The Poisoned Pen (From the Craig Kennedy series)

e Standard Burglary Insurance Company. What-really? The Branford pearls-stolen? Maid chlorofo

r the telephone that Kennedy became involved in what proved

into Craig's affairs, but because I simply couldn't help it. This was news that had not yet been given out to t

emember, when the Branford pearls were bought in Paris last year th

dded Kennedy. "Blake, I understand, is the head of the Burglary Insurance Underwrit

aiting for Blake to arrive. When he did come, it w

keenness about his manner that showed clearly how important he regarded the case. So anxious was he to get down to

noon ourselves, and we haven't given it out to the papers yet, though the local police in Jersey are now on the scene. The New York police must be not

ge of the up-to-date man of efficien

t for a short stay at Palm Beach. Of course they ought to have put their valuables in a safe deposit vault. But they didn't. They relied on a safe that was really one of the best in the market-a splendid safe, I may say. Well, it seems that while the master and mistress were both away the servants decided on having a good

there had been a struggle. A towel had been wrapped up in a sort of cone, saturated with chloroform, and forcibly held over the girl's nose. The next thing they discov

e thief or thieves, whoever they were, apparently gained access by breaking a ba

d fallen outside in such a way as it could not have fallen if the window had been broken from the outside. The thing

NOT go to Palm Beach. She did NOT engage rooms in any hotel there. And furthermore she never had any intention of going there. By a fortunate circumstance Maloney picked up a hint from one of the servants, and he has located her at th

k back in his chair a

ted Kennedy slo

. That was done by a yeggman of experience. He must have been above the average, but everything point

Mrs. Branford. By the way," he added, as we all rose to go down to Blake's car, "I once handled a life insurance case for the Great Eastern. I made t

make a signal example if it is as we have every reason to believe. There has been altogether too much of this sort of fake

s chief. "Never fear," he murmured. "The truth is wh

t, although it took longer to go by automobile than by train, the car made u

maid had been removed to a local morgue, and a police officer was patrolling

lled "burglar-proof" variety, spherical in shape, and looking f

Craig as he concluded a cursory examination of it. "It shows great resistance to high explosives, chiefly,

his fellow must have stripped the safe of all the outer trimmings. His next move was to make a dent in the manganese surface across the joint where the door fits the body.

y. "She was in the house. She wou

ast night. No, she probably did scream. Either at this point, or at the very start, the burglar must have chloroformed her. I don't see any other way to explain it. I doubt if he expected such a tough proposition as he found in this sa

nt he made a sort of little cup of red clay and poured in the 'soup'-the nitroglycerin-so that it would run into the depression. Then he exploded it in the regular way with a battery and a fulminate cap. I doubt if it did much more than d

ge. It must have been more like target-practice than safe-blowing. But the chance doesn't often come-an empty house and plenty of time. Finally the door must have bulged a fraction of an inch or so, and then a good big charge and the outer portion was ripped off and the safe turned ov

aloney gasped, "If I was in the safe-cracking

s go back to New York and see

t limited to any one class. Indeed, it is easier to foil the insurance companies when you sit in the midst of finery and wealth, protected by a self-assuring halo of moral rectitude, than under less fortunate circumstances. Too o

cted her. Resentment was no name for her feelings. She scorned us, loathed us. It was only by what must have been the utmost exercise of her remarkable will-power that she restrained herself from calling the hotel porters and having us thr

o have him place the whole matter in the hands of the best attorney in the city. Not only will I have the full amount of the insurance, but I will have damages a

ord," put in Kennedy, a

ppo

What if I do choose to close up that lonely big house in the suburbs and co

dded Kennedy, nettled a

t to Arizona for the express purpose of collecting insurance on

maton, "that supposing some one took advantage of your absence to rob your sa

that you were going to Palm Beach when in reality you were in New York?" pur

not know that you have been appointed my guardian, sir. Let us consider this interview at an end. Good-night," and with that she swept out of the room,

slowly filed down the hall to the elevator. A woman of Mrs. Branford's stamp so readily and successfully puts one in the

r to me and whispered. "That Maloney is impossible. I'll have to shak

n it badly at the very start. Only, be decent about it

"Maloney is right. The case is simple enough, after all. But we must find out some way to fasten t

ck into the Grattan Inn again. It was quite late. People were coming in from the theatres, laughing and chatt

e sat down and cast our eyes over the dizzy array of inedibles on the

ed about until my eye rested on a large pie

s in the writing-room-I can see her in tha

tly as you can, Walter," he said quickly.

e changing places-a fine-looking chap. By Jove, I've seen him before somewhere. His face and his manner are familiar to me. But I simply

s we reached the door we caught a fle

lady?" asked Craig of the negro who turned

e doorman. "Yes, sah, he stays here once in a while. Thank

we walked slowly down to the subway station. "Jack D

ost of creditors, no doubt. By the way, Craig," I exclaimed, "don't you think it would be a good plan to drop down a

-store which had a telephone booth. "I'll just call O'Co

rusting to the first deputy's honour, which had stood many a test, Craig began to unfold the story. He had scarcely got as far as des

culated, "tha

e asked i

n watching for a long time. It's full of crooks, and to-day they've all been as drunk as lords, a sure sign some one has made a haul and be

y, "I told you so," but he was eng

any other man in the city. From him crooks can obtain anything from a jimmy to a safe-cracking outfit. I know that this man has been trying to dispose of some unmounted pearls to-day among jewellers in M

will you go with me to

s some one in that gang

Cat is his name-to go with you. I'll help you in any way. I'll have any number of plain-clothes men you want ready to r

We were out in Montclair again before the commuters had started to go to New York, and that in spite of t

om cellar to attic in daylight. What he expected to find,

se, "there remains just one place. Here is this littl

tle thing and one of the old-timers in the industry would no doubt have opened it in short order. The perspiration stood out on

he had brought and disclosed a camera. He placed it on a writing-desk opposite the

r has so much greater speed than anything ever invented before that it is possible to use it in detective work. I'll just run these fine wires like a burglar alarm, only instead of having an alarm I

said nothing, for it was part of the agreement. Maloney seemed rather glad than otherwise. He had been combing out some tangled clues of his own about Mrs. Branford. St

reet these days, and that's just the thing that causes an increase in fake burglaries. Then there is another possibility," he continued triumphantly. "I had a man up at the Grattan Inn, and he reports to me that Mrs. Stanford was seen with the actor

d afford to patronise a good amateur-but after all an ama

s was a pretty good one. Meanwhile, of course, the po

ontinued: "What do you suppose she has done with the jewels? She must have put them somewhere before she got the yeggman to break the safe. She'd hardly trust them in his hands. But she might have been foolish enough for that. Of course it

d as if it were a new idea. "If we only had some evidence, even part of the jew

ght that he had started Maloney off on another trail, leaving us to follow ours unhamper

he said. "I think we can do better

er attitude toward us was very different from that of the first interview. Whether she was ruffled by the official presence of Blake or the officious presence of Maloney, s

possession of some facts that are very important. I have heard that several loose pearls which may or ma

f them. My first desire is to collect the insurance. If anything is recovered I am quite willing to deduct that amount from the total. But

e will be here in four days," she said, tearing the telegram petulantly, and not at

us to conclude the interview. Kennedy leaned fo

ower,'" he said slowly, "where Jack Delarue m

ined her composure. "Vaguely," she murmur

e meant it to have a personal application, "husbands do not forgiv

ot have affinities as often as some news

night," went on Kennedy inexorably. "I w

ust my every act be watched and misrepresented? I suppose a distorted version of the facts will be given

he truth about the pearls. If it involves some other person, it is still my duty to get at the truth

haggard. "I have told,

any more-I know

down in my heart I knew that the woman was hiding something behind that fo

his stay had been protracted because Maloney was there and he wished to avoid him. He had brought b

nically. "We are going to visit a haunt of yeggmen, Walter, that few outsiders have

ut what excuse are you going to have

ing over my shoulder. You are the reporter, remember, and I'm the newspaper photographer. They won't pose for us, of course, but that will be all right. Speaking about photographs, I got one out at Montclair that is

tinguish it above the other ramshackle buildings on the street, except that the other houses were cluttered with children and baby-carriages, while this one was vacant, the front door closed,

. The house itself was the dilapidated ruin of what had once been a fashionable residence in the days when society lived in the then suburban Bowery. The iron han

triking. What had once been a drawing-room was now the general assembly room of the resort. Broken-down chairs lined the walls, and the floor was generously

tel, now stained by age, standing above the unused grate. Double folding-doors led to what, I imagine, was once a library. Dirt and grime indescribable were everywhere. There was the smell of old clothes and old cooking, the race odours of every nationality known to

ily fixed on us, sizing us up. What should I say? Craig came to the rescue

he suggested. "That mak

of the slang I already knew by hearsay, such as "bulls" for policemen, a "mouthpiece" for a lawyer to defend one when he is "ditch

ried. "You have so

man. "Now here's the

e finder, who enters a

hat means he's from Ch

from Pitts

Slim'll be here to-night. He'll give you the devi

ipe for making "soup." "It's here in this cipher," said the man, drawing out a dirty piece of paper. "It's we

anslated the cu

ng careful to break all the lumps. Leave it set for a few minutes. Then get a few yards of cheesecloth and tear it up in pieces and strain the mixture through the cloth into another vessel. Wring

n one lesson by correspondence school. The rest of

ollar up and his hat down over his eyes. There was something indefinably familiar about him

beckoning to the proprietor, who joined him outside the door. I thought I heard

leaving us alone with the Gay Cat. Kennedy reached over to get a

I think," he whis

with a large section of my bank-account to be up on

eyes swam; I felt a stinging sensation on my head and a weak feeling about the stomach; I sank ha

e. When I opened my eyes I was lying on my back on a very dirty sofa in another room. Kennedy was bending over me with blood

staggered to my feet. "Then they dragged us through

ut, only half comprehending. Then my recollection flooded back with a rush. We had been locked in another room after the attack, and left to be dealt with la

slung over his shoulder, wher

nor, waiting in a room as we had agreed. There was only one window in our room, and it opened on a miserable little dumbwaiter air-shaft. It would

picture. His very deliberation set me fretting and fuming, and I swore at him under my breath. Still, he worked calmly ahead. I saw him take the black box and set it on the tripod. It was

over against the door. There, now the table and that bureau, and wedge th

d tinkered with the bo

that you, O'Con

ed his brain? Here he was, trying to talk into a camera. A little

utside the door. "By God, they've barricaded t

several hundred feet-through walls and everything. The inventor placed it in a box easily carried by a man, including a battery, and mounted on an ordinary camera tripod so that the user might well

ntral freightyards at midnight. Start your plain-clothes men out and send some one here, quick, to release us. We are locked in a room in the fourth or fifth house from the corne

nd my relief when I saw the square-set, honest face of O'Connor and half a dozen plainclothes men holding the yeggs who would certainly have murdered us this time to protect their pal in his getaway. The fact is I d

he high embankment that separated the yards with their interminable lines of full and empty cars on one side and the San Juan Hill district of New York up o

ee to one. O'Connor himself snapped a pair of steel bracel

Slim," he ground out

l's-eye on the three prisoners

as Maloney,

d on the three yeggs checked off from the list of the Branford pearls, leaving a few thousand dollars' wort

ake rushed over and grasped Kennedy's hand, asking eagerly: "H

pe, which contained an untoned print of a photograph. He la

k-shutter camera, the wire connected with the wall safe, Craig's hint to Maloney that if some of the jewels were found hidden in a likely place in the house, it would fu

rets of your clients, at the same time engineering all the robberies that you thought were fakes, and then working up the evidence incriminating the victims themselves. He got into the Branford house with a skeleton k

understand my awkward position? My apologies cannot be too humble. It will give me great p

y. The return of the pearls did no

ou and-and-depend on me, it is already forgotten," said Kenned

hen dropping her eyes she added in a lower tone which no one heard except Craig: "Mr. Kennedy,