CHAPTER II
THE MURDER CAR
Garrick looked from one to the other of his visitors intently. Here wasan entirely unexpected development in the case which stamped it as setapart from the ordinary.
"How did the driver manage to explain it and get away?" he askedquickly.
McBirney shook his head in evident disgust at the affair.
"He must be a clever one," he pursued thoughtfully. "When he came intothe garage they say he was in a rather jovial mood. He said that he hadrun into a cow a few miles back on the road, and then began to cuss thefarmer, who had stung him a hundred dollars for the animal."
"And they believed it?" prompted Garrick.
"Yes, the garage keeper's assistant swallowed the story and cleaned thecar. There was some blood on the radiator and hood, but the strangepart was that it was spattered even over the rear seat--in fact, wasmostly in the rear."
"How did he explain that?"
"Said that he guessed the farmer who stung him wouldn't get much forthe carcass, for it had been pretty well cut up and a part of it flungright back into the tonneau."
"And the man believed that, too?"
"Yes; but afterward the garage keeper himself was told. He met thefarmer in town later, and the farmer denied that he had lost a cow.That set the garage keeper thinking. And then, while they were cleaningup the garage later in the day, they found that cartridge where the carhad been washed down and swept out. We had already advertised a rewardfor information about the stolen car, and, when he heard of the reward,for there are plenty of people about looking for money in that way, hetelephoned in, thinking the story might interest us. It did, for I amconvinced that his description of the machine tallies closely with thatof Mr. Warrington's."
"How about the man who drove it?" cut in Garrick.
"That's the unfortunate part of it," replied McBirney, chagrined."These amateur detectives about the country rarely seem to have anyforesight. Of course they could describe how the fellow was dressed,even the make of goggles he wore. But, when it came to telling onefeature of his face accurately, they took refuge behind the fact thathe kept his cap pulled down over his eyes, and talked like a 'cityfellow.'"
"All of which is highly important," agreed Garrick. "I suppose they'dconsider a fingerprint, or the portrait parle the height of idiocybeside that."
"Disgusting," ejaculated McBirney, who, whatever his own limitationsmight be, had a wholesome respect for Garrick's new methods.
"Where did you leave the car?" asked Garrick of Warrington. "How didyou lose it?"
The young man seemed to hesitate.
"I suppose," he said at length, with a sort of resigned smile, "I'llhave to make a clean breast of it."
"You can hardly expect us to do much, otherwise," encouraged Garrickdryly. "Besides, you can depend on us to keep anything you sayconfidential."
"Why," he began, "the fact is that I had started out for a mild littlesort of celebration, apropos of nothing at all in particular, beginningwith dinner at the Mephistopheles Restaurant, with a friend of mine.You know the place, perhaps--just on the edge of the automobiledistrict and the white lights."
"Yes," encouraged Garrick, "near what ought to be named 'Crime Square.'Whom were you with?"
"Well, Angus Forbes and I were going to dine together, and then laterwe were to meet several fellows who used to belong to the sameupperclass club with us at Princeton. We were going to do a littleslumming. No ladies, you understand," he added hastily.
Garrick smiled.
"It may not have been pure sociology," pursued Warrington,good-humouredly noticing the smile, "but it wasn't as bad as some ofthe newspapers might make it out if they got hold of it, anyhow. I mayas well admit, I suppose, that Angus has been going the pace prettylively since we graduated. I don't object to a little flyer now andthen, myself, but I guess I'm not up to his class yet. But that doesn'tmake any difference. The slumming party never came off."
"How?" prompted Garrick again.
"Angus and I had a very good dinner at the Mephistopheles--they have agreat cabaret there--and by and by the fellows began to drop in to joinus. When I went out to look for the car, which I was going to drivemyself, it was gone."
"Where did you leave it?" asked McBirney, as if bringing out theevidence.
"In the parking space half a block below the restaurant. A chauffeurstanding near the curb told me that a man in a cap and goggles--"
"Another amateur detective," cut in McBirney parenthetically.
"--had come out of the restaurant, or seemed to do so, had spun theengine, climbed in, and rode off--just like that!"
"What did you do then?" asked Garrick. "Did you fellows go anywhere?"
"Oh, Forbes wanted to play the wheel, and went around to a place onForty-eighth Street. I was all upset about the loss of the car, got intouch with the insurance company, who turned me over to McBirney here,and the rest of the fellows went down to the Club."
"There was no trace of the car in the city?" asked Garrick, of thedetective.
"I was coming to that," replied McBirney. "There was at least a rumour.You see, I happen to know several of the police on fixed posts upthere, and one of them has told me that he noticed a car, which mightor might not have been Mr. Warrington's, pull up, about the time hiscar must have disappeared, at a place in Forty-seventh Street which isreputed to be a sort of poolroom for women."
Garrick raised his eyebrows the fraction of an inch.
"At any rate," pursued McBirney, "someone must have been having a wildtime there, for they carried a girl out to the car. She seemed to bepretty far gone and even the air didn't revive her--that is, assumingthat she had been celebrating not wisely but too well. Of course, thewhole thing is pure speculation yet, as far as Warrington's car isconcerned. Maybe it wasn't his car, after all. But I am repeating itonly for what it may be worth."
"Do you know the place?" asked Garrick, watching Warrington narrowly.
"I've heard of it," he admitted, I thought a little evasively.
Then it flashed over me that Mrs. de Lancey was leading the crusadeagainst society gambling and that that perhaps accounted forWarrington's fears and evident desire for concealment.
"I know that some of the faster ones in the smart set go there once ina while for a little poker, bridge, and even to play the races," wenton Warrington carefully. "I've never been there myself, but I wouldn'tbe surprised if Angus could tell you all about it. He goes in for allthat sort of thing."
"After all," interrupted McBirney, "that's only rumour. Here's thepoint of the whole thing. For a long time my Association has beenthinking that merely in working for the recovery of the cars we havebeen making a mistake. It hasn't put a stop to the stealing, and thestealing has gone quite far enough. We have got to do something aboutit. It struck me that here was a case on which to begin and that you,Garrick, are the one to begin it for us, while I carry on the regularwork I am doing. The gang is growing bolder and more clever every day.And then, here's a murder, too, in all likelihood. If we don't roundthem up, there is no limit to what they may do in terrorizing the city."
"How does this gang, as you call it, operate?" asked Garrick.
"Most of the cars that are stolen," explained McBirney, "are taken fromthe automobile district, which embraces also not a small portion of thenew Tenderloin and the theatre district. Actually, Garrick, more thannine out of ten cars have disappeared between Forty-second andSeventy-second Streets."
Garrick was listening, without comment.
"Some of the thefts, like this one of Warrington's car," continuedMcBirney, warming up to the subject, "have been so bold that you wouldbe astonished. And it is those stolen cars, I believe, that are used inthe wave of taxicab and motor car robberies, hold-ups, and other crimesthat is sweeping over the city. The cars are taken to some obscuregarage, without doubt, and their identity is destroyed by men who areexpert in the practice."
"And you have no confidence in the police?" I inquired cautiou
sly,mindful of his former manner.
"We have frequently had occasion to call on the police for assistance,"he answered, "but somehow or other it has seldom worked. They don'tseem to be able to help us much. If anything is done, we must do it. Ifyou will take the case, Garrick, I can promise you that the Associationwill pay you well for it."
"I will add whatever is necessary, too," put in Warrington, eagerly. "Ican stand the loss of the car--in fact, I don't care whether I ever getit back. I have others. But I can't stand the thought that my car isgoing about the country as the property of a gunman, perhaps--an engineof murder and destruction."
Garrick had been thoughtfully balancing the exploded shell between hisfingers during most of the interview. As Warrington concluded, helooked up.
"I'll take the case," he said simply. "I think you'll find that thereis more to it than even you suspect. Before we get through, I shall geta conviction on that empty shell, too. If there is a gunman back of itall, he is no ordinary fellow, but a scientific gunman, far ahead ofanything of which you dream. No, don't thank me for taking the case. Mythanks are to you for putting it in my way."