The Mystery of the Secret Band Page 4

  CHAPTER IV _A Midnight Visitor_

  Mary Louise put on her kimono and stretched herself out comfortably onher pretty bed, with her notebook in her hands. What a lovely room itwas! What a charming little bedside table, with its silk-shaded lamp, itsdainty ice-water jug--and its telephone. For that convenience especiallyshe was thankful: she'd far rather have a telephone than a radio. Littledid she realize how soon she was to find that instrument so useful!

  She opened her notebook at the page upon which she had written theguests' names, and counted them. Fourteen people besides herself, and ofthat number she had met only five. Rather a slow beginning!

  "If I only had Jane here, she'd know everybody in the place by now," shethought wistfully. "Jane is clever, but she does jump at conclusions.Maybe I'm better off alone."

  She glanced at the notebook again and resolved not to bother yet with thenames of people she hadn't met. She'd concentrate instead upon the fivethat she did know. She began at the beginning with the girl with whom shehad danced and eaten supper.

  "Pauline Brooks couldn't be guilty," she decided. "Because she came toStoddard House only a few days ago for the first time. After the firsttwo robberies had taken place. So she's out....

  "Now I'm not so sure about Miss Henrietta Stoddard. She might evenbelieve she had a right to steal things, because she was cheated out ofher inheritance. Yes--I'll watch Miss Stoddard carefully.

  "Next those two Weinberger women. Hardly possible, when the mother losther own watch. Of course, thieves sometimes pretend to have thingsstolen, just to establish their innocence, the same way murderers oftenwound themselves--for alibis. But, just the same, I believe those womenare honest. They're pretty well off, too, to judge from their clothes andtheir jewelry."

  She came to the last person she had met--the old lady who had come to thebook-club meeting with a cane--Mrs. Moyer. Mary Louise's face broke intoa smile. Nobody in her right senses could suspect a person like that!

  That was all. Except the secretary, Miss Horton, whom she had met at thedesk.

  Mary Louise closed the notebook and put it on the table beside her. Thatwas enough for tonight; now she'd try to get some sleep. She put out thelight and opened the window. Snow still covered everything except thestreets and the sidewalks, and the moon shone over the roofs of thebuildings beyond. Right below her side window was a fire escape, whichmade her feel somehow safe and secure.

  It was not nearly so quiet here as in Riverside; automobile horns honkednow and again, and the sound of trolleys from the street in front wasplainly heard. But Mary Louise was not worried about the noise, and a fewminutes after she was in bed she was sound asleep.

  How many hours later she was awakened by a dream about MargaretDetweiler, Mary Louise had no way of knowing, for she had left her watchon the bureau. She thought she had found Margaret alone in an emptyhouse, cold and starving to death, and she was trying to remember justwhat principles of first aid to apply, when she awoke and found it wasonly a dream.

  But something, she realized instantly, had awakened her.Something--somebody--was in her room!

  Her first sensation was one of terror. A ghost--no, a gypsy, perhaps--whowould clap a gag over her mouth and bind her hand and foot! But beforeshe uttered a sound she remembered where she was and why she was there. Adelirious feeling of triumph stole over her, making her believe thatsuccess was at hand for her in her sleuthing. If this person were reallythe Stoddard House sneak thief, Mary Louise could lie still and watchher, for the room was light enough from the moon and the street lamps toshow up the intruder quite plainly.

  Ever so cautiously, without turning her head or making any kind of sound,she rolled her eyes toward her bureau, where she could sense the intruderto be. Her reward was immediate: she saw a short person in dark clothingstanding there, carefully picking up some object.

  "My purse--and my watch!" Mary Louise thought grimly. The little engravedwatch her father had given her last Christmas.

  The figure turned around and silently crept towards the door. But sudden,swift dismay took possession of Mary Louise, making her tremble with fearand disappointment. The thief was not a woman, whom she could hope toidentify as a guest at Stoddard House. He was a man!

  He turned the key in the lock so quietly that only the tiniest clickcould be heard. Then, just as softly, he closed the door again andvanished into the hall.

  Mary Louise gasped audibly with both relief and disappointment. Reliefthat he was gone, disappointment that he was a common, ordinary burglarwhom she could not hope to catch.

  Nevertheless, she meant to do what she could, so she turned on her lightand reached for the telephone beside her bed. In another moment she hadtold her story to the police, and, so perfect were their radio signals,in less than five minutes one of their cars stood at the door of thehotel.

  Meanwhile, Mary Louise had hastily thrown on a few clothes and run downthe stairs to warn the night watchman.

  The halls were lighted all night, as well as the lobby of the hotel; shedid not see how the burglar could escape without attracting thewatchman's notice.

  She found him quietly smoking a pipe on the doorstep. He said he had seennobody.

  "I think the burglar came in through the window from the fire escape,"Mary Louise said.

  "Don't see how he could," returned the man. "I've been around there atthe side for the last half hour. Nobody came along that alley."

  Baffled, Mary Louise summoned Mrs. Hilliard on the house phone, and bythe time she stepped out of the elevator the two policemen had arrived.

  "The thief must be hiding somewhere in the building," concluded MaryLouise. "Waiting for a chance to slip away."

  "We'll have to make a search," announced Mrs. Hilliard. "You guard thedoorway and the stairway, Mike," she said to the watchman, "and one ofyou officers go around the first floor and see whether the windows areall securely locked--in case the burglar escaped through one of them.Then the other officer can come with Miss Gay and me while we search thefloors above."

  Immediately the plan was put into effect, and the searchers began on thesecond floor, looking first in the corridors and closets and empty rooms,then knocking at the doors of the guests' rooms.

  Pauline Brooks' door was the first they went to, and here a light shoneunder the cracks.

  "Sorry to disturb you, Miss Brooks," called Mrs. Hilliard, "but a sneakthief has gotten into the hotel, and we want to find him. May we comein?"

  "Just a minute," replied the girl. "Till I put on my bath robe. I was outlate--at a dance, and I'm just undressing now."

  "What time is it, anyway?" asked Mary Louise. "You see, my watch wasstolen."

  "It's only a few minutes after one," replied the policeman.

  A moment later Pauline unlocked the door, and the three people entered.The room was very untidy: clothing had been flung about everywhere, andtwo open suitcases occupied the chairs.

  "Look in the closet," advised Mrs. Hilliard.

  "There's nobody there," answered Pauline. "I've just been in it. But youmight look under the bed. That's where men always hide in the bedroomfarces."

  "You wouldn't think this was a 'bedroom farce' if you'd just lost yourwatch and your purse," remarked Mary Louise sharply.

  "I'm sorry, Mary Lou," apologized Pauline. "You see, I didn't know that_you_ were the victim."

  "We've got to get along," interrupted the officer. "There's nobodyhere--I'm sure of that."

  They passed on to the other rooms, waking up the guests when it wasnecessary, apologizing, explaining--and finding nobody. In only two ofthe rooms besides Pauline's had they found lights burning. Miss Granger,the artist, was still working on some drawings she was making for amagazine, and Miss Henrietta Stoddard, who explained that she was "such apoor sleeper," was reading a book. But both these women said that theyhad heard no disturbance.

  When the search was completed and the group returned to the first floorof the hotel, the wat
chman and the officer had nothing to report. Thewindows on the ground floor were all securely locked, the latterannounced, and the former said that no one had escaped by the front dooror the fire escape.

  "It's either an inside job or your young friend dreamed it," one of thepolicemen said to Mrs. Hilliard.

  "It couldn't be an inside job," returned the manager. "For there isn'tany man who lives in the hotel."

  "And I didn't dream it," protested Mary Louise. "Because my watch and mypurse are gone, and my door was unlocked. I locked it myself when I wentto bed last night."

  "Well, we'll keep an eye on the building all night," promised thepoliceman as he opened the door. "Let us know if you have any moretrouble."

  When the men had gone, Mrs. Hilliard persuaded Mary Louise to come to herapartment for the rest of the night. She had a couch-bed in her sittingroom which she often used for her own guests.

  Mary Louise agreed, but it was a long while before she fell asleep again.She kept listening for sounds, imagining she heard footsteps in the hall,or windows opening somewhere in the building. But at last she dozed off,and slept until Mrs. Hilliard's alarm awakened her the next morning.

  "You had better go down to the dining room for your breakfast, MaryLouise," said the manager. "I just have orange juice and coffee, uphere--if I go into the dining room I am tempted to overeat, and I put onweight."

  "All right," agreed Mary Louise. "I want to go to my room for freshclothing anyway--I just grabbed these things last night in a hurry....Mrs. Hilliard, what do you think of last night's occurrence?"

  "I don't know what to think. I was convinced that all our robberiesbefore this were inside jobs, because our watchman was so careful. Butnow I don't know. Of course, this may be something entirely different.We'll see if anything happens tonight. You're sure it was a man, MaryLouise?"

  "Positive. He wore a cap pulled down over his head, and a mask over hiseyes. He had on a dark suit--sneakers, too, for I couldn't hear himwalk."

  "Did he have a gun?"

  "I don't know, because I pretended to be asleep, so he didn't need todefend himself. He got out so quickly. Where could he have vanished to?"

  Mrs. Hilliard shook her head with a sigh.

  "I haven't the slightest idea," she said.

  "Of course, he might have had an accomplice," mused Mary Louise. "Somewoman may have let him out her window to the fire escape. Still, thewatchman was keeping his eye on that...." Mary Louise's tone becamedreary. "I guess I'm not much use to you, Mrs. Hilliard. I don't think Iought to take the salary."

  "You mean you want to go home, Mary Louise?"

  "Oh no! I wouldn't leave now for anything. But I mean I probably shan'tbe any help in finding a thief like that. So I oughtn't to accept anypay."

  "Don't worry about that," returned Mrs. Hilliard, patting Mary Louise'sarm affectionately. "You just do the best you can. Nobody can do more.I'd really like it proved that none of our guests is the thief. I'd muchrather find out that it was a common burglar."

  Reassured, Mary Louise went to her own room and dressed. By the time shereached the dining room the guests who held positions had already eatentheir breakfasts and gone, and the others, who had nothing to do all day,had not yet put in an appearance. It was only a little after eight, butthe dining room was deserted.

  "I wish I had somebody to talk to," she thought sadly as she seatedherself at a little table by a window. The sunlight streamed in throughthe dainty ruffled curtains, there were rosebuds in the center of hertable, and a menu from which she could order anything she wanted, butMary Louise was not happy. She felt baffled and lonely.

  She ordered grapefruit first, and just as she finished it, Mrs.Weinberger came into the room. She made her way straight to Mary Louise'stable.

  "May I sit with you, Miss Gay?" she asked. "My daughter won't eatbreakfast for fear of gaining a pound, and it's so lonesome eating all byyourself."

  Mary Louise smiled cordially.

  "I think so too, Mrs. Weinberger," she replied. "I'll be delighted tohave you."

  "Do you feel nervous after last night? It must have been terrible to beright in the room when the burglar got in. I was away when my watch wasstolen."

  "Tell me about it, Mrs. Weinberger," urged Mary Louise.

  "I was over in Mrs. Moyer's room," the woman explained, after she hadgiven her order to the waitress, "and my daughter went out of my room andcouldn't remember whether she locked the door or not. Anyway, Idiscovered that my watch was gone when I was dressing for dinner." Shesighed. "It was very valuable--a present from my late husband."

  Mary Louise had an inspiration.

  "I believe I'll visit some pawnshops today, to ask about mine," she said,"and I can inquire about yours at the same time, if you want me to, Mrs.Weinberger."

  "Yes, indeed! But I am afraid it is too late now. Mine was anold-fashioned watch--we used to wear them pinned on our dresses, with abrooch. Mine had seven diamonds on it in front, and my initials 'E. W.'in tiny pearls on the back."

  "Did you advertise?"

  "Yes, of course. But nothing came of it. My daughter thinks thattransient guest--a chorus girl named Mary Green--stole it. We tried totrace her, but we couldn't find her name with any of the theatricalcompanies in town at the time."

  "She never came back here to Stoddard House?"

  "Oh no."

  "And were the other watches stolen the same day?"

  "Yes. Mrs. Hilliard's was taken during the supper hour, but she had laidit down on the desk, so that was her own carelessness. But the Waldergirls had theirs taken while they were asleep--just as yours was."

  "What were theirs like?"

  "Plain gold wrist-watches, with their initials--R. W. and E. W. Theirnames are Ruth and Evelyn."

  "Well, I'll do what I can," concluded Mary Louise. "And now let's talkabout something pleasant."

  So for the rest of the meal she and Mrs. Weinberger discussed books andthe current moving pictures.