Sully Heath let caution go hang as he sped into the crevice. Fifteen paces on and he found himself in a high-ceilinged natural cavern, a wide hallway nature had fashioned in the deep belt of limestone stratum. He had penetrated the cavern about two hundred yards when he heard Mary scream. Catching the flicker of a light on ahead, he speeded up.
The moment before he saw the yawn of a deep chasm breaking across the cavern floor, he saw Mary McCulloch.
“Watch out!” Mary cried.
He stopped, tottered over the chasm's lip, caught his balance, and leapt back. A glance and he saw what had happened.
John McCulloch and Mary had been crossing a narrow ledge to reach an opening in an opposite wall. Part of the edge had crumbled, and McCulloch had fallen into the chasm. Mary had got safely back to firm footing. Now she stood on the lip of the deep rift holding a lantern.
Heath heard splashes coming from below and sent down the flash's beam. He caught a glimpse of McCulloch's face staring up from a pool of black water. In the instant Mary slipped into his arms he knew that McCulloch had been in the brush clump above the highway after the hoodlum had been killed. Mary's voice was a hoarse whisper.
“Oh, Sully, I've been wrong! Father shot Mr. Trappett. I saw him and tried to run, but he caught me, brought me here. He had a rope. He was going to leave me here—kill me. Then the rocks gave way, and—”
Heath kissed her cold face. “It'll keep,” he said. “Save it.” He leaned over the rift, said, “Keep your head, McCulloch. I'll pull you up in a jiffy.”
“Hurry then,” came the reply. “This is a blind hole. Water feeds in through a sump at the bottom. We're all lost when the creek water comes back.” Mary handed Heath the rope McCulloch had .brought into the cavern.
HEATH handed her the flashlight, quickly fashioned a loop in one end of the rope. “Keep him in the light,” he said as he began playing down the rope. He waited until McCulloch had slipped the loop over his head and under his arms, then said, “You set off the blast awhile ago. You did it to turn the course of the creek. Why?”
McCulloch was panicky. “Pull me up!” he shouted. “I tell you the creek is coming back! We'll be sealed in like flies in a jug.”
“There's a deep blind hollow dividing the flat above the house, isn't there?” Heath asked Mary.
“Yes. He blasted away a narrow place in the creek bank, let the water into the hollow. When the hollow fills the water will back into its regular course, then this cavern will fill up.” She was cool now. The knowledge that Heath was in the right had removed her fear and anxiety.
Heath said, “Old David McCulloch pulled a fast one when he made that music box. Remembering the clicking that came between the tunes?”
“Yes,” she said.
“It was a message in Morse code, worked out on the music roll. If we'd paid a little closer attention.” He drew a tight breath. “Old David was honest. He knew his son couldn't receive Morse code. He told a great story— told how he was kept a prisoner in the tower, on his own farm for years. But wait, we'll let McCulloch tell us about it.” He pulled the rope taut.
“Hurry! Hurry!” cried McCulloch. “Please, hurry!”
“After you do a little talking and not until,” said Heath.
“What do you want me to say?” screamed the frightened man.
“Tell us why you wanted in here, why you turned the course of the creek with the blast?” said Heath.
“I—I won't!” shouted McCulloch.
“Then here you stay,” said Heath, slacking on the rope.
McCulloch began sobbing, jerking on the rope wildly. Heath gave him more slack. “Don't!” he screamed. “I'm exhausted! I can't swim any longer!”
“Tell us!” demanded the county detective.
“I wanted the money my father stole from me and hid in here,” sobbed McCulloch. “Now pull me up. Please.”
“Was the money the ransom money you got from Roland Marcot?” said Heath, giving the rope more slack.
“No! No! I don't know what you're talking about. Pull me up! When the water comes back it's your life as well as mine. Can't you understand?”
“You'll have to tell me,” Heath replied firmly.
“Yes. Yes, it was the Marcot money. Father found it where I'd hidden it in the tower. He compared some of the serial numbers with those published in the papers. He knew then how I'd got it, so I told him the rest. When he threatened to go to the police I locked him in the tower.
“He got hold of the money later and slipped off with it, brought it in here to hide it. He meant the Marcots should have it back, meant to hide it here for awhile, then return it to them. The water was low. He had no trouble getting in, but a cloudburst came while he was here. He never got out.”
Heath said, “After you tried to kill Trappett in the tower this evening and stole his book, you found out about this cavern, knew what had become of your father, knew where the money was. You, Lorney, and Weblick went to Coverlee after the music box. You found out we'd bought it and followed us. You were in the car when I kayoed Lorney. After we left you killed him with the blackjack. It was a sweet chance to frame me, also to save for yourself Lorney's share in the ransom money when it was found. What did you do with Weblick?”
“You know it all,” yapped McCulloch. “That accursed music box—that long-tongued, lying Trappett—pull me up now!”
“What did you do with Weblick?”
“He ran away when I slugged Lorney. I chased him through the brush above the highway, but didn't catch him. But he'll not tell the police. He's in this too deep himself.” “One more thing, why did you murder the Marcot child nineteen years ago?” asked the county detective.
“I didn't!” shouted McCulloch. “You're wrong there! No matter what my father worked into the music box, I didn't. Trappett double-crossed me, was going to collect the ransom on his own. He and his wife were taking care of the stolen baby, but I had the clothes it wore when it was kidnapped. I stole Trappett's baby and passed it off as the Marcot child. I'd dressed the brat in the Marcot child's clothing. It was dark and the contact didn't know the child—he had a description of the clothing. I collected the ransom and got away—away with Trappett's wife.”
“Trappett's baby died in an orphanage a few months later,” said Heath.
“It serves him right, the dirty double- crosser,” replied McCulloch. “His foolish wife thought I'd light out with her, thought she'd get to help spend the ransom money. I showed her a thing or two. I knocked her out, stood her in a tub of cement. After it hardened I dropped her in the bay. Now you know it all, so pull me out.”
Mary shuddered, whispered, her voice ragged, “I'm—I'm not his daughter. Thank heaven for that!”
Heath said, “It was in the anonymous letter I received that you weren't. That's why I didn't let you read it. I had to be sure.”
She squeezed his arm. “Sully, you're wonderful. Everything's wonderful! Now I understand why I always loathed him.”