The Wheel of Death/Chapter 18

The side street, upon which was located Grogan's Restaurant, seemed quite deserted when Wentworth and Ram Singh entered it after leaving their car just around the corner. There was no traffic upon the road and not a pedestrian was to be seen. The blinds of the restaurant were closely drawn and there was no light visible from door or windows.

Only a mangy white cat greeted them as they approached the door. And the animal ran ahead of them and stood expectantly at the door for it to be opened.

"Seems as if somebody was inside, or the cat wouldn't do that," commented Wentworth.

He tried the door and found that it opened. The cat, tail up, marched in ahead of them.

The dingy restaurant seemed more sordid than when he had visited it before. A man and a woman, both drunk, were trying to improve their condition with ham and eggs, and it did not seem as if the ham and eggs would have much chance against the alcohol. Distinct snoring issued from one of the curtained booths; and from the other could be heard some very drunken and profane conversation. Lastly, the door of Grogan's back office was ajar, and from it masculine voices were audible.

A sleepy waiter came forward to take Wentworth's order. He was the same man who had served Wentworth before. But he showed no sign of recognition. Indeed it would have taken a very discerning person to have identified the present customer with the man who had the flatly plastered hair on the former occasion.

"Ham and eggs," said Wentworth. "And a saucer of milk for the cat."

The order of milk for the cat brought a titter from the drunken woman, with the result that she got a punch on the jaw from her escort. In return she threw the sugar bowl at the man and screamed at him in the filthiest kind of language.

However the sugar bowl missed its mark and her screaming soon exhausted her so that she quieted down. Nobody paid any attention to the episode except the waiter who picked up the sugar bowl, scooped up the lumps of sugar from the floor and put them back in the bowl. This was Grogan's Restaurant.

Of course Wentworth had no expectation of finding little Molly Dennis in the visible portion of the restaurant. But he did expect to find her in some part of it which was not open to public observation, probably underneath the back office where the iron safe sank from view on its descending platform. How he would reach that place he did not yet know. It might be by force, and it might be by craft.

The waiter brought the ham and eggs for Wentworth and a bowl of bean soup for Ram Singh, who seldom ate meat and never any ham. The cat, too, was given its saucer of milk and proceeded to lap it up greedily.

Indeed the cat finished his milk very quickly and stalked over to the drunken woman to beg for more food. The woman bent down to pet the cat and fell out of her chair, with the result that the cat fled through the partly open door into the back office.

Instantly Wentworth seized the opportunity which was offered him. He rose and followed the cat. Shoving the door farther open, he entered the back office just a bit unsteadily. Two men were seated by Grogan's desk and a third man lay bound and gagged upon the floor. The third man, in a rumpled dinner coat, was Jerry Stone!

Wentworth frowned uncertainly. "You got my cat?" he asked, rocking a little as he stood by the door.

"Cat?" questioned one of the men in astonishment "Who the hell told you to come in here?"

The white cat had walked over to the bound man and was gingerly sniffing at him. Anything strange interests a cat, and bound men upon the floor are not usual.

"There's my cat!" exclaimed Wentworth, making a quick dive toward the animal.

But the cat was alarmed by his quick move and ran behind the desk, followed by Wentworth. Now a man who chases a cat at four o'clock in the morning in a restaurant should not be very dangerous. One of the men laughed and the other told him to take his damned cat and get the hell out. Then they both realized that this stranger had seen the bound man upon the floor. One of them went to the door and closed it.

"Who are you?" this man asked.

"Name is Dick," Wentworth replied and, as he spoke, a pistol seemed to appear magically in his hand.

The other man sprang to his feet and joined his comrade by the door, where they both remained motionless while the muzzle of the little weapon circled and darted like the head of a snake between the two of them.

"Now listen, you two," said Wentworth and there was no sign of unsteadiness as he faced them from behind the desk. "Grogan is pinched and Mortimer Mack sent me here to take a look at what you are doing."

"Grogan pinched!" exclaimed one of the other men in dismay, while the other was too astounded to speak.

"You leave the door open," continued Wentworth, "and let a crazy man chase a cat in here. You let him see Jerry Stone where you have him tied up on the floor, and then you let him get the drop on you as if you were a couple of boys!"

With supreme audacity Wentworth put away his pistol, lit a cigarette and sat upon the desk, swinging his legs as if he had not a care in the world.

It was then that the telephone sounded upon the desk. Wentworth picked up the receiver without any hesitation and quite as if it were his own office.

"Yeah?" he questioned in the deep voice that he had used before when impersonating Grogan.

And once more it was Mortimer Mack's voice that came to him from the other end of the wire. Mack was very pleased to hear Grogan's voice and to know that he had gotten safely away from the police raid. He wanted to know if everything was all right at the restaurant.

Wentworth answered with the single syllable of affirmation and added an O. K. in the same voice. His easy manner of perfect assurance was impressing the two men who were watching him closely.

Mortimer Mack said that they were going to get rid of the Commissioner of Police on the following evening and that after that everything would be smooth sailing again, as the next Commissioner would be a man that the politicians could handle. He, Grogan, was to hold himself in readiness to be on hand for the ending of Commissioner Kirkpatrick.

"Yeah? Where?" asked Wentworth.

"At David Bannister's home," answered Mack.

"O.K.!" was Wentworth's answer, and the conversation ended.

The cat had again gone back to Jerry Stone for another gentle sniffing; and the two men stared in silence at the man who still sat carelessly upon the desk.

"Now, you mugs," Wentworth said at last. "That was Mortimer Mack talking to me. He wants me to bring Jerry Stone and the girl, Molly, up to his place. Get the girl ready, and I'll look after Stone."

Wentworth slipped from the desk and knelt beside Jerry Stone, deliberately commencing to untie the bindings.

"Wait a minute!"

From the floor Wentworth turned and looked up into the muzzle of a gun which one of the men held. The other was at the telephone.

"I'll just confirm what you say by phoning Mack, myself," said the one at the telephone, while he dialed.

Outside in the restaurant Ram Singh had eaten his bean soup. He had been very busy with it when his master had left the table in search of the cat. It was quite all right with him if his master wished to chase cats. But when the door of the back room had been closed and neither his master nor the cat came out again, Ram Singh decided that he had better go and assist in the cat hunt.

Consequently the man who threatened Wentworth with the pistol was very much astonished when Wentworth knocked the weapon out of his hand with an adroit blow, while Ram Singh placed the point of his knife against the back of the man who held the telephone.

After that it was a very simple matter and a very quiet one. The people in the restaurant would have heard nothing even if they had been sober.

In a very few minutes Jerry Stone was unbound and free, while the two men were bound and gagged and stretched out in his place upon the floor. When Wentworth and Ram Singh worked together, things were done with very great efficiency.

Jerry Stone, it seemed, had been sent down to the restaurant upon some plausible errand only to be seized and bound because they had found out that it had been he who had notified the police of Buckley's murder.

"But why did you notify the police?" asked Wentworth.

"I thought that, if the police discovered the murder, I could threaten to give evidence that Grogan did the shooting unless Mr. Mack in some way got Molly's father out of jail," young Stone answered. "You see, Mr. Wentworth, all the time I have been letting them use me so that I could get something on them."

As Jerry Stone finished speaking there was a slight creaking sound. And in another moment the cause of that sound became apparent. . . The old iron safe was slowly sinking through the floor!

"What is down there?" asked Wentworth quickly.

Jerry Stone shook his head. "I don't know for certain," he said, "but I think that's where Molly is."

Quickly Wentworth stepped to the top of the safe and squatted upon it— gun in hand— as it disappeared through the floor!