The Holladay Case Part 19

"Thanks," I said, as I dropped into a chair.

He sat quietly down opposite me, and, weary as I was, I was conscious of his keen eyes upon me.

"We heard from Miss Holladay this morning," I remarked, unconsciously answering their question.

He did not reply for a moment, but I had closed my eyes again, and I was too tired to open them and look at him.

"Ah," he said, in a voice a little hoa.r.s.e; "and she is well?"

"No; she's disappeared."

"You mean----"

"I mean she's run away," I said, waking up a little.

"And she has informed you----"

"Oh, no; we've just found it out. She's been gone ten days."

"And you are going to search for her?" he questioned carelessly, after another pause.

"Yes--I'll begin in the morning."

Again there was a moment's silence.

"Ah!" he said, with a curious intensity. "Ah."

Then he arose and left me to tumble incontinently into bed.

CHAPTER XI

I Unmask My Enemy

Tired Nature a.s.serted herself and took the full twelve hours. But I felt like another man when I left the house next morning, and I was eager to grapple anew with the mystery. I found two reports awaiting me at the office: Mr. Royce had pa.s.sed a good night and was better; the clerks who had spent the afternoon before in visiting the stables had as yet discovered nothing, and were continuing their search.

I looked up a time-card of the Long Island Railroad, and found that Miss Holladay's coachman could not reach the city until 9.30. So I put on my hat again, sought a secluded table at Wallack's, and over a cigar and stein of bock, drew up a resume of the case--to clear the atmosphere, as it were. It ran something like this:

March 13, Thursday--Holladay found murdered; daughter drives to Was.h.i.+ngton Square.

March 14, Friday--Coroner's inquest; Miss Holladay released; mysterious note received.

March 16, Sunday--Holladay buried.

March 18, Tuesday--Will opened and probated.

March 28, Friday--Miss Holladay returns from drive, bringing new maid with her and discharges old one.

March 29, Sat.u.r.day--Gives orders to open summer house.

April 1, Tuesday--Asks for $100,000.

April 2, Wednesday--Gets it.

April 3, Thursday--Leaves home, ostensibly for Belair, in company with new maid.

April 14, Monday--Butler reports her disappearance; Royce taken ill; I begin my search.

There I stopped. The last entry brought me up to date--there was nothing more to add. But it seemed impossible that all the developments of this mystery should have taken only a month. For years, as it seemed to me, I had thought of nothing else.

I looked over the schedule again carefully. There was only one opening that I could see where it was possible to begin work with the hope of accomplis.h.i.+ng anything. That was in the very first entry. Miss Holladay had driven to Was.h.i.+ngton Square; she had, I felt certain, visited her sister; I must discover the lodging of this woman. Perhaps I should also discover Frances Holladay there. In any event, I should have a new point to work from.

The police had been over the ground, I knew; they had exhausted every resource in the effort to locate Mr. Holladay's mysterious visitor, and had found not a trace of her. But that fact did not discourage me; for I hoped to start my search with information which the police had not possessed. Brooks, the coachman, should be able to tell me----

Recalled suddenly to remembrance of him, I looked at my watch and saw that it was past his hour. I was pleased to find him awaiting me when I opened the office door three minutes later. I had only a few questions to ask him.

"When your mistress left the carriage the day you drove her to Was.h.i.+ngton Square, did you notice which street she took after she left the square?"

"Yes, sir; she went on down West Broadway."

"On which side?"

"Th' left-hand side, sir; th' east side."

"She must have crossed the street to get to that side."

"Yes, sir; she did. I noticed pertic'lar, for I thought it funny she shouldn't 've let me drive her on down th' street to wherever she was goin'. It's a dirty place along there, sir."

"Yes, I know. When you drove her out on the 28th--the day she brought back the maid--where did she go?"

"To Was.h.i.+ngton Square again, sir."

"And left you waiting for her?"

"Yes, sir; just th' same."

"And went down the same street?"

"Yes, sir; crossed to th' east side just th' same as th' time before."

"How long was she gone?"

"Over an hour, sir; an hour an' a half, I should say."

"Did you notice anything unusual in her appearance when she came back?"