Nicholas Carter

“ She was not even remotely suggestive of the black-veiled figure that had left the Barker residence that morning in company with Gerald Vaughn.
Chick steadied himself. He realized on the instant that he was up against a man, or couple, fully as crafty, daring, and farsighted as the letter left for Nick had implied. ”

“ When it comes to detective stories worth while, the Nick Carter Stories contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of time so well as those contained in the Nick Carter Stories. It proves conclusively that they are the best. ”

“ Nick’s face wore a frown when he hung up the receiver. He was thinking, not of what he had just heard, but of the stolen Strickland treasures.
“The rascals may have taken them to that old homestead,” he muttered, gazing intently at his desk. “Still, there would have been that same danger that the undertaker’s wagon would be seen. The only really consistent place to which they could have driven it is a graveyard. ”

“ Age had begun to undermine his health, however, and for nearly five years he had occupied his present quarters on the second floor of the old Vanhausen mansion, richly furnished and containing most of the fine collection upon which he had expended a considerable part of his fortune. He was a bachelor and lived entirely alone, save when encroached upon by the woman who cared for his apartments, or by his artistic and literary friends.
A glance around the parlor, while he responded to Arthur Gordon’s introduction and afterward presented Chick, gave Nick a hint at the character of the robbery. ”

“ Chick followed him to the elevator.
“They certainly apprehend nothing,” he reasoned. “They may, as Nick inferred, feel entirely safe from suspicion, or absolutely sure that their identity and connection with the robbery cannot be established. I’ll wager, however, that I can take the wind out of their sails. If they don’t weaken when they see me, or betray some sign of recognition—well, their nerve will surpass that of a wooden Indian. ”

“ He recoiled with a gasp. “It’s young Garvan, one of Nick Carter’s push.”
Deland came nearer, till the muzzle of his revolver touched Patsy’s breast. He did not appear to be in the least disturbed by the discovery, not more than when Chick intruded upon him that morning. His nerves were, apparently, as stiff as steel.
“Oh, is that so?” he inquired icily. “Are you sure of it, Jim?”
“I ought to be, hang him.”
“We’ll do better than hang him,” said Deland, with an ominous gleam in his cold eyes. “Garvan, eh? What sent you out here?”
“I came to see what you rascals were after,” said Patsy curtly. ”

“ With a snarl of rage, the head of the Oldham police force wheeled around, with the intention of making a terrible example of this juvenile tormentor, but the youngster darted beyond his reach. The chief started to give chase, but soon abandoned the idea. He was too fat to be much of a sprinter.
Fortunately the Chronicle Building was not far from police headquarters, so these painful experiences soon came to an end. Delancey Gale, editor and publisher of the Oldham Chronicle, greeted Chief Hodgins cordially when the latter stepped into his private office. ”

“ Victor Gilbert was, as he had stated, precisely as he had left it.
“Is there a way to the roof?” Nick inquired, glancing up at a slightly sloping, twelve-foot skylight nearly in the middle of the ceiling.
“Yes. There is a ladder and a scuttle in my dark room,” said the photographer.
“Let’s go up there,” Nick said shortly. “I see that the roof is a flat one, or nearly so, and I wish to cover all of the ground.” ”

“ For the recovery of the stolen Strickland treasures was of even greater importance to him, in so far as the outcome of the case was concerned, than the positive identification and arrest of Mortimer Deland and his companion.
That this woman was Fannie Coyle, however, Chick felt reasonably sure—and again he was right.
“I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Alden, I’m sure,” said the woman, smiling graciously and extending her hand.
“Thank you,” said Chick, bowing.
“Have a chair,” Deland repeated. “Your card states that you are a newspaper man, a reporter. ”

“ Lend a hand, Chick, and we can raise it.”
Nick had contrived to partly remove the hook that secured the skylight, and it then proved easy to raise the latter.
“Close it after us, Patsy, and return by the way we came,” Nick directed. “Say nothing about what we have found and are doing. Go down to the front door of this house and wait for me to admit you.”
“I’m wise, chief,” said Patsy. “I’ll nail any one who attempts to leave.”
“There is no one in the house,” Nick repeated. “I’m sure of that. Come with me, Chick.” ”

“ If he had told me what he stated this morning, I would at once have suspected something wrong.”
“Certainly,” said Chick. “I see the point.”
“But the casket and boxes contained, instead of a corpse and supposed floral tokens, the very plunder we were seeking,” Nick added, with ominous grimness. “The rascals got away with it this morning and under our very eyes. The whole business was more cunning and crafty than we often run up against.”
“There is no denying that Nick, for fair.”
“Let’s look farther. We’ll see what more we can find. It will be little enough, I imagine. ”

“ Gale.”
“I guess that can be easily fixed,” said the editor, “I’ll run an editorial on the front page of to-morrow’s Chronicle, denouncing the Bulletin for publishing those pictures. I shall refer to it as a pictorial outrage against decency and a disgrace to journalism.”
“That’s what it is, all right,” muttered the chief, with an approving nod; “but will the public look at it that way?”
“They will when they read in to-morrow’s Chronicle why it was that you were asleep at your desk,” replied the editor, with a sly smile. ”

“ The only other person present when Nick entered with his chief assistant, Chick Carter, was a tall, clean-cut man in the twenties, one Arthur Gordon, a successful broker and popular society man with whom Nick was well acquainted, and to whose urgent telephone request he then was responding.
“Ah, here is Mr. Carter now,” he exclaimed, when the two detectives entered. “Thank goodness, Nick, you could come immediately. We’re up against it good and hard, a terrible robbery.” ”

“ This is at the Grand Central Palace in New York.
If you don’t care for the comedy on the screen to the left, you can look at the romantic play in the center screen, or at the thriller on the screen to the right.
The chief advantage is that when you go in to see your favorite hero of the movies, who is billed on the posters outside, or go in to see a certain comedy, you aren’t compelled to sit waiting through a program of pictures you don’t care about particularly. It is an arrangement for busy folk who drop into a movie theater at the noon hour. ”

“ There was no exit to the street, and Chick saw plainly that crooks not only could not have removed their booty from the rear door of the building, but also that they would have found it impossible to ascend to the back windows of Mr. Strickland’s apartments, which were more than twenty feet from the ground. A long ladder would have been necessary, and their movements in the quietude of the inclosed area would surely have been heard by the janitor. ”

“ Both the avenue and side street were brightly lighted. Pedestrians were constantly passing. It seemed impossible that crooks could have committed such a crime without being detected. There would not have been greater risk in attempting it in broad daylight.
More deeply puzzled, now, as to how it could by any means have been accomplished, Chick went to question the occupants of the corner house. It was an attractive brownstone dwelling of three stories, its side wall adjoining that of the Vanhausen residence, with no passageway between them. ”

“ But where is the plunder? That’s the question. I’d better sneak out and telephone to the chief, I guess, and then return and watch this place. I can direct him to it and——”
Patsy’s train of thought ended abruptly.
So suddenly as to preclude any extensive move, the heavy tread of men’s feet sounded on the wooden run in front of the stable, and a key was thrust into the padlock of the door.
Patsy knew that a successful retreat through the trapdoor was utterly impossible. He sought the nearest place of concealment—a corner back of a grain chest that stood under the overhang of a rear haymow. ”

“ Gale—to set myself right in the eyes of the public, I mean?”
Again Mr. Gale smiled deprecatingly. “I scarcely think there is any need to worry about that, chief. It isn’t likely that the public will pay any attention to anything that appears in our disreputable contemporary, the Bulletin.”
“They wouldn’t if they had any sense,” said the chief, scowling as he recalled his recent painful experience on the street. “But—ahem!—the public seems inclined to pay more attention to those confounded snapshots than you’d think, and I’ve got to do something to set myself right. ”

“ Carroll shrugged his broad shoulders. “When I tell you that I had to hock my watch yesterday in order to pay my board bill, you will doubtless gather that the Oldham Daily Bulletin isn’t exactly a gold mine,” he replied dryly.
“Ye gods!” exclaimed Hawley. “And I always had an idea that newspaper owners were bloated plutocrats.”
“Some are,” was the grim reply. “But I guess I’m far from being the only New York newspaper man who has tried to run a small town daily and made a fizzle of it.”
“What seems to be the main trouble?” the Camera Chap inquired. ”

“ That sure is some fiddle, chief,” declared Patsy Garvan sententiously.
Nick Carter was having an early breakfast with Chick and his junior assistant before returning to the Strickland apartment on the morning following the robbery. They had nearly finished, when Nick, after a general discussion of the crime, made the foregoing comments concerning that rare make of violin that had been stolen from the elderly German.
“Some fiddle, Patsy, is right,” Chick agreed, laughing over his coffee.
“All Strads are very valuable, and many have had a strange and eventful history. ”

“ Gerald Vaughn hastened to inform her, however, evoking repeated expressions of surprise and sympathy, and Chick then said:
“I came here only to ask whether you have heard any disturbance outside this evening. We wish to find out, if possible, how the thieves entered Mr. Strickland’s apartments and got away with such a quantity of plunder without being seen or heard. It really is very mysterious.” ”

“ Rudolph Strickland. His name was a familiar one in the best circles of New York society. He numbered among his friends and acquaintances nearly all of the distinguished artists, musicians, and literary people of any note, who were frequent visitors to his spacious apartments to admire his superb collection of art treasures, or hear his master hand manipulate his famous Stradivarius violin. ”

“ I tried to get an interview with Chief Hodgins, but he refused, as usual, to talk to a Bulletin man.”
“Humph!” Carroll grunted. “And you think the Chronicle has the yarn, Parsons?”
“I am quite sure they have, sir,” was the mournful reply. “One of the detectives admitted to me that Burns, the Chronicle’s police reporter, had all the details, and a long interview with Chief Hodgins. I’m awfully sorry, sir. I hope you don’t blame me for falling down on the yarn.” ”

“ Deland added, gazing out at the sky. “Cloudy and dark. What more can we ask? We’ll wait here till Ruff returns with the wagon.”
“That won’t be long,” said Pitman. “It will be dark in half an hour.’
“Gee whiz! there’s no get-away for me,” thought Patsy, wondering where the rascals were going, though their mission was obvious. “I could not steal out unheard if I had the feet of a fly. I’ll stick close to these rats, therefore, and let come what may. If they undertake to shift their plunder—well, there’ll be something doing, all right. ”

“ I have learned positively, however, that no persons have been in or out of the rear door.”
“From whom?”
“From the janitor. He is thoroughly trustworthy. He lives in a rear room on the ground floor. He has been there all of the evening, and the door of his room has not been closed. No person could have passed through the hall without his having seen or heard him. He is absolutely sure there have been no intruders.”
“By Jove, it does appear a bit mysterious,” Chick remarked.
“Plainly enough the plunder must have been taken out in some direction,” Nick replied. ”

“ Deland is daring enough to go straight to a first-class hotel with Fannie Coyle, posing in entirely new characters. It will be well to inspect some of the hotel registers in search of his writing.”
“There are possibilities in all that, Nick,” Chick readily admitted.
“Bear in mind, too, the difficulties involved in disposing of the plunder from an undertaker’s wagon,” said Nick. “Where would the rascals take it? Not to a private residence, for the wagon would attract the attention of the neighbors and give rise to inquiries that might result in speedy exposure. ”

“ A MAN OF NERVE.
While Nick Carter returned to the Strickland flat to impart such information and instructions as would serve his purpose, Chick Carter parted from Patsy on the corner of Fifth Avenue, then hastened home to use the telephone and directory.
Instead of calling up the local undertakers, however, Chick decided that he first would ascertain from police headquarters whether the theft of such extraordinary articles as a casket and an undertaker’s team had been reported to the police. He had no great hope of hitting the trail so quickly—but he was agreeably disappointed. ”