The crooked crossDutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
General
The crooked cross
Dutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
Bartley, John (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
It seemed to me that the light must be from a candle placed somewhere
upon the organ. It was so small that it could not give much
illumination. From where I was it did not seem much larger than a
dollar. But beside the light, mostly in the shadow, could be seen the
indistinct figure of a man—a man bent over the keyboard of the organ,
his figure swaying back and forth as he played. But it was impossible
to distinguish who the man might be.
With the wild notes of the organ ringing in my ears, I dropped to the
ground and told what I had observed. Bartley turned at once to the
window and, with my assistance, climbed upon the sill. For several
moments, with his face against the glass, he remained motionless.
Then, sliding to the ground, he came to our side.
“Is there a balcony in the church?” he asked Carter.
Carter thought a moment and replied that he thought there was. Then
Bartley said he wished Carter and I to go into the church and to reach
the balcony. He and Ranville would join us in a short while. If we
succeeded in getting into the balcony without being heard, we were to
simply watch the person playing the organ and wait until Bartley
joined us. We started to ask him what he expected would be discovered.
He made no reply to the question; instead he said he thought he would
be able to pick the lock of the front door of the church.
Wondering just why he wished us to go into the church and, above all,
puzzled as to where he and Ranville might be going, we followed him to
the church entrance. For a second the flame from his flash light
played upon the great door. Then as we screened him, Bartley fumbled
for a moment or so with the lock, using a thin piece of steel, and
before we knew it the door was open.
With a whisper that we might close the door, as he could open it
again, Bartley slipped away in the darkness. Silently, Carter and I
stole softly into the church. As we closed the door behind us, we
stopped a moment to listen. There came to our ears the muffled sound
of the organ, telling us the man was still playing. With a whisper
that we did not have to be very careful as the organ would drown out
any noise we made, Carter turned on his flash light.
The flame lasted but a moment, but long enough to allow us to get our
bearings. We were in the vestibule of the church. On each side of the
hallway stairs ran to the other floor, no doubt to a balcony. In the
front near the stairs were two doors leading into the church. They
were glass doors, but the glass was covered with some sort of cloth.
There was not much necessity to be over quiet. The organ prevented any
sound we might make from being heard. We went to the stairs, and with
our hands on the wall climbed to the next floor. We crept carefully
through several rows of chairs and managed to reach the front railing
of the balcony without any noise. There we sank back in the nearest
chairs and peered over the rail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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