XVIIITHE RADIO DETECTIVE
Here, it seemed, was a new danger. Was it to be taken as a proof of Burke’s theory that some one, perhaps a gang, was back of Paquita! I was almost inclined to Hastings’ opinion, for the moment. What was the reason that Shelby had been so interested in Kennedy as to seek him out even in the office of the lawyer of his brother who hated him?
I could evolve no answer in my own inner consciousness for the questions. As far as I could see we were still fighting in the dark, and fighting an unknown.
Kennedy quickly chose one horn of the dilemma that had been presented to him. Both the wording of the cipher and Burke’s enigmatic message regarding the wireless which came so close on its heels quite decided him to hurry back to Westport—that is, if one might so call traveling on midday trains that lounged along from station to station.
We left Hastings in a high state of excitement. Some pressing business prevented his immediate return to Westport, and Kennedy was evidently rather pleased than otherwise, for he did not urge him to go.
“There’s just one thing that I must stop for, and we shall have plenty of time, if we don’t waste it,” he planned. “I must go to the laboratory. There’s some stuff there I want to take out if, as I foresee, we are to have to deal with wireless in some way. Besides, I may need some expert assistance and I want to arrange with one of the graduate students at the university, if I can.”
In the laboratory he found what he wanted and began gathering it into bundles, packing up some head telephone receivers, coils of wire, and other apparatus, some of which was very cumbersome. The last he placed in a pile by itself.
The door opened and a young man entered.
“Oh, Watkins,” Craig directed, as I recognized one of the students who had attended his courses, “there’s a lot of apparatus I would like you to take out to Westport for me.”
They talked briefly in a wireless jargon which I did not understand, and the student agreed to carry the stuff out on a late train, meeting us at the Harbor House. At the last moment Kennedywas off for the railroad station. It was making close connections, but we succeeded.
The ride out was nerve-racking to us under the circumstances. We had taken the bait so temptingly displayed by Paquita and had gone to New York. Now we could not get back fast enough. We had not been in the city long, it is true. But had it been too long? What had happened out in the town we were anxious to learn. I felt sure that in our absence some of the Maddoxes might well have attempted something which our presence would have restrained.
Burke met us at the station with a car, so sure was he that Kennedy would return immediately on receipt of his second message, and it was evident that he felt a great sense of relief at regaining Kennedy’s help.
As we spun along down from the station Kennedy hastened to tell Burke what had happened, first about Paquita as Riley had reported, then his deciphering of the cipher message, our failure to discover anything in the scantily furnished office at the other end of the detectaphone wire, Shelby’s visit, and the whole peculiar train of circumstances.
Instead of going directly to the Harbor House Burke drove us around by the hotel dock, where we saw that there was a stranger in a power boat apparently waiting for him.
Kennedy was just finishing his recital of our unsatisfactory experience as we approached.
“Perhaps it all has something to do with what I wired you about,” returned Burke, thoughtfully. “This new affair is something that I know you’ll be interested in. You see, among my other jobs for the Government I’m what you might call a radio-detective, I guess. You know that there are laws aimed against these amateur wireless operators, I suppose?”
Kennedy nodded, and Burke went on, “Well, whenever regular operators find anything illegal going on in the air, they notify the Government, and so the thing is passed along for me to take up. Heaven knows I don’t know much about wireless. But that doesn’t matter. They don’t want a wireless man so much as they do a detective to ferret out from the operator’s evidence who can be violating the law of the air, and where. So that is how I happened to get hold of this evidence which, I think, may prove valuable to us.”
As we pulled up near the hotel dock Burke beckoned to the strange man who had been waiting for him.
“Let me introduce you to Steel, whom they have sent to me on that matter I told you about.”
Kennedy and I shook hands with the man, whoglanced out over the harbor as he explained briefly, “I’m an operator over there at the Seaville Station, which you can see on the point.”
We also gazed out over the water. The powerful station which he indicated was on a spit of sand perhaps two miles distant and stood out sharply against the horizon, with its tall steel masts and cluster of little houses below, in which the operators and the plant were.
“It’s a wonderful station,” Steel remarked, noticing that we were looking at it also. “We’d be glad to have you over there, Mr. Kennedy. Perhaps you could help us.”
“How’s that?” asked Craig, keenly.
“Why,” explained the operator, with a sort of reflective growl, “for the past day or so, now and then, when we least expect it, our apparatus has been put out of business. It’s only temporary. But it looks as though there was too much interference. It isn’t static. It’s almost as though some one was jamming the air. And we don’t know of any one around here that’s capable of doing it. None of us can explain it, but there are some powerful impulses in the air. I can’t make it out.”
Kennedy’s eye rested on the graceful white hull of theSybariteas she lay still at anchor off the Harbor House. I had not noticed, although Kennedyhad, that the yacht was equipped with wireless.
“It’s not likely that it is any one on theSybaritewho is responsible?” he considered, tentatively.
The operator shook his head. “No, the apparatus isn’t strong enough. We would be more likely to put them out of business.”
Burke turned the car around and drove up to the Harbor House. Kennedy jumped out of the car and carried part of the stuff he had brought from the laboratory, while I took the rest, followed by Burke and Steel.
“When I got your message, Burke,” he said, “I thought that there might be something going on such as you’ve told me. So I came out prepared. I’ve got some more apparatus coming, too, in case we don’t get what we want with this. Will you see if we can get permission to go up on the roof—and do it without attracting attention, too?”
Burke quickly made the arrangements and we quietly went up-stairs by a back way, finally coming out on a flat portion of the Lodge roof.
From one of the packages Kennedy took some wire and hastily and ingeniously strung it so that in a short time it was quite evident that he was improvising the aerial of a wireless outfit of somesort. Finally, when he had finished, he led the proper wires down over the edge of the roof.
“One of these,” he said, preparing to leave the roof, “I want to carry down to the ground, the other to our own room.”
We went down again by the back stairs and outside, where Kennedy picked up the wire that hung down to the earth.
Having completed this part of his preparations, Kennedy entered the Harbor House and we followed.
We were passing through the corridor when a page stepped up to Kennedy. “I beg your pardon, sir,” he announced, “but there is a lady in the parlor who would like to speak to you and Mr. Jameson, sir.”
Kennedy excused himself from Burke and Steel, and together we went in the direction of the parlor, eager to discover who it was that sent for us.
To my surprise, it was Winifred Walcott whom we saw sitting all alone.
“How are you after your thrilling experience last night?” inquired Kennedy. “It was so early this morning when we left that we really could not disturb any one to find out. I trust that you are feeling better?”
“Yes—better,” she repeated, her eyes with anabsent look, as though she was not thinking of how she felt. “I wanted to thank you ever so much for what you did. Without you, who knows what might have happened to me or where I should be now?”
There was genuine feeling in her words now, as she went on, “Professor Kennedy, after what has happened I am afraid that I shall have to appeal to you for protection. I have thought about it all a great deal, and still there is no explanation of the strange events of last night.”
“You have no idea who it was who carried you off?”
She shook her head. “You may not believe it, but I have not. All I remember was being seized from behind and before I knew it I was half choked, half smothered. That thing wrapped about my head kept me from seeing or crying out until it was too late. Even then I could not see. There is only one thing I can say I really know, and that is that whoever it was that carried me off, it was some one of great strength. You see, I am no light-weight and pretty strong. Yet I never had a chance until you and Mr. Jameson and the rest came up back of me. Oh, I am so sorry I came to your laboratory that day with her!”
Winifred paused. It was evident that she was in a very nervous and high-strung state, andnaturally so. The one thing that seemed uppermost in her mind was that she had listened to the biased interpretations of Irene Maddox. The dénouement had proved how wrong they had been, at least in their suggested characterization of Kennedy. And she hastened to apologize.
“Not a word about that,” insisted Kennedy. “There was no reason why you should not have come to see me on any errand and with anybody.”
“Just the same, I am sorry.”
“Has anything more happened to-day?” queried Kennedy, changing the subject deftly.
“N-no, nothing in particular. I have been thinking mostly of what it all was about last night. Some one wanted to hold me—but didn’t want to hurt me. Who could it be? Why?”
“That is exactly what I am trying to find out,” assured Craig. “We went in to the city on what looked as though it might prove to be a very promising clue, but nothing came of it. However, it is only a short while, now, and we shall soon have something to report, I am convinced.”
“Did you see—Mr. Maddox?” she asked, hesitatingly, and I knew that the mention of Shelby’s name had cost her some effort, after the serious tiff of the evening before. “He was very solicitous, sent up word, and some flowers,but could not miss the express, he wrote, on account of an important engagement.”
“Yes, we saw him for just a minute—down in Wall Street. I believe he has taken some interest in business lately and has spent much time at the office of his brokers down-town.”
The look of relief that passed over her face could not easily be concealed. It was evident that she knew of the sudden early departure of Paquita and, like Hastings, in her suspicions, had been afraid that there might be some connection with Shelby. Kennedy did not say anything about the appearance of Paquita in Wall Street; and, on reflection, I reasoned that he was right, for it could have no effect except to arouse unjust suspicions.
Winifred said nothing for a few moments. I wondered what was passing in her mind. Was she sorry that she had not taken Shelby at his word the night before? At any rate, she said nothing, nor should I have expected her to admit anything to us.
“What do your brother and sister-in-law think?” asked Kennedy, at length.
“Johnson promised to get a detective himself if there was anything new on which to base suspicions,” she replied. “He seemed rather vexed at me that I could tell no more, said thatno detective could be expected to catch any one on my hazy description—which, I suppose, is true.”
“And Mrs. Maddox?”
“Oh, she seems to think—well, it’s pretty hard to tell what poor Irene thinks from one moment to another. She says it’s what I might expect for being mixed up with the Maddoxes. I can’t see what that has to do with it, though. I’m not mixed up with them, even if Johnson is.”
There was a naïveté about the remark that was not lost on Kennedy. Winifred was still mistress of her own heart, at least so she would have us think. Her solicitude about Shelby and the careful way in which she refused to let us see that it went too far would have indicated otherwise. She was really afraid of herself.
“There has been absolutely nothing suspicious since this morning?” reiterated Kennedy, hoping that she might recall something, no matter how trivial, that might point the way further ahead.
“Nothing,” she repeated. “I didn’t come down from my room until pretty late. Everybody had left for the city by that time. I did see that gentleman who brought us back in his car, though.”
“Oh, Sanchez?” interrogated Craig, his attention aroused in an instant. “What of him? Did he do or say anything?”
“Nothing except that he inquired very particularly how I was and whether I had found out anything—nothing more than common politeness might suggest.”
As for me, I felt sure, now, that there was something much deeper than courtesy in the inquiry of Sanchez.
“I don’t suppose you noticed anything about him?” asked Craig.
“Nothing except that he avoided Irene Maddox when he saw her coming toward me. I think I can guess why.”
She nodded knowingly to Kennedy.
“Did he seem to be interested in Paquita’s absence?” pursued Kennedy.
“I can’t say,” strove Winifred to remember. “I did see him talking to some of the boys about the hotel—that is all.”
“And where did he go?”
“Drove off in his car. It was about the middle of the morning. I haven’t seen him about since then.”
Winifred seemed quite reassured by the few words with Kennedy, and with a parting assurance of protection Kennedy and I excused ourselves.
We rejoined Burke and Steel in the lobby, where Burke was nervously pacing up and down, for precious minutes were being wasted, he felt.And yet I could not see that he was able to make a move without the aid of Kennedy.
Like Burke, I, too, was eager to know what it was that Kennedy was planning to accomplish by the elaborate and secret preparations he was making. Accordingly, I was not sorry when he decided to go immediately up to our rooms.
Naturally I was keenly interested in what Kennedy was doing in establishing his own little wireless plant, but the operator, Steel, looked at it in increasing wonder as Craig laid out the apparatus in the room.
“It’s not exactly like anything that I’ve ever seen before,” Steel remarked, finally. “What do you expect to do with it, sir?”
Kennedy smiled. “I don’t believe you ever did see one of these sets, although you may have heard of them,” he explained, not pausing in his work of installing it. “It is an apparatus only lately devised for use by the United States Government to detect illegalities in the air in wireless, whether they are committed by amateurs or not.”
As we watched in silence, Kennedy went on explaining. “You know that wireless apparatus is divided into three parts—the source of power, whether battery or dynamo; the making and sending of wireless waves, including the key,spark condenser, and tuning coil; and the receiving apparatus, head telephones, antennæ, ground and detector.”
Kennedy was talking to us rather than the operator, but now he turned to him and remarked, “It’s a very compact system, with facilities for a quick change from one wave-length to another. I suppose you’ve noticed it—spark gap, quenched type—break system relay, and all the rest. You understand, I can hear any interference while I’m transmitting. Take the transformation—by a single throw of this six-point switch. It tunes the oscillating and open circuits to resonance. It’s very clever and, best of all, efficient.”
His wireless installed and adjusted, Kennedy clapped the ear-pieces on and tuned it up. Not only he, but the wireless operator tried it, rapidly changing the wave-lengths, as the system admitted, in the hope of discovering something. Whatever it was that had caused the trouble at the Seaville Station, it was not working now. They seemed able to discover nothing.
This had been going on for some time when our telephone rang and Burke jumped to answer it.
“That’s one of my men,” he exclaimed with a gesture that indicated he had forgotten something.“I meant to tell you that they were holding a funeral service for Marshall Maddox, and this apparatus of yours clean knocked it out of my head. Hello!... Yes, I remember. Wait.” Burke put his hand over the transmitter and looked at us. “Do you want to go?” he asked.
“I think I would like to see them together again,” Craig replied, after a moment’s consideration.
“All right,” returned Burke, removing his hand. “We’ll be down in a minute.”
Kennedy took from another package what looked like an arrangement containing a phonograph cylinder, and attached it, through a proper contrivance, to his receiving apparatus.
“Now I think we can safely leave this thing,” bustled Kennedy, eager to get back in touch with things at Westport.
The wireless operator, Steel, glanced at his watch. “I’m due back at Seaville soon to do my trick. Is there anything else I can tell you or do for you?”
Kennedy thanked him. “Not just at the moment,” he returned. “We shall have to wait now until something happens. Perhaps you are right. I think the best thing you can do is to return to Seaville and keep your eyes and ears open. If there is anything at all that comes upthat seems to lead to our wireless jammer, I wish you would let me know.”
Steel was only too glad to promise and, a moment later, left us to return to the wireless station.