An Artist in Crime Part 20

"J. BARNES, ESQ.:

"DEAR SIR: I take the liberty of recalling to your mind the conversation which I had with you last month. I regret very much that I should have hinted that there was any possibility that my friend Mr. Mitchel might be implicated in the Pullman car robbery.

As you know, Miss Emily Remsen was robbed at the festival, night before last, of a ruby pin worth $20,000. It is very evident to my mind that Mr. Mitchel's hand is in this. I know that he pretends to be sick at a hotel in Philadelphia, but may not that be a humbug?

It would have been easy enough for him to slip over, don one of the Forty Thieves dominos, take the gem, and get back to Philadelphia the same night. This would be a safe theft for him to commit, especially as he may have the a.s.sistance of Miss Remsen. Now as all is fair in a bet, I want you to undertake to prove for me that Mr.

Mitchel committed this theft. I want to win that wager from him, and don't mind spending money. Even if I should advance you the whole thousand, I should save my own, provided you convict him within a year. Besides, the satisfaction to me would be worth the money. It takes a sharp man to get ahead of Mr. Mitchel. I enclose a check for two hundred, as a sort of retainer, and you may draw on me for more, up to one thousand dollars if you should need it. By the way, whilst writing to you I may as well confess that I was wrong in my suspicion of Mr. Thauret. I am sure that he does not cheat at cards. I have watched him frequently since then, and he certainly plays a square game. I have no reason for liking the man, and as a fact dislike him most heartily. Nevertheless justice compels me to retract the imputation which I put upon him. Another thing: the partner with whom he played that night I told you was unknown to me. I have since made his acquaintance, and though he is poor, he is a gentleman, and above suspicion. His name is Adrian Fisher. Hoping you will help me to win my wager, Yours truly, "ARTHUR RANDOLPH."

"So," thought Mr. Barnes, "even Mr. Randolph sees through the transparent scheme of being sick in Philadelphia and stealing his sweetheart's jewelry in New York. It is one thing to see the trick, however, and quite another to prove it. He thinks that Thauret and Fisher are both virtuous. Well, I am afraid he is mistaken there." He took up another letter. It read:

"PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 2d.

"DEAR MR. BARNES:

"Pardon my familiarity, but I think we are getting pretty well acquainted with one another. I have just read the New York newspapers, and am startled to see that Miss Remsen was deliberately robbed of that valuable ruby pin which I recently gave her. You will remember that I showed you the gem the very day that I took it to be set. I am very much disturbed about this affair, especially as I am unable through sickness to return to New York, and my physician warns me that it will be several days before I can leave my room.

Will you do me a great favor? Forget that I ever disparaged the detective force of which you are undoubtedly a brilliant member, and take this case in hand. I will give you one thousand dollars if you will recover the jewel, which is only a small reward considering its value. I send you a check for two hundred dollars, which you may use for expenses, and if more be needed let me know. I wish you could run over to Philadelphia to see me. A conversation with you would be a great satisfaction to me. Will you oblige, Yours very truly, "ROBERT LEROY MITCHEL."

Mr. Barnes read this no less than three times, and then said aloud, though there was no one to hear him: "Well!" That was all, but the tone was rich in suggestiveness. What he thought, but did not put into words, was: "That man has the coolest audacity I ever met. Here he actually offers me a thousand dollars to recover that ruby, when he knows that I was right by his side at the time of the theft. Is he so egotistic that he dares to guy me? Is he so sure that he cannot be convicted? I know that he was not in Philadelphia any way, as my man found his room empty. His _alibi_ is broken, at all events, clever as he thinks himself. Will I go to Philadelphia to see him? Well, I should think so! A conversation with him will be as satisfactory to me as it possibly can be to him. But first I must obey the call from Miss Remsen.

There may be much to learn there."

It was nearly an hour before Mr. Barnes's duties in connection with other cases made him at liberty. He went straight to Miss Remsen's, and was shown into her presence.

"You sent for me, Miss Remsen," he began.

"Yes, Mr. Barnes," she replied. "Will you be seated?" The detective accepted her invitation, and she continued: "To come to the point at once, I wish to see you about my lost ruby. It was a present from Mr.

Mitchel to me, and besides being very costly, I attach a sentimental value to it. I want you to undertake to recover it, and I will give you a thousand dollars if you succeed."

Mr. Barnes had never had so many thousand-dollar offers made to him in so short a time before. He smiled slightly, and said:

"Your offer comes too late, Miss Remsen. I have a letter from Mr.

Mitchel himself, making a similar offer. It would scarcely be proper for me to accept two rewards for one service."

"Then you refuse to help me?"

"On the contrary, I will use my utmost endeavors to detect the thief and recover your property for you. But I need no money from you."

"You are very conscientious, Mr. Barnes, and I admire it. I honor a man who places his duty above money."

"I thank you for your courteous remark. Now, if I am to help you, you must begin by a.s.sisting me."

"I will do whatever I can, certainly."

"Then tell me, have you no suspicion as to who might have taken your jewel?" The girl hesitated, and the detective watched her face keenly.

As she did not reply at once, he asked another question.

"Did you feel the person take the pin from your hair?"

"Yes, I did, but I did not realize what was occurring till he had it!"

"Why did you not make any resistance, or cry out?"

Again she hesitated, but in a moment she said firmly:

"I know that you have a right to ask me these questions, and I will reply to them if you insist upon it. But first tell me, would it be right for me to call a name to you, as one that I may have suspected, when I had but the flimsiest excuse for my suspicion? Might I not thus do more harm than good by attracting your attention to a false scent?"

"That is certainly a possibility, Miss Remsen, but it is one which I am inclined to risk. I mean that I prefer to trust to my experience, than to have you omit to tell me your suspicions."

"Very well, only promise me that you will not jump to conclusions, and thus perhaps annoy the person whom I shall name."

"I agree to that. I will take no action without sufficient reason other than that furnished by yourself."

"Very well. You asked if I suspected any one, and again why I did not resist the thief. If you will remember, my head was bowed. At first I could not understand how something seemed to move my pin. I fancied that it had become entangled in the Sultan's robe. Then the clock began to chime, and in a moment it flashed across my mind that perhaps Mr.

Mitchel was taking my pin, in order to win his wager. Therefore I said nothing. This makes my action clear to you?"

"Perfectly. Then I am to understand that Mr. Mitchel did not tell you in advance that he would do this?"

"No, he did not, and that is why I have sent for you."

"I don't understand you."

"Why, all the time that I thought he had the pin I was not worried. I even went so far as to act indignation at the festival. That was partly for your edification and mystification. I wanted to help Mr. Mitchel's plan. But when it occurred to me yesterday that Mr. Mitchel, if he had meant to take the pin, would have told me in advance, I saw at once that my first idea was wrong, and that my ruby is really gone. Then I wrote to you."

"Then you feel sure that he would have told you in advance?"

"Positive."

"May he not have feared to ask you to implicate yourself in a robbery, and possible scandal? You know he was liable to arrest, and it might be a considerable time before he could have proven that his theft was only a joke. He may have wished to spare you notoriety."

"He knows me better than that." She said this with a smile.

"How better?" asked the detective.

"I mean that he knows there is nothing that I would not risk for him, since I have consented to give him myself. I am one of those women, Mr.

Barnes, who are not easily deterred from aiding the man of her choice."

"Do you mean that you would be willing to share unenviable notoriety with him, and that he knew this?"

"I do, and therefore feel confident that he would have asked my a.s.sistance if it had been his intention to take my pin."

"Just as he did on another occasion?" The detective had been leading her up to this for the last few moments, and now watched to see the effect.

She did not change countenance, but simply said:

"What occasion?"

"The morning when he locked your maid in this room, whilst you went down-town and took a little girl from one house to another?"

"To what other?" This was a hard one for the detective, and as he did not reply she smiled aggravatingly, as she continued: