The Mystery of the Fires Read online

  CHAPTER XIX _Conclusion_

  Mary Louise was putting the last dabs of powder on her nose when sheheard a car stop at the porch steps. Peering through the screened windowof her bedroom she immediately decided that it must be the detectives.Yes--and, oh, joy of joys!--they had Tom Adams with them!

  In another moment the men were out of the car and up on the porch, whereher father joined them.

  "Congratulations!" exclaimed Mr. Gay. "I see that you got Tom Adams. Iremember him now."

  "Yes," answered one of the men. "But he won't admit a thing about yourdaughter. He says he never saw Mary Louise after she went back to thetennis court that afternoon."

  "On what grounds could you arrest him, then?" demanded Mr. Gay.

  "He stole a car on his way to the West."

  Mary Louise repressed a giggle and turned away from the window. Herfather evidently meant to find out what he could before he announced hisdaughter's return.

  "You have a sister Rebecca, haven't you, Adams?" he inquired.

  The young man nodded. "Yes. She's feeble-minded. Why?"

  "We know that Mary Louise saw her the afternoon she disappeared. Rebeccatold us so, and she also said that you came home that afternoon just asmy daughter started to leave the farm."

  "Rebecca's mind wanders a lot," muttered Tom. "She don't know what she'stalkin' about half the time." He shifted his feet uneasily.

  "You--have been thinking of putting Rebecca into an asylum?" persistedMr. Gay.

  "Yeah. We considered it. Why?"

  "Because she's in one now," announced Mr. Gay calmly. "Of her own freewill. An asylum about twenty miles from here. A Dr. Fetter, I believe, isthe head of the institution."

  He paused and gazed intently at Tom. The young man's jaw dropped, hisface grew white, and his hands trembled.

  Mr. Gay burst out laughing, and Mary Louise came to the screen door.

  "Hello, Tom," she said quietly.

  The young man started as if he had seen a ghost. But he managed tostammer a reply. "Hello, Miss Gay," he said.

  All three of the plainclothes men stepped forward in amazement. "Youfound her, Gay?" they demanded of Mary Louise's father.

  "No," answered Mr. Gay. "To be frank, I didn't. Two of her young friendsfrom Riverside did. She was confined in an insane asylum about twentymiles from Shady Nook, under the name of Rebecca Adams!"

  All of Tom's pretence fell away from him at this announcement. He knewhis game was up. His limbs grew weak; he groveled at the men's feet.

  "Don't send me to the chair!" he cried. "I didn't harm her. She's allright, ain't she?"

  "We'll let the judge and the jury decide that," replied Mr. Gay. "Now,suppose you sit down there and tell us the truth, Adams. You might aswell, for we know most of it already!"

  The young man crawled into a seat, but he made no attempt to tell hisstory.

  "We know that you burned three houses here at Shady Nook," said Mr. Gay."We know, too, that you did it because you were bribed by Frazier. Didn'the pay you a certain sum of money to start those fires?"

  "Yes, he did," acknowledged Tom. "He gave me five hundred dollars."

  "Why did he want them burned down?" asked one of the plainclothes men.

  "He figured that he'd get five hundred at least from the Hunters duringthe summer, entertaining their friends and all. Then Flicks' fire turnedout to be better business yet. All the folks from Shady Nook, except theDitmars, begun eatin' at the hotel, once the inn was gone. And Smiths'burnin' down brought all them children and servants and even the Ma andPa over to the Royal."

  "Did Frazier expect to burn any more cottages?" was the next question.

  "No, he wasn't plannin' on it. Only, when Mrs. Ditmar started up aboardin' house and took his business away from him, that made him sore.But I wasn't goin' a do no more dirty work. I figured I'd just get mymoney and clear out. I never did expect to burn Ditmars'--only threaten'em."

  "But what made you do that dreadful thing to Mary Louise?" demanded Mr.Gay.

  "I wanted to get rid of her till I made my get-away. Frazier and me wasscared she was onto somethin' and would send for you, and you'd figure itall out, Mr. Gay. Frazier thought, if I was gone, he'd be safe. He'd justdeny everything. The idea of callin' Mary Louise 'Rebecca' just poppedinto my head when she told us she was goin' over to the farm to seeHattie that afternoon. I knew Hattie and Dad was off to the fair. So Ijumped in my car and run over to the asylum and made the arrangements. Wejust got back in time to nab her."

  One of the men stood up.

  "Detective Gay," he Said, "I think you and I had better go over andarrest Frazier now. These other two men can take charge of Adams." Heturned to Mary Louise, who was still standing in the doorway. "Is thereany question you want to ask this criminal, Miss Gay, before we take himaway?"

  "Yes," answered Mary Louise, stepping through the doorway. "I would liketo know how that pack of cards came to be dropped at the Smiths' thenight of their fire--how Tom happened to have them in his possession."

  The young man flushed.

  "One day I was watchin' Hunter do a trick on the hotel porch. I noticedhe put the cards in his coat pocket. Later on, he hung the coat over theback of a chair while he went off to play tennis. So I sneaked up andtook 'em out of his pocket, to use to show the trick to the boys. Ithought they was marked, but they wasn't. Hunter sure is clever attricks.

  "Then when I heard people was suspectin' him of burnin' his own cottagedown for the insurance, I thought I might as well help that suspicionalong. So I dropped his pack of cards into that can of water at theSmiths'. And sure enough, it worked!"

  Mary Louise's eyes were filled with contempt, but she did not put herfeeling into words. Instead, she nodded to the detectives, and the menall left the porch. Fifteen minutes later Frazier's arrest wasaccomplished, and the three plainclothes men started for Albany with bothcriminals in their custody.

  Mary Louise and her parents watched them go with a sigh of relief.

  "That's that," said her father, with a smile.

  "Now, if only Jane and Freckles would come," added her mother, "we couldbe perfectly happy. It's time to go to dinner."

  In a couple of minutes Mrs. Gay's wish was granted. Down the road half adozen young people came running, for they had just heard the wonderfulnews that Mary Louise was back. Silky reached his mistress first, thenFreckles arrived, with Jane and four of the boys close behind.

  Never, if she lived to be a hundred, would Mary Louise forget thatwonderful dinner at the Ditmars'. The joy of being back home again, thehappiness of her friends, the companionship of her father--oh, everythingseemed perfect that night to the lovely brown-eyed girl. And not least ofit all was the satisfaction of knowing that the mystery of the fires wassolved at last! Shady Nook was safe again for everybody--to enjoy formany, many summers to come!

  * * * * * *

  Transcriber's note:

  --Retained publication and copyright information from the printed exemplar (this book is public-domain in the U.S.).

  --Obvious typographical errors were corrected without comment. Possibly intentional spelling variations were not changed.

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