Harry Vincent felt a sinking sensation. He was caught. What would be next?
CHAPTER VI. CRONIN TALKS TERMS
STEVE CRONIN closed the door of the room. He looked at the man called Wally. Then he lowered his gun.
'Oh, it's you, Wally,' he said. 'Who's your friend over there?'
Wally had raised his hands at the threat of the revolver. He still held them half upward in astonishment as he stared from Steve Cronin to Harry Vincent. Then he looked back to the man at the door.
'It's you, Steve?' he asked.
'Of course.'
Wally became active. His senses suddenly returned.
'Cover the guy by the window,' he commanded. 'Cover him quick, Steve.'
Cronin raised the automatic, and Harry put his hands in the air.
'Get up,' ordered Wally.
Harry obeyed. The man ran his hands over Harry's clothes.
'He ain't got a gun,' said Wally.
Steve Cronin was now the astounded one.
'Sit down,' he said to Harry. 'You too, Wally. If the guy ain't got a gun, we can talk sense. What's this all about?'
Wally looked at Harry, and seeing that he intended no action, decided to explain matters:
'I come up here,' he said, 'and walk in the room. This guy was here, and I thought he was you. He said to leave the light off. So I talked to him.'
'What did you tell him?' asked Cronin.
'Not much; but I told him some things he'd better not know.'
'Who is he?'
'How do I know? I thought he was you. That's why I was surprised when you stepped in the door. I didn't get who you were at first. You look different since you -'
'Never mind that, Wally,' interrupted Cronin. He addressed Harry in a voice that boded no good.
'Who are you?' he demanded.
Harry hesitated a moment, then he decided to take matters calmly and to bluff his way out of this unexpected dilemma.
'My name is Vincent,' he said quietly. 'Harry Vincent.'
'You're the guy that was on the train,' said Cronin in sudden recognition. 'What's your idea of following me? Are you a bull?'
'Listen, Cronin,' said Harry, with sudden boldness. 'I'm a friend of yours, but you don't know it. I made a big mistake butting in on this business. I'll admit that. But I'm willing to get out.'
'I guess you're anxious enough to get out,' sneered Cronin. 'But you'll wait a while until I find out what you mean by this 'friend' stuff. I never saw you before to-day.'
'I've seen you before, Cronin,' responded Harry. 'I watched you follow a man in New York. I was near by when you killed him. I might have made trouble for you, but I didn't. That proves, at least, I'm not your enemy.'
'Why are you trailing me now, then? How did you find me? How did you happen to be on the same train?'
'That was just a coincidence, Cronin. I didn't recognize you on the train. I was getting off at Harrisburg and I happened to call up a friend from the booth next to yours. I heard you say where you were going to be. I realized who you were when I heard your name. I wanted to talk business with you. So I came here to the hotel.'
'He was here in the room,' explained Wally.
'That's right,' admitted Harry. 'I walked in, after I knocked. Then this other fellow came in and called me
'Steve.' He thought I was you, Cronin. I didn't tell him different. Thought I'd have a little fun with him.'
STEVE CRONIN sat on the edge of the bed and whistled softly. He studied Harry for fully a minute.
'Look here, Vincent,' he said at last. 'This story of yours is fishy. That's all right. I expected it to be. I'd have told a fishy story myself if I were you.'
'I've told you the facts, Cronin.'
'You've told me some facts,' resumed Cronin with an easy smile. 'But I want more. You know who I am and you know some things about me. If you're a dick, you're dumber than most of them. If you're a crook, you're a smooth one; and that's what I think you are. What's your game?'
Harry became deliberate. Cronin had given him a cue, and he was puzzling how he could use it. He smiled rather knowingly and took the opportunity calmly to light a cigar. Then he confronted Cronin and commenced his bluff:
'Yes, I'm a crook,' he announced. 'Maybe I'm a good one; maybe I'm not. I play a lone game when I can. I don't go locking for trouble. I let other fellows get into it. Then I use what I find out.
'When I saw you in New York, Cronin, I figured you were after some big game. I didn't have a chance to follow it up. When I saw you on the train to-day, I half figured you were up to something. When I heard you talking on the phone, I knew who you were and I heard enough to know that some game was under way. I came over here to see what I could find out. Now that you know all about it, I'll play with you if you let me in on it. If you want me to get out, say so; and I'll move along.'
Cronin whistled softly again as he considered the explanation.
'You're talking sense now, Vincent,' he said. 'You're speaking my language. You're no fool and neither am I. You know what I'd do ordinarily, don't you? I'd feed you some of the lead out of this gat in my pocket. But I'd be a fool to do it now. I'm in a jam in New York and I'm still laying low. I can't let anything interfere with the game I'm playing now. I can use your help besides. I need some one with more brains than this fellow, Wally, here.
'Besides that, the game is big enough for the three of us. You'll get a cut if you play square from now on.
I think you will. So I'm letting you in.'
Harry listened eagerly. Cronin spoke as though he were telling the truth. Harry felt that he had gained the man's confidence and that he was to hear some revelation.
'I've been out in Cleveland,' said Cronin frankly. 'I've been watching a big bloke who has all kinds of money and doesn't care how he spends it. There's something phony about the guy, though. Maybe you've heard his name. I'm going to tell it to you -'
'Don't do that, Steve,' interrupted Wally.
CRONIN glared angrily at his fellow crook. 'Shut up, Wally,' he said. 'You're not the boss. I'm headman of this outfit. Vincent is going to work with us. He looks like he has sense enough to spot a guy that gets off a train without letting him get away. That's more than you have, Wally.'
He followed this rebuke by again addressing Harry. 'The big boy out in Cleveland,' he said, 'is named Elbridge Meyers. Every now and then he hops out of town. Goes East for two or three days. Finding things out is my business. I found out why Meyers left town so often. There's a woman mixed up in it. So I figured that if I could get the goods on the old bloke, he'd cough up with the dough.'
'Blackmail,' said Harry.
'That's the story,' resumed Cronin. 'Well, I watched this fellow carefully enough, but he got away from me. First thing I knew he'd left town. I got in his office after it was supposed to be closed and found a slip of paper crumpled in the wastebasket. It was a memo this Meyers had made telling the time he was leaving and where he was going - here to Harrisburg. I called up Wally, who was in Philadelphia. He had time to get up here and meet the train. But he muffed things. It's up to us to pick up the trail.'
There was silence after Steve Cronin had finished speaking. Harry looked at the man and nodded.
'Sounds good to me,' he said. 'Count me in on it. How are we going to work it?'
Cronin shrugged his shoulders as he rose from the bed.
'We'll have to locate Meyers, first thing of all,' he said. 'Now is the time to find him.'
