American fiction -- 20th century; Detective and mystery stories
He then passed through the outer offices and went downstairs. He must
have missed Carol by a few seconds. His knock being unanswered, he let
himself in with his pass key, and walked through to the back room. Here
he drew in the body, then curtaining the window, turned on the lights
and effected the change of clothes, shaving off the mustache, and
looking for the scarf pin which he couldn’t find. He had just completed
this when Ford entered—a terrible moment for him.
When Ford left his nerve was shaken and he realized he must finish the
job at once. After he had done so he went back to the private office,
carefully arranged his own disguise, and after waiting for over an hour,
put on Barker’s hat and coat and went down the service stairs.
He met no person or obstacle, skirted the back of the block and picked
up Heney at the place designated. At the Elizabeth Station he bought a
ticket to Philadelphia, but when he saw his chance, crossed the lines to
the Jersey Central platform and boarded a local for Jersey City, from
which by a devious route he made his way to Canada. It was in the
waiting-room at the Jersey City depot that he removed his disguise.
In Toronto he sublet a small apartment, only going out at night, and
keeping a close watch on the developments in New York which he followed
through the papers. By these he learned that everything had worked out
as he hoped, that the crime was unsuspected, and the public interest
centered on the chase for Barker. All that now remained to complete his
enterprise was to get Carol.
That his continued success must have given him an almost insane
confidence is proved by the way he went about this last and most
difficult step. Criminals all slip up somewhere. He had attended to the
details of the murder with amazing skill and thoroughness. It was in his
estimate of the character of Carol that he showed that blind spot in the
brain they all have.
The only way to explain it is that he was so sure of his own powers, so
confident that she was heart whole and would be unable to resist the
temptation of his enormous wealth, that he took the final risk—sent for
her in Barker’s name. Her response to his first summons encouraged him.
When she didn’t come he had many reasons with which to buoy himself
up—fears, illness, the impossibility of leaving her mother.
But it made him more cautious and he didn’t venture again till the hue
and cry for Barker had subsided and he had made a move to the last port
of call on the St. Lawrence. That he had expected to take her by storm,
win her consent and leave her no time to deliberate was proved by the
fact that "Henry Santley" had engaged accommodations for himself and
"sister" on the _Megantic_, sailing from Quebec at ten the next morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account