The House Opposite: A Mystery Read online

  CHAPTER II

  I AM INVOLVED IN THE CASE

  It seemed to me that I had only just got to sleep on my divan when I wasawakened by a heavy truck lumbering by. The sun was already high in theheavens, but on consulting my watch I found that it was only ten minutespast six. Annoyed at having waked up so early I was just dozing offagain when my sleepy eyes saw the side door leading to the back stairsof the Rosemere slowly open and a young man come out.

  Now I do not doubt that, except for what I had seen and heard the nightbefore, I should not have given the fellow a thought; but the houseopposite had now become for me a very hotbed of mystery, and everythingconnected with it aroused my curiosity. So I watched the young mankeenly, although he appeared to be nothing but a grocer's or baker'sboy going on his morning rounds. But looking at him again I thought himrather old for an errand boy, for they are seldom over eighteen, whilethis young fellow was twenty-five at the very least. He was tall, dark,and clean-shaven, although not very recently so. He wore no collar, andhad on a short, black coat over which was tied a not immaculate whiteapron. On his arm hung a covered basket, which, from the way he carriedit, I judged to be empty, or nearly so.

  It may have been my imagination,--in fact, I am inclined to think itwas,--but it certainly seemed to me that he stole furtively from thehouse and glanced apprehensively up and down the street, casting a lookin my direction. I thought that he started on encountering my eyes. Bethat as it may, he certainly drew his battered hat farther over hisface, and, with both hands in his pockets, and chewing a straw with realor assumed carelessness, walked rapidly up town.

  I now found my position by the window too noisy, so sought the quietand darkness of my bedroom, where I fell immediately into such a heavysleep that it was some time before I realised that the alarm-bell thathad been clanging intermittently through my dreams was in reality myoffice-bell. Hurriedly throwing on a few clothes, I hastened to open thedoor.

  A negro lad stood there, literally grey with terror. His great eyesrolled alarmingly in their sockets, and it was several minutes before Icould make out that somebody had been killed, and that my services wererequired immediately.

  Hastily completing my dressing, and snatching up my instrument case, Iwas ready to follow him in a few moments. What was my astonishment andhorror when he led me to the Rosemere!

  For a moment my heart stood still. My thoughts flew back to last night.So this was the explanation of that scream, and I had remained silent!Dolt, imbecile that I was! I felt positively guilty.

  The large entrance hall through which I hurried was crowded with excitedpeople, and, as I flew up in the elevator, I tried to prepare myself forthe sight of a fair-haired girl weltering in her blood. On the landingat which we stopped were several workmen, huddled together in asmall knot, with white, scared faces. One of the two doors which nowconfronted me stood open, and I was surprised to notice that it led, notto either of the apartments I had watched the night before, but to oneof those on the farther side of the building. Yet here, evidently, wasthe corpse.

  Passing through the small hall, filled with rolls of paper and pots ofpaints, I entered a room immediately on my right. Here several men stoodtogether, gazing down at some object on the floor; but at my approachthey moved aside and disclosed--not a golden-haired woman, as I hadfeared, but the body of a large man stretched out in a corner.

  I was so astonished that I could not help giving vent to an exclamationof surprise.

  "Do you know the gentleman?" inquired a man, whom I afterwardsdiscovered to be the foreman of the workmen, with quick suspicion.

  "No, indeed," I answered, as I knelt down beside the body.

  A policeman stepped forward.

  "Please, sir, don't disturb the corpse; the Coroner and the gen'l'manfrom headquarters must see him just as he is."

  I nodded assent. One glance was sufficient to show me that life had beenextinct for some time. The eyes were half open, staring stupidly beforethem. The mouth had fallen apart, disclosing even, white teeth. As helay there on his back, with arms spread out, and his hands unclenched,his whole attitude suggested nothing so much as a drunken stupor. Heappeared to be twenty-five or thirty years old. No wound or mark ofviolence was visible. He wore a short, pointed beard, and was dressed ina white linen shirt, a pair of evening trousers, a black satin tie, silksocks, and patent-leather pumps. By his side lay a Tuxedo coat and a lowwaistcoat. All his clothes were of fine texture, but somewhat the worsefor wear. On the other hand, the pearl studs in his shirt-bosom werevery handsome, and on his gold sleeve-links a crest was engraved.

  As I said before, a glance had been enough to tell me that the man wasdead; but I was astonished to discover, on examining him more closely,that he had been dead at least twenty-four hours; mortification hadalready set in.

  As I arose to my feet, I noticed a small, red-haired man, in the mostcomical deshabille, regarding me with breathless anxiety.

  "Well, Doc, what is it?"

  "Of course, I can give no definite opinion without making a furtherexamination," I said, "but I am inclined to believe that our friendsuccumbed to alcoholism or apoplexy; he has been dead twenty-four hours,and probably somewhat longer."

  "There, now," exclaimed the foreman; "I knew he hadn't died last night;no, nor yistidy, neither."

  "But it can't be, I tell you!" almost shrieked the little Irishman."Where could he have come from? Oh, Lord," he wailed, "to think thatsich a thing should have happened in this building! We only take themost iligant people; yes, sir, and now they'll lave shure, see if theydon't. It'll give the house a bad name; and me as worked so hard to keepit genteel."

  A commotion on the landing announced the arrival of a stout, floridindividual, who turned out to be the Coroner, and a quiet, middle-agedman in plain clothes, whom I inferred, from the respect with which hewas treated, to be no other than the "gen'l'man" from headquarters.After looking at the corpse for some moments, the Coroner turned to usand demanded:

  "Who is this man?"

  The little Irishman stepped forward. "We don't none of us know, sor."

  "How came he here then?"

  "The Lord only knows!"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, sor, it's this way. This apartment is being re-fixed, and fivemen were working here till six o'clock yistidy evening, and when theyleft they locks the door, and it has a Yale lock; and they brought methe key and I locks it away at once; and this morning at seven they comewhile I was still half asleep, having slept bad on account of the heat,and I gets up and opens the safe myself and takes out the key and givesit to this gintleman," pointing to the foreman; "and he come up here,and a few minutes afterwards I hear a great hue and cry and the workmenand elevaytor-boy come ashrieking that a body's murthered upstairs. Howthe fellow got in here, unless the Divil brought him, I can't think; andnow here's the doctor that says he's been dead twenty-four hours!"

  At my mention the Coroner turned towards me with a slight bow. "You area doctor?"

  "Yes, I am Dr. Charles Fortescue, of Madison Avenue. My office isexactly opposite; I was summoned this morning to see the corpse; I findthat the man has been dead at least twenty-four hours. I have not yetmade an examination of the body, as I did not wish to disturb it tillyou"--with a bow which included his companion--"had seen it; but I aminclined to think he died of alcoholism or apoplexy."

  "Let me make you acquainted with Mr. Merritt, Dr. Fortescue," said theCoroner, waving his hand in the direction of the gentleman referred to.I was surprised to learn that this insignificant-looking person wasreally the famous detective.

  "Now, gentlemen," said Mr. Merritt, "I must request you all to leave theroom while Dr. Fortescue and I take a look round."

  As soon as we were alone, the detective knelt down and proceeded toexamine the body with astonishing quickness and dexterity. Nothingescaped him; even the darns in the socks appeared worthy of hisinterest. When he had finished, he beckoned me to approach, and togetherwe turned the body over. As I had dis
covered no sign of violence, I wasabout to tell him that, unless the autopsy disclosed poison, the man hadcertainly died from natural causes, when Mr. Merritt pointed to a smalldrop of blood at the side of his shirt front immediately above theheart, which had escaped my observation. In the middle of this tiny spota puncture was visible.

  We now partially disrobed the corpse, and I was stupified to find thatthe deceased had indeed been assassinated, and by an instrument nolarger than a knitting-needle. In the meantime, the detective had beencarefully inspecting the clothing. There were no marks on anythingexcept those with which laundries insist on disfiguring our linen. Inthe waistcoat pocket he found six dollars in bills and seventy-fivecents in change; also a knife; but no watch, card, or letter.

  Mr. Merritt now whipped out a magnifying glass and searched everythinganew; but if he discovered any clue he kept the knowledge of itdiscreetly to himself. After going over every inch of the floor andexamining the window he peered out.

  "So you live there, Doctor," he remarked, with a glance opposite.

  "No," I replied, "my house is further north; my office faces the otherset of apartments."

  Being curious to see if we were anywhere near either of the apartmentsI had watched during the night, I, too, leaned out and looked hastilyin the direction of my roof. We were exactly on a level with it, andconsequently the adjoining suite must be the one in which I had noticedthe dark-haired woman and the man whose ill-timed hunt had puzzled me somuch. Their behavior had certainly been very peculiar. Had they anythingto do with this murder, I wondered. I was startled by a soft voice at myelbow, remarking quietly: "You seem struck by something." As I was notanxious, at least not yet, to tell him of my experiences of the nightbefore, I tried to say in the most natural tone in the world: "Oh, Iwas only noticing that we are exactly on a level with my roof." "I hadalready observed that," he said. After a slight pause, he continued: "Wemust now find out who saw the deceased enter the building, for in aplace so guarded by bell-boys, elevator-boys and night-watchmen as thisis, it seems hardly possible that he could have come in unperceived."

  On entering the next room we found the Coroner deep in conversation withthe foreman. He turned abruptly to me:

  "This man tells me that you uttered an exclamation of surprise on seeingthe corpse. What made you do so?"

  That unlucky ejaculation! I hesitated a moment, rather at a loss to knowwhat to reply. Every one turned towards me, and I felt myself actuallyblushing. "I was at first struck by a fancied resemblance," I at lastmanaged to stammer, "but on looking closer I saw I had been completelymistaken."

  "Humph," grunted the Coroner, and I was aware that every one in theroom eyed me with suspicion. "Well," he continued, still looking at meseverely, "can you tell us what the man died of?" "Yes," I answered; "hemet his death by being stabbed to the heart by a very small weapon,possibly a stiletto, but a sharp knitting-needle, or even a hat pin,could have caused the wound. The crime was committed while he wasunconscious, or at least semi-conscious, either from some drug oralcohol; or he may have been asleep. He made no resistance, and in allprobability never knew he had been hurt."

  There was profound silence.

  "It is, then, impossible that this wound was self-inflicted," inquiredthe Coroner.

  "Quite impossible," I rejoined.

  "So that he was presumably murdered the night before last and smuggledinto this apartment some time between six o'clock last evening and seveno'clock this morning?" continued the Coroner. Then, turning to thelittle red-headed manager, he asked:

  "Now, Mr. McGorry, how is it possible for this corpse to have beenbrought here? The foreman testifies that he himself locked the door inthe presence of several workmen; you tell me that the key remained inyour safe all night. Now, please explain how this body got here?"

  "Lord-a-mercy, sor, you don't think as I did it!" shrieked McGorry."Why, sor, I never saw the man before in my life; besides, I have got aalibi, sor; yes, sor, a alibi."

  "Stop, Mr. McGorry; don't get so excited; nobody is accusing you ofanything. But if this place was locked up last night, how came the bodyhere this morning? The lock has not been tampered with. Was there aduplicate key?"

  "Yis, sor; but the other key was also in my safe," replied McGorry.

  "Have either of these keys ever been missing?"

  "Shure and they haven't been out of my keeping since the apartment wasvacated last May, until three days ago when the painters begun workhere. Since then they have had one of the keys during the day, but havealways returned it before leaving."

  "Now, tell me," continued the Coroner, turning to the foreman, "has thekey been missing since you had it?"

  "Not that I know of; we leave it sticking in the door all day, and onlytake it out when we leave."

  "So that it is possible that a person might have come to the door, takenthe key, and kept it for some hours without your noticing it?"

  "Yes, sir, it's possible, but it aint likely; I haven't seen anyone passsince I've been working here."

  "Could the corpse have been brought in here any other way than throughthe front door?"

  "No, Mr. Coroner," a quiet voice at my side replied; "I have justexamined the fire-escape and all the windows. The fastenings have notbeen tampered with, and the dust on the fire-escape shows no signs ofrecent disturbance." Mr. Merritt had gone on his search so unobtrusivelythat I had not noticed his absence till he reappeared, a good deal lessimmaculate than before.

  "Is it possible to enter this building unperceived?" the Coronerresumed.

  "I should have said not," replied McGorry; "but now everything seemspossible." Even the Coroner had to smile at his despondent tone.

  "The front door is opened at seven o'clock and closed at eleven, unlessthere's something special going on," McGorry continued, "and duringthose hours there are always one or two boys in the hall, and oftenthree. After eleven the watchman opens the front door and takes thepeople up in the elevaytor. No one but meself has the key to thisoutside door."

  "Does the watchman never leave the front hall except to take people upin the elevator?"

  "Well, I don't say niver, sor, but he's niver far off."

  "Then I gather that it would be just possible for a person to get outof this house unperceived between eleven P.M. and seven A.M., butimpossible, or nearly so, for him to enter?"

  "Yes, that's so, that's what I think, sor."

  "Well, what about the back door?" I asked.

  "Well, the back door is opened at six and closed at tin," repliedMcGorry.

  "The back door is not guarded during the day, is it?" I went on,forgetting the Coroner in my eagerness.

  "Doctor," broke in the latter, "allow me to conduct this inquiry. Yes,McGorry, who watches over that?"

  "Well, sor, at present no one; there's a back elevaytor, but it don'trun in summer, as the house is almost empty."

  "Then, as I understand it, any one can enter or leave the building bythe back stairs, at any time during the day, unseen, or at any rateunnoticed; but after ten o'clock they would require the assistance ofsome one in the house to let them in?"

  "That's so, sor."

  "Now, you are sure that the deceased was not a temporary inmate of thisbuilding; that he wasn't staying with any of the parties who are stillhere?"

  "Certain, sor."

  "And no one has the slightest clue to his identity?"

  "No one has seen him except these gen'l'men and Jim. He's the elevaytorboy who went for you, Doc, and he didn't say nothing about knowing him."

  The Coroner paused a moment.

  "What families have you at present in the building?"

  "Well, sor, most of our people are out of town, having houses atNewport, or Lenox, and thereabouts," McGorry answered, with a vaguesweep of his hand, which seemed to include all those favored regionswhich lie so close together in fashionable geography. "Just now thereare only two parties in the house."

  "Yes, and who are they?"

  "Well, sor, there's Mr. C. H. Stu
art, who occupies the ground floorright; and Mr. and Mrs. Atkins, who have the apartments above this, onlyat the other end of the building." I pricked up my ears. Atkins, then,must be the name of the golden-haired lady and her assailant.

  "Have these people been here long?"

  "Mr. Stuart has been with us seven years. He is a bachelor. Mr. and Mrs.Atkins have only been here since May; they are a newly-married couple,I am told." And not a word of the mysterious pair I had seen in theadjoining apartment! Was McGorry holding something back, or was hereally ignorant of their presence in the building?

  "Are you sure, Mr. McGorry, that there is no one else in the house?" Iinterrupted again.

  "Yes, sor." Then a light broke over his face: "No, sor; you are quiteright" (I hadn't said anything). "Miss Derwent has been two nights here,but she's off again this morning." Mr. Merritt here whispered somethingto the Coroner, whereupon the latter turned to McGorry and said: "Pleasesee that no one leaves this building till I have seen them. I don't wishthem to be told that a murder has been committed, unless they have heardit already, which is most probable. Just inform them that there has beenan accident, do you hear?"

  "Oh, Mr. Coroner," exclaimed McGorry, turning almost as red as his hairin his excitement; "shure and you wouldn't mix Miss Derwent up in this!Lord, she ain't used to such scenes; she'd faint, and then her motherwould never forgive me!"

  "Every one, Miss Derwent included, must view the corpse," he replied,sternly.

  "Oh, sor, but----"

  "Silence!" thundered the Coroner; "the law must be obeyed."

  So the manager went reluctantly out to give the desired order. On hisreturn, the Coroner resumed:

  "Who is Miss Derwent?"

  "Why Miss May Derwent," exclaimed McGorry; "she's just Miss MayDerwent." So it was the fashionable beauty I had been watching so farinto the night. Strange, and stranger!

  "Miss May Derwent," McGorry continued, taking pity on our ignorance, "isthe only daughter of Mrs. Mortimer Derwent. She arrived hereunexpectedly on Tuesday. She had missed her train, she said, and camehere to pass the night."

  "Did she come alone?"

  "Yis, sor."

  "Without even a maid?"

  "Yis, sor."

  "Surely that is an unusual thing for a rich young lady to do?"

  "Yis, sor," replied McGorry, apologetically; "she has never done itbefore. Maybe the maid was taken on by the train."

  "Did Miss Derwent bring any luggage?"

  "Nothing but a hand-bag, sor."

  "And yet she stayed two nights! Do you know any reason for her stayinghere so long?"

  "No, sor, unless it was she had some shopping to do. A good many parcelscome for her yistidy afternoon."

  "Have you a key to her apartment?"

  "Yis, sor; when families goes away for the summer they leaves one keywith me and takes the other with them."

  "Did you let Miss Derwent into her apartment, or did she have the key?"

  "I let her in."

  "Did anyone wait on the young lady while she was here?"

  "What do you mean by that?" inquired McGorry, cautiously.

  "Why, did anyone go into her place to get her meals and tidy up, etc?"

  "No, sor, not that I know of."

  "Doesn't it strike you as peculiar that a young lady, reared in the lapof luxury and unaccustomed to doing the least thing for herself shouldgo to an apartment in which dust and dirt had been accumulating forseveral months and voluntarily spend two nights there, without even aservant to perform the necessary chores for her, mind you?"

  "She went out for her meals," McGorry put in, anxiously, "and youngladies, especially the rich ones, think roughing it a lark."

  There was a slight pause.

  "What servants are there in the building besides your employees, Mr.McGorry?"

  "Mr. Stuart, he keeps a man and his wife--French people they are; andMrs. Atkins, she keeps two girls."

  The Coroner now rose, and, followed by Mr. Merritt, proceeded towardsthe room where the dead man lay.

  "Send up your employees, one by one, McGorry."

  "Yis, sor."

  On the threshold the detective paused a moment, and to my astonishmentand delight requested me to accompany them. The Coroner frowned,evidently considering me a very unnecessary addition to the party, buthis displeasure made no difference to me; I was only too happy to begiven this opportunity of watching the drama unfold itself.