“I doubt it. Rhoda and I can try though.”
“Rhoda Hawthorne! So it was her voice I heard! She and her grandmother are imprisoned also?”
“Yes, Rhoda’s with me. Her grandmother, seriously ill, is locked in a bedroom upstairs. Who is Mr. Merkill?”
“His wife is an inmate here,” the investigator explained. “Jay Highland—I know now he’s a notorious jewel thief—induced Mrs. Merkill to come to the monastery. After he fleeced her of a diamond necklace, she smuggled a note out, telling how she was being mistreated. Her husband, from whom she had been estranged, decided to investigate. He came here alone. Discovering what was going on, he threatened to expose Highland to the police.”
“Highland tricked me,” Mr. Merkill added. “He promised I could take my former wife away and he would close the monastery. To show there were no hard feelings, he suggested we have coffee together. I drank it and became so sleepy I had to go to bed. That’s all I remember until I woke up here, chained to a post!”
“I should have been more suspicious of Highland the first time I met him,” Mr. Ayling blamed himself.
“Why did you go to Chicago?” Penny asked as she worked at the chains.
“I know now it was Highland who sent me the fake telegram. He wanted to get me away from here. While in Chicago, I contacted my home office and obtained information which convinced me Highland was a gem thief. So I came here, intending to demand a police investigation.”
“I met one train,” said Penny. “You weren’t on it.”
“I didn’t arrive until early tonight. When the train came in, Winkey and Mr. Highland were waiting at the station.”