The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories. Carter Nicholas
unable to proceed.
"Come, sir," said Nick; "be calm. Tell me plainly what you want me to do for you."
"It isn't for me; it's for a—for a friend of mine."
"Very well; what can I do for your friend?"
"He is accused of a terrible crime, of which he is entirely innocent. I want you to save him."
"I have been asked to do that many times."
"And you have always succeeded?"
"Oh, no; in several cases the persons have been hanged."
The visitor shuddered violently.
"I had heard," he said, "that you never failed to find the guilty persons and to save the innocent."
"That is the truth. It has been my good fortune to leave no case unsettled."
"But you said that these innocent persons had been hanged."
"They were hanged," said Nick, "but they were not innocent. Their friends assured me that the persons were entirely guiltless, but it was not true.
"And therefore," Nick continued, looking straight into the man's eyes, "I should advise you to be very sure of your friend's innocence before you put the case in my hands."
The visitor looked very much relieved.
"I'm perfectly sure of it," he cried. "My friend had nothing to do with this case."
"I'm glad to hear it. Who is he?"
"The man who has been arrested in this restaurant murder case."
"John Jones?"
"That is the name he has given to the police."
"But isn't that his right name?"
"I—I don't know," stammered the visitor.
"He must be a very particular friend of yours, since you don't know what his name is!"
"I never saw him in my life."
"Look here, Mr.—"
"Hammond is my name."
"Well, Mr. Hammond, your statements don't hang together. You began by saying that this man was your friend."
"I didn't mean that exactly, but I sympathize with him. It must be terrible to be arrested for such a crime and to find the evidence growing stronger in spite of your innocence."
"How do you know that he is innocent?"
Before Hammond could reply there came a knock at the door.
Nick answered it.
"Come in, Gaspard," he said, throwing the door wide open.
"You sent for me, and—Good God! who is this?"
"You know him, then?"
"Yes, yes, I know him," cried Gaspard; "he is the man who was in room A last night."
CHAPTER V.
PATSY'S TIP.
Gaspard's declaration produced a stunning effect upon Hammond.
At first he seemed thunderstruck. There was a look in his face which made Nick say to himself, "It isn't true."
But whether the accusation was true or false, Nick knew at once that Hammond recognized Gaspard.
Yet he couldn't be a regular visitor to the place, because Gaspard had said that he had never seen either of the two men before the fatal evening.
Therefore, as Hammond had recognized Gaspard, he must be the man who was in room A, because the man in room B had not seen the head waiter, according to Gaspard's story.
Hammond, after the first shock of surprise, recovered his nerve wonderfully.
He calmly took a chair and sat there in deep thought for nearly five minutes. He paid no attention to questions.
Finally he looked up and said:
"I don't know why I should deny it to you. There is no charge against the man in room A."
"None whatever," said Nick. "He is wanted merely as a witness."
"It occurred to me that you might have some theory of a conspiracy in which both men were concerned."
"I never thought of it."
"Then I am not to be put under arrest?"
"Certainly not, unless some new evidence appears, and I do not expect it."
"Very well; I was the man in room A."
"And who was the lady?"
"I decline to mention her name. She has nothing to do with this case. You will easily understand that I do not wish to bring a lady's name into a tragedy of this kind."
"I can understand that. Now tell me why you feel so sure of this man Jones' innocence."
"Will you promise to keep me out of this affair as much as you can?"
"Why do you wish it? What are you afraid of?"
"Well," said Hammond, looking very much embarrassed, "I'm a married man, very respectable sort of a fellow; and the lady with whom I dined was not my wife. It's all right, you know. My wife is not a jealous woman. But the thing would not look well in print."
"I won't make this public if I can help it, Mr. Hammond. Not that I have much sympathy for you. You shouldn't have been there. But the publicity would annoy your wife, and do nobody any good."
"Thank you," said Hammond, with a grim smile; "now I will tell my story. There is very little to tell.
"We arrived before the other party. We heard them go into room B.
"By and by, I went out into the hall to find the waiter, who didn't answer my ring. I saw this man," pointing to Gaspard, "at the desk, and should have spoken to him, but just then the waiter hove in sight at the end of the hall.
"So I went back. Just as I was closing the door of our room, I heard the man come out of room B.
"I didn't see him, but I know that he went down the front stairs, for I heard his footsteps, and also heard the door shut.
"The waiter came in and finally went out again. We. were just ready to leave the place when we heard the pistol-shot in the other room.
"Then we got out of the house just as fast as we could. It was cowardly, perhaps, but I knew that something terrible had happened, and I didn't want to be mixed up in it.
"Of course I wanted to keep the lady out of it, too, and—and—well, you can see that there were many reasons why I should have decided to make tracks."
"You know that the man was not in room B when the shot was fired?" said Nick.
"I'm sure of it."
"He might have come back."
"No; the front door makes a loud noise when it is shut I should have heard him if he had come in that way. And if he had come the other way this man would have seen him."
"You didn't see him at all, did you?"
"No."
"So you can't say whether Jones was the man?"
"No; but I'm sure he wasn't the murderer."
"You think it was suicide?"