The Deep Lake Mystery

“You don’t mean – ” I stammered.

“Of course I do. It is Detective Stories of All Nations, Volume VIII.” He held it up, and then my rage boiled over.

“You – you took that from my pocket!”

“Of course I did. And I shall keep an eye on you after this. Gray, try to recognize what you are doing. Try to recognize what I am doing. Or to put it plainer, remember that I am doing only my duty, and you – are obstructing my honest efforts.”

His straightforward glance and his friendly smile won the day, and I mumbled miserably, “What can I do, Kee? I love her so.”

“I know, I know, and it complicates matters terribly.”

“Shall I go away, back to New York?”

“That would be the best plan, but I know you won’t do it.”

“No,” I said, “I won’t do it.”

“Then, if you stay here, I mean, if you stay with us, you’ve got to play fair.”

“Fair by you or fair by Alma?”

“Both. Don’t think, boy, that I don’t understand. But I can’t have my work blocked by your interference. Heretofore, you’ve been a help on my cases – ”

“But this is different!” I cried.

“Yes, this is different. So, since you won’t go back to New York, and I don’t want you to stay at Deep Lake under any other roof but ours, what’s the answer?”

Putting it up to me like this, I couldn’t combat him or even rebuff him. He was playing fair, all his cards on the table. I must in all honour and justice do likewise. “It would be horrid,” I said, at last, “to stay here at the Inn, or anything like that. And I can’t – Oh, Kee, I can’t go back to New York. But I most certainly propose to play the game. Now, I can only say that if I learn anything further about Alma that I think you want to know, I will tell you, and, on the other hand, if you learn anything, you must tell me.”

“Spoken like your own true self,” and Moore fairly beamed on me. “Now, tell me, did she ask you to destroy the book? For of course I only assumed that.”

“Yes, she did. Said she was watched or followed and the thing must be absolutely destroyed.”

“Then, knowing as we do, what story is in this book, knowing, from Maud, that it is a story of a murder setting forth the very method of Sampson Tracy’s murderer, and knowing that Alma Remsen wants this book destroyed secretly, what are we to think?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure, what you are to think, but I know that my thoughts include no slightest suspicion of her having done this thing. Accessory after the fact, perhaps. Shielding that man or woman or both, who are there taking care of her, but implicated herself, no!”

“It may well be you are right,” Kee said, slowly. “I hope to Heaven it’s no worse than that. But it must be investigated. If you were not in love with Alma, if she were not in any way a lovable person, you would be keen to look into these strange facts and circumstances. Now, have you a right to interfere with my pursuance of my duty and my taking up a case which is in line with my profession and my life work? I am influenced by no wrong motive, prejudiced by no personal bias, and as I see it, it is my plain duty to help all I can toward the cause of justice and right. Suspicion rests on many people. Many of these must be innocent. Is it right to let them remain under a cloud, under an unjust doubt, because you have come to love one of the principal actors in this drama?”

“No,” I said, desiring most honestly to play fair, “no, but I shall have to work on Alma’s side, even if that means working against you.”

“That’s all right, so long as you work fairly. As you said, tell me all you discover, and listen to all I discover. Then, we are at one, and the truth will conquer. How far have you gone with her? Are you two engaged?”

The calm way he said this brought me to my senses. Of course, we weren’t engaged, she hadn’t even said she loved me or wanted me to love her. And I told Kee this, and he smiled kindly, and held out his hand.

“Bless you, my children,” he said, but with a little catch in his voice.

CHAPTER XIV

POSY MAY

“Well,” Keeley began, as we arranged ourselves comfortably on the glass-enclosed porch and prepared for a confab, “our impulsive friend here has gone and done it now!”

The two women gave me a quick look, and Lora, with her uncanny intuition, said:

“When is the wedding, Gray?”

“As soon as it can be arranged,” I declared, stoutly, for I wasn’t going to be secretive about this matter, anyway. “But don’t plan for it yet, Lora, for the lady hasn’t by any means said yes. It’s only, so far, that ‘Barkis is willin’.’”

“It is serious,” Keeley said, slowly. “It’s all serious, and getting more so every minute. I say, you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve got to go on an errand.”

He rose hastily and gathering up his hat and coat, started off down the road.

“Kee’s on the warpath for sure,” declared Lora. “What happened at Whistling Reeds, Gray?”

“Nothing much – or, yes, I suppose there were developments. Better wait till Kee comes back. He went over the house on a searching bout.”

“Did he find anything?”

“I don’t know, but I doubt if he found anything as important as I did. You girls may as well know, first as last, I found – that is – I was given – oh, pshaw, here it is – Alma asked me to destroy a book for her, and it was a copy of that book that has in it the story of The Nail.”

“No!” cried Maud, aghast at the revelation. “Then – ” She paused.

“Now, don’t jump at conclusions,” Lora begged, looking at me with the utmost kindness, “To find that book there doesn’t necessarily point to Alma. It may implicate that old harridan of a nurse or her caveman husband. Far more likely than that cultured girl!”

I looked at her gratefully.

“Good for you, Lora,” I said. “Now I’m going to fight this thing to a finish. I’m far from ready to admit that the book’s presence at that house is a proof of anything; but of course, it must be investigated. The worst part of it is that Alma asked me secretly to destroy it.”

“She would, if she is shielding either of those two caretakers of hers. She is devoted to them, and I for one shouldn’t be at all surprised if one or both of them did that murder. You see, they were afraid that the marriage of Mr. Tracy would cut off the fortune from their beloved mistress and so there’s motive enough.”

“But not a shred of evidence,” I said. “And the evidence against Alma is simply piling up. The print of a shoe sole in the window sill shows diamond-shaped dots, as you know, and Alma denied having any other rubber-soled shoes. But, on the garden path there were distinct prints of soles with diamond-shaped dots, and when Kee saw them, he drew my attention. And besides,” in my despair I blurted out the whole story, “Alma told me she had destroyed the shoes.”

“You poor boy,” and that blessed Lora patted my shoulder encouragingly, as she flitted about, “don’t put too much weight on those facts. I begin to see through it all. Alma was there, in that room – must have been – but she was not the criminal. Nor did she cut up all those monkey tricks in the bedroom. But these things must be sifted. Keeley will do it, once he gets fairly started. That is, Gray, if you will help him. Do believe me, when I tell you it is far better for you to be frank. Do you know, even now, Kee thinks you’re holding out on him.”

“I certainly should have held out on that confounded book, if I’d had the least idea he would sneak it away from me! Good Lord, Lora, you’ve been in love – what would you have done if every man’s hand was against Kee and you – ”

“Hold on there, Gray, I love Kee now as much as I ever did! And I’m not saying I wouldn’t lie or steal for him. But not if I were convinced that honesty was the best plan. No matter what you know or what you may learn against Alma, let Kee in on it, for that is the only way to prove her innocence.”

“You haven’t any doubt of her innocence, have you, Gray?” Maud asked, gently.

“No, Maudie, I haven’t. But there are such blatant, glaring bits of evidence that seem to be against her, that I am afraid others won’t be willing to sift them down, but will assume them to be proof positive of her guilt.”

“But if she is shielding some one else, as she must be, surely detectives like Keeley and Mr. March will see through it. Mr. March isn’t nearly as keen as Keeley, but he’s nobody’s fool, and he can see through a millstone with a hole in it.”

“She tries to take it all so lightly,” I went on, thinking aloud. “Keeley made her say she left her fingerprints when she tried to raise that window, and then he flung at her that it was raining all Tuesday afternoon. And she only said: ‘Oh, well, then it must have been Monday.’ Now, that’s all right, and probably it was Monday, but March won’t be satisfied with that. He’ll cross question her and bullyrag her until he gets her so mixed up she won’t know where she’s at!”

“But, Gray,” Lora said, quietly, “have you realized that those fingerprints are not such as would be made in an attempt to raise the window? They are on the frame, not on the sash. They are obviously the marks made by some one who stepped up on the window sill and sprang out of the window. Kee is positive about this. He has examined them minutely.”