The echo of the shot had scarcely died away when there came a terrific banging upon the entrance door below and this time a hoarse chuckle did force its way from McCarty’s throat.
That was the game, was it?—To pretend he was just passing and raise all the hell he could getting in, so as to attract attention to the fact that he came after the shot was fired? Let him bang away and break the door down! The one who’d come up those stairs would be the one who had rigged up that murder machine!
The banging gave place to a moment of silence and then came a mighty crash, followed by another and another, till at length the door fell inward with a snap of the lock and a rending jar, and some one sobbing harshly, chokingly, came bounding and scrambling up the stairs, preceded by a wildly darting flashlight which played under the living-room door. Then that door also was flung wide, the light swept about and a broken voice in the throes of mental agony howled dolorously:
“Mac! For the love of God, what’s happened to you!”
McCarty came out sheepishly from behind the chair.
“I’ve been handling revolvers since first I went on the cops, Denny, with never a mischance, but when the lights went out on me just now all of a sudden whilst I was cleaning this I’ll be damned if it didn’t go off in my hand!”
CHAPTER XVII
FOREWARNED
Dennis’ lacerated emotions were finally soothed and after an old oil lamp was resurrected from the store-closet and lighted he seated himself for a pipe and a chat, but the shock had disorganized him beyond concentration on the case and he departed early for the fire house.
McCarty had carefully kept his bulk between his visitor and the sight of what lay in the fireplace and the moment the latter went away he removed the death-dealing paraphernalia and locked it in his bedroom closet beneath a pile of old boots, together with the revolver. This had proved on examination to be a replica of his own old service one. How could his would-be assassin have come into possession of a “police positive,” a .38 manufactured for the department alone?
While he was pondering this the telephone rang and Jimmie Ballard’s voice came to him over the wire.