Jane Carter Investigates: Episode Forty-Nine
“The sight of those eyes staring at Jack terrified him,” my father
told me. “Even in his altered state of mind, he realized that something was
afoot, so he snapped the photograph, and moved to the door. It was
locked—probably from some trick mechanism. Jack insists that he had not locked
it himself. He tried frantically to open the door, but he was a prisoner in the
room.”
“Then what happened?”
“Jack says one of the paintings swung away from the wall, as if on
hinges. Then a ghostly figure swathed in black and wearing a hideous mask
depicting the face of a raven emerged from the opening. The figure was
brandishing a sword, and Jack says he tried to cry out, but in his terror, he
barely made a squeak. The sword-wielding figure advanced toward him, and Jack’s
one thought was to get out of that room. He was frightened out of his wits at
that point, and took the only way of escape available to him.”
“The window,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Which dropped him straight into the river.”
“Yes, the cold plunge brought him to his senses, but before he
could start to swim for shore, a motor boat came alongside, and he was hauled
into it by two men. Jack was robbed of his watch and a ring, and taken
downstream to a houseboat.”
“A houseboat! Then Florence and I really found the hideout and
didn’t realize it.”
“Jack was imprisoned there along with two other men— Harwood and
Merriweather. He learned their stories. Merriweather had been robbed of his
jewels, while Harwood was being kept there to prevent him from disclosing his
knowledge. That was why Ralph captured Jack, too. Having learned that he was a
reporter, he feared exposure.”
“Why didn’t Ralph simply take his loot and disappear?”
“His henchmen, there are some eight or ten involved in the plot,
were greedy for more money. They brought pressure on Ralph to keep up the
little game a few days longer. There was also a great deal of disagreement
amongst the ruffians as to the fate of the prisoners. There was a contingent
for taking them to a deserted location and letting them go, on the logic that
since they’d been bound and blind-folded for the duration of their captivity,
they would be unable to identify their captors. There was another equally vocal
faction in favor of shooting the prisoners in the head and dumping their
weighted bodies into the river.”
“How did Jack escape?”
“He managed to get away when one of his captors brought food.
Merriweather and Harwood helped him to overpower the man, and Jack jumped
overboard, but not before he had been struck on the head. You know the rest of
the story. He’d never have reached land if Mud Cat Joe’s boat hadn’t been handy
to pick him up.”
Before Dad could say more, Emma Brown hurried up.
“Oh, Jane,” she said, “you had such a narrow escape from death!”
My father stared at me, bewildered by the remark.
“Oh, Florence and I had a little adventure with Ralph ourselves,”
I said.
I told him the whole story.
“There must have been machinery in one of those wardrobes to move
the wall panel behind the painting that swung back,” I surmised. “And some
mechanism to lock the door to room seven.”
Dad agreed with my theory.
“Ralph was very wicked and very clever,” I said. “I’m afraid he
escaped with all the loot and will never be seen again.”
“There’s a good chance he’ll be caught,” Dad said. “The police
have sent a squad to search for the houseboat where Merriweather and Harwood
are still imprisoned. They may be able to surprise Ralph there.”
“If the houseboat can be located,” I said. “It has a tricky little
habit of vanishing at inconvenient moments!”
“Jack said it hid out in a narrow river most of the time,
venturing on the Grassy only occasionally. But he was kept blindfolded and
couldn’t identify the stream.”
“I’m sure it was the Mulberry River! That’s where Florence and I
last saw the boat.”
“Then the police will never find it because they didn’t start for
the Mulberry River!” Dad said. “Where’s Clarence? We’ll organize our own searching
party!”
By this time the fire was well under control. The volunteer firefighters were incensed that Ralph and Violet had left four people to perish in a burning building, and they required little convincing to help us track down Ralph’s gang. My father and the detective hastily loaded the volunteers into cars. Flo and I crowded in beside Dad, to lead the way to the Mulberry River.
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