The night was dark and a ghoulish wind was roaring about the house, a real March night with dark clouds driven across a starless sky. She could not even see the stealthy figure like a flat shadow that slid across the open space before the door and flattened against the side of the house some minutes before the knock that echoed so slightly she almost thought she was mistaken. She heard the door open and blow shut with a gust of wind, and there were voices, low murmurs, that was all. She strained her ears to hear, for she felt sure Gene would not tell her anything. He said she was a fool and he could not trust her.
Downstairs, in the sitting room, Tyke stood flat against the wall by the door and ordered Gene to pull down the shades. This done, he selected a seat in the darkest corner of the room and motioned Gene to a seat in front of him.
“You plumb sure thar ain’t no one lis’nen in on us?” he asked, eyeing the various doors.
“Positive,” said Gene, eyeing his caller suspiciously. This man of course wanted money, and he wasn’t a very pleasant-looking customer. Perhaps he ought to have sent for a policeman and had him in hiding. Yet there might be something he would not have wanted a policeman to know. No, rather take the chances himself. He glanced nervously toward the telephone to make sure he could reach it from where he sat in case he needed it. Nan, of course, would be worse than useless in an emergency. Still, perhaps he had made a mistake in sending her to bed. However, he felt pretty sure she would manage to find a cranny to listen, and when he heard a soft creaking on the back stairs and saw Tyke start nervously, he made no move.
“It’s only a mouse in the wall,” he said. “Go on.”
“Well, I came here purely out o’ kin’ness,” began Tyke ingratiatingly, his eyes roving from door to window and back again. “I’m ’war I’m doin’ a dangerous thing; an’ I’m riskin’ m’life. The man we gotta deal with is a desp’rate feller, an’ he wouldn’t stop at nothin’. We gotta work still as death ur we won’t get nowheres. Now, to begin, ’bout how long uv you ben sure your young woman relative was kidnapped?”
“Kidnapped!” said Gene with a start. “Kidnapped. Yes. Why—” Then it was money the man wanted. “Why—I’ve been coming slowly to that conclusion for sometime. Haven’t been able to prove it yet of course—That is—” Here, he was telling too much himself. He oughtn’t to tell this man anything. He ought to let the man do all the talking.
“Well, I kin,” said Tyke, unconsciously raising his voice a trifle. “Got four good witnesses ’sides myse’f to prove it in court. Know the very day an’ hour when it happened. We all seen the body, and one of us seen him buryin’ her.”
“Body!” exclaimed Gene, jumping up, white to the lips. “Burying!”
“Sit still, man! Keep yer shirt on! We don’t get nowheres carryin’ on with them highstrikes. Somebody might be round an’ hear ya. You can’t never tell. You gotta learn to keep quiet ef you wantta hear what I got ta say.”