The Black Box Part 24

Laura produced from her hand-bag a wig, which she pinned inside her hat and pa.s.sed over to Quest. Then she flung herself on to the bed and drew the blanket up to her chin.

"How long will he stay like that?" she whispered, pointing to the warder, who was sitting on the floor with his arms folded and his eyes closed.

"Half an hour or so," Quest answered. "Don't bother about him. I shall drop the key back through the window."

A moment or two later, Quest walked deliberately down the corridor of the prison, crossed the pavement and stepped into a taxicab. He reached Georgia Square at five minutes to three. A glance up and down a.s.sured him that the house was unwatched. He let himself in with his own key and laughed softly as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. The house was strangely quiet and deserted, but he wasted no time in looking around. He ran quickly upstairs, paused in his sitting-room only to take a cigar from the cabinet, pa.s.sed on to the bedroom, threw Laura's clothes off, and, after a few moments' hesitation, selected from the wardrobe a rough tweed suit with a thick lining and lapels. Just as he was tying his tie, the little wireless which he had laid on the table at his side began to record the message. He glanced at the clock. It was exactly three.

"I have Craig here in the Professor's garage, locked up. If our plan has succeeded, come at once. I am waiting here for you."

Quest's eyes shone for a moment with satisfaction. Then he sent off his answering message, put on a duster and slouch hat, and left the house by the side entrance. In a few moments he was in Broadway, and a quarter of an hour later a taxicab deposited him at the entrance to the Professor's house. He walked swiftly up the drive and turned towards the garage, hoping every moment to see something of Lenora. The door of the place stood open. He entered and walked around. It was empty. There was no sign of either Craig or Lenora!...

Quest, recovered from his first disappointment, stole carefully out and made a minute examination of the place. Close to the corner from which Lenora had sent her wireless message to him, he stooped and picked up a handkerchief, which from the marking he recognised at once. A few feet away, the gravel was disturbed as though by the trampling of several feet.

He set his teeth. For a single moment his own danger was forgotten. A feeling which he utterly failed to recognise robbed him of his indomitable nerve. He realised with vivid but scarcely displeasing potency a weakness in the armour of his complete self-control.

"I've got to find that girl," he muttered. "Craig can go to h.e.l.l!"

He turned away and approached the house. The front door stood open and he made his way at once to the library. The Professor, who was sitting at his desk surrounded by a pile of books and papers, addressed him, as he entered, without looking up.

"Where on earth have you been, Craig?" he enquired petulantly. "I have rung for you six times. Have I not told you never to leave the place without orders?"

"It is not Craig," Quest replied quietly. "It is I, Professor--Sanford Quest."

The Professor swung round in his chair and eyed his visitor in blank astonishment.

"Quest?" he exclaimed. "G.o.d bless my soul! Have they let you out already, then?"

"I came out," Quest replied grimly. "Sit down and listen to me for a moment, will you?"

"You came out?" the Professor repeated, looking a little dazed. "You mean that you escaped?"

Quest nodded.

"Perhaps I made a mistake," he admitted, "but here I am. Now listen, Professor. I know this will be painful to you, but give me your best attention for a few minutes. These young women a.s.sistants of mine have formed a theory of their own about the murder in my flat and the robbery of the jewels. Hold on to your chair, Professor. They believe that the guilty person was Craig."

The Professor's face was almost pitiful in its blank amazement. His mouth was wide open like a child's, words seemed absolutely denied to him.

"That's their theory," Quest went on. "They may be right or they may be wrong--Lenora, at any rate, has collected some shreds of evidence. They hatched a scheme between them, clever enough in its way. They locked Craig up in your garage and got me out of the Tombs in Laura's clothes. I have come straight up to find your garage open and Lenora missing."

The Professor rose to his feet, obviously making a tremendous effort to adjust his ideas.

"Craig locked up in my garage?" he murmured. "Craig guilty of those murders? Why, my dear Mr. Quest, a more harmless, a more inoffensive, peace-loving and devoted servant than John Craig never trod this earth!"

"Maybe," Quest replied, "but come out here, Mr. Ashleigh."

The Professor followed his companion out to the garage. Quest showed him the open door and the marks of footsteps around where he had picked up the handkerchief.

"Now," he said, "what has become of your man Craig, and what has become of my a.s.sistant Lenora?"

"Perhaps we had better search the house," the Professor suggested. "Craig?

My dear Mr. Quest, you little know--"

"Where is he, then?" Quest interrupted.

The Professor could do nothing but look around him a little vaguely.

Together they went back to the house and searched it without result. Then they returned once more to the garage.

"I am going back," Quest announced. "My only chance is the wireless. If Lenora is alive or at liberty, she will communicate with me."

"May I come, too?" the Professor asked timidly. "This matter has upset me thoroughly. I cannot stay here without Craig."

"Come, by all means," Quest a.s.sented. "I will drive you down in your car, if you like."

The Professor hurried away to get his coat and hat, and a few minutes later they started off. In Broadway, they left the car at a garage and made their way up a back street, which enabled them to enter the house at the side entrance. They pa.s.sed upstairs into the sitting-room. Quest fetched the pocket wireless and laid it down on the table. The Professor examined it with interest.

"You are marvellous, my friend," he declared. "With all these resources of science at your command, it seems incredible that you should be in the position you are."

Quest nodded coolly.

"I'll get out of that all right," he a.s.serted confidently. "The only trouble is that while I am dodging about like this I cannot devote myself properly to the task of running down this fiend of the Hands. Just one moment, Professor, while I send off a message," he continued, opening the little instrument. "Where are you, Lenora?" he signalled. "Send me word and I will fetch you. I am in my own house for the present. Let me know that you are safe."

The Professor leaned back, smoking one of Quest's excellent cigars. He was beginning to show signs of the liveliest interest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUEST AND LAURA CHANGE CLOTHES SO THAT QUEST MAY MAKE HIS ESCAPE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF THE CLUB'S BUTLERS TURNS IN A FIRE ALARM.]

"Quest," he said, "I wish I could induce you to dismiss this extraordinary supposition of yours concerning my servant Craig. The man has been with me for the best part of twenty years. He saved my life in South America; we have travelled in all parts of the world. He has proved himself to be exemplary, a faithful and devoted servant. I thought it absurd, Mr. Quest, when you were suspected of these crimes. I should think it even more ridiculous to a.s.sociate Craig with them in any way whatever."

"Then perhaps you will tell me," Quest suggested, "where he is now, and why he has gone away? That does not look like complete innocence, does it?"

The Professor sighed.

"Appearances are nothing," he declared. "Craig is a man of highly nervous susceptibilities. The very idea of being suspected of anything so terrible would be enough to drive him almost out of his mind. I am convinced that we shall find him at home presently, with some reasonable explanation of his absence."

Quest paced the room for a few moments, moodily.

There was a certain amount of reason in the Professor's point of view.

"Anyway, I cannot stay here much longer, unless I mean to go back to the Tombs," he declared.

"Surely," the Professor suggested, "your innocence will very soon be established?"

"There is one thing which will happen, without a doubt," Quest replied.

"My auto and the chauffeur will be discovered. I have insisted upon enquiries being sent out throughout the State of Connecticut. They tell me, too, that the police are hard on the scent of Red Gallagher and the other man. Unless they get wind of this and sell me purposely, their arrest will be the end of my troubles. To tell you the truth, Professor,"

Quest concluded, "it is not of myself I am thinking at all just now. It is Lenora."

The Professor nodded sympathetically.