The Auto Boys' Vacation Part 9

"You and your automobile did good work to-night, boys! However you happened along, I can't think! And this gentleman with you?"

"It's quite a story, Mr. Peek. I'll tell you all about it when you've rested some," said Way, holding a lamp, while Billy tied a soft, clean handkerchief over the wound. Worth was gentle and clever as a woman at such things.

"Thunder and lightning! It's _Pickem!_ I thought----"

Paul's violent exclamation caused all the boys to look at once to the man on the ground. The dull glow of the lamp had suddenly fallen upon the fellow's face.

"So did I! I thought----"

"That it was Coster," broke in Bob Rack gently. "But it is neither he nor any other than Mr. Adam W. Kull, of Harkville, New York."

"By thunder! _We_ called him Pickem!" cried Paul, in amazement. "How did _he_ get here?"

"I think he ran out in his Torpedo. The car stands by the roadside, just above," said Mr. Rack, pleasantly.

CHAPTER IX

THE DETECTIVE'S STRANGE STORY

Detective Bob Rack and his prisoner, with Phil to drive, went to Griffin in the Torpedo while Paul, Billy, Dave and Mr. Peek rode in the Six. For Mr. Rack would hardly consent to the old gentleman spending the remainder of the night alone. So, in due time, was he given a room at the American House. Mr. Pickem, otherwise Smith, otherwise Kull, was a.s.signed to very narrow and also strong, quarters in the village prison with Chief Fobes personally mounting guard over both him and Coster. Two big revolvers the officer had and there was no sign of sleep in his usually languid eyes.

The capture of the chief's prisoner was, vastly to his satisfaction, effected by himself and the village night watchman. On the advice of Bob Rack they had watched the railroad yards closely. Coster was seized just as he darted from some hiding-place and tried to board an out-bound freight.

Deeply interested in the exciting occurrences of the evening, Landlord Wagg had not gone to bed, as proved quite fortunate for the Auto Boys and the detective. When Mr. Peek had been given every attention, he announced that a little supper for five was ready to serve whenever wanted.

"I rarely venture an opinion without having facts to support it," said Mr. Rack, smiling, "but on this occasion I will say that I think all of us are ready to show our appreciation of such an invitation in a very thorough manner, provided you will join us, Mr. Wagg. Also I've promised the boys a little history of the case that brought us together. Perhaps you may be interested."

A large part of the story told by Mr. Bob Rack as the party sat long over a supper of cold meats, bread and b.u.t.ter, coffee and fruit, is familiar to the reader. Without quoting his language then,--and the pleasing modulations of his voice could not be shown in print, in any event,--the narrative was substantially as follows:

When the theft of Adam Kull's car, at Harkville, was reported to the authorities two months earlier, Mr. Rack had been asked by the insurance company, in which a policy covering theft was held, to a.s.sist in the search.

Not a trace of the car was found. There seemed to be no clue to go upon.

An odd circ.u.mstance which, though it apparently had no connection with the case, yet which Mr. Rack was unwilling to dismiss wholly from his mind, was the fact that a few days earlier Mr. Kull had purchased from a neighbor and shipped to a middle western city a fine Scotch collie. The dog was greatly attached to the automobile, and had sometimes been allowed to ride. This simple fact in itself was not important; but the purchase of the dog, apparently for the mere purpose of giving the animal away, was not in keeping with Mr. Kull's usual disposition.

From so trifling a cause for suspicion the detective was unwilling to make even a hint as to what was in his mind. All he could do, and the thing he did do, was to place a watch upon Adam Kull while secretly he made a thorough search of the man's record.

Among other things it was found that, as a young man, Kull had been a party to a transaction by which he and his mother obtained a strange hold upon a wealthy farmer near Griffin, Henry Peek by name. The woman married Mr. Peek but they soon separated. To be free of the woman and her son, Mr. Peek had entered into a written contract involving the payment of a large sum of money at once, and the further stipulation that, should the wife survive the husband, she should receive the entire Peek estate. If, on the other hand, Mr. Peek survived his one-time wife, the estate should ultimately go to his heirs alone, and no heir of hers should be considered as having any claim whatever upon the property. The bargain seemed a very good one for the woman as she was much younger than Mr. Peek.

Years pa.s.sed. Mrs. Peek, who had resumed her former name, Kull, lived with her only son and they had eventually settled in Harkville. Here the man was engaged in real estate, a number of shady deals being credited to him in that connection.

Within a few months of the present time, the mother, though but little past middle age, had been stricken by an incurable disease. The son could not have failed to remember that, unless she survived his former step-father, the rich Peek estate would not descend to him.

Matters were at this pa.s.s when Detective Rack obtained his first extended knowledge of Kull, following his investigation of the disappearance of the automobile the latter had owned. Several weeks slipped by and, as the man under scrutiny had made no movement which would in any way strengthen suspicion against him, the watching of his going and his coming was relaxed.

One day, nearly two months after the theft of Kull's car, a strange man called on the real estate dealer, later left his office, and was not seen afterward. Mr. Rack's men discovered the fellow to be a worthless, discharged employe of a motor concern in Rochester. His name was Coster.

It was but a day or two later that Kull suddenly left home. Later it was learned he was in Griffin, registered at the American hotel under an a.s.sumed name.

"And it was at that time, undoubtedly," said Mr. Rack, "that, having taken the Torpedo from wherever it was concealed, Coster was on the way west with it. Kull was in Griffin to meet him. He visited the old farm where he had once lived for a short time. He carried the planks over the hill to the icehouse, that his friend might readily run the Torpedo down the embankment and so into that building. There are some links missing as to this a.s.sertion but it will be found substantially correct when the details are known. For it was certainly the intention that the Torpedo should be placed in this new and more distant hiding-place. Kull had purchased a supply of Fielderson's automobile and carriage paint. He mentioned to a clerk in the store that he was going to use the material on an old surrey he had. He owned no such vehicle. Hence my conclusion, at this time, that the paint was to be used in a further concealment of the ident.i.ty of the Torpedo.

"Again I heard from Harkville that Kull, after a brief stay at home, following his having been in Griffin, was once more out of town. I was busy with other matters and did not immediately take up the threads of the case again. I was about to do so yesterday," and here Mr. Rack smiled toward Mr. Wagg, who sat with eyes and mouth open, his gla.s.ses perched on the very top of his bald head,--"when Mr. Phil and Mr. David, here, came in upon me, introduced by one of our best young lawyers. They were in possession of so much information that, dovetailing their statements with my own previous knowledge, I had a fairly perfect fabric of fact. From this it was simply a little study to deduce practically certain probabilities. However, I spent a few hours piecing out and verifying my threads of information. I found that Kull's poor mother could probably live but a few days or weeks, at most. I found a man named Coster had been locked up for intoxication here in Griffin, that he was first seen in town on Sat.u.r.day and his clothing was splashed with mud. Friday was a rainy day, you will remember. By the merest chance my Harkville representative also learned yesterday that Kull had purchased some saws for cutting steel before leaving town on Tuesday. He had bought a ticket for Batavia, but that was no certain sign that he would not stop off in Griffin.

"To see through the man's entire plan now is, of course, like reading it in print. All that we do not know is just how Coster happened to lose the Torpedo, then pick up the car of our friends here, which certainly he did. That we will learn later. The point I would bring to your notice now is that Kull, whatever his first plan may have been, changed somewhat his course of action as he found circ.u.mstances favoring him. He had learned of Coster reaching Griffin in an intoxicated condition and being locked up. He enabled him to escape by pa.s.sing saws in to him by means of a long stick put between the bars of the rear corridor window, which was open. This he did last night, Mr. Fobes believes, and he probably is correct.

"It is an interesting fact, but not a strange one, for usually it is the small thing that trips the criminal up,--an interesting fact, observe, that the dog Kull had been at such pains to be rid of in Harkville, lest it innocently betray the spot where his car had been concealed, had appeared here in Griffin to trouble him. To regain possession of the Torpedo (after having failed to get it placed in a barn where he could more easily get at it) Kull found it necessary to kill the Scotch collie. This he did on Sunday night. It was also desirable that Mr.

Creek be placed beyond power to hinder. An anonymous telephone call from Port Greeley, summoning him there, did the work nicely.

"Now we come to the circ.u.mstance that Kull believed so especially favored him--Coster breaking jail, the Torpedo disappearing, poor old Mr. Peek a.s.saulted and killed--all this in one night. Where would suspicion naturally point? To Coster, certainly."

Mr. Rack smiled and paused.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Mr. Wagg.

"Not at all. The boys deserve more credit than I. And we found so much additional information the moment we reached Griffin to-night, that the veriest novice could hardly go wrong. Billy had Coster's measure from boots up. Fobes knew nothing except that he was able to tell me that Creek telephoned to him from Port Greeley, stating that there was deception in his being summoned to that town, and asking him to watch the garage, which, by the way, he did not do. The time was short and the only particle of credit we deserve is for having moved at once and quickly.

"The time was short for Kull to act if he was to take advantage of favoring circ.u.mstances,--that is apparent now and it was before. It required no great mental power to see that at a glance. Where Kull would be found was thus easily determined. And, fortunately, we arrived in time. On my first survey of the Peek place I found nothing but the Torpedo, partially concealed behind some trees by the roadside and every light extinguished. Kull could not be far away but I hesitated lest it should prove that, having not yet entered the house, he should discover that he was watched. The facts were, he was in the house when we reached the place. He was waiting to be sure his victim slept. I flashed a light upon him as he was in the act of striking his first blow and possibly that was why he struck to one side of the temple and only a flesh wound resulted. I seized his arms but he escaped me. I fear I might have been obliged to shoot to frighten him, if nothing more, but for Phil's very able and timely help."

"But what is _your_ idea as to the reason this fellow Coster left one car in the road and hid another in the icehouse in place of it?" Mr.

Wagg inquired.

"One of two things--Coster left the car to look about the Peek place, either knowing or suspecting Kull's ultimate plan of making away with the old gentleman, and in his absence the machine was in some manner started forward. Or, and I think more probably, Coster was drunk and fell from the Torpedo as he saw another car approaching on that unfrequented road where he did not expect to see, and had no wish to see, any other traveler. And now, perhaps, we would better bid one another goodnight," Mr. Rack concluded.

"Might as well make it good-morning," grinned Paul Jones, stepping to a window, "it's nearly daylight."

The following day Coster made a complete confession to Mr. Rack. The latter's idea of the entire plans of Kull were substantially correct.

About the abandonment of the Torpedo, Coster said he had been drinking a great deal and, contrary to his usual experience, the more he drank the more he feared for his own safety in the car he knew police and detectives had made prolonged search to find. Seeing a large, six-cylinder machine come rapidly over a hill toward him, and on that lonely road where he had been a.s.sured he would see no one whomsoever, he suddenly lost his head. He leaped headlong from the Torpedo into the bushes at the roadside. Later he had crept forward and, from the hillside, watched all that the Auto Boys did until they went away in the empty car. Then he put their machine in the icehouse, guided no doubt by the drunken notion that he was very considerably the gainer. But instead of sobering up and meeting Kull at the American House, as had been agreed he should do, he spent the night in a barn and proceeded to get drunk again the moment he reached the town in the morning.

"It appears," said Bob Rack, telling the boys, Chief Fobes (who was still in a perfect fever of wonder and excitement) and Willie Creek the substance of Coster's confession, the day following Kull's capture,--"It appears that our Harkville friend concealed his car several days before he pried the padlock off his garage and reported the machine to have been stolen. He had hidden the machine in an unused garage attached to a summer hotel a few miles from the town. Coster obtained it there.

Knowing the case as I do now, I would venture to believe that it was the apparent success of his first crime, in defrauding the insurance people, that nerved Kull to carry out his plan further, and so led to the attempt on the life of old Mr. Peek. His plans were clever, after a crude fashion, but he made the mistake every criminal makes sooner or later, in the belief he apparently entertained that deception could be covered up. In the long run there is no such thing. Even Coster may be truthful when he declares he did not know Kull had defrauded the insurance company."

CHAPTER X

EASTWARD HO!

After all this had come to pa.s.s, the Auto Boys found that if they so desired there was nothing to hinder carrying out in full all that they had purposed to do when the original plan of their eastern vacation tour had been so amply discussed by the snug fire in Dr. Way's library.

"I propose that we go ahead with the old program," said P. Jones, Esq., as he occasionally dubbed himself. "We've got back our Big Six. She's all right. Nearly all our luggage and other outfitting stuff is all right. As for gasoline, grub and so on--what's the odds? We're not broke yet."

"Guess you're right, Jonesy," put in Worth. "For once in your life, you've about stated the case correctly."

"If the luck keeps up, all right." This from Dave, who could not let go all his mental bearings without some pessimistic afterthoughts. "But who's to say it will hold out? One thing I rather insist on, Phil, since you make a sort of bluff at being our leader. Let's stick to the guide book route, whether we go through Albany to Boston or whether we short-cut through the Catskills and down the Hudson to New York. That's my opinion."