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Page 86
"What is the invisible menace of which you spoke, Craig?" I
inquired.
"The possibility of another murder before we can apprehend the
guilty person or gain the evidence we need."
"Good heavens!" I imagine I blanched. "You mean--"
"Werner was struck down, apparently, for no reason but that he
had guessed the identity of the villain. There is a second man in
the company who has certain suspicions and is acting upon them.
If he is on the right trail, by any chance--" Kennedy shrugged
his shoulders soberly.
"Shirley?"
"Exactly! And there is still another possibility."
"What is that?"
"Here in this laboratory I have blood spots made on the portieres
at the house of Phelps by the man who removed the needle,
probably the unknown himself, possibly his--or her--agent. In any
case it is a clue and--THE ONLY DIRECT AND INFALLIBLE CLUE IN
EXISTENCE TO THE CRIMINAL! Also I have the evidence of the snake
venom and of the botulin toxin here. Sooner or later the person
who killed Werner because he suspected things will wake up to the
fact that we possess tangible proof against him."
I grew pale. "You mean, then, that you may be attacked yourself?
That even I--"
Kennedy smiled, unafraid. But from the expression in his eyes I
knew that he took the thought of our possible danger very
seriously.
XXIV
THE INVISIBLE MENACE
Mackay and I exchanged glances. Kennedy busied himself putting
away some of the more important bits of evidence in the case,
placing the tiny tubes of solution, the blood smears, and other
items together in a cabinet at the farther corner of the
laboratory. The vast bulk of his paraphernalia, the array of
glass and chemicals and instruments, he left on the table for the
morning. Then he faced us again, with a smile.
"Suppose you start up the percolator once more, Walter!" He took
a cigar and lighted it from the match I struck. "I believe I've
earned another cup of coffee," he added.
Mackay had been fidgeting considerably since Kennedy's
explanation of the possible danger to Shirley, as well as to
ourselves or even to others.
"Isn't there something we can do, Kennedy?" he exclaimed,
suddenly. "Is it necessary to sit back and wait for this unknown
to strike again?"
"Ordinarily," Kennedy replied, "on a case like this it has been
my custom to permit the guilty parties to betray themselves, as
they will do inevitably--especially when I call to my aid the
recent discoveries of science for the detection and measurement
of fine and almost imperceptible shades of emotion. But now that
I realize the presence of this menace I shall become a detective
of action; in fact, I shall not stop at any course to hurry
matters. The very first thing in the morning I shall go to the
studio and I want you and Jameson along. I"--his eyes twinkled;
it was the excitement at the prospect--"I may need considerable
help in getting the evidence I wish."
"Which is--?" It was I who interposed the question.
Kennedy blew a cloud of smoke. "There are three ways of tracing
down a crime, aside from the police method of stool pigeons to
betray the criminals and the detective bureau method of cross-
examination under pressure, popularly known as the third degree."
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