Back Aa

Quintus Oakes: A Detective Story

CHAPTER XIII The Plan of Campaign Next day, as we were at breakfast at the Mansion, the masons and carpenters came. Curiously enough, one of them brought a note from Martin, asking if it would be convenient for him to bring a stranger, with valuable information, to see Mr. Oakes that morning; and the man found it convenient to drop into town a little later and incidentally to meet Martin and let him know that Oakes expected him. Then he went to the hardware store and bought a few trifling things, as any carpenter or mason might do. "Looks as though I am going to hold a reception this morning," said Oakes: "The Chief of Police making an engagement last night for an interview this morning, and now Martin asking for another." "What is Martin doing up here?" asked Moore. "Well, don't get impatient. He has something important, anyway. Just wait." I think Moore [Pg 149]felt aggravated at Oakes's apparent indifference. Of course it was simulated, but he seemed so calm and oblivious of the mass of happenings that had put Moore and myself in a state of extreme excitement. It was not long before Martin and Mr. Elliott were with us. Oakes received Elliott in a most agreeable manner, which placed us all at ease. He said he knew Mr. Elliott by sight, and esteemed it greatly that he should extend information to him. Also he was sure it must be of great value, since the gentleman had travelled all the way from New York to place him in possession of it. And this was said before any information was given. We saw that our friend was a diplomat. Quickly Mr. Elliott gave all the particulars of the negro's confession, and the detective said: "If I am called into the case by Chief Hallen, I shall want to see the boy; if not, the information should be given to the Chief, as the matter belongs to his jurisdiction." Looking out of the window at that moment, I espied Hallen coming up the walk. "Good!" said Oakes. "Now, Mr. Elliott, will [Pg 150]you kindly retire with Dr. Moore, while Stone, Martin and I hear what the Chief has to say." When Hallen came up, he seemed very cordial, but worried, and made no attempt to disguise the fact that he anticipated trouble with the unruly element in Mona by Saturday night. "You see," he said, "we are few here, and I have been kept busy with the brewing uneasiness in town and cannot handle the murder affair satisfactorily. I have come to ask you to help me, if you are sufficiently at leisure. We cannot get any clues at all, save that the man was killed by a bullet of large calibre in the hands of a good shot, as the distance from which it was fired would seem to show. The road has been searched but nothing found, and the crowd that went with you to the dying man's side trampled away all clues on the ground. "My men have reported to me the curious affair of last night," continued the Chief. "I suppose you have a explanation for it; in any event, it must be followed up. The people must be diverted, and more must be done at once than I can do. Will you help me?" [Pg 151] "Yes," said Oakes. "Of course!" "Hello, what ails your head?" said the Chief, after thanking him. And then Oakes told him as much as was necessary of the events of the day before. "I am very glad your carpenters have arrived," said the Chief; "they may help." He smiled, as did Oakes. They understood one another—they were in similar lines of business. "Now that I have a hand in this thing, let's all get acquainted," said Oakes; and he called in Moore and Elliott, and the discussion became general. Elliott was admitted unreservedly to our councils, especially as Oakes knew that he held the keys to the conviction of the assassin—the witness. Oakes, in his fluent style, acquainted the Chief with the fact that the negro was already under surveillance and that, in his opinion, he should be brought to Mona for further examination. "Yes, but we must smuggle him in. It would be unwise to let the populace know we have him now; they might infer he was the murderer and violence [Pg 152]would certainly be done him. At present, I have all I can do to keep order in the town," said Hallen. Then he gave a lucid account of the wave of suspicion and of the evidences of nervous tension the citizens were showing. "Why," said he, "almost every man suspects his neighbor. Life-long friends are suspicious of one another and business is nearly at a standstill. One man looked at another in an absent-minded sort of a way to-day, and the other retaliated with a blow and an oath, and asked him if he would look at his own arms—not his neighbor's." "Yes," said Oakes, "we have here a great mental emotion—suspicion—to deal with, which may amount to a public calamity unless checked. One must always take account of the actions and reasonings of communities. Emotional waves rush through them as through individuals sometimes. Look at history, and consider the waves of religion, emotional in character, that have occurred. Look at the unreasonableness developed in our own country from ignorance and fear, when witches were burned at the stake!" [Pg 153] "Oakes," said Moore with a smile, "you seem to make mental processes and conditions as much of a study as the physician does." "Certainly," Oakes replied. "It is most important. Did we not study the workings of a criminal's mind, for instance, we would often be baffled. You see, the determination of the probable condition of such a one's mind is often paramount, especially in such a case as this. In other words, was the motive one that would naturally sway an ordinary healthy individual under the conditions appertaining to the crime—the so-called sane motive? Or was it in any way dependent upon peculiarities of the criminal's reasoning—a motive built up of something unreal, a delusion in the mind of one not in his right senses?" I myself had frequently had cause to study such mental processes in the practice of my profession, but I was amazed at the knowledge shown by Oakes, and stated in such a broad, untechnical manner. The man was no ordinary one, to be sure, but I had scarcely expected him to show such education in these matters. [Pg 154] I now recalled what Moore had once told me of Oakes's all-round attainments. Dr. Moore broke the silence. "You are a lalapazooza, Oakes." Oakes did not notice the remark, but said: "I don't know what other men do, but I have tried to bear in mind such things." "Yes," said Hallen, "and consequently there is only one Quintus Oakes." "It seems to me," continued Hallen, "that your work here at the Mansion will soon lead to results, and I trust that you will find time to consider the murder also." "Gentlemen," said Oakes very seriously, "from what I saw after the Mark murder in town and from what you report, I feel that Mona is in a very serious plight. I shall make time, Hallen, to do what little I can." And thus Quintus Oakes became the leader in the unravelling of the Mark murder mystery. After a few remarks of no particular consequence and a more or less general conversation, he resumed: [Pg 155] "Suppose, Chief, that we now smuggle the negro into Mona as soon as possible, and bring him here. I believe that if Mr. Elliott goes back with Martin and they explain things to the boy, he will come without much trouble. It must be impressed upon him that he is regarded in the light of a hero: appeal to the innate weakness of the race—desire for flattery." "I believe we can bring him here easily," said Elliott, "for he has confidence in me." "If he refuses to come," said Hallen, "we can get him here in plenty of ways." "Yes," said Oakes, "Martin knows how; leave it to him. Only, we must have him soon, and he must come here by way of another station, incognito, lest the people become too excited." This being agreed upon, the conversation became more general, and in answer to questions we found that Oakes had not as yet formulated any solution to the mystery of the identity of the murderer. As he said, the affair of downstairs might be connected with the murder, indirectly or directly, but as yet we had not had sufficient opportunities for studying [Pg 156]the surroundings of the house or the life of its attachès to venture an opinion. He laid particular stress upon the fact that opinions should never be formed on poor evidence, since a biased mind was incapable of appreciating new discoveries or new clues. To theorize too much was very easy, but sometimes fatal to detection of crime. He preferred to work along several lines of investigation before concentration on any one idea. "The affair of last night, in my estimation," said he, "is one of very grave import. Unquestionably, from what you saw, Stone, and from the evidence of us all, there were two men near the place you were going to pass. That the first one warned you and was, in a sense, a friend, is mysterious enough—it needs solution; but that the man who warned you should have run away and been pursued by the other is peculiar, to say the least. The signals of your companions were heard by the man at the bridge undoubtedly, and he ran to escape detection himself. The other—the one on this side, who was a probable assassin—would under ordinary circumstances have run away when he saw you were [Pg 157]warned. He did run, but it was after the man who warned you." "To my mind, the explanation is this," continued the detective. "The man at the bridge is friendly, but cannot expose his identity or risk capture. The would-be assassin was convinced that the man who warned you knew of his purpose. He therefore pursued him—to finish him in self-protection." "I don't see why," said Moore; "he could have escaped instead." "Exactly," said Oakes. "He could have done so, but he did not wish it. He has not completed what he wants to do around here. He wished to come back, and to do so with safety he must rid himself of the one who knew of his doings." "Looks as though he was planning more trouble. He may have been the man of the robe, or the man with the arms," I ventured. "Or both," said Oakes. "At all events," said Hallen, "I wish that we could divert the minds of the people in town; the tension is great—too great for safety." "Perhaps, Chief," said Oakes, "that you and I [Pg 158]can arrange a little matter that will distract their attention and which will tend to make them believe that progress is being made." He laughed as he spoke, and we knew that he was thinking over some little scheme to help Hallen back into popular favor. <hr class="chap" />[Pg 159] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.