The Chase Part 3

Alexander knew when he was licked. "I wish you well, Mr. Bell," he conceded. "I will cooperate with you any way I can." He then turned and left Bell to return to his suite in the corner. He paused in the doorway. "Oh, by the way, I've reserved a room for you at the Albany Hotel."

Bell smiled. "That won't be necessary. I've booked a suite at the Brown Palace."

Alexander appeared confused. "I can't believe Mr. Van Dorn would allow that on your expense account."

"He didn't. I'm paying for it out of my own funds."

Not aware of Bell's prosperous situation, the superintendent of the western states looked completely bewildered. Unable to comprehend, but not wanting to ask questions, he returned to his office in a daze and closed the door, utterly defeated.

Bell smiled again and began spreading out the papers he'd carried in the valise on the conference table. Then he stepped into the anteroom and approached Agnes Murphy. "Agnes, could you let me know when Curtis and Irvine show up?"

"I don't expect them back until tomorrow morning. They went up to Boulder on a bank fraud case."

"All right, then. And would you call the building maintenance superintendent and have him come up? I have some alterations to make in the conference room."

She looked at him questioningly. "Did you say the conference room? Mr. Alexander seldom allows the help to step inside. He keeps it mostly to entertain the town bigwigs."

"While I'm here, it will be my office."

Agnes looked at Bell with newly found respect. "Will you be staying at the Albany Hotel? That's where most all visiting agents stay."

"No, the Brown Palace."

"Mr. Alexander consented to the extra expenditure?" she asked warily.

"He had no say in the matter."

Agnes Murphy stared after him as if she had just seen the Messiah.

Isaac Bell returned to his office and rearranged the chairs to the conference table so he could have a large work s.p.a.ce at one end. After a few minutes, the building superintendent arrived. Bell explained the alterations he wished to make in the room. The end wall was to have a layer of soft material so a map of the western states and towns the killer had hit could be pinned to it. Another layer was to be installed on the inside wall for information, photos, and drawings. The superintendent, after Bell had offered him a twenty-dollar gold piece, promised to have the installation accomplished by noon the next day.

Bell spent the rest of the afternoon organizing and planning his hunt for the bank killer.

At precisely five o'clock, Alexander stuck his head in the door on his way home. "Are you settling in all right?" he asked icily.

Bell did not bother to look up. "Yes, thank you." He finally looked into Alexander's angry eyes. "By the way, I'm making some changes in the room. I hope you don't mind. I promise to put it back exactly the way it was when the case is closed."

"Please see that you do." Alexander swung his head in a gesture of dismissal and left the office.

Bell was not happy that things were not going well between Alexander and him. He had not planned to get in a game of quarrelsome loggerheads with the head of the agency's office, but if he hadn't gone on the attack he knew that Alexander would have walked all over him.

5.

BUILT IN 1892 BY HENRY C. BROWN ON THE SPOT where he used to pasture his cow before he struck it rich, the hotel was fittingly named the Brown Palace, for the "Queen City of the Plains," as Denver was called. Constructed of red granite and sandstone, the building was in the shape of a ship's bow. The men who made their fortunes in gold and silver stayed there with their wives, who took afternoon tea, and their daughters, who danced away the nights at opulent b.a.l.l.s. Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt had stayed there, as well as a few emperors and kings and other members of foreign royalty, not to mention the celebrities of the time, particularly famous stage actors and actresses. The Brown Palace was also embraced by locals and visitors alike because it was the anchor to the busy financial and cultural district of the city.

It was nearly dark when Bell walked through the 17th Street entrance of the Brown Palace Hotel. He checked in at the desk and looked around the magnificent lobby, which was situated in an atrium that reached up to the ninth floor. The pillars and wainscoting, freighted in by railroad from Mexico and carved from golden onyx, reflected the pastel light that filtered down from the ma.s.sive stained-gla.s.s ceiling. Over seven hundred wrought-iron panels graced the balcony railings, ringing the lobby from the upper floors.

What was not generally known was that the owner of the Navarre Hotel and restaurant across the street had had an underground rail system dug from the Brown Palace to his own establishment in order to accommodate gentlemen wishing to enjoy the ladies of an upstairs brothel without being seen entering or leaving.

Bell was given his key and entered the elevator, telling the operator which floor his suite was on. A woman stepped in behind him. She stopped at the mirrored wall, turned, and faced the door. She was dressed in a long blue silk gown with a large bow in the back. Her fire opal red hair was fine and silken, pulled back in a bun with curls streaming from it. There were two large feathers rising from the hair. She had an engaging charm about her. She stood tall and erect and nubile, Bell guessed probably between twenty-five and twenty-seven, perhaps younger, judging by her swan neck and face as smooth as alabaster. Her eyes were a golden brown. She was, in Bell's mind, unusually attractive-not quite beautiful, maybe, but very lovely by any standard. He also noticed she wore no wedding ring.

The woman was dressed as if she meant to attend a party in one of the hotel's ballrooms, Bell reasoned. He was right as usual. The elevator stopped on the second floor, which held the ballrooms and dance floors. He stood aside, hat in hand, and made a slight bow as she exited onto the landing.

She threw him a smile with surprising warmth and nodded, and said, in a mellow yet husky tone, "Thank you, Mr. Bell."

At first, it slipped by Bell. Then it hit him like a hammer on a thumb. He was stunned that she knew him, and positive he'd never seen her before. Bell gripped the arm of the elevator operator. "Hold the door open a moment."

By now, she had mingled in with a crowd that was funneling through the arched doorway of the hotel's grand ballroom. The women wore ravishing gowns in extravagant colors-crimson, peac.o.c.k blue, emerald green-with ribbons, sprigs, and feathers in their hair. The men were dressed in their finest evening clothes. A banner over the doorway read BENEFIT FOR ST. JOHN'S ORPHANS.

Bell stepped back, nodding at the elevator operator. "Thank you. Please take me up."

Bell unlocked the door to his suite and found a study, living room, ornate bath, and bedroom with a canopied bed, all furnished in Victorian elegance. His trunks had been opened and his clothes packed in the dresser and hung in the closet by a maid, a service provided to those who reserved suites. The trunks were not in sight. They had been moved from the room and stored in the bas.e.m.e.nt storage area. Bell lost no time in taking a quick bath and shaving.

He opened his watch and read the time. Thirty minutes had elapsed since he stepped from the elevator. Another fifteen minutes were taken to tie his black tie and insert the shirt studs and cuff links, usually a job that took four hands. It was one of the few times he wished he had a wife to help. Black socks and shoes came next. He did not wear a c.u.mmerbund but a black vest instead, with a gold chain running from the left pocket through a b.u.t.tonhole to the big gold watch in the right pocket. Last, he slipped on a single-breasted black jacket with satin lapels.

One final view of his reflection in a full seven-foot mirror and he was ready for the evening, whatever it would bring.

The charity ball was in full swing when he walked inside the grand ballroom and stood un.o.btrusively behind a tall potted palm. The ballroom was s.p.a.cious and majestic. The parquet dance floor was laid in an intricate sunburst design and colorful murals adorned the ceiling. He spied the mysterious woman, seated with her back to him, with three couples at table six. She appeared to be alone, without an escort. He sidled up to the hotel director in charge of the evening's event.

"Pardon me," said Bell with a friendly smile, "but could you tell me the name of the lady in the blue dress at table six?"

The director straightened with a haughty look. "I'm sorry, sir, but we frown on giving information on our guests. Besides, I can't know everybody who comes to the ball."

Bell pa.s.sed him a ten-dollar gold certificate. "Will this jog your memory?"

Without a word, the director held up a thin leather book and ran his eyes over the entries. "The single lady at the table is Miss Rose Manteca, a very wealthy lady from Los Angeles whose family owns a vast ranch. That's all I can tell you."

Bell patted the director on the shoulder. "I'm grateful."

The director grinned. "Good luck."

An orchestra was playing a medley of ragtime and modern dance tunes. Couples were dancing to a song called "Won't You Come Over to My House."

Bell walked up behind Rose Manteca and whispered in her ear. "Would you please consent to dance with me, Miss Manteca?"

She turned from the table and looked up. Golden brown eyes looked into a pair of mesmeric violet eyes. She was smooth, Bell thought, but his sudden appearance in evening dress completely stunned her. She lowered her eyes and recovered quickly, but not before her face blushed red.

"Forgive me, Mr. Bell. I did not expect you so soon."

"So soon?" he asked. What an odd thing to say, he thought.

She excused herself to the people at the table and stood up. Gently, he took her by the arm and led her to the dance floor. He slipped his arm around her narrow waist, took her hand, and stepped off smartly with the music.

"You're a very good dancer," she said after he swept her around the floor.

"Comes from all those years my mother forced me to take lessons so I could impress the debutantes in our city."

"You also dress very well for a detective."

"I grew up in a city where the affluent men lived in tuxedos."

"That would be Boston, would it not?"

For once, in his years of investigation, Bell was at a loss, but he recovered and came back. "And you're from Los Angeles."

She was good, he thought. She didn't bat an eye.

"You're very knowledgeable," she said, unable to fathom his eyes.

"Not half as knowledgeable as you. What is your interest? How do you know so much about me? Better yet, I should ask why?"

"I was under the impression you like to solve mysteries." She tried consciously to look past him over his tall shoulder, but she was drawn into those incredible eyes. This was a sensation, a stirring she had not counted on.

The photographs she had been shown did not do him justice face-to-face. He was far more attractive that she had imagined. He also came off as highly intelligent. This she'd expected, though, and could understand why he was so famous for his intuition. It was as though he was stalking her as she was stalking him.

The music ended and they stood together on the dance floor waiting for the orchestra to begin the next musical arrangement. He stepped back and ran his eyes from her shoes to the top of her beautifully styled hair. "You are a very lovely lady. What prompted your interest in me?"

"You're an attractive man. I wanted to know you better."

"You knew my name and where I came from before you met me in the elevator. Our meeting was obviously premeditated."

Before she could reply, the orchestra began playing "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree," and Bell led her around the floor in a foxtrot. He held her against him and gripped her hand tightly in his. Her waist was small, made even smaller by a corset. The top of her head came up even with his chin. He was tempted to press his lips against hers but thought better of it. This was neither the time nor the place. Nor were his thoughts on romance. She was spying on him. That was a given. His mind was trying to formulate a motive. What interest could a total stranger have in him? The only possibilities he could conjure up were that she'd been hired by one of the many criminals he had put behind bars, shot, or seen hanged. A relative or friend out for revenge? She didn't fit the image of someone who a.s.sociated with the sc.u.m he had apprehended over the last ten years.

The music ended, and she released his hand and stood back. "You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Bell, but I must return to my friends."

"Can we meet again?" he asked with a warm smile.

She slightly shook her head. "I don't think so."

He ignored her negative reply. "Have dinner with me tomorrow night."

"Sorry, I'm busy," she answered, with a haughtiness in her voice. "And even in your fancy tuxedo you couldn't bluff your way into the Western Bankers' Ball at the Denver Country Club like you did tonight at the benefit for St. John's Orphans." Then she threw out her chin, swept up her long skirt, and walked back to her table.

Once seated, she stole a glance back at Bell, but he was nowhere to be seen among the crowd. He had completely disappeared.

6.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, BELL WAS THE FIRST ONE in the office, using a skeleton key that could open ninety doors out of a hundred. He was sorting through bank robbery reports at the end of the long table when Arthur Curtis and Glenn Irvine entered the conference room. Bell rose to greet them and shook hands. "Art, Glenn, good to see you both again."

Curtis stood short and rotund, with a rounded stomach neatly encased in a vest whose b.u.t.tons were stretched to their limit. He had thinning sandy hair, wide megaphone ears, blue eyes, and a smile that showed a maze of teeth that lit up the room. "We haven't seen you since we tracked down Big Foot Cussler after he robbed that bank in Golden."

Irvine placed his hat on a coat stand, revealing a thick head of uncombed brown hair. "As I remember," he said, standing as tall and as scrawny as a scarecrow, "you led us directly to the cave where he was hiding out."

"A simple matter of deduction," Bell said with a tight smile. "I asked a pair of young boys if they knew of a place where they liked to hide out from their folks for a few days. The cave was the only location within twenty miles, close enough to town so Cussler could sneak in for supplies."

Curtis stood in front of the large map of the western United States and thoughtfully studied the little flags signifying the killer's spree. There were sixteen of them. "Got any intuition on the Butcher Bandit?"

Bell looked at him. "Butcher Bandit? Is that what they're calling him?"

"A reporter from the Bisbee Bugle Bugle came up with it. Other newspapers have picked it up and spread the term across the territory." came up with it. Other newspapers have picked it up and spread the term across the territory."

"It won't help our cause," said Bell. "With that name on everyone's lips, the law-abiding citizens will come down hard on the Van Dorn Detective Agency for not apprehending him."

"That's already started," Curtis said, laying the Rocky Mountain News Rocky Mountain News on the table in front of Bell. He stared down at it. on the table in front of Bell. He stared down at it.

The lead column was on the robbery and murders in Rhyolite. Half the column was devoted to the question "Why haven't law enforcement agencies made any progress in the case and captured the Butcher Bandit?"

"The heat is on," Bell said simply.

"The heat is on us us," Irvine added.

"So what have we got?" asked Bell, pointing to a stack of files two feet high on the bank crimes piled on the desk in front of him. "I've studied the reports while coming west on the train. It appears that all we have is that we're not dealing with the typical cowboy turned bank robber."

"He works alone," said Curtis, "and he's devilish clever and evil. But what is most frustrating is that he never leaves a trail for a posse to follow."

Irvine nodded his head in agreement. "It's as though he disappears into the h.e.l.l he came from before he leaves town."

"No tracks are ever found leading into the surrounding countryside?" asked Bell.

Curtis shook his head. "The best trackers in the business have come up dry every time."

"Any evidence he might have holed up in town until the excitement died down?"

"None that's ever turned up," replied Curtis. "After the robberies, he was never seen again."

"A ghost," murmured Irvine. "We're dealing with a ghost."

Bell smiled. "No, he's human, but a d.a.m.ned smart human." He paused and fanned out the files on the conference table. He selected one and opened it, the report on the robbery in Rhyolite, Nevada. "Our man has a very rigid modus operandi that he sticks with on every bank job. We believe he hangs around for a few days studying the town and its people before robbing the bank."

"He's either a gambler or a risk taker," said Curtis.

"Wrong on both counts," Bell corrected him. "Our man is bold and he's shrewd. We can a.s.sume he does his dirty work using disguises, since the people of all the towns he's struck never agree on the appearance of suspicious-looking strangers."

Irvine began pacing the conference room, occasionally examining a flag pinned on the map. "Citizens of the towns recall seeing a drunken b.u.m, a uniformed soldier, a well-to-do merchant, and a small-time freight hauler. But none could tie them to the murders."

Curtis looked at the carpeted floor and shrugged. "How odd there are no witnesses who can give a credible identification."