第20章

She waited a second before continuing her remarks."I have asked the coroner to make an investigation." She paused again, then added with more animation, "He is the one to tell us if a crime has been committed.""He can tell if death has been accelerated by a weapon, or a drug,"responded Kent; he was weighing his words carefully so that she might understand him fully."But to constitute a crime, it has to be proved first, that the act has been committed, and second, that a guilty mind or malice prompted it.Can you furnish a clew to establish either of the last mentioned facts in connection with Jimmie's death?"Kent wondered if she had heard him, she was so long in replying, and he was about to repeat his question when she addressed him.

"Have you heard from Coroner Penfield?"

"No.I tried several times to get him on the telephone, but without success," replied Kent; his disappointment at not receiving an answer to his question showed in his manner."I went to Penfield's house last night, but he had been called away on a case and, although I waited until nearly ten o'clock, he had not returned when I left.Have you had word from him?""Not - not directly." She had been nervously twisting her handkerchief about in her fingers; suddenly she turned and looked full at Kent, her eyes burning feverishly."I would give all Ipossess, my hope of future happiness even, if I could prove that Jimmie died from angina pectoris."Kent looked at her in mingled sympathy and doubt.- What did her words imply - further tragedy?

"Jimmie might not have died from angina pectoris," he said, "and still not have been poisoned -""You mean -"

"Suicide."

Slowly Helen took in his meaning, but she volunteered no remark, and Kent after a pause, added, "While I have not seen Coroner Penfield I did hear last night what killed Jimmie." Helen straightened up, one hand pressed to her heart."It was a lethal dose of amyl nitrite.""Amyl nitrite," she repeated."Yes, I have heard that it is given for heart trouble.How" - she looked at him queerly."How is it administered?""By crushing a capsule in a handkerchief and inhaling its fumes "- he was watching her closely."The handkerchief Jimmie was seen to use just before he died was found to contain two or more broken capsules."Helen sat immovable for over a minute, then she bowed her head and burst into dry tearless sobs which wracked her body.Kent laid a tender hand on her shoulder, then concluding it was better for her to have her cry out, he wandered aimlessly about the office waiting for her to regain her composure.

He stopped before one of the windows facing south and stared moodily at the Belasco Theater.That playhouse had surely never staged a more complicated mystery than the one he had set himself to unravel.

What consolation could he offer Helen? If he encouraged her belief in his theory that Jimmie committed suicide he would have to establish a motive for suicide, and that motive might prove to be the theft of Colonel McIntyre's valuable securities.Threatened with exposure as a thief and forger, Jimmie had committed suicide, so would run the verdict; the fact of his suicide was proof of his guilt of the crime Colonel McIntyre virtually charged him with, and vice versa.

What had been discovered to point to murder? The finding of a handkerchief, saturated with amyl nitrite, which had not belonged to the dead man.Proof - bah! it was ridiculous! What more likely than that Jimmie, while in the McIntyre house before his arrest as a burglar, had picked up one of Barbara's handkerchiefs, stuffed it inside his pocket, and when threatened with exposure on being held for the grand jury, had, in desperation, crushed the amyl nitrite capsules in Barbara's handkerchief and killed himself.

Kent drew a long, long sigh.His faith in Jimmie's honesty was shaken at last by the accumulative evidence, and he was convinced that he had found the solution to the problem, but how impart it to the weeping girl? To prove her lover a thief, forger, and suicide was indeed a task he shrank from.

A ring at the telephone caused Kent to move hastily to the instrument; when he hung up the receiver Helen was adjusting her veil before a mirror over the mantel.

"Colonel McIntyre is in the next room," he said, keeping his voice lowered.

"My father!" Helen's eyes were hard and dry."Does he know that I am here?""I don't know; Sylvester simply said he had called to see me and is waiting in the outer office." Observing her indecision, Kent opened the door leading directly into the corridor."You can leave this way without encountering Colonel McIntyre."Helen hurried through the door and paused in the corridor to whisper feverishly in Kent's ear, "Promise me you will remain faithful to Barbara whatever develops.""I will!" Kent's pledge rang out clearly, and Helen with a lighter heart turned to walk away when a telegraph boy appeared around the corner of the corridor and thrust a yellow envelope at Kent, who stood half inside his office watching Helen.

"Sign here," the boy said, indicating the line on the receipt slip, and getting it back, departed.

Motioning to Helen to wait, Kent tore open the telegram.It was from Cleveland and dated the night before.The message ran:

Called to Cleveland.Address City Club.Rochester.

Without comment Kent held out the telegram so that Helen could read it.