Again that curious sign of the hand. Then there was the
dastardly attempt on Sherburne, the steel magnate. Not a trace of
the assailant except this same clutching fist. So it has gone,
Jameson--the most alarming and most inexplicable series of murders
that has ever happened in this country. And nothing but this
uncanny hand to trace them by."
The editor paused a moment, then exclaimed, "Why, this fellow
seems to take a diabolical--I might almost say pathological--
pleasure in crimes of violence, revenge, avarice and self-
protection. Sometimes it seems as if he delights in the pure
deviltry of the thing. It is weird."
He leaned over and spoke in a low, tense tone. "Strangest of all,
the tip has just come to us that Fletcher, Haxworth, Sherburne and
all the rest of those wealthy men were insured in the Consolidated
Mutual Life. Now, Jameson, I want you to find Taylor Dodge, the
president, and interview him. Get what you can, at any cost."
I had naturally thought first of Kennedy, but there was no time
now to call him up and, besides, I must see Dodge immediately.
Dodge, I discovered over the telephone, was not at home, nor at
any of the clubs to which he belonged. Late though it was I
concluded that he was at his office. No amount of persuasion could
get me past the door, and, though I found out later and shall tell
soon what was going on there, I determined, about nine o'clock,
that the best way to get at Dodge was to go to his house on Fifth
Avenue, if I had to camp on his front doorstep until morning.
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