The House That Vanished

CHAPTER XXI WORD TO THE VICTORS

“BUT Myra? What has become of her?”

Taussig Kermal put the question as he stood beside his desk. Doctor Claig was tending Hazzler; the wounded man’s testimony would be a record against Rufus Dolthan’s past. But Kermal knew that Hazzler could tell nothing. It was to Croy and Daggart that he spoke.

“I don’t know, sir,” stated the secretary. “The mystery began when I went to summon Miss Dolthan. I rapped at her door, sir. I heard her unlock it; the door opened slowly.”

“And then?”

“Something black enveloped me. I was powerless. I had no chance to cry out. Someone switched out the light; I found myself upon the floor. Yet there was no struggle; no sudden jolt. Just a momentary smothering that stifled me for the time.”

“What next?”

“I heard a voice — a whispered voice — warning me to be quiet and to make no move. Metal pressed my neck. It was a gun muzzle. I had my own revolver, sir; but I dared not reach for it. Then, after a long time — at least so it seemed — I heard another rap upon the door.”

“Was that when Croy arrived?”

“Yes. The gun was pressing me no longer; but the voice repeated a warning. It was uncanny, that voice. I could not bring myself to disobey it. Perhaps I was somewhat of a coward, Mr. Kermal—”

“You have proven your bravery, Daggart. Proceed.”

“The door opened suddenly. There was a struggle in the darkness. A figure sprawled beside me, so suddenly that it seemed incredible. The door must have closed; for I heard the voice speaking a new warning as it had to me. I knew that Croy must be the man beside me.”

“Enough for the moment, Daggart,” said Kermal. “What happened to you, Croy?”

“Just what Daggart said,” grumbled the big man. “It was the same with me, Mr. Kermal. I was smothered, I made a grab and found myself plopped on the floor. There was the voice, too. That gun muzzle Daggart talked about.

“Like a ghost, Mr. Kermal. It wasn’t human, anyway. Look” — Croy stretched out his huge arms and doubled his big fists — “who’s going to roll me over like I was nothing. Anybody human? No, sir.”

Kermal paused, speculating. He was inclined to agree. He remembered The Shadow’s laugh. He had a fleeting recollection of a sweeping figure in black. It was all uncanny; bullets had been real, yet even they had come in a deluge that seemed incredible.

“The whisper came again, Mr. Kermal,” explained Daggart. “It was friendly — yet fearful. It told us to wait; that we must be ready to fight for you.”

“The voice said that?” queried Kermal. “When?”

“Shortly after Croy arrived. There was something weirdly persuasive in the tone. There, in pitch darkness, it was ghostly. There was nothing to do but obey.”

“What was your impression, Croy?” questioned Kermal.

“What Daggart has said, Mr. Kermal,” nodded the big man. “I can’t tell it the way he does; but it wasn’t human, that voice wasn’t. You had to do what it said.”

KERMAL looked toward Goodling and Lanford who were listening with interest. The lawyer shook his head, wondering.

“Do you realize what this means?” questioned Kermal. “This weird creature — whoever, whatever he was — had divined my purposes. He knew that I was right; that Rufus Dolthan was wrong.”

“We waited in the room, sir,” resumed Daggart. “The voice told us to remain where we were; to put on the light when we heard four raps against the door. Then to wait until someone came; to be ready.”

“But to stay there,” added Croy, “no matter what happened. Remember that, Daggart?”

The secretary nodded.

“A while went by,” said Croy to Kermal. “Then came the four raps. They were like the voice. You’d have thought a ghost had tapped the door. We turned on the light. The room was empty.”

“You had heard no one go out?” demanded Kermal.

“Absolutely not, sir,” responded Daggart. “Croy tried the door. It must have been locked on the other side.”

“The key was out of the inside,” put in Croy.

“I opened the shutters,” resumed Daggart. “The bars were no longer there. Before I could investigate further, we heard the shooting begin. Croy wanted to start out. I stopped him.”

“Why?” asked Kermal.

“Because of what the voice had said,” replied Daggart. “I reminded Croy; he agreed when I mentioned the voice. We waited there in the room, with our guns ready.”

“There was some sort of sound we heard,” completed Croy. “Like a laugh — before the shots. The same laugh that we heard when you and the others had come to join us.”

“Did it remind you of the voice?” demanded Kermal.

Croy nodded.

“That tells the story, sir,” completed Daggart. “We heard nothing more until someone unlocked the door. The voice had said some enemy was coming. We were ready; we knew Rufus Dolthan from your description of him.”

“You finished him, Daggart,” commended Kermal. “You deserve great credit.”

“Frankly, sir,” declared Daggart, “it — it was that voice that gave me the nerve I needed. Somehow, I — well, if I hadn’t dropped Rufus Dolthan, I’d have had the voice to settle with. That was what was in my mind, sir, from the moment that I saw the villain.”

Kermal’s face was sober as he clapped his secretary on the right shoulder. The lawyer realized that some strange influence had predominated this house tonight.

He was recalling facts that he could not explain; other facts than these that Daggart and Croy had related. Kermal began to speak again concerning Myra, when Goodling held up his hand for silence.

From outside came the throb of motors. Goodling sprang to the window and drew aside the heavy curtains. Half a dozen cars were rolling into the driveway. Goodling saw figures alighting; men dashing toward the porch. The summoned deputies had arrived.

GOODLING hurried out into the hallway on the right. He descended the stairs as he heard pounding on the door. He opened the barrier to admit a surge of deputies, Carter in the lead.

Goodling detailed briefly what had happened as he led the way upstairs. Carter and the others stared at sight of the crooks who lay in the living room.

Then the deputy remembered a message. He drew Goodling aside and spoke in confidential tone. The prosecutor’s eyes opened.

“Those reporter fellows,” informed Carter. “Burke and Vincent. They’re in the lobby down at the hotel. Spoke to me when we pulled into town. Said to get down there as soon as possible, with everybody concerned.”

Goodling nodded. Leaving Carter in charge, he ordered the others to join him in a quick trip to town. Lanford, Kermal and Croy accompanied the prosecutor in his car, while Daggart came along with Doctor Claig, in the physician’s coupe. The two cars made the trip to Sheffield in a dozen minutes. Goodling was the first to reach the hotel lobby. There he found Clyde and Harry waiting.

“Carter says you have news for us,” stated Goodling, anxiously. “What is it? Something important?”

“I’ll say it is,” replied Clyde. “Hurry up to Rufus Dolthan’s living room. There’s someone up there.”

“Myra Dolthan?”

Clyde nodded.