure," he cried heartily; "sure you have. That's the best any of us cando." He watched keenly as the young man went out of the room. It was notuntil the door was closed after Dick that he spoke. Then he dropped to aseat on the couch, and proceeded to make his confidences to the magnate.
"He'll go to Chicago in the morning, you think, don't you?"
"Certainly," Gilder answered. "But I don't like it."
Burke slapped his leg with an enthusiasm that might have broken a weakermember.
"Best thing that could have happened!" he vociferated. And then, asGilder regarded him in astonishment, he added, chuckling: "You see, hewon't find her there."
"Why do you think that?" Gilder demanded, greatly puzzled.
Burke permitted himself the luxury of laughing appreciatively a momentmore before making his exclamation. Then he said quietly:
"Because she didn't go there."
"Where did she go, then?" Gilder queried wholly at a loss.
Once again the officer chuckled. It was evident that he was well pleasedwith his own ingenuity.
"Nowhere yet," he said at last. "But, just about the time he's startingfor the West I'll have her down at Headquarters. Demarest will haveher indicted before noon. She'll go for trial in the afternoon. Andto-morrow night she'll be sleeping up the rive
r.... That's where she isgoing."
Gilder stood motionless for a moment. After all, he was an ordinarycitizen, quite unfamiliar with the recondite methods familiar to thepolice.
"But," he said, wonderingly, "you can't do that."
The Inspector laughed, a laugh of disingenuous amusement, for heunderstood perfectly the lack of comprehension on the part of hishearer.
"Well," he said, and his voice sank into a modest rumble that wasnone the less still thunderous. "Perhaps I can't!" And then he beamedbroadly, his whole face smiling blandly on the man who doubted hispower. "Perhaps I can't," he repeated. Then the chuckle came again, andhe added emphatically: "But I will!" Suddenly, his heavy face grew hard.His alert eyes shone fiercely, with a flash of fire that was knownto every patrolman who had ever reported to the desk when he waslieutenant. His heavy jaw shot forward aggressively as he spoke.
"Think I'm going to let that girl make a joke of the Police Department?Why, I'm here to get her--to stop her anyhow. Her gang is going to breakinto your house to-night."
"What?" Gilder demanded. "You mean, she's coming here as a thief?"
"Not exactly," Inspector Burke confessed, "but her pals are coming totry to pull off something right here. She wouldn't come, not if Iknow her. She's too clever for that. Why, if she knew what Garson wasplanning to do, she'd stop him."
The Inspector paused suddenly. For a long minute his face was seamedwith thought. Then, he smote his thigh with a blow strong enough to killan ox. His face was radiant.
"By God! I've got her!" he cried. The inspiration for which he hadlonged was his at last. He went to the desk where the telephone was, andtook up the receiver.
"Give me 3100 Spring," he said. As he waited for the connection hesmiled widely on the astonished Gilder. "'Tain't too late," he saidjoyously. "I must have been losing my mind not to have thought of itbefore." The impact of sounds on his ear from the receiver set him toattention.
"Headquarters?" he called. "Inspector Burke speaking. Who's in myoffice? I want him quick." He smiled as he listened, and he spoke againto Gilder. "It's Smith, the best man I have. That's luck, if you askme." Then again he spoke into the mouthpiece of the telephone.
"Oh, Ed, send some one up to that Turner woman. You have the address.Just see that she is tipped off, that Joe Garson and some pals are goingto break into Edward Gilder's house to-night. Get some stool-pigeonto hand her the information. You'd better get to work damned quick.Understand?"
The Inspector pulled out that watch of which Aggie Lynch had spoken soavariciously, and glanced at it, then went on speaking:
"It's ten-thirty now. She went to the Lyric Theater with some woman. Gether as she leaves, or find her back at her own place later. You'll haveto hustle, anyhow. That's all!"
The Inspector hung up the receiver and faced his host with a contentedsmile.
"What good will all that do?" Gilder demanded, impatiently.
Burke explained with a satisfaction natural to one who had devisedsomething ingenious and adequate. This inspiration filled him withdelight. At last he was sure of catching Mary Turner herself in histoils.
"She'll come to stop 'em," he said. "When we get the rest of the gang,we'll grab her, too. Why, I almost forgot her, thinking about Garson.Mr. Gilder, you would hardly believe it, but there's scarcely been areal bit of forgery worth while done in this country for the last twentyyears, that Garson hasn't been mixed up in. We've never once got himright in all that time." The Inspector paused to chuckle. "Crooks arefunny," he explained with obvious contentment. "Clever as he is, Garsonlet Griggs talk him into a second-story job, and now we'll get him withthe goods.... Just call your man for a minute, will you, Mr. Gilder?"
Gilder pressed the electric button on his desk. At the same moment,through the octagonal window came a blinding flash of light thatrested for seconds, then vanished. Burke, by no means a nervous man,nevertheless was startled by the mysterious radiance.
"What's that?" he demanded, sharply.
"It's the flashlight from the Metropolitan Tower," Gilder explained witha smile over the policeman's perturbation. "It swings around this wayabout every fifteen minutes. The servant forgot to draw the curtains."As he spoke, he went to the window, and pulled the heavy draperiesclose. "It won't bother us again."
The entrance of the butler brought the Inspector's thoughts back to thematter in hand.
"My man," he said, authoritatively, "I want you to go up to the roof andopen the scuttle. You'll find some men waiting up there. Bring 'em downhere."
The servant's usually impassive face showed astonishment, not unmixedwith dismay, and he looked doubtfully toward his master, who noddedreassuringly.
"Oh, they won't hurt you," the Inspector declared, as he noticed theman's hesitation. "They're police officers. You get 'em down here, andthen you go to bed and stay there till morning. Understand?"
Again, the butler looked at his master for guidance in this verypeculiar affair, as he deemed it. Receiving another nod, he said:
"Very well, sir." He regarded the Inspector with a certain helplessindignation over this disturbance of the natural order, and left theroom.
Gilder himself was puzzled over the situation, which was by no meansclear to him.
"How do you know they're going to break into the house to-night?" hedemanded of Burke; "or do you only think they're going to break into thehouse?"
"I know they are." The Inspector's harsh voice brought out the wordsboastfully. "I fixed it."
"You did!" There was wonder in the magnate's exclamation.
"Sure," Burke declared complacently, "did it through a stool-pigeon."
"Oh, an informer," Gilder interrupted, a little doubtfully.
"Yes," Burke agreed. "Stool-pigeon is the police name for him. Really,he's the vilest thing that crawls."
"But, if you think that," Gilder expostulated, "why do you have anythingto do with that sort of person?"
"Because it's good business," the Inspector replied. "We know he's a spyand a traitor, and that every time he comes near us we ought to use adisinfectant. But we deal with him just the same--because we have to.Now, the stool-pigeon in this trick is a swell English crook. He wentto Garson yesterday with a scheme to rob your house. He tried out MaryTurner, too, but she wouldn't stand for it--said it would break the law,which is contrary to her principles. She told Garson to leave it alone.But he met Griggs afterward without her knowing anything about it, andthen he agreed to pull it off. Griggs got word to me that it's comingoff to-night. And so, you see, Mr. Gilder, that's how I know. Do you getme?"
"I see," Gilder admitted without any enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, hefelt somewhat offended that his house should be thus summarily seized asa trap for criminals.
"But why do you have your men come down over the roof?" he inquiredcuriously.
"It wasn't safe to bring them in the front way," was the Inspector'sprompt reply. "It's a cinch the house is being watched. I wish you wouldlet me have your latch-key. I want to come back, and make this collarmyself."
The owner of the house obediently took the desired key from his ring andgave it to the Inspector with a shrug of resignation.
"But, why not stay, now that you are here?" he asked.
"Huh!" Burke retorted. "Suppose some of them saw me come in? Therewouldn't be anything doing until after they see me go out again."
The hall door opened and the butler reentered the room. Behind him cameCassidy and two other detectives in plain clothes. At a word from hismaster, the disturbed Thomas withdrew with the intention of obeyingthe Inspector's directions that he should retire to bed and stay there,carefully avoiding whatever possibilities of peril there might be in thesituation so foreign to his ideals of propriety.
"Now," Burke went on briskly, as the door closed behind the servant,"where could these men stay out of sight until they're needed?"
There followed a little discussion which ended in the selection of astore-room at the end of the passage on the ground floor, on which oneo
f the library doors opened.
"You see," Burke explained to Gilder, when this matter had been settledto his satisfaction, and while Cassidy and the other detectives wereout of the library on a tour of inspection, "you must have things right,when it comes to catching crooks on a frame-up like this. I had thesemen come to Number Twenty-six on the other street, then round the blockon the roofs."
Gilder nodded appreciation which was not actually sincere. It seemed tohim that such elaborate manoeuvering was, in truth, rather absurd.
"And now, Mr. Gilder," the Inspector said energetically, "I'm going togive you the same tip I gave your man. Go to bed, and stay there."
"But the boy," Gilder protested. "What about him? He's the one thing ofimportance to me."
"If he says anything more about going to Chicago--just you let him go,that's all! It's the best place for him for the next few days. I'll getin touch with you in the morning and let you know then how things arecoming out."
Gilder sighed resignedly. His heavy face was lined with anxiety. Therewas a hesitation in his manner of speech that was wholly unlike itsusual quick decisiveness.
"I don't like this sort of thing," he said, doubtfully. "I let you goahead because I can't suggest any alternative, but I don't like it,not at all. It seems to me that other methods might be employed withexcellent results without the element of treachery which seems toinvolve me as well as you in our efforts to overcome this woman."
Burke, however, had no qualms as to such plotting.
"You must have crooked ways to catch crooks, believe me," he saidcheerfully. "It's the easiest and quickest way out of the trouble forus, and the easiest and quickest way into trouble for them."
The return of the detectives caused him to break off, and he gave hisattention to the final arrangements of his men.
"You're in charge here," he said to Cassidy, "and I hold youresponsible. Now, listen to this, and get it." His coarse voice camewith a grating note of command. "I'm coming back to get this bunchmyself, and I'll call you when you're wanted. You'll wait in thestore-room out there and don't make a move till you hear from me, unlessby any chance things go wrong and you get a call from Griggs. You knowwho he is. He's got a whistle, and he'll use it if necessary.... Gotthat straight?" And, when Cassidy had declared an entire understandingof the directions given, he concluded concisely. "On your way, then!"
As the men left the room, he turned again to Gilder.
"Just one thing more," he said. "I'll have to have your help a littlelonger. After I've gone, I want you to stay up for a half-hour anyhow,with the lights burning. Do you see? I want to be sure to give theTurner woman time to get here while that gang is at work. Your keepingon the lights will hold them back, for they won't come in till the houseis dark, so, in half an hour you can get off the job, switch off thelights and go to bed and stay there--just as I told you before." ThenInspector Burke, having in mind the great distress of the man over theunfortunate entanglement of his son, was at pains to offer a reassuringword.
"Don't worry about the boy," he said, with grave kindliness. "We'll gethim out of this scrape all right." And with the assertion he bustledout, leaving the unhappy father to miserable forebodings.