She turned piteously toward Bob, and saw that he was the most terrible of the three. The friendliness that he had affected in the past had been a pretense. Now his true nature was revealed.
His eyes flashed hatred and venom.
“Why did you come here?” he demanded.
Betty tried to reply, but failed.
“Did you see what we were doing?”
The girl nodded.
“I could kill—” Bob raised his hands, then lowered them as he saw Betty shrink toward the wall.
“What are you going to do with her?” questioned Briggs, in a hoarse, brutal voice. “You didn’t waste time with that old flunky—”
“Sh-h-h!” exclaimed Bob. His face became harsh and cruel. He looked quickly at Betty and realized instantly that she knew what had happened to Hodgson. In fact, the girl’s accusing eyes were already upon him, and she began to voice her condemnation.
“You killed Hodgson?” Betty’s question came clear. The thought that the old man had been murdered had given her the strength of indignation.
“Yes,” said Bob coldly, “I killed Hodgson. You’ve found it out — and it means the end for you. You’ve seen too much — or we might have let you out. It’s too late now.”
He turned to his companions. “We’ve got to get rid of her, boys. That’s all.”
CLINK chuckled harshly. His eyes were gleaming as he moved forward, intent upon choking the helpless girl. A wild, murderous look had come over his face.
Betty wanted to scream. She could only gasp. Then Bob intervened. He threw out an arm and thrust Clink back.
Bob pressed one hand upon Betty’s mouth. With the other, he ripped away the broad collar of her gown. Quickly and efficiently, he forced the cloth into the girl’s mouth to serve as an effective gag.
“Lend a hand, Briggs,” he ordered. “We’ll do two jobs at once. Why waste time?”
Betty was raised to her feet. At Bob’s command, the big man lifted the helpless girl. As Bob pointed ahead, Betty divined the fate that he intended for her.
“Into the vault!” were Bob’s words.
In a few seconds, Betty lay in the corner of the small room. The glare of Bob’s flashlight revealed its solid stone walls. There was not a crevice in their surface. A sneer came from the man behind the light.
“You can think it over here,” were Bob’s malicious words. “You’ve got an hour or two — at the most.
“You’ve found out plenty tonight. You know who killed Hodgson. Tell it — if you can!”
The flashlight was extinguished, but Betty could see the forms of the men in the lighted passage. A huge, dark wall swung inward. Something clicked as the wall came into place.
Muffled sounds followed. The posts were being hammered back to their positions. Then came silence horrible silence. The men had gone!
Here, in a vault of doom, a tiny room hewn in solid stone, Betty had been left to die. The closing of the barrier had sealed the vault so closely that no draft of air could enter. Impenetrable blackness seemed to engulf the helpless girl.
The choking hands of the hideous-faced Clink would have been merciful compared to the slow, gruesome death that now held Betty Mandell within its frightful grasp!
But the false Bob Galvin and his heartless allies had reckoned without the shadowy figure Betty had seen in the study.
CHAPTER X
THE three men listened in the corridor outside the secret room. Their faces were expressive of their feelings. Bob displayed a look of shrewd satisfaction. Briggs wore a contemptuous sneer. The hideous features of Clink grinned in delight.
The differing emotions of the three were evident. Bob, the leader, was congratulating himself upon his cleverness. Big Briggs was amused at the ease with which they had disposed of their victim. Both were indifferent to the fate of the imprisoned girl.
But Clink was happy. He was gloating as he stared at the closed wall, enjoying the thought that a helpless person was dying behind that barrier.
The twisted face of the man was a true index of his misshapen spirit. To Clink, misery, suffering, and death were delightful to contemplate.
“Come on,” Bob said.
He moved along the corridor, followed by Briggs. The two men stopped when they reached the end of the passage. Bob looked back. Clink was still staring at the wall.
“Come along, Clink.”
Bob’s command sounded sullen and hollow in the spaces of the corridor. He and Briggs had reached the gloomy end of the passage. They were watching the evil-faced little man as he still stood gloating.
Clink was loath to leave the scene. Reluctantly he turned and joined his two fellows.
Bob flicked out the light and led the way up the steep, dark stairs. When they arrived on the first floor, he turned on a dim hall light.
With Briggs and Clink beside him, Bob produced a key and locked the cellar door. Then the two men followed Bob into the study.
“What next?” questioned Briggs.
“Nothing,” returned Bob. “I’ll hear from the Chief later. In the meantime, we’ll continue as usual.”
“I’m going to dope out a plan to account for the girl being away. That will be easy.”
“Maybe we should have held her,” replied Briggs uneasily. “Maybe the Chief won’t like it—”
“I’m running this!” interrupted Bob harshly. “You know how we work, Briggs. The girl’s just the same as Barker was — or Hodgson, or Harkness. When they’re dead, they don’t talk!”
“I know that,” agreed Briggs. “Still — you might call the Chief now—”
“I don’t call him from here,” declared Bob emphatically. “He calls me. That’s the present system. I won’t hear from him for another hour. By that time—”
“The girl will be dead,” Briggs concluded the sentence.
“Right! And the dead don’t talk!” There was a note of final decision in Bob’s voice. It sounded the doom of Betty Mandell.
Briggs lost his indecision. He realized that Bob was right. There were no pangs of remorse governing the big man. He had suggested keeping the girl alive simply as a matter of policy — not through any feeling of pity. Now he realized that Bob’s plan, even though it had no flexibility, was decisive and positive.
Bob was explaining that fact now.
“We found the hidden room,” came his low words. “It was the wrong place. We have no more use for it. We’ve closed it up. It’s forgotten from now on.
“The girl’s in there — and she’s forgotten, too. Why go back to the place? We’re through — that’s all!”
Briggs nodded. He was satisfied.
“Here, Clink.” Bob tossed a bunch of keys to the man with the hideous face. “Go on duty. Stay out in the big hall, and if you hear anything, find out what it is.”
Clink’s face became contorted. His attempt to smile made his features more gruesome than before.
Bob remembered the fascination that had gripped this monstrous man while they had been in the cellar, outside the wall of the secret room.
“Keep out of the cellar, Clink,” was Bob’s warning. “Remember what I told Briggs just now. That’s all forgotten. So far as we are concerned, the girl is dead now.
“Don’t go anywhere, except the hall, unless you hear something suspicious. Understand?”
Clink nodded. He left the room.
Bob became thoughtful as he sat at the old, flat-topped desk. Briggs took a seat in the corner. They were awaiting the call from their chief.
Neither one was perturbed. So far as they were concerned, Betty Mandell was already dead. The vault of doom was below another portion of the house. These heartless men were indifferent to its existence.
CLINK would have gloated had he been able to see within that dark and forgotten secret room. For there, in the depths of the living tomb, Betty Mandell was undergoing all the agony that can come to a mind ravaged by fantastic terrors.