第51章

"Still," remarked Kennedy cheerfully, "it may furnish a clue, after all.The clerk at least was not positive that it was not Miss Gilbert to whom she sold the book.Since we are down in this neighbourhood, let us drop in and see Mr.Gilbert again.Perhaps something may have happened since last night."Mr.Gilbert was in the dry-goods business in a loft building in the new dry-goods section on Fourth Avenue.One could almost feel that a tragedy had invaded even his place of business.As we entered, we could see groups of clerks, evidently discussing the case.It was no wonder, I felt, for the head of the firm was almost frantic, and beside the loss of his only daughter the loss of his business would count as nothing, at least until the keen edge of his grief was worn off.

"Mr.Gilbert is out," replied his secretary, in answer to our inquiry."Haven't you heard? They have just discovered the body of his daughter in a lonely spot in the Croton Aqueduct.The report came in from the police just a few minutes ago.It is thought that she was murdered in the city and carried there in an automobile."The news came with a stinging shock.I felt that, after all, we were too late.In another hour the extras would be out, and the news would be spread broadcast.The affair would be in the hands of the amateur detectives, and there was no telling how many promising clues might be lost.

"Dead!" exclaimed Kennedy, as he jammed his hat on his head and bolted for the door."Hurry, Walter.We must get there before the coroner makes his examination."I don't know how we managed to do it, but by dint of subway, elevated, and taxicab we arrived on the scene of the tragedy not very long after the coroner.Mr.Gilbert was there, silent, and looking as if he had aged many years since the night before; his hand shook and he could merely nod recognition to us.

Already the body had been carried to a rough shanty in the neighbourhood, and the coroner was questioning those who had made the discovery, a party of Italian labourers on the water improvement near by.They were a vicious looking crew, but they could tell nothing beyond the fact that one of them had discovered the body in a thicket where it could not possibly have lain longer than overnight.There was no reason, as yet, to suspect any of them, and indeed, as a much travelled automobile road ran within a few feet of the thicket, there was every reason to believe that the murder, if murder it was, had been committed elsewhere and that the perpetrator had taken this means of getting rid of his unfortunate victim.

Drawn and contorted were the features of the poor girl, as if she had died in great physical agony or after a terrific struggle.

Indeed, marks of violence on her delicate throat and neck showed only too plainly that she had been choked.

As Kennedy bent over the form of the once lovely Georgette, he noted the clenched hands.Then he looked at them more closely.

I was standing a little behind him, for though Craig and I had been through many thrilling adventures, the death of a human being, especially of a girl like Miss Gilbert, filled me with horror and revulsion.I could see, however, that he had noted something unusual.He pulled out a little pocket magnifying glass and made an even more minute examination of the hands.At last he rose and faced us, almost as if in triumph.I could not see what he had discovered - at least it did not seem to be anything tangible, like a weapon.

Quickly he opened the pocketbook which she had carried.It seemed to be empty, and he was about to shut it when something white, sticking in one corner, caught his eye.Craig pulled out a clipping from a newspaper, and we crowded about him to look at it.It was a large clipping from the section of one of the metropolitan journals which carries a host of such advertisements as "spirit medium,""psychic palmist," "yogi mediator," "magnetic influences," "crystal gazer," "astrologer," "trance medium," and the like.At once Ithought of the sallow, somewhat mystic countenance of Dudley, and the idea flashed, half-formed, in my mind that somehow this clue, together with the purchase of the book on clairvoyance, might prove the final link necessary.

But the first problem in Kennedy's mind was to keep in touch with what the authorities were doing.That kept us busy for several hours, during which Craig was in close consultation with the coroner's physician.The physician was of the opinion that Miss Gilbert had been drugged as well as strangled, and for many hours, down in his laboratory, his chemists were engaged in trying to discover from tests of her blood whether the theory was true.One after another the ordinary poisons were eliminated, until it began to look hopeless.

So far Kennedy had been only an interested spectator, but as the different tests failed, he had become more and more keenly alive.

At last it seemed as if he could wait no longer.

"Might I try one or two reactions with that sample?" he asked of the physician who handed him the test tube in silence.

For a moment or two Craig thoughtfully regarded it, while with one hand he fingered the bottles of ether, alcohol, distilled water, and the many reagents standing before him.He picked up one and poured a little liquid into the test tube.Then, removing the precipitate that was formed, he tried to dissolve it in water.Not succeeding, he tried the ether and then the alcohol.Both were successful.

"What is it?" we asked as he held the tube up critically to the light.

"I can't be sure yet," he answered slowly."I thought at first that it was some alkaloid.I'll have to make further tests before I can be positive just what it is.If I may retain this sample I think that with other clues that I have discovered I may be able to tell you something definite soon."The coroner's physician willingly assented, and Craig quickly dispatched the tube, carefully sealed, to his laboratory.