In the Onyx Lobby Part 46

"Oh, I'm not saying,--but Let.i.tia certainly wanted to marry Sir Herbert----"

"Why, I thought he was your admirer----"

"Oh, well," and the lady bridled, "I'm not saying anything about that--but if he did admire me, that doesn't mean I smiled on him. I'm no husband hunter,--and poor Let.i.tia is and always has been--without success, poor thing!"

"And it went as far as an engagement?"

"I only surmise that from what Miss Prall has hinted--not, I must say, from anything poor Sir Herbert said! But you know what old maids are----"

"How comes it that, while you and Miss Prall are at such odds, you have the same admirers? I'm told Mr Crippen is a beau of both."

Zizi sensed the widow's willingness to exploit her conquests and utilized the knowledge.

"Oh, he didn't care for Let.i.tia! He was rather polite to me, but I had to discourage him. One can't be too careful. And if you give a man a kindly smile, he thinks he may presume on it."

"Was Sir Herbert like that?"

"Yes, indeed! Although he was Richard's uncle, he was no kin to Richard's aunt Let.i.tia, and he didn't hesitate to tell me how little he admired that Grenadier type of woman."

"Preferring more feminine natures?"

"Yes," Mrs Everett preened herself. "How you do understand, Miss Zizi! I expect you're a heart-breaker yourself."

"Oh, rather!" and Zizi's big dark eyes rolled roguishly. "But I say, Mrs Everett, if this breach of promise case is a true bill, it's a straw to show which way the wind might have blown,--at least."

"Well, don't quote me,--but I do know Let.i.tia Prall's nature and you know it's said, 'h.e.l.l hath no fury like a woman scorned.'"

Zizi faced her squarely and with a sharp look said, "You know, Mrs Everett, you're making a very grave accusation. Do you really think Miss Prall is----"

"Yes, I do! That man was killed. He said women did it. There are no women sufficiently interested in his death to be suspected of it except Let.i.tia and Eliza Gurney. So, much as I hate to think so dreadfully of any woman, I've no choice but to suspect them. Of course, it's a grave accusation, but you asked me and it's my duty to say what I think."

From all this Zizi gleaned one bit of satisfaction. She felt positive that Mrs Everett herself was innocent. She had never really suspected the little widow but her name had been mentioned as a possible suspect, and Zizi wondered. Now, she decided that, whatever might be true about Let.i.tia Prall, Mrs Everett could not, were she guilty herself, talk the way she did about her enemy. Not so much the accusation as the way it was said. Had Mrs Everett killed the man, or a.s.sisted or directed the murder, she would have shown fear, secretiveness, or at least a hara.s.sed demeanor. Instead of which, she had apparently no interest in the matter save a vindictive desire to see her enemy in the clutches of the law.

Anyway, thought Zizi, I cross her off from my list of suspects, and now for the Prall side of the story.

Leaving the Everett apartment Zizi went up the stairs to the eighth floor, and though she was headed for Let.i.tia Prall's, she paused at the Binney rooms.

"Come in," called Wise, as the sleek black little head peeped in at the door; "I've struck it!"

"Where?" asked Zizi, intuitively knowing that he had found the hiding place of the paper.

"Here," and Wise drew her attention to a fairly large mirror that was above the mantel in the sitting-room.

"Why, that thing was screwed fast," the girl said, "and we couldn't move it."

"I unscrewed it--and, behold."

Loosening the screws, which he had only partially readjusted, Wise lifted down the mirror, and disclosed a rectangular s.p.a.ce where the wall paper had been cut away.

"The bakery men!" Zizi cried. "Why 'women,' then?"

"Now, look here, Ziz," and Wise replaced the mirror, "get it in your head that women may have been interested in getting this recipe. To suppose a woman may have been acting for a man, while possible, is not probable."

"Why not? Suppose a woman, say a working girl, so devoted to a man that she'd commit murder at his bidding----"

"No man could be such a coward as that!"

"Oh, Penny, what an exalted opinion you have of your s.e.x! Of course he could! A man who would murder would use a woman to help him murder. Of course he offered a big inducement,--marriage maybe----"

"You're romancing----"

"No, I'm not; I'm reconstructing. I see a man wanting that recipe desperately. He sets a woman to get it. He may not have meant her to go to such lengths as murder, to get it, but----"

"All right, but stick to facts. The recipe has been stolen by someone in the know. Some one who realized why Sir Herbert had his room repapered----"

"Clever trick, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but unnecessary. He could have put the thing in safe deposit."

"Englishmen are queer that way. And he may have distrusted our American inst.i.tutions----"

"Well, anyway, there's no doubt he did hide the paper behind the new wallpaper, and there's no doubt somebody has stolen it. I suppose you agree to that?"

"Yea, my lord! But it may have been taken after the murder."

"Of course it was. Why kill the man, else?"

"Why kill him at all?"

"To get him out of the way, in order to get the recipe and manufacture the buns."

"For whom?"

"That's just it. There are several bakeries interested,--others beside the princ.i.p.al ones, of which we know. Now we must find out which baker could have worked his deadly scheme through women."

"Does this let out the Prall or Everett suspects?"

"To my mind, yes. But I never suspected them, anyway."

"Nor I. And I've exonerated Mrs Everett to my satisfaction, and I'm going to find out for sure about the Grenadier. Now, there's that Molly,----"

"Yes, she's in it, up to the neck, I believe. And she's such a liar----"

"Oh, Penny, you can't let a lady liar fool you, can you? Get her up here, and put her through an inquisition. _I'll_ tell you if she's telling truth or not."

"Yes, you're first cla.s.s at that."

Molly was summoned and when she appeared Zizi saw at once something had happened. The girl's demeanor was entirely changed. She was more self-important and self-a.s.sertive, and Zizi wondered if she had learned something definite against some suspect.