Cad Metti, The Female Detective Strategist Part 1

Cad Metti, The Female Detective Strategist.

by Harlan Page Halsey.

CHAPTER I.

TWO SKILLFUL YOUNG DETECTIVES OVERMATCH A BRACE OF VILLAINS AND PROVE WHAT NERVE AND COURAGE CAN DO.

"Let's duck him and steal the girl."

A young lady and gentleman were walking on the sands at Coney Island beach. The lady was very handsomely attired, and by her side walked a young man, a perfect type in appearance of an effeminate dude. Three rough-looking men had been following the lady and gentleman at a distance, and when the latter stopped at a remote part of the beach far from any hotel the three men held a consultation, and one of them uttered the declaration with which we open our narrative.

As usual certain very exciting incidents led up to the scene we have depicted. One week prior to the meeting on the beach a young detective known as Dudie Dunne, owing to the fact that he often a.s.sumed the role of a dude as a throw-off, was seated in a hotel smoking-room when a shrewd-faced, athletic-looking man approached him and said:

"h.e.l.lo, Dunne! I've been on the lookout for you."

"You've found me."

"I have, and I'm glad. I've got a great shadow for you."

"I am all ears, Wise."

"I want you in the government service. There is a chance for you to make a big hit."

"I am ready to make a big hit, Wise."

"You are in a position to do it. You speak Italian, but what is better, you have your lady pal. She is a real Italian, I am told, and one of the bravest and brightest women that ever entered the profession."

"Some one told you that?"

"Yes."

"Whoever did so knew what they were talking about. Cad Metti is one of the brightest women that ever entered the profession; she is a born detective. What is the job?"

"There is a gang at work--the worst ever known. They are Italians, but they have a contingent of American and English rogues working with them.

They are the most dangerous operators that ever organized for the coining of base money. They are located all over the United States. They have regular pa.s.swords. Indeed, their organization is perfect, and with them are a number of desperate a.s.sa.s.sins, and a few beautiful women. I can't go into all the details, but the government has appropriated a large sum from the secret service fund. We must run down and break up this dangerous gang."

"You have the case in hand?"

"I am directing the hunt. I have twenty of my best men on the case, and I have trailed down to the fact that all the movements are directed from New York. The chief men are located here, and never in the history of criminal doings was such a dangerous lot at work."

"What points have you?"

"The only point I have is the fact that the leaders are located here in New York."

"In what line are they working?"

"They are counterfeiting in all its branches, they are bank robbing and burglarizing private houses. Indeed every sort of criminal appears to be in the organization. It is not even confined to the United States. They are sending base American money to Mexico and Cuba. The president of the Mexican republic has sent a large sum here to aid in their capture. The merchants of Havana have also sent on a fund."

"And you have no clues as to the ident.i.ty of these people?"

"We have captured several of the gang, but that does not interrupt the work. It's the leaders we want, and if you can get in and trail them down it will be the biggest feather you ever wore in your cap. But let me tell you, it's a dangerous job. Several of our men have mysteriously vanished. Two we know were a.s.sa.s.sinated; the others have been done away with. My reputation is at stake. Thus far I have been baffled."

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Shadow down and locate the leaders."

"Can you give me a hint where to look for them? That is, can you give me any starter at all?"

"I cannot. You may find them mingling in the best society in New York; you may find them in the slums under cover. One thing is certain: they are the shrewdest rascals that ever defied the whole detective force of the United States, and I have great hopes that you can succeed where we have all failed. You can command me for all the money you need; and now get in and run down these rogues."

"You have no photographs?"

"No."

"You say there are women in with the gang?"

"Yes."

"Here in New York?"

"Yes."

"Are the women shoving the queer?"

"If they do they do it so well we cannot trace them; but there are women in the gang."

"Have they a workshop here?"

"I do not think they have. I believe the workshop is in some remote place, possibly in Mexican territory; but the leaders are here, and it is necessary to trail down the leaders and get the evidence against them. If we get the leaders we can knock out the whole gang. My men have located members of the gang, and we can close in on them any time, but none of them will squeal as long as the leaders go free. But once let us secure the leaders and there will follow a wholesale squeal, and we can break up the gang."

"All right, I am in with you. I will see Cad Metti and talk the matter over with you later on."

"I should like to meet your female pal."

During the time Wise, the great special, had been talking to Dunne a district messenger lad had been standing near munching on a cracker which he had taken from the free lunch table, and at the proper moment he stepped forward and handed our hero a note.

The latter glanced at the missive and said:

"All right, lad; there is no answer."

The boy stood around and finally Dunne handed him a nickel. The boy laughed, said "thank you," and walked away, and Dunne said:

"You have never seen Cad Metti?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"