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pain to explain in detail every question arising therefrom.
Although the investigators seemed to accept his statements at their
face
value, the assistant general manager was far from being assured that
their final report would redound to his credit.
On a Thursday they informed him that they had completed their
investigation, and the report would he submitted to Mr. Compton on
Saturday.
When Edith reached the hospital that evening she found Jimmy in
high
spirits. He was dressed for the first time, and assured her that he was
quite able to return to work if the doctor would let him, but the nurse
shook her head. "You ought to stay here for another week or ten
days,"
she admonished him.
"Nothing doing,"' cried Jimmy. "I'll be out of here Monday at the
latest." But when Edith told him that the C.P.A.'s had finished, and
that their report would be handed in Saturday, Jimmy announced
that he
would leave the hospital the following day.
"But you can't do it," said the nurse.
"Why not?" asked Jimmy.
"The doctor won't permit it."
Edith tried to dissuade him, but he insisted that is was absolutely
necessary for him to be at the office when the C.P.A.'s report was
made.
"I'll be over there Friday evening or Saturday morning at the latest,"
he said as she bid him good-bye.
And so it was that, despite the pleas of his nurse and the orders of his
physician, Jimmy appeared at the plant Friday afternoon. Bince
greeted
him almost effusively, and Mr. Compton seemed glad to see him out
again.
That evening Harold Bince met Murray at Feinheimer's, and still later
the Lizard received word that Murray wanted to see him.
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r r
"Everything's ready," the boss explained to the Lizard. "The whole
thing's framed for to-morrow night. The watchman was discharged
to-day.
Another man is supposed to have been hired to take the job, but of
course he won't show up. You meet me here at seven thirty to-morrow
night, and I'll give you your final instructions and tell you how to get
to the plant." The C.P.A.'s were slow in completing their report. At
noon on Saturday it looked very much to Bince that there would be no
report ready before Monday. He had spent most of the forenoon
pacing his
office, and at last, unable longer to stand the strain, he had
announced
that he was going out to his country club for a game of golf.
He returned to his down-town club about dinner-time, and at eight
o'clock he called up Elizabeth Compton.
"Come on up," said the girl. "I'm all alone this evening. Father went
back to the office to examine some reports that were just finished up
late this afternoon."
"I'll be over," said Bince, "as soon as I dress." If there was any trace
of surprise or shock in his tones the girl failed to notice it.
At ten o'clock that night a figure moved silently through the dark
shadows of an alleyway in the area of the International Machine
Company's plant on West Superior Street. As he moved along he
counted
the basement windows silently, and at the fifth window he halted.
Just a
casual glance he cast up and down the alley, and then, kneeling, he
raised the sash and slipped quietly into the darkness of the basement.
At about the same time Jimmy's landlady called him to the telephone,
where a man's voice asked if "this was Mr. Torrance?" Assured that
such
was the fact, the voice continued: "I am the new watchman at the
plant.
There's something wrong here. I can't get hold of Mr. Compton. I
think
you better come down. I'll be in Mr. Compton's office--" The message
ceased as though central had disconnected them.
"Funny," thought Jimmy, "that he should call me up. I wonder what
the
trouble can be." But he lost no time in getting his hat and starting for
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the works.
Although the Lizard knew that there was no danger of detection, yet
from
long habit he moved through the plant of the International Machine
Company with the noiselessness of a disembodied spirit.
Occasionally,
and just for the briefest instant, he flashed his lamp ahead of him, but
though he had never been in the place before he found it scarcely
necessary, so minute had been his instructions for reaching the office
from the fifth basement window.
The room he sought was on the second floor, and the Lizard had
mounted
the steps from the basement to the first floor when he was brought to
a
sudden stop by a noise from the floor above him. The Lizard listened
intently. No, he could not be mistaken. Too often had he heard a
similar
sound.
Some one was tiptoeing across the floor above. The Lizard was in the
hallway close beside the stairs when he realized the footsteps were
coming toward the stairway, and a moment later that they were
cautiously
descending. The Lizard flattened himself against the wall, and if he
breathed his lungs gave forth no sound.
If one may interpret footsteps--and the Lizard, from the fund of a
great experience, felt that he could--those descending the stairway
from above him might have been described as nervous and repressed;
for
at least they gave the Lizard the impression of one who desired to flee
in haste and yet dared not do so, for fear of attracting attention by
the increased noise that greater speed might entail.
At least the Lizard knew that those were the footsteps of no
watchman,
but whether it be guardian of the law or fellow criminal the Lizard
had
no wish to be discovered. He wondered what had gone wrong with
Murray's
plans, and, suddenly imbued with the natural suspicion of the
criminal,
it occurred to him that the whole thing might be a frame-up to get
him;
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r r
and yet why Murray should wish to get him he could not imagine. He
ran
over in his mind a list all those who might feel enmity toward him, but
among them all the Lizard could cast upon none who might have
sufficient
against him to warrant such an elaborate scheme of revenge.
The footsteps passed him and continued on toward the foot of the
stairs
where was the main entrance which opened upon the street. At the
door
the footsteps halted, and as the Lizard's eyes bored through the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]