May 2, 2024
The Suicide, or Nick Carter and The Lost Head, Pt 2
Nick Carter investigates the mysterious suicide of Cyrus Darling, a man who recently sold his business and converted his assets into cash. As Nick delves deeper into the case, he uncovers evidence that suggests Darling's suicide may have been staged. With the help of his team, Nick follows leads that point to a possible conspiracy involving a woman named Kate Crandall and her connection to Darling. As they race against time to uncover the truth, Nick and his team must navigate a web of deceit and betrayal. Will they be able to solve the case before it's too late?
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hi friends and welcome to another episode of forward into the past.
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I'm JC Rede, your host and narrator.
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And today we're diving into the next two chapters in the Nick Carter mystery from 1915 called The Suicide or Nick Carter and The Lost Head.
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In the early days of the 20th century, one name dominated the dime novel racks and firing imaginations of readers across America.
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Nick Carter.
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The adventures of this consummate gentleman detective and master of disguise hit a cultural resonance that persists over a century later.
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Nick Carter first appeared in the inaugural issue of the New York Weekly in 1886, his creation shrouded in mystery under the house name of Nicholas Carter.
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For the next three decades, his capers unfolded weekly in an inexpensive story paper.
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By 1915, over 1000 unique Nick Carter stories had been published.
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And he became one of the most widely read fictional characters of all time.
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Part of Nick Carter's widespread popularity stemmed from his embodiment of idealized, masculinity and heroism amidst the social upheaval of industrializing America.
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Urbane wry and dashing, Nick modeled a new type of detective as celebrity who relied on wits and science rather than brawn.
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He matched his physical prowess with skills and disguise, amateur dramatics, and psychological deduction.
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Crafting an urbane proto-James Bond type, perfectly calibrated for male power fantasies.
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The formulaic yet engrossing Nick Carter stories were disposable entertainment, but their hero tapped into deeper cultural needs.
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His squeaky clean adventures provided thrilling escapism from the stresses of modern city life, while reassuringly reinforcing traditional gender roles and moral order.
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Readers could project onto this crime busting fantasy man who outwitted evildoers and saved imperiled society with intellect and pluck.
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American popular culture soon proved too small to contain Nick Carter's success.
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His adventures were syndicated globally in condensed versions, spawning foreign language translations, comic strips big little books, movies.
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And even nail Polish.
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While his boyish name and simplistic storylines dated him for later generations.
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Nick Carter's global fame and pop cultural sway proved surprisingly enduring, making the suave sleuth one of the first multimedia super studs of pulp fiction celebrity.
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And now let's dive back into one of those many stories that helped propel his popularity.
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This one entitled the suicide or Nick Carter and the lost head.
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Chapter three pointers to crime.
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Nick Carter made no comments upon the disappearance of the photograph or at least none that expressed his thoughts.
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Mrs.
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Darling could not say how long it had been gone from the album, nor could she conceive of any reason for its removal.
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He may have led a much more gay and festive life than she suspected, thought Nick, upon leaving the house after giving her a few additional instructions.
00:03:37.591 --> 00:03:40.980
He may also have been a thousand times more sly than she imagined.
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Another woman now has the photograph, perhaps, the gift of a recreant husband who thought it easier to give her that, than to sit for a new one.
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It would be worthwhile to know the woman's name in that case.
00:03:53.350 --> 00:03:56.830
And also to know what has become of Danny Maloney.
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Nick's mental digression occurred while he emerged from the driveway gate and found that his chauffeur was nowhere to be seen.
00:04:05.193 --> 00:04:09.454
The touring car stood at the curbing, but there was no sign of Danny.
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Well, that's a bit odd.
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Nick soliloquized gazing in each direction.
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I thought he might be merely stretching his legs.
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He must have seen someone or something that he thought it worthwhile to learn more about.
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He never neglects.
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Ah, That will explain.
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A scrap of paper protruding from under the chauffeur seat had caught Nick's eye as he was about to enter the car.
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He drew it out and read scribbled with lead pencil.
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Don't wait for me, chief I'll report later.
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Nick smiled and sprang into the car.
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10 minutes later, he arrived at the residence of Dr.
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Lyons, whom he found alone in his office.
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Well, well, Nick, this is an unexpected pleasure.
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Said the physician after their greeting.
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It's ages since I've seen you.
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What's on your mind.
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I know your call is not entirely a social one.
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Nor do you look as if you need a prescription?
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No, I'm right as a trivet.
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Said Nick smiling.
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It's about the suicide of Mr.
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Cyrus Darling.
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Oh, what about it?
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Now, this is strictly between us, mind you, and must not go further.
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Enough said, mum's the word.
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You viewed the remains.
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I am told and pronounced it a case of suicide.
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Oh, certainly there was nothing else to it.
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Absolutely nothing.
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Hm.
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I'm not so sure of that.
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Said, Nick.
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Coming from anyone else, Nick, I should laugh derisively at that.
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Dr.
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Lyons replied with a look of surprise.
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Coming from you, however, it demands serious consideration.
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What do you mean?
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Well, I'm not prepared to say at this time.
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Nick rejoined.
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I've just begun to look into the case at the request of Mrs.
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Darling.
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When I learn anything definite, Lyons, I will make it a point to inform you.
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Well, that's good enough for me.
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said the physician.
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But I really think Nick, that you are on a wild goose chase.
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There is nothing to it.
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Darling committed suicide, Nick, as sure as you're alive.
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It will be wise to report nothing different at present said Nick.
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You may be right, of course, and I may drop the case within 24 hours.
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Well, I'll wager you will.
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I would like to know how you sized up the circumstances, nevertheless.
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Nick went on.
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Darling left a note, which stated his suicidal intention.
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Then went to the boat house and set it on fire immediately shooting himself.
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That is your opinion, I understand, briefly stated.
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Yes, that is about the size of it admitted the physician.
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Were you among the first to view the remains?
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Yes.
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I was sent for immediately.
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I saw all the remained of the unfortunate man.
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He was almost entirely cremated.
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You made a careful examination, I suppose.
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Oh, yes, certainly.
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Of the skull.
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I examined his remains thoroughly.
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Nick.
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Did you find any fractured bone or splintered as if caused by a bullet?
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Nick inquired.
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No, I did not.
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Did you find the bullet that killed him?
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No, the body was terribly burned, parts of it being entirely consumed.
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It was impossible to perform a satisfactory autopsy.
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There is no question of his identity, however, if that is what you have in mind.
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Darling's ring was found on his finger.
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He wore a double set of false teeth, which alone are enough to establish his identity.
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We found some of the horn buttons on his clothing, moreover, which his wife readily recognized.
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Really Nick, there is nothing to it.
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Why do you think then that he set fire to the building before shooting himself?
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Oh, possibly to make sure of his death in case he only wounded himself.
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Or perhaps the fire was caused by the flash of the revolver.
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There was a lot of gasoline in the building.
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It may have caught from the flash of the weapon.
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It certainly caused a very intense fire.
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The house and all it contained were completely consumed.
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I was told that you still have the revolver and the articles mentioned.
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Yes, that is true.
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May I take them temporarily.
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I will guarantee to return them.
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Oh, certainly Dr.
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Lyons readily consented.
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If the matter were a less solemn one, however, I would wager a big round roll, Nick, that you are wasting your energies on a fog bank.
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There is nothing in it.
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Cyrus Darling killed himself as sure as death and taxes.
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We'll let it go at that then for the present.
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said the detective with a smile.
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I will return these articles in a few days.
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Whenever convenient, Nick, replied the physician.
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He had taken them from a drawer in his desk while speaking, a parcel wrapped in thick brown paper and securely tied with a string.
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Nick thanked him and departed.
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Half an hour later, he entered the New York office of Clayton and Craig, attorneys, and was received in the private office of the senior partner.
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Nick found however that Clayton could add, but little to the information already imparted by Mrs.
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Darling.
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Clayton stated that he had been Darling's legal advisor for a number of years, that the latter had left no will, and that his personal estate, as far as could be discovered, consisted of less than$5,000.
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From several brokers with whom Darling had been in the habit of dealing nevertheless, Clayton had learned that he had sold bonds and securities within two months amounting to nearly a hundred thousand dollars.
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It certainly looks bad.
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Mr.
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Carter, deucedly bad.
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He added gravely after stating these facts.
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Though, I have not yet mentioned it to Mrs.
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Darling.
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I can form only one theory consistent with the circumstances and that is not entirely consistent.
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And what is your theory?
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Nick inquired.
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I think Mr.
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Darling was murdered.
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By whom.
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I have no idea, not the slightest.
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Do you know of any persons with whom he has had business relations, who might've committed the crime?
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No, I do not.
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I am entirely in the dark.
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How would you account for the letter stating his suicidal intention?
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That was found in his wife's bedroom.
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It may be a forgery.
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Put in the bedroom by someone else.
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Exactly.
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Well, that would have been possible perhaps, if a conspiracy existed.
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Nick allowed, tentatively.
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Conspiracy.
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Yes, that is just the word said the lawyer.
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I think that Cyrus Darling was the victim of a dastardly conspiracy, Nick, carried out with infernal cleverness.
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And that his fortune was the incentive to the crime?
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Precisely said Clayton.
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I don't know how it was framed up, of course, nor who are involved.
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I do believe that Darling was terribly jockeyed in some way, however, and either persuaded or forced to turn all of his bonds and securities into cash.
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I know positively that he did so, for all of the brokers with whom he dealt are well-acquainted with him and are absolutely sure of his identity at the time.
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He certainly is the man who made the sales and received the money.
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There is no question about that.
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Admitting that said Nick.
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What more do you suspect?
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I think that Darling was bunkoed out of it by some means and later lured to the boathouse and killed.
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The rascals, covering their tracks by setting fire to the house and contriving to leave a forged letter pointing to the suicide.
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Either that is the case, Nick or else he got in wrong and lost all of his money and then really committed suicide.
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You think either theory is tenable?
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questioned Nick smiling a bit oddly.
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I do think so.
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Hmm.
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Well, I'm going to look a little deeper into the case.
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I am glad to hear that Carter on my word.
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Clayton quickly declared.
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No man would be more likely to ferret out the true solution of the mystery.
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There is no solution Clayton, but the true solution.
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Nick replied.
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I may require some little time.
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Meanwhile kindly say and do nothing about the matter nor reveal anything that would add to Mrs.
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Darling's distress.
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She appears to be a fine woman.
00:12:09.075 --> 00:12:13.965
Oh, she is a fine woman, Nick, that goes without saying, and I know what I'm talking about.
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Has Darling lived happily with her?
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Oh, surely Clayton replied.
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Why not indeed.
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She is just the type of woman to steady a man of his temperament.
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He liked a good time, you know, and was easily influenced.
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But for her Nick, he might've gone clean over the traces.
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She was his balance wheel.
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She kept him going nicely instead of off on a tangent.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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They lived happily all right.
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Or I would have heard of it.
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No doubt.
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Nick allowed.
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He took his hat and arose to go.
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Chapter four.
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The angle of reflection.
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As Nick Carter had inferred even before finding the terse explanatory note of his chauffeur there was a very good reason for the disappearance of Danny Maloney.
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There were equally good reasons too, for the brevity of his note and his delay in reporting at the home office.
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Seated alone in the touring car after Nick had entered the Darling residence, Danny fell to watching a gang of men at work in the near distance then installing the wires for an electric lighting system to one of which Nick had jestingly referred when approaching the place.
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Scarce five minutes had passed however, when something of much more importance caught Danny's eye and instantly claimed his attention.
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It was the sudden appearance and significant actions of a man who rounded a corner, some 30 yards back of the motionless car.
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One might wonder perhaps how Danny not having eyes in the back of his head caught sight of the man the moment he turned the corner.
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As a matter of fact, however, Danny saw him reflected in the chauffeur's mirror clamped to the frame of the windshield, in which he could distinctly see objects back of the car.
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This led to a somewhat curious situation.
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The man saw the car and it's solitary occupant, but he did not observe the mirror.
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And he evidently supposed that Danny facing straight ahead could not see him.
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Danny easily saw the reflection, however, without turning his head.
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He saw the stranger stop short the moment he rounded the corner and saw the car at which he gazed suspiciously, which in turn was enough to arouse Danny's suspicions.
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Gee, what's eating him?
00:14:27.394 --> 00:14:29.111
He muttered, watching him intently.
00:14:29.831 --> 00:14:32.711
Here's a reflex, back action discovery for fair.
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He don't know, I can see him, but who the Dickens is he and what struck him?
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The man stood gazing intently first at the car then at the Darling residence, several times from one to the other.
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He appeared in doubt, uncertain what to do.
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Presently frowning darkly, he took a pencil and a letter from his pocket and made a memorandum of the envelope.
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Then he turned and retraced his steps and vanished around the corner as quickly as he had come.
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Gee whiz.
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There's nothing to it.
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thought Danny, that fellow was going to the Darling residence.
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He was alarmed when he saw this car and he has taken the number of it.
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He don't know who owns it then.
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So why did he change his mind?
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He certainly must be off color or he would not have feared to enter the house, but why.
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Why be hanged?
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It's up to me by gracious to find out why.
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Danny abruptly ended his vain speculations.
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He quickly wrote the brief note that Nick found a little later.
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Then sprang from the car and started after the departing stranger.
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Danny discovered him nearly a block away after rounding the corner.
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An erect finely built man, fashionably clad, having all of the outward indications of a gentlemen.
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He was about 30 years old with dark eyes and hair and clean cut features.
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In many respects a strikingly handsome man.
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Danny shadowed him to the city.
00:15:56.351 --> 00:16:04.182
He saw him enter an automobile garage and consult a reference book, one containing the license numbers of New York cars and the names of their owners.
00:16:04.871 --> 00:16:10.361
His face when he departed, wore a darker cloud, a look of increasing apprehensions.
00:16:11.011 --> 00:16:13.741
Gee, he's found out that the car belongs to Nick Carter.
00:16:13.912 --> 00:16:15.022
Danny readily reasoned.
00:16:15.591 --> 00:16:19.881
That don't seem to please him worth a cent, which shows that my suspicions are all to the good.
00:16:20.572 --> 00:16:24.772
I'll not lose sight of it by gracious until I learn who he is and where he hangs out.
00:16:25.422 --> 00:16:31.662
Danny then shadowed him to a leading hotel where his quarry spent nearly an hour at lunch in the cafe.
00:16:32.091 --> 00:16:40.552
Afterwards sauntering out and bringing up 10 minutes later near a large west side apartment house, then known as the Ashburton Chambers.
00:16:41.201 --> 00:16:49.774
This house evidently was his destination for he gazed up at one of the side windows when crossing a street on the corner of which the lofty building stood.
00:16:50.424 --> 00:16:54.894
He's got a date with someone thought Danny watching him from the opposite side of the avenue.
00:16:55.615 --> 00:16:57.264
Or maybe he has a suite there and...
00:16:57.595 --> 00:16:59.784
no by ginger, I was right.
00:16:59.845 --> 00:17:01.495
He's here to see that woman.
00:17:02.144 --> 00:17:06.765
She emerged from a side door of the house just as the man was crossing the street.
00:17:07.134 --> 00:17:10.255
A finely formed woman in a stylish walking costume.
00:17:10.605 --> 00:17:16.944
A figure so striking and graceful that Danny at once felt sure that he had seen her before.
00:17:17.595 --> 00:17:23.025
Her face was partly hidden under a polka dotted veil, however, precluding immediate recognition.
00:17:23.674 --> 00:17:29.765
They caught sight of one another at the same moment and the man stopped on the corner while the woman hastened to join him.
00:17:30.414 --> 00:17:39.805
Remaining there apparently heedless of numerous passing pedestrians they entered into a subdued and earnest conversation the gravity of which was obvious.
00:17:40.454 --> 00:17:42.944
I've got to have a nearer look at her, thought Danny.
00:17:43.285 --> 00:17:45.295
I'm dead sure I've seen her before.
00:17:45.505 --> 00:17:49.347
Maybe too I can get a line on what they're talking about by passing near them.
00:17:49.998 --> 00:17:56.448
Retracing his steps, he quickly crossed the avenue and then slowly approached the couple sauntering by them.
00:17:57.107 --> 00:18:10.907
He then saw the woman's face distinctly, her large lustrous eyes, glowing darkly through the meshes of her veil, her attractive features and clear velvety complexion, her finely formed mouth and rounded chin.
00:18:11.357 --> 00:18:17.748
A strikingly handsome face of that type and character for which men sometimes lose their heads.
00:18:18.397 --> 00:18:20.498
Great guns, Danny muttered.
00:18:20.978 --> 00:18:22.357
It's Kate Crandall.
00:18:22.567 --> 00:18:25.327
That fly beauty who figured in that Maybrick case.
00:18:25.958 --> 00:18:29.258
She tried to throw down the church rector because he would not marry her.
00:18:29.857 --> 00:18:34.597
She must've found an easier way to get money and plenty of it, if fine feathers cut any ice.
00:18:35.248 --> 00:18:39.627
Danny paused in the broad, main entrance to the house and furtively watched the couple.
00:18:40.347 --> 00:18:43.587
He had tried in vain to catch a word or two of their conversation.
00:18:44.218 --> 00:18:52.948
He now saw the man show Kate Crandall the memorandum made on his letter and he rightly inferred that they were talking about the touring car and its owner.
00:18:53.597 --> 00:19:01.938
Presently parting abruptly, the man hailed a taxi cab and rode away while Kate Crandall quickly approached the front entrance to the house.
00:19:02.587 --> 00:19:07.478
Danny as quickly withdrew to the office where he began an examination of the register.
00:19:08.127 --> 00:19:11.548
Kate Crandall entered and approached the counter speaking to the clerk.
00:19:12.097 --> 00:19:15.488
If Ralph Sheldon comes in, Tom, send him up to my suite will you.
00:19:15.652 --> 00:19:16.912
She said familiarly.
00:19:17.561 --> 00:19:18.192
Certainly.
00:19:18.582 --> 00:19:19.332
Replied the clerk.
00:19:19.662 --> 00:19:20.832
Does that go until evening?
00:19:21.481 --> 00:19:26.571
It goes until he shows up, replied Kate with significant emphasis.
00:19:27.221 --> 00:19:29.352
I will be at home all of this evening.
00:19:30.001 --> 00:19:30.961
I'll keep him in mind.
00:19:31.711 --> 00:19:32.251
Thank you.
00:19:32.902 --> 00:19:35.481
Kate turned quickly away and entered the elevator.
00:19:36.132 --> 00:19:41.182
Danny decided that he had picked up all that was coming to him and he started for home.
00:19:41.872 --> 00:19:50.672
It was nearly six o'clock when he entered the house and found Nick in his business office with his two chief assistants, Chick Carter, and Patsy Garvin.
00:19:51.321 --> 00:19:55.342
On the office table lay the several articles Nick had obtained from Dr.
00:19:55.342 --> 00:20:02.961
Lyons, which he was just beginning to examine already having told Chick and Patsy about the case as thus far set forth.
00:20:03.612 --> 00:20:07.602
It took Danny only a few minutes to report what he had seen and heard.
00:20:07.902 --> 00:20:11.771
And it was very nearly in line with what Nick had expected.
00:20:12.422 --> 00:20:13.382
Good work, Danny.
00:20:13.412 --> 00:20:14.281
Very good work.
00:20:14.521 --> 00:20:15.511
He said approvingly.
00:20:15.852 --> 00:20:18.701
It will help some my lad, even more than you imagine.
00:20:19.392 --> 00:20:20.832
I have left the car at the curbing.
00:20:21.132 --> 00:20:22.211
Take charge of it, please.
00:20:22.862 --> 00:20:23.612
Sure thing, Mr.
00:20:23.612 --> 00:20:26.551
Carter cried Danny, glad to feel that he had been of service.
00:20:27.201 --> 00:20:27.801
So.
00:20:28.362 --> 00:20:31.152
Kate Crandall is at the Ashburton Chambers, eh?
00:20:31.551 --> 00:20:33.622
Remarked Nick with a thoughtful frown.
00:20:34.271 --> 00:20:37.422
I have wondered what became of her after that Maybrick affair.
00:20:38.172 --> 00:20:44.642
She is about as attractive a woman as one often meets, but she has an infernally evil streak in her.
00:20:45.291 --> 00:20:47.875
You think she figures in this affair, Chick enquired.
00:20:48.525 --> 00:20:50.525
I certainly do Nick declared.
00:20:51.095 --> 00:20:56.345
Danny undoubtedly is right in thinking that the unknown man was going to the Darling residence.
00:20:56.825 --> 00:21:04.805
The fact that he has an interest there and also in Kate Crandall, denotes plainly enough that Cyrus Darling also had an interest in the woman.
00:21:05.525 --> 00:21:10.835
The stranger in view of his conduct forms a connecting link between the other two, so to speak.
00:21:11.484 --> 00:21:12.325
I see the point.
00:21:12.501 --> 00:21:13.221
Chick replied.
00:21:13.872 --> 00:21:19.271
Gee, that point is plain enough put in Patsy, but holy smoke, it must be a case of suicide.
00:21:19.571 --> 00:21:21.192
How else can you size it up chief?
00:21:21.521 --> 00:21:27.041
Darling had been in the dumps for two or three months as down on the mouth as a sick horse, according to his wife's story.
00:21:27.531 --> 00:21:30.922
Crooks could not have forced him to feign despondency for that length of time.
00:21:31.432 --> 00:21:38.362
In my opinion, chief, he just about blew in all of his money with some other woman and blew out his brains when the bundle was gone.
00:21:38.902 --> 00:21:39.922
That's how I size it up.
00:21:40.571 --> 00:21:41.112
Really.
00:21:41.541 --> 00:21:42.852
queried Nick dryly.
00:21:43.501 --> 00:21:45.781
That's what! He certainly shot himself.
00:21:45.811 --> 00:21:46.142
Chief.
00:21:46.201 --> 00:21:47.132
If what Dr.
00:21:47.132 --> 00:21:48.481
Lyons told you is true.
00:21:49.132 --> 00:21:49.971
If what Dr.
00:21:49.971 --> 00:21:51.862
Lyons told me is true, Patsy.
00:21:52.192 --> 00:21:53.511
You are probably wrong.
00:21:54.231 --> 00:21:54.862
Wrong.
00:21:55.551 --> 00:21:56.451
It's a hundred to one.
00:21:57.231 --> 00:21:58.112
Why so Chief?
00:21:58.761 --> 00:22:05.961
Because in 99 cases out of a hundred the person who commits suicide with a revolver, shoots himself in the head.
00:22:06.125 --> 00:22:06.664
Said Nick.
00:22:07.444 --> 00:22:10.384
That is the most natural spot for a suicide to select.
00:22:10.775 --> 00:22:16.355
He knows that a bullet in the brain will instantly render him insensible and preclude conscious suffering.
00:22:17.105 --> 00:22:23.734
Even if he does not stop to reason about it, he instinctively selects his head in which to send that fatal bullet.
00:22:24.424 --> 00:22:25.865
The records corroborate me.
00:22:26.414 --> 00:22:30.464
How often do you hear of a man shooting himself in the heart or the lungs?
00:22:31.115 --> 00:22:32.375
Very seldom indeed.
00:22:32.545 --> 00:22:33.154
Chick agreed.
00:22:33.845 --> 00:22:35.644
I don't know that I've ever heard of a case.
00:22:36.295 --> 00:22:37.164
But what of that?
00:22:37.555 --> 00:22:39.234
question Patsy argumentatively.
00:22:39.815 --> 00:22:41.585
I don't see how that cuts any ice.
00:22:41.845 --> 00:22:43.595
Darling could have shot himself in the head.
00:22:44.244 --> 00:22:47.394
I admit that he could, but he did not.
00:22:47.597 --> 00:22:48.528
Nick said dryly.
00:22:49.178 --> 00:22:50.917
Why are you so sure of that, Chief?
00:22:51.567 --> 00:22:54.897
Because the bullet would have made a hole in the skull.
00:22:55.298 --> 00:23:03.488
Even if sent into his mouth or through an eye, it surely would have passed through the brain and have fractured at least the back of the skull.
00:23:04.028 --> 00:23:04.508
Dr.
00:23:04.508 --> 00:23:08.647
Lyons is positive however that the skull was intact.
00:23:09.298 --> 00:23:11.337
I questioned him particularly about that.
00:23:11.978 --> 00:23:18.667
Admitting that my premises are correct then, it's a hundred to one that Cyrus Darling did not shoot himself.
00:23:19.317 --> 00:23:21.867
Ah, gee, there's no getting around that argument.
00:23:22.317 --> 00:23:23.577
Patsy thoughtfully allowed.
00:23:24.057 --> 00:23:25.887
You must be right chief after all.
00:23:26.538 --> 00:23:27.198
I think so.
00:23:27.847 --> 00:23:29.647
But how came the revolver near him?
00:23:30.067 --> 00:23:31.448
Someone else must have shot him.
00:23:31.897 --> 00:23:32.827
In that case, chief.
00:23:33.478 --> 00:23:35.248
He must have been murdered as Dr.
00:23:35.248 --> 00:23:37.137
Lyons and the lawyer Clayton suspect.
00:23:37.788 --> 00:23:38.958
On the contrary, Patsy.
00:23:39.288 --> 00:23:40.278
Both of them are wrong.
00:23:40.442 --> 00:23:41.701
Nick said confidently.
00:23:42.352 --> 00:23:45.061
Cyrus Darling was not shot at all.
00:23:45.711 --> 00:23:46.971
Not shot at all.
00:23:47.362 --> 00:23:48.862
Echoed Patsy incredulously.
00:23:49.511 --> 00:23:50.622
That is my opinion.
00:23:51.271 --> 00:23:52.531
Gee, that beats me.
00:23:52.961 --> 00:23:54.612
Why was the revolver there, then?
00:23:54.942 --> 00:23:55.271
Why...
00:23:55.451 --> 00:23:57.342
Stop a moment, Nick interrupted.
00:23:57.991 --> 00:24:04.561
You have just said, Patsy, that crooks could not have forced Darling to feign despondency for eight consecutive weeks.
00:24:05.071 --> 00:24:12.211
If so then his despondency must have been voluntarily feigned or else it must've been genuine.
00:24:12.862 --> 00:24:14.751
Well sure thing, chief that's plain enough.
00:24:15.402 --> 00:24:18.342
One fact, however, indicates that it was not genuine.
00:24:18.852 --> 00:24:19.511
Nick proceeded.
00:24:20.162 --> 00:24:25.892
I refer to the fact that he recently spent many evenings in town, far more than in the past.
00:24:26.622 --> 00:24:29.711
His wife thinks he sought diversion to relieve his depression.
00:24:30.362 --> 00:24:33.241
He did not however, permit her to accompany him.
00:24:33.902 --> 00:24:35.912
That is a very significant point.
00:24:36.646 --> 00:24:40.277
It is wholly inconsistent in a husband seeking such relief.
00:24:40.696 --> 00:24:45.287
He would have wanted his wife to cheer him up and help divert his mind.
00:24:45.707 --> 00:24:47.326
Bearing one contingency.
00:24:47.977 --> 00:24:48.727
Namely chief?
00:24:49.376 --> 00:24:50.396
Another attraction.
00:24:51.047 --> 00:24:55.017
Gee, there may be something in that, said Patsy quick to see the point.
00:24:55.737 --> 00:24:57.596
You mean another woman?
00:24:58.247 --> 00:24:59.176
Exactly.
00:24:59.826 --> 00:25:00.787
Kate Crandall.
00:25:01.436 --> 00:25:03.836
Quite likely Patsy in view of what Danny discovered.
00:25:04.916 --> 00:25:07.136
Oh, gee whiz things are shaping up.
00:25:07.457 --> 00:25:08.696
Said Patsy laughing.
00:25:09.346 --> 00:25:11.146
I begin to think you are right chief.
00:25:11.797 --> 00:25:16.836
Let's see now in how far this is confirmed by Darling's conduct during the past three months.
00:25:17.029 --> 00:25:17.599
Said Nick.
00:25:17.946 --> 00:25:22.477
It was then that his wife first notice his reticence and lack of customary affection.
00:25:23.126 --> 00:25:25.346
He must have been bestowing it upon the other.
00:25:25.997 --> 00:25:26.926
Quite likely.
00:25:27.317 --> 00:25:28.366
Nick dryly agreed.
00:25:28.696 --> 00:25:34.926
Then came a long period of increasing depression, relieved by frequent evenings in town, ostensibly alone.
00:25:35.527 --> 00:25:37.237
Later he sold his business.
00:25:37.287 --> 00:25:38.997
Also his bonds and securities.
00:25:39.717 --> 00:25:42.747
Obviously he wanted all of his funds in cash.
00:25:42.926 --> 00:25:53.186
Finally came the suicide, the letter stating his intention and the burning of the boathouse, which nearly consumed the corpse and precluded absolute identification.
00:25:53.654 --> 00:25:58.377
By Jove Nick, you evidently think the whole business was faked, said Chick abruptly.
00:25:59.028 --> 00:26:01.097
That is precisely what I think.
00:26:01.748 --> 00:26:03.788
And that Cyrus Darling is not dead.
00:26:04.538 --> 00:26:05.407
Exactly.
00:26:06.008 --> 00:26:06.907
But the body.
00:26:07.018 --> 00:26:08.278
One obtained for a blind.
00:26:08.442 --> 00:26:09.162
Nick interrupted.
00:26:09.821 --> 00:26:14.801
Really Chick this entire combination of circumstances admits of no other conclusion.
00:26:15.221 --> 00:26:19.271
Darling's conduct during the past three months as I have just sized it up.
00:26:19.632 --> 00:26:38.652
The selection of the boathouse for the supposed suicide where the arrangements for such a fraud could have been easily and secretly made, as well as a quick and undetected getaway on the river, after the trick was turned, the setting fire to the building in order to cremate the corpse and preclude identification, except by means of articles placed on it.
00:26:38.981 --> 00:26:44.951
The garments, ring, and even the false teeth of the supposed victim, all point to one conclusion Chick.
00:26:45.382 --> 00:26:49.061
That the job was a frame-up from beginning to end.
00:26:49.711 --> 00:26:52.801
By Jove it's a curious case, Nick, if you are right.
00:26:52.997 --> 00:26:53.596
Chick answered.
00:26:54.247 --> 00:26:57.396
Not so very curious, it's a case of a lost head.
00:26:58.047 --> 00:26:58.856
A lost head?
00:26:59.636 --> 00:27:00.267
Exactly.
00:27:00.537 --> 00:27:02.757
That of a man who has lost his head.
00:27:03.326 --> 00:27:07.227
It's up to us to help him find it and set it back on his shoulders.
00:27:07.287 --> 00:27:08.396
If not too late.
00:27:09.047 --> 00:27:10.487
Lost his head for a woman.
00:27:10.547 --> 00:27:11.656
Is that what you mean?
00:27:12.307 --> 00:27:13.116
Precisely.
00:27:13.876 --> 00:27:16.517
But why do you think we may be too late?
00:27:17.166 --> 00:27:22.926
Because though a week has passed since the supposed suicide, the cat has not jumped.
00:27:23.095 --> 00:27:24.684
Said Nick enigmatically.
00:27:25.335 --> 00:27:26.325
I don't get you.
00:27:26.974 --> 00:27:28.724
Nor I, Chief, put in Patsy.
00:27:28.984 --> 00:27:30.214
What cat has not jumped.
00:27:30.865 --> 00:27:34.635
The two legged cat responsible for the whole business, Nick explained.
00:27:34.996 --> 00:27:56.306
We can safely assume the foregoing being correct, that Darling turned his fortune into cash with a view to leaving the country with the woman that he aimed to create a belief that he is dead, presumably to prevent investigations, pursuit, and a possible lawsuit with consequent alimony and that he intended living abroad under a fictitious name with the woman.
00:27:56.955 --> 00:27:59.056
That now seems perfectly reasonable.
00:27:59.476 --> 00:28:00.105
Chick agreed.
00:28:00.756 --> 00:28:07.056
The question is then, assuming Kate Crandall to be the woman, why have they not jumped the country?
00:28:07.238 --> 00:28:07.748
Nick added.
00:28:08.048 --> 00:28:08.887
Why the delay.
00:28:09.458 --> 00:28:12.248
Why is she established in the Ashburton Chambers?
00:28:12.607 --> 00:28:17.738
Why the continued interest in the darling residence as appears in what Danny saw and heard.
00:28:18.387 --> 00:28:22.137
That shows plainly enough that she is the woman involved.
00:28:22.798 --> 00:28:27.028
It is confirmed by her acquaintance with Ralph Sheldon mentioned by Mrs.
00:28:27.028 --> 00:28:28.827
Darling, as a friend of her husband.
00:28:29.587 --> 00:28:32.107
His friendship may be of the left-handed kind.
00:28:32.758 --> 00:28:33.718
Most likely Nick.
00:28:34.367 --> 00:28:38.508
All this then denotes that something has gone wrong.
00:28:38.928 --> 00:28:41.448
Why has Darling not fled with the woman?
00:28:41.852 --> 00:28:43.682
Has he been given the double cross?
00:28:44.080 --> 00:28:47.141
He may have been bunkoed out of his big bundle of cash and.
00:28:47.921 --> 00:28:50.201
Well, there's no telling what has become of him.
00:28:50.951 --> 00:28:52.721
It's up to us to find out.
00:28:53.718 --> 00:28:54.738
I get you now, Nick.
00:28:54.897 --> 00:28:55.528
Chick nodded.
00:28:55.827 --> 00:28:59.248
He may after all be the man found dead in the boathouse.
00:28:59.897 --> 00:29:01.307
Nick quickly shook his head.
00:29:01.968 --> 00:29:03.488
I don't think so, said he.
00:29:03.887 --> 00:29:08.538
If there were evidence showing positively that he was shot rather than the contrary.
00:29:08.958 --> 00:29:10.577
I might think the rascals killed him.
00:29:11.258 --> 00:29:22.877
His going there voluntarily however, his feigning despondency for close upon two months, apparently paving the way to get by with a fake suicide all convinces me that he was not killed.
00:29:23.528 --> 00:29:24.188
I see.
00:29:24.837 --> 00:29:29.428
This is further confirmed by the removal of his photograph, which Mrs.
00:29:29.428 --> 00:29:32.488
Darling thinks is the only one in existence.
00:29:33.137 --> 00:29:34.817
What was his object in removing it.
00:29:35.468 --> 00:29:41.528
To prevent broadcast publication of it in the newspapers, in case the truth was suspected said Nick.
00:29:42.178 --> 00:29:44.667
Verbal descriptions cut no great ice.
00:29:44.978 --> 00:29:48.428
A picture, however, has brought many, a knave to the ring bolt.
00:29:49.057 --> 00:29:53.258
He was heading off that means of identification, exposure, and arrest.
00:29:53.907 --> 00:29:55.557
Gee that listens good to me chief.
00:29:55.728 --> 00:29:56.417
Said Patsy.
00:29:56.928 --> 00:29:58.877
10 to one, it hits the nail on the head.
00:29:59.528 --> 00:30:01.268
I feel reasonably sure of it.
00:30:01.917 --> 00:30:03.178
But what are your plans?
00:30:03.337 --> 00:30:04.117
Chick enquired.
00:30:04.438 --> 00:30:09.748
If Darling is up against a gang, as you suspect and they discover that his wife has put us on the case.
00:30:10.107 --> 00:30:12.508
It's long odds that they will lose no time in bolting.
00:30:13.157 --> 00:30:15.258
That's the very point I was coming to.
00:30:15.417 --> 00:30:16.768
Nick said more forcibly.
00:30:17.067 --> 00:30:18.478
They must have discovered it.
00:30:18.867 --> 00:30:20.637
Danny's report convinces me of that.
00:30:21.208 --> 00:30:26.607
Kate Crandall knows it, also the unknown man who informed her, he must be identified.
00:30:27.087 --> 00:30:35.387
We have Danny's description of him, which will probably be recognized by persons employed in the Ashburton Chambers, if he has been in the habit of visiting Kate Crandall.
00:30:36.038 --> 00:30:36.667
No doubt.
00:30:37.317 --> 00:30:43.317
You tackle that part of the work Chick and we'll get after these suspects before they can make a successful getaway.
00:30:43.968 --> 00:30:47.567
But Kate Crandall said she would be in her apartments all of this evening, chief.
00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:48.800
Patsy reminded him.
00:30:49.490 --> 00:30:51.020
That don't look much like bolting.
00:30:51.671 --> 00:30:53.800
That may have only been a blind.
00:30:53.973 --> 00:30:54.634
Nick replied.
00:30:55.284 --> 00:31:00.983
She may have feared that she already was being watched or that the clerk might be questioned later.
00:31:01.763 --> 00:31:06.054
Be that as it may, we'll lose no time in seeking tangible proof of my suspicions.
00:31:06.503 --> 00:31:08.544
While Chick is hunting up the unknown man.
00:31:08.544 --> 00:31:12.713
Patsy, you see what you can learn about Ralph Sheldon and Phillip Floyd.
00:31:13.364 --> 00:31:14.144
I got you chief.
00:31:14.794 --> 00:31:23.193
If the former visits Kate Crandall, as she directed, we may be lucky enough to clinch the case and round up the entire gang this very evening.
00:31:23.354 --> 00:31:24.973
Nick added rising abruptly.
00:31:25.624 --> 00:31:27.993
I will tackle Kate Crandall personally.
00:31:28.534 --> 00:31:31.864
I'll find out in short order, what she knows about Cyrus Darling.
00:31:32.513 --> 00:31:34.554
That's the stuff, Chief, cried Patsy.
00:31:35.203 --> 00:31:36.223
We'll be off at once then.
00:31:36.523 --> 00:31:37.634
Danny is still waiting.
00:31:37.784 --> 00:31:40.544
We can make the Ashburton Chambers in 20 minutes.
00:31:42.044 --> 00:31:45.463
What does Kate Crandall know about the disappearance of Cyrus Darling?
00:31:45.943 --> 00:31:48.703
And who exactly is the unknown man.
00:31:49.134 --> 00:31:55.463
We'll find out next time on episode three of The Suicide or Nick Carter and the Lost Head.
00:31:57.713 --> 00:32:00.564
Well friends, that's it for this episode of Forward Into The Past.
00:32:01.074 --> 00:32:04.104
Thanks for joining us on our journey, through the stories of the public domain.
00:32:04.763 --> 00:32:11.673
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an installment.
00:32:12.213 --> 00:32:23.114
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00:32:23.653 --> 00:32:31.034
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00:32:31.784 --> 00:32:34.903
Well, we'll travel to another fascinating story next time.
00:32:34.933 --> 00:32:37.394
But until then, Thanks for listening.
00:32:37.693 --> 00:32:41.653
Keep sharing the stories and be a good human.
00:32:42.554 --> 00:32:43.634
Bye for now.
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.589
Hi friends and welcome to another episode of forward into the past.
00:00:06.129 --> 00:00:08.500
I'm JC Rede, your host and narrator.
00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:19.300
And today we're diving into the next two chapters in the Nick Carter mystery from 1915 called The Suicide or Nick Carter and The Lost Head.
00:00:20.589 --> 00:00:28.820
In the early days of the 20th century, one name dominated the dime novel racks and firing imaginations of readers across America.
00:00:29.089 --> 00:00:30.079
Nick Carter.
00:00:30.579 --> 00:00:39.399
The adventures of this consummate gentleman detective and master of disguise hit a cultural resonance that persists over a century later.
00:00:40.049 --> 00:00:51.869
Nick Carter first appeared in the inaugural issue of the New York Weekly in 1886, his creation shrouded in mystery under the house name of Nicholas Carter.
00:00:52.369 --> 00:00:58.439
For the next three decades, his capers unfolded weekly in an inexpensive story paper.
00:00:58.979 --> 00:01:04.469
By 1915, over 1000 unique Nick Carter stories had been published.
00:01:04.769 --> 00:01:09.959
And he became one of the most widely read fictional characters of all time.
00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:21.560
Part of Nick Carter's widespread popularity stemmed from his embodiment of idealized, masculinity and heroism amidst the social upheaval of industrializing America.
00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:31.780
Urbane wry and dashing, Nick modeled a new type of detective as celebrity who relied on wits and science rather than brawn.
00:01:32.530 --> 00:01:39.730
He matched his physical prowess with skills and disguise, amateur dramatics, and psychological deduction.
00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:46.780
Crafting an urbane proto-James Bond type, perfectly calibrated for male power fantasies.
00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:55.920
The formulaic yet engrossing Nick Carter stories were disposable entertainment, but their hero tapped into deeper cultural needs.
00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:07.709
His squeaky clean adventures provided thrilling escapism from the stresses of modern city life, while reassuringly reinforcing traditional gender roles and moral order.
00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:17.689
Readers could project onto this crime busting fantasy man who outwitted evildoers and saved imperiled society with intellect and pluck.
00:02:18.341 --> 00:02:23.920
American popular culture soon proved too small to contain Nick Carter's success.
00:02:24.670 --> 00:02:33.721
His adventures were syndicated globally in condensed versions, spawning foreign language translations, comic strips big little books, movies.
00:02:34.501 --> 00:02:36.121
And even nail Polish.
00:02:36.901 --> 00:02:42.211
While his boyish name and simplistic storylines dated him for later generations.
00:02:42.600 --> 00:02:55.591
Nick Carter's global fame and pop cultural sway proved surprisingly enduring, making the suave sleuth one of the first multimedia super studs of pulp fiction celebrity.
00:02:56.881 --> 00:03:02.420
And now let's dive back into one of those many stories that helped propel his popularity.
00:03:02.760 --> 00:03:07.920
This one entitled the suicide or Nick Carter and the lost head.
00:03:10.170 --> 00:03:12.540
Chapter three pointers to crime.
00:03:14.341 --> 00:03:20.941
Nick Carter made no comments upon the disappearance of the photograph or at least none that expressed his thoughts.
00:03:21.441 --> 00:03:21.800
Mrs.
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:28.191
Darling could not say how long it had been gone from the album, nor could she conceive of any reason for its removal.
00:03:28.691 --> 00:03:37.091
He may have led a much more gay and festive life than she suspected, thought Nick, upon leaving the house after giving her a few additional instructions.
00:03:37.591 --> 00:03:40.980
He may also have been a thousand times more sly than she imagined.
00:03:41.461 --> 00:03:49.050
Another woman now has the photograph, perhaps, the gift of a recreant husband who thought it easier to give her that, than to sit for a new one.
00:03:49.691 --> 00:03:52.540
It would be worthwhile to know the woman's name in that case.
00:03:53.350 --> 00:03:56.830
And also to know what has become of Danny Maloney.
00:03:57.484 --> 00:04:04.533
Nick's mental digression occurred while he emerged from the driveway gate and found that his chauffeur was nowhere to be seen.
00:04:05.193 --> 00:04:09.454
The touring car stood at the curbing, but there was no sign of Danny.
00:04:11.044 --> 00:04:12.153
Well, that's a bit odd.
00:04:12.311 --> 00:04:14.651
Nick soliloquized gazing in each direction.
00:04:14.918 --> 00:04:17.317
I thought he might be merely stretching his legs.
00:04:18.007 --> 00:04:23.468
He must have seen someone or something that he thought it worthwhile to learn more about.
00:04:23.958 --> 00:04:25.127
He never neglects.
00:04:25.668 --> 00:04:27.528
Ah, That will explain.
00:04:28.028 --> 00:04:34.387
A scrap of paper protruding from under the chauffeur seat had caught Nick's eye as he was about to enter the car.
00:04:34.987 --> 00:04:38.197
He drew it out and read scribbled with lead pencil.
00:04:38.887 --> 00:04:41.257
Don't wait for me, chief I'll report later.
00:04:41.757 --> 00:04:43.767
Nick smiled and sprang into the car.
00:04:44.427 --> 00:04:47.218
10 minutes later, he arrived at the residence of Dr.
00:04:47.218 --> 00:04:49.767
Lyons, whom he found alone in his office.
00:04:50.418 --> 00:04:53.567
Well, well, Nick, this is an unexpected pleasure.
00:04:53.721 --> 00:04:55.430
Said the physician after their greeting.
00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:57.620
It's ages since I've seen you.
00:04:58.161 --> 00:04:59.151
What's on your mind.
00:04:59.511 --> 00:05:01.940
I know your call is not entirely a social one.
00:05:02.161 --> 00:05:04.250
Nor do you look as if you need a prescription?
00:05:05.781 --> 00:05:07.310
No, I'm right as a trivet.
00:05:07.478 --> 00:05:08.497
Said Nick smiling.
00:05:08.997 --> 00:05:10.887
It's about the suicide of Mr.
00:05:10.887 --> 00:05:11.747
Cyrus Darling.
00:05:12.398 --> 00:05:13.358
Oh, what about it?
00:05:14.007 --> 00:05:16.947
Now, this is strictly between us, mind you, and must not go further.
00:05:17.447 --> 00:05:18.728
Enough said, mum's the word.
00:05:19.228 --> 00:05:20.517
You viewed the remains.
00:05:20.517 --> 00:05:22.978
I am told and pronounced it a case of suicide.
00:05:23.627 --> 00:05:25.757
Oh, certainly there was nothing else to it.
00:05:25.757 --> 00:05:26.867
Absolutely nothing.
00:05:27.487 --> 00:05:27.877
Hm.
00:05:28.538 --> 00:05:29.538
I'm not so sure of that.
00:05:29.694 --> 00:05:30.223
Said, Nick.
00:05:30.723 --> 00:05:33.934
Coming from anyone else, Nick, I should laugh derisively at that.
00:05:34.413 --> 00:05:34.774
Dr.
00:05:34.774 --> 00:05:36.514
Lyons replied with a look of surprise.
00:05:37.204 --> 00:05:40.413
Coming from you, however, it demands serious consideration.
00:05:40.708 --> 00:05:41.398
What do you mean?
00:05:41.978 --> 00:05:43.927
Well, I'm not prepared to say at this time.
00:05:44.098 --> 00:05:44.757
Nick rejoined.
00:05:45.208 --> 00:05:47.877
I've just begun to look into the case at the request of Mrs.
00:05:47.877 --> 00:05:48.237
Darling.
00:05:48.767 --> 00:05:52.137
When I learn anything definite, Lyons, I will make it a point to inform you.
00:05:52.788 --> 00:05:54.108
Well, that's good enough for me.
00:05:54.257 --> 00:05:55.038
said the physician.
00:05:55.517 --> 00:05:58.817
But I really think Nick, that you are on a wild goose chase.
00:05:59.117 --> 00:06:00.317
There is nothing to it.
00:06:00.567 --> 00:06:03.827
Darling committed suicide, Nick, as sure as you're alive.
00:06:04.478 --> 00:06:07.533
It will be wise to report nothing different at present said Nick.
00:06:08.033 --> 00:06:12.173
You may be right, of course, and I may drop the case within 24 hours.
00:06:12.824 --> 00:06:14.653
Well, I'll wager you will.
00:06:15.303 --> 00:06:18.874
I would like to know how you sized up the circumstances, nevertheless.
00:06:19.038 --> 00:06:19.697
Nick went on.
00:06:20.208 --> 00:06:23.538
Darling left a note, which stated his suicidal intention.
00:06:23.898 --> 00:06:28.038
Then went to the boat house and set it on fire immediately shooting himself.
00:06:28.517 --> 00:06:31.218
That is your opinion, I understand, briefly stated.
00:06:31.867 --> 00:06:34.798
Yes, that is about the size of it admitted the physician.
00:06:35.447 --> 00:06:37.478
Were you among the first to view the remains?
00:06:38.127 --> 00:06:38.697
Yes.
00:06:39.028 --> 00:06:40.317
I was sent for immediately.
00:06:40.737 --> 00:06:43.057
I saw all the remained of the unfortunate man.
00:06:43.288 --> 00:06:45.927
He was almost entirely cremated.
00:06:46.577 --> 00:06:49.067
You made a careful examination, I suppose.
00:06:49.718 --> 00:06:50.708
Oh, yes, certainly.
00:06:51.358 --> 00:06:52.228
Of the skull.
00:06:52.877 --> 00:06:54.827
I examined his remains thoroughly.
00:06:54.827 --> 00:06:55.187
Nick.
00:06:55.838 --> 00:06:59.767
Did you find any fractured bone or splintered as if caused by a bullet?
00:06:59.937 --> 00:07:00.677
Nick inquired.
00:07:01.327 --> 00:07:02.617
No, I did not.
00:07:03.267 --> 00:07:04.887
Did you find the bullet that killed him?
00:07:05.487 --> 00:07:09.958
No, the body was terribly burned, parts of it being entirely consumed.
00:07:10.267 --> 00:07:13.747
It was impossible to perform a satisfactory autopsy.
00:07:14.348 --> 00:07:18.577
There is no question of his identity, however, if that is what you have in mind.
00:07:19.148 --> 00:07:21.278
Darling's ring was found on his finger.
00:07:21.637 --> 00:07:26.408
He wore a double set of false teeth, which alone are enough to establish his identity.
00:07:26.904 --> 00:07:31.824
We found some of the horn buttons on his clothing, moreover, which his wife readily recognized.
00:07:31.975 --> 00:07:34.254
Really Nick, there is nothing to it.
00:07:34.904 --> 00:07:38.925
Why do you think then that he set fire to the building before shooting himself?
00:07:40.274 --> 00:07:44.384
Oh, possibly to make sure of his death in case he only wounded himself.
00:07:44.925 --> 00:07:48.194
Or perhaps the fire was caused by the flash of the revolver.
00:07:48.584 --> 00:07:51.074
There was a lot of gasoline in the building.
00:07:51.264 --> 00:07:53.125
It may have caught from the flash of the weapon.
00:07:53.665 --> 00:07:55.675
It certainly caused a very intense fire.
00:07:56.095 --> 00:07:59.814
The house and all it contained were completely consumed.
00:08:00.464 --> 00:08:03.675
I was told that you still have the revolver and the articles mentioned.
00:08:04.324 --> 00:08:05.355
Yes, that is true.
00:08:06.004 --> 00:08:07.415
May I take them temporarily.
00:08:07.805 --> 00:08:09.274
I will guarantee to return them.
00:08:09.925 --> 00:08:11.365
Oh, certainly Dr.
00:08:11.365 --> 00:08:12.625
Lyons readily consented.
00:08:13.285 --> 00:08:21.055
If the matter were a less solemn one, however, I would wager a big round roll, Nick, that you are wasting your energies on a fog bank.
00:08:21.264 --> 00:08:22.795
There is nothing in it.
00:08:23.125 --> 00:08:26.785
Cyrus Darling killed himself as sure as death and taxes.
00:08:28.365 --> 00:08:30.324
We'll let it go at that then for the present.
00:08:30.595 --> 00:08:32.004
said the detective with a smile.
00:08:32.784 --> 00:08:34.855
I will return these articles in a few days.
00:08:35.504 --> 00:08:37.842
Whenever convenient, Nick, replied the physician.
00:08:38.443 --> 00:08:45.313
He had taken them from a drawer in his desk while speaking, a parcel wrapped in thick brown paper and securely tied with a string.
00:08:45.816 --> 00:08:47.405
Nick thanked him and departed.
00:08:48.196 --> 00:08:56.385
Half an hour later, he entered the New York office of Clayton and Craig, attorneys, and was received in the private office of the senior partner.
00:08:56.885 --> 00:09:02.645
Nick found however that Clayton could add, but little to the information already imparted by Mrs.
00:09:02.645 --> 00:09:03.066
Darling.
00:09:03.581 --> 00:09:16.490
Clayton stated that he had been Darling's legal advisor for a number of years, that the latter had left no will, and that his personal estate, as far as could be discovered, consisted of less than$5,000.
00:09:17.030 --> 00:09:29.841
From several brokers with whom Darling had been in the habit of dealing nevertheless, Clayton had learned that he had sold bonds and securities within two months amounting to nearly a hundred thousand dollars.
00:09:30.490 --> 00:09:31.841
It certainly looks bad.
00:09:31.841 --> 00:09:32.110
Mr.
00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:33.341
Carter, deucedly bad.
00:09:33.581 --> 00:09:36.191
He added gravely after stating these facts.
00:09:36.500 --> 00:09:38.509
Though, I have not yet mentioned it to Mrs.
00:09:38.509 --> 00:09:38.960
Darling.
00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:45.379
I can form only one theory consistent with the circumstances and that is not entirely consistent.
00:09:46.029 --> 00:09:47.289
And what is your theory?
00:09:47.482 --> 00:09:48.143
Nick inquired.
00:09:48.793 --> 00:09:49.873
I think Mr.
00:09:49.873 --> 00:09:50.923
Darling was murdered.
00:09:51.572 --> 00:09:52.293
By whom.
00:09:52.942 --> 00:09:55.102
I have no idea, not the slightest.
00:09:55.753 --> 00:10:00.613
Do you know of any persons with whom he has had business relations, who might've committed the crime?
00:10:01.263 --> 00:10:02.403
No, I do not.
00:10:02.972 --> 00:10:04.472
I am entirely in the dark.
00:10:05.123 --> 00:10:08.482
How would you account for the letter stating his suicidal intention?
00:10:09.143 --> 00:10:10.852
That was found in his wife's bedroom.
00:10:11.503 --> 00:10:12.883
It may be a forgery.
00:10:13.533 --> 00:10:15.572
Put in the bedroom by someone else.
00:10:16.113 --> 00:10:16.863
Exactly.
00:10:17.513 --> 00:10:21.442
Well, that would have been possible perhaps, if a conspiracy existed.
00:10:21.605 --> 00:10:22.894
Nick allowed, tentatively.
00:10:23.544 --> 00:10:24.294
Conspiracy.
00:10:24.294 --> 00:10:27.054
Yes, that is just the word said the lawyer.
00:10:27.475 --> 00:10:34.504
I think that Cyrus Darling was the victim of a dastardly conspiracy, Nick, carried out with infernal cleverness.
00:10:35.154 --> 00:10:37.644
And that his fortune was the incentive to the crime?
00:10:38.294 --> 00:10:40.001
Precisely said Clayton.
00:10:40.495 --> 00:10:43.855
I don't know how it was framed up, of course, nor who are involved.
00:10:44.424 --> 00:10:52.825
I do believe that Darling was terribly jockeyed in some way, however, and either persuaded or forced to turn all of his bonds and securities into cash.
00:10:53.465 --> 00:11:03.105
I know positively that he did so, for all of the brokers with whom he dealt are well-acquainted with him and are absolutely sure of his identity at the time.
00:11:03.735 --> 00:11:07.695
He certainly is the man who made the sales and received the money.
00:11:07.934 --> 00:11:09.914
There is no question about that.
00:11:10.565 --> 00:11:11.985
Admitting that said Nick.
00:11:12.312 --> 00:11:13.451
What more do you suspect?
00:11:14.101 --> 00:11:19.922
I think that Darling was bunkoed out of it by some means and later lured to the boathouse and killed.
00:11:20.251 --> 00:11:26.761
The rascals, covering their tracks by setting fire to the house and contriving to leave a forged letter pointing to the suicide.
00:11:27.164 --> 00:11:34.095
Either that is the case, Nick or else he got in wrong and lost all of his money and then really committed suicide.
00:11:34.745 --> 00:11:36.455
You think either theory is tenable?
00:11:36.705 --> 00:11:38.705
questioned Nick smiling a bit oddly.
00:11:39.355 --> 00:11:40.284
I do think so.
00:11:40.934 --> 00:11:41.144
Hmm.
00:11:41.504 --> 00:11:44.565
Well, I'm going to look a little deeper into the case.
00:11:45.215 --> 00:11:47.705
I am glad to hear that Carter on my word.
00:11:47.875 --> 00:11:49.105
Clayton quickly declared.
00:11:49.434 --> 00:11:52.914
No man would be more likely to ferret out the true solution of the mystery.
00:11:53.565 --> 00:11:56.414
There is no solution Clayton, but the true solution.
00:11:56.585 --> 00:11:57.154
Nick replied.
00:11:57.504 --> 00:11:59.154
I may require some little time.
00:11:59.784 --> 00:12:05.335
Meanwhile kindly say and do nothing about the matter nor reveal anything that would add to Mrs.
00:12:05.365 --> 00:12:06.325
Darling's distress.
00:12:06.835 --> 00:12:08.424
She appears to be a fine woman.
00:12:09.075 --> 00:12:13.965
Oh, she is a fine woman, Nick, that goes without saying, and I know what I'm talking about.
00:12:14.615 --> 00:12:16.544
Has Darling lived happily with her?
00:12:17.284 --> 00:12:19.304
Oh, surely Clayton replied.
00:12:19.634 --> 00:12:20.654
Why not indeed.
00:12:20.835 --> 00:12:24.315
She is just the type of woman to steady a man of his temperament.
00:12:24.855 --> 00:12:27.585
He liked a good time, you know, and was easily influenced.
00:12:27.855 --> 00:12:31.125
But for her Nick, he might've gone clean over the traces.
00:12:31.725 --> 00:12:33.254
She was his balance wheel.
00:12:33.615 --> 00:12:36.825
She kept him going nicely instead of off on a tangent.
00:12:37.304 --> 00:12:37.875
Yes.
00:12:37.904 --> 00:12:38.264
Yes.
00:12:38.264 --> 00:12:38.565
Yes.
00:12:38.565 --> 00:12:39.914
They lived happily all right.
00:12:40.215 --> 00:12:41.595
Or I would have heard of it.
00:12:42.245 --> 00:12:42.875
No doubt.
00:12:43.042 --> 00:12:43.611
Nick allowed.
00:12:43.924 --> 00:12:45.815
He took his hat and arose to go.
00:12:47.312 --> 00:12:48.152
Chapter four.
00:12:48.692 --> 00:12:49.892
The angle of reflection.
00:12:50.892 --> 00:12:59.711
As Nick Carter had inferred even before finding the terse explanatory note of his chauffeur there was a very good reason for the disappearance of Danny Maloney.
00:13:00.361 --> 00:13:05.422
There were equally good reasons too, for the brevity of his note and his delay in reporting at the home office.
00:13:06.072 --> 00:13:21.432
Seated alone in the touring car after Nick had entered the Darling residence, Danny fell to watching a gang of men at work in the near distance then installing the wires for an electric lighting system to one of which Nick had jestingly referred when approaching the place.
00:13:22.081 --> 00:13:29.912
Scarce five minutes had passed however, when something of much more importance caught Danny's eye and instantly claimed his attention.
00:13:30.562 --> 00:13:37.731
It was the sudden appearance and significant actions of a man who rounded a corner, some 30 yards back of the motionless car.
00:13:38.381 --> 00:13:45.672
One might wonder perhaps how Danny not having eyes in the back of his head caught sight of the man the moment he turned the corner.
00:13:46.422 --> 00:13:56.351
As a matter of fact, however, Danny saw him reflected in the chauffeur's mirror clamped to the frame of the windshield, in which he could distinctly see objects back of the car.
00:13:57.001 --> 00:13:59.432
This led to a somewhat curious situation.
00:14:00.011 --> 00:14:05.172
The man saw the car and it's solitary occupant, but he did not observe the mirror.
00:14:05.501 --> 00:14:10.511
And he evidently supposed that Danny facing straight ahead could not see him.
00:14:11.162 --> 00:14:14.701
Danny easily saw the reflection, however, without turning his head.
00:14:15.402 --> 00:14:25.331
He saw the stranger stop short the moment he rounded the corner and saw the car at which he gazed suspiciously, which in turn was enough to arouse Danny's suspicions.
00:14:25.981 --> 00:14:27.221
Gee, what's eating him?
00:14:27.394 --> 00:14:29.111
He muttered, watching him intently.
00:14:29.831 --> 00:14:32.711
Here's a reflex, back action discovery for fair.
00:14:33.381 --> 00:14:36.822
He don't know, I can see him, but who the Dickens is he and what struck him?
00:14:37.471 --> 00:14:45.211
The man stood gazing intently first at the car then at the Darling residence, several times from one to the other.
00:14:45.932 --> 00:14:48.542
He appeared in doubt, uncertain what to do.
00:14:49.192 --> 00:14:55.402
Presently frowning darkly, he took a pencil and a letter from his pocket and made a memorandum of the envelope.
00:14:56.052 --> 00:15:01.331
Then he turned and retraced his steps and vanished around the corner as quickly as he had come.
00:15:01.981 --> 00:15:02.642
Gee whiz.
00:15:02.642 --> 00:15:03.451
There's nothing to it.
00:15:03.802 --> 00:15:07.201
thought Danny, that fellow was going to the Darling residence.
00:15:07.591 --> 00:15:10.621
He was alarmed when he saw this car and he has taken the number of it.
00:15:11.251 --> 00:15:12.662
He don't know who owns it then.
00:15:12.782 --> 00:15:14.282
So why did he change his mind?
00:15:14.932 --> 00:15:19.312
He certainly must be off color or he would not have feared to enter the house, but why.
00:15:20.001 --> 00:15:21.052
Why be hanged?
00:15:21.052 --> 00:15:23.302
It's up to me by gracious to find out why.
00:15:23.951 --> 00:15:26.471
Danny abruptly ended his vain speculations.
00:15:26.802 --> 00:15:29.741
He quickly wrote the brief note that Nick found a little later.
00:15:30.011 --> 00:15:33.341
Then sprang from the car and started after the departing stranger.
00:15:33.991 --> 00:15:37.532
Danny discovered him nearly a block away after rounding the corner.
00:15:38.032 --> 00:15:44.331
An erect finely built man, fashionably clad, having all of the outward indications of a gentlemen.
00:15:45.022 --> 00:15:50.542
He was about 30 years old with dark eyes and hair and clean cut features.
00:15:50.631 --> 00:15:53.542
In many respects a strikingly handsome man.
00:15:54.192 --> 00:15:55.782
Danny shadowed him to the city.
00:15:56.351 --> 00:16:04.182
He saw him enter an automobile garage and consult a reference book, one containing the license numbers of New York cars and the names of their owners.
00:16:04.871 --> 00:16:10.361
His face when he departed, wore a darker cloud, a look of increasing apprehensions.
00:16:11.011 --> 00:16:13.741
Gee, he's found out that the car belongs to Nick Carter.
00:16:13.912 --> 00:16:15.022
Danny readily reasoned.
00:16:15.591 --> 00:16:19.881
That don't seem to please him worth a cent, which shows that my suspicions are all to the good.
00:16:20.572 --> 00:16:24.772
I'll not lose sight of it by gracious until I learn who he is and where he hangs out.
00:16:25.422 --> 00:16:31.662
Danny then shadowed him to a leading hotel where his quarry spent nearly an hour at lunch in the cafe.
00:16:32.091 --> 00:16:40.552
Afterwards sauntering out and bringing up 10 minutes later near a large west side apartment house, then known as the Ashburton Chambers.
00:16:41.201 --> 00:16:49.774
This house evidently was his destination for he gazed up at one of the side windows when crossing a street on the corner of which the lofty building stood.
00:16:50.424 --> 00:16:54.894
He's got a date with someone thought Danny watching him from the opposite side of the avenue.
00:16:55.615 --> 00:16:57.264
Or maybe he has a suite there and...
00:16:57.595 --> 00:16:59.784
no by ginger, I was right.
00:16:59.845 --> 00:17:01.495
He's here to see that woman.
00:17:02.144 --> 00:17:06.765
She emerged from a side door of the house just as the man was crossing the street.
00:17:07.134 --> 00:17:10.255
A finely formed woman in a stylish walking costume.
00:17:10.605 --> 00:17:16.944
A figure so striking and graceful that Danny at once felt sure that he had seen her before.
00:17:17.595 --> 00:17:23.025
Her face was partly hidden under a polka dotted veil, however, precluding immediate recognition.
00:17:23.674 --> 00:17:29.765
They caught sight of one another at the same moment and the man stopped on the corner while the woman hastened to join him.
00:17:30.414 --> 00:17:39.805
Remaining there apparently heedless of numerous passing pedestrians they entered into a subdued and earnest conversation the gravity of which was obvious.
00:17:40.454 --> 00:17:42.944
I've got to have a nearer look at her, thought Danny.
00:17:43.285 --> 00:17:45.295
I'm dead sure I've seen her before.
00:17:45.505 --> 00:17:49.347
Maybe too I can get a line on what they're talking about by passing near them.
00:17:49.998 --> 00:17:56.448
Retracing his steps, he quickly crossed the avenue and then slowly approached the couple sauntering by them.
00:17:57.107 --> 00:18:10.907
He then saw the woman's face distinctly, her large lustrous eyes, glowing darkly through the meshes of her veil, her attractive features and clear velvety complexion, her finely formed mouth and rounded chin.
00:18:11.357 --> 00:18:17.748
A strikingly handsome face of that type and character for which men sometimes lose their heads.
00:18:18.397 --> 00:18:20.498
Great guns, Danny muttered.
00:18:20.978 --> 00:18:22.357
It's Kate Crandall.
00:18:22.567 --> 00:18:25.327
That fly beauty who figured in that Maybrick case.
00:18:25.958 --> 00:18:29.258
She tried to throw down the church rector because he would not marry her.
00:18:29.857 --> 00:18:34.597
She must've found an easier way to get money and plenty of it, if fine feathers cut any ice.
00:18:35.248 --> 00:18:39.627
Danny paused in the broad, main entrance to the house and furtively watched the couple.
00:18:40.347 --> 00:18:43.587
He had tried in vain to catch a word or two of their conversation.
00:18:44.218 --> 00:18:52.948
He now saw the man show Kate Crandall the memorandum made on his letter and he rightly inferred that they were talking about the touring car and its owner.
00:18:53.597 --> 00:19:01.938
Presently parting abruptly, the man hailed a taxi cab and rode away while Kate Crandall quickly approached the front entrance to the house.
00:19:02.587 --> 00:19:07.478
Danny as quickly withdrew to the office where he began an examination of the register.
00:19:08.127 --> 00:19:11.548
Kate Crandall entered and approached the counter speaking to the clerk.
00:19:12.097 --> 00:19:15.488
If Ralph Sheldon comes in, Tom, send him up to my suite will you.
00:19:15.652 --> 00:19:16.912
She said familiarly.
00:19:17.561 --> 00:19:18.192
Certainly.
00:19:18.582 --> 00:19:19.332
Replied the clerk.
00:19:19.662 --> 00:19:20.832
Does that go until evening?
00:19:21.481 --> 00:19:26.571
It goes until he shows up, replied Kate with significant emphasis.
00:19:27.221 --> 00:19:29.352
I will be at home all of this evening.
00:19:30.001 --> 00:19:30.961
I'll keep him in mind.
00:19:31.711 --> 00:19:32.251
Thank you.
00:19:32.902 --> 00:19:35.481
Kate turned quickly away and entered the elevator.
00:19:36.132 --> 00:19:41.182
Danny decided that he had picked up all that was coming to him and he started for home.
00:19:41.872 --> 00:19:50.672
It was nearly six o'clock when he entered the house and found Nick in his business office with his two chief assistants, Chick Carter, and Patsy Garvin.
00:19:51.321 --> 00:19:55.342
On the office table lay the several articles Nick had obtained from Dr.
00:19:55.342 --> 00:20:02.961
Lyons, which he was just beginning to examine already having told Chick and Patsy about the case as thus far set forth.
00:20:03.612 --> 00:20:07.602
It took Danny only a few minutes to report what he had seen and heard.
00:20:07.902 --> 00:20:11.771
And it was very nearly in line with what Nick had expected.
00:20:12.422 --> 00:20:13.382
Good work, Danny.
00:20:13.412 --> 00:20:14.281
Very good work.
00:20:14.521 --> 00:20:15.511
He said approvingly.
00:20:15.852 --> 00:20:18.701
It will help some my lad, even more than you imagine.
00:20:19.392 --> 00:20:20.832
I have left the car at the curbing.
00:20:21.132 --> 00:20:22.211
Take charge of it, please.
00:20:22.862 --> 00:20:23.612
Sure thing, Mr.
00:20:23.612 --> 00:20:26.551
Carter cried Danny, glad to feel that he had been of service.
00:20:27.201 --> 00:20:27.801
So.
00:20:28.362 --> 00:20:31.152
Kate Crandall is at the Ashburton Chambers, eh?
00:20:31.551 --> 00:20:33.622
Remarked Nick with a thoughtful frown.
00:20:34.271 --> 00:20:37.422
I have wondered what became of her after that Maybrick affair.
00:20:38.172 --> 00:20:44.642
She is about as attractive a woman as one often meets, but she has an infernally evil streak in her.
00:20:45.291 --> 00:20:47.875
You think she figures in this affair, Chick enquired.
00:20:48.525 --> 00:20:50.525
I certainly do Nick declared.
00:20:51.095 --> 00:20:56.345
Danny undoubtedly is right in thinking that the unknown man was going to the Darling residence.
00:20:56.825 --> 00:21:04.805
The fact that he has an interest there and also in Kate Crandall, denotes plainly enough that Cyrus Darling also had an interest in the woman.
00:21:05.525 --> 00:21:10.835
The stranger in view of his conduct forms a connecting link between the other two, so to speak.
00:21:11.484 --> 00:21:12.325
I see the point.
00:21:12.501 --> 00:21:13.221
Chick replied.
00:21:13.872 --> 00:21:19.271
Gee, that point is plain enough put in Patsy, but holy smoke, it must be a case of suicide.
00:21:19.571 --> 00:21:21.192
How else can you size it up chief?
00:21:21.521 --> 00:21:27.041
Darling had been in the dumps for two or three months as down on the mouth as a sick horse, according to his wife's story.
00:21:27.531 --> 00:21:30.922
Crooks could not have forced him to feign despondency for that length of time.
00:21:31.432 --> 00:21:38.362
In my opinion, chief, he just about blew in all of his money with some other woman and blew out his brains when the bundle was gone.
00:21:38.902 --> 00:21:39.922
That's how I size it up.
00:21:40.571 --> 00:21:41.112
Really.
00:21:41.541 --> 00:21:42.852
queried Nick dryly.
00:21:43.501 --> 00:21:45.781
That's what! He certainly shot himself.
00:21:45.811 --> 00:21:46.142
Chief.
00:21:46.201 --> 00:21:47.132
If what Dr.
00:21:47.132 --> 00:21:48.481
Lyons told you is true.
00:21:49.132 --> 00:21:49.971
If what Dr.
00:21:49.971 --> 00:21:51.862
Lyons told me is true, Patsy.
00:21:52.192 --> 00:21:53.511
You are probably wrong.
00:21:54.231 --> 00:21:54.862
Wrong.
00:21:55.551 --> 00:21:56.451
It's a hundred to one.
00:21:57.231 --> 00:21:58.112
Why so Chief?
00:21:58.761 --> 00:22:05.961
Because in 99 cases out of a hundred the person who commits suicide with a revolver, shoots himself in the head.
00:22:06.125 --> 00:22:06.664
Said Nick.
00:22:07.444 --> 00:22:10.384
That is the most natural spot for a suicide to select.
00:22:10.775 --> 00:22:16.355
He knows that a bullet in the brain will instantly render him insensible and preclude conscious suffering.
00:22:17.105 --> 00:22:23.734
Even if he does not stop to reason about it, he instinctively selects his head in which to send that fatal bullet.
00:22:24.424 --> 00:22:25.865
The records corroborate me.
00:22:26.414 --> 00:22:30.464
How often do you hear of a man shooting himself in the heart or the lungs?
00:22:31.115 --> 00:22:32.375
Very seldom indeed.
00:22:32.545 --> 00:22:33.154
Chick agreed.
00:22:33.845 --> 00:22:35.644
I don't know that I've ever heard of a case.
00:22:36.295 --> 00:22:37.164
But what of that?
00:22:37.555 --> 00:22:39.234
question Patsy argumentatively.
00:22:39.815 --> 00:22:41.585
I don't see how that cuts any ice.
00:22:41.845 --> 00:22:43.595
Darling could have shot himself in the head.
00:22:44.244 --> 00:22:47.394
I admit that he could, but he did not.
00:22:47.597 --> 00:22:48.528
Nick said dryly.
00:22:49.178 --> 00:22:50.917
Why are you so sure of that, Chief?
00:22:51.567 --> 00:22:54.897
Because the bullet would have made a hole in the skull.
00:22:55.298 --> 00:23:03.488
Even if sent into his mouth or through an eye, it surely would have passed through the brain and have fractured at least the back of the skull.
00:23:04.028 --> 00:23:04.508
Dr.
00:23:04.508 --> 00:23:08.647
Lyons is positive however that the skull was intact.
00:23:09.298 --> 00:23:11.337
I questioned him particularly about that.
00:23:11.978 --> 00:23:18.667
Admitting that my premises are correct then, it's a hundred to one that Cyrus Darling did not shoot himself.
00:23:19.317 --> 00:23:21.867
Ah, gee, there's no getting around that argument.
00:23:22.317 --> 00:23:23.577
Patsy thoughtfully allowed.
00:23:24.057 --> 00:23:25.887
You must be right chief after all.
00:23:26.538 --> 00:23:27.198
I think so.
00:23:27.847 --> 00:23:29.647
But how came the revolver near him?
00:23:30.067 --> 00:23:31.448
Someone else must have shot him.
00:23:31.897 --> 00:23:32.827
In that case, chief.
00:23:33.478 --> 00:23:35.248
He must have been murdered as Dr.
00:23:35.248 --> 00:23:37.137
Lyons and the lawyer Clayton suspect.
00:23:37.788 --> 00:23:38.958
On the contrary, Patsy.
00:23:39.288 --> 00:23:40.278
Both of them are wrong.
00:23:40.442 --> 00:23:41.701
Nick said confidently.
00:23:42.352 --> 00:23:45.061
Cyrus Darling was not shot at all.
00:23:45.711 --> 00:23:46.971
Not shot at all.
00:23:47.362 --> 00:23:48.862
Echoed Patsy incredulously.
00:23:49.511 --> 00:23:50.622
That is my opinion.
00:23:51.271 --> 00:23:52.531
Gee, that beats me.
00:23:52.961 --> 00:23:54.612
Why was the revolver there, then?
00:23:54.942 --> 00:23:55.271
Why...
00:23:55.451 --> 00:23:57.342
Stop a moment, Nick interrupted.
00:23:57.991 --> 00:24:04.561
You have just said, Patsy, that crooks could not have forced Darling to feign despondency for eight consecutive weeks.
00:24:05.071 --> 00:24:12.211
If so then his despondency must have been voluntarily feigned or else it must've been genuine.
00:24:12.862 --> 00:24:14.751
Well sure thing, chief that's plain enough.
00:24:15.402 --> 00:24:18.342
One fact, however, indicates that it was not genuine.
00:24:18.852 --> 00:24:19.511
Nick proceeded.
00:24:20.162 --> 00:24:25.892
I refer to the fact that he recently spent many evenings in town, far more than in the past.
00:24:26.622 --> 00:24:29.711
His wife thinks he sought diversion to relieve his depression.
00:24:30.362 --> 00:24:33.241
He did not however, permit her to accompany him.
00:24:33.902 --> 00:24:35.912
That is a very significant point.
00:24:36.646 --> 00:24:40.277
It is wholly inconsistent in a husband seeking such relief.
00:24:40.696 --> 00:24:45.287
He would have wanted his wife to cheer him up and help divert his mind.
00:24:45.707 --> 00:24:47.326
Bearing one contingency.
00:24:47.977 --> 00:24:48.727
Namely chief?
00:24:49.376 --> 00:24:50.396
Another attraction.
00:24:51.047 --> 00:24:55.017
Gee, there may be something in that, said Patsy quick to see the point.
00:24:55.737 --> 00:24:57.596
You mean another woman?
00:24:58.247 --> 00:24:59.176
Exactly.
00:24:59.826 --> 00:25:00.787
Kate Crandall.
00:25:01.436 --> 00:25:03.836
Quite likely Patsy in view of what Danny discovered.
00:25:04.916 --> 00:25:07.136
Oh, gee whiz things are shaping up.
00:25:07.457 --> 00:25:08.696
Said Patsy laughing.
00:25:09.346 --> 00:25:11.146
I begin to think you are right chief.
00:25:11.797 --> 00:25:16.836
Let's see now in how far this is confirmed by Darling's conduct during the past three months.
00:25:17.029 --> 00:25:17.599
Said Nick.
00:25:17.946 --> 00:25:22.477
It was then that his wife first notice his reticence and lack of customary affection.
00:25:23.126 --> 00:25:25.346
He must have been bestowing it upon the other.
00:25:25.997 --> 00:25:26.926
Quite likely.
00:25:27.317 --> 00:25:28.366
Nick dryly agreed.
00:25:28.696 --> 00:25:34.926
Then came a long period of increasing depression, relieved by frequent evenings in town, ostensibly alone.
00:25:35.527 --> 00:25:37.237
Later he sold his business.
00:25:37.287 --> 00:25:38.997
Also his bonds and securities.
00:25:39.717 --> 00:25:42.747
Obviously he wanted all of his funds in cash.
00:25:42.926 --> 00:25:53.186
Finally came the suicide, the letter stating his intention and the burning of the boathouse, which nearly consumed the corpse and precluded absolute identification.
00:25:53.654 --> 00:25:58.377
By Jove Nick, you evidently think the whole business was faked, said Chick abruptly.
00:25:59.028 --> 00:26:01.097
That is precisely what I think.
00:26:01.748 --> 00:26:03.788
And that Cyrus Darling is not dead.
00:26:04.538 --> 00:26:05.407
Exactly.
00:26:06.008 --> 00:26:06.907
But the body.
00:26:07.018 --> 00:26:08.278
One obtained for a blind.
00:26:08.442 --> 00:26:09.162
Nick interrupted.
00:26:09.821 --> 00:26:14.801
Really Chick this entire combination of circumstances admits of no other conclusion.
00:26:15.221 --> 00:26:19.271
Darling's conduct during the past three months as I have just sized it up.
00:26:19.632 --> 00:26:38.652
The selection of the boathouse for the supposed suicide where the arrangements for such a fraud could have been easily and secretly made, as well as a quick and undetected getaway on the river, after the trick was turned, the setting fire to the building in order to cremate the corpse and preclude identification, except by means of articles placed on it.
00:26:38.981 --> 00:26:44.951
The garments, ring, and even the false teeth of the supposed victim, all point to one conclusion Chick.
00:26:45.382 --> 00:26:49.061
That the job was a frame-up from beginning to end.
00:26:49.711 --> 00:26:52.801
By Jove it's a curious case, Nick, if you are right.
00:26:52.997 --> 00:26:53.596
Chick answered.
00:26:54.247 --> 00:26:57.396
Not so very curious, it's a case of a lost head.
00:26:58.047 --> 00:26:58.856
A lost head?
00:26:59.636 --> 00:27:00.267
Exactly.
00:27:00.537 --> 00:27:02.757
That of a man who has lost his head.
00:27:03.326 --> 00:27:07.227
It's up to us to help him find it and set it back on his shoulders.
00:27:07.287 --> 00:27:08.396
If not too late.
00:27:09.047 --> 00:27:10.487
Lost his head for a woman.
00:27:10.547 --> 00:27:11.656
Is that what you mean?
00:27:12.307 --> 00:27:13.116
Precisely.
00:27:13.876 --> 00:27:16.517
But why do you think we may be too late?
00:27:17.166 --> 00:27:22.926
Because though a week has passed since the supposed suicide, the cat has not jumped.
00:27:23.095 --> 00:27:24.684
Said Nick enigmatically.
00:27:25.335 --> 00:27:26.325
I don't get you.
00:27:26.974 --> 00:27:28.724
Nor I, Chief, put in Patsy.
00:27:28.984 --> 00:27:30.214
What cat has not jumped.
00:27:30.865 --> 00:27:34.635
The two legged cat responsible for the whole business, Nick explained.
00:27:34.996 --> 00:27:56.306
We can safely assume the foregoing being correct, that Darling turned his fortune into cash with a view to leaving the country with the woman that he aimed to create a belief that he is dead, presumably to prevent investigations, pursuit, and a possible lawsuit with consequent alimony and that he intended living abroad under a fictitious name with the woman.
00:27:56.955 --> 00:27:59.056
That now seems perfectly reasonable.
00:27:59.476 --> 00:28:00.105
Chick agreed.
00:28:00.756 --> 00:28:07.056
The question is then, assuming Kate Crandall to be the woman, why have they not jumped the country?
00:28:07.238 --> 00:28:07.748
Nick added.
00:28:08.048 --> 00:28:08.887
Why the delay.
00:28:09.458 --> 00:28:12.248
Why is she established in the Ashburton Chambers?
00:28:12.607 --> 00:28:17.738
Why the continued interest in the darling residence as appears in what Danny saw and heard.
00:28:18.387 --> 00:28:22.137
That shows plainly enough that she is the woman involved.
00:28:22.798 --> 00:28:27.028
It is confirmed by her acquaintance with Ralph Sheldon mentioned by Mrs.
00:28:27.028 --> 00:28:28.827
Darling, as a friend of her husband.
00:28:29.587 --> 00:28:32.107
His friendship may be of the left-handed kind.
00:28:32.758 --> 00:28:33.718
Most likely Nick.
00:28:34.367 --> 00:28:38.508
All this then denotes that something has gone wrong.
00:28:38.928 --> 00:28:41.448
Why has Darling not fled with the woman?
00:28:41.852 --> 00:28:43.682
Has he been given the double cross?
00:28:44.080 --> 00:28:47.141
He may have been bunkoed out of his big bundle of cash and.
00:28:47.921 --> 00:28:50.201
Well, there's no telling what has become of him.
00:28:50.951 --> 00:28:52.721
It's up to us to find out.
00:28:53.718 --> 00:28:54.738
I get you now, Nick.
00:28:54.897 --> 00:28:55.528
Chick nodded.
00:28:55.827 --> 00:28:59.248
He may after all be the man found dead in the boathouse.
00:28:59.897 --> 00:29:01.307
Nick quickly shook his head.
00:29:01.968 --> 00:29:03.488
I don't think so, said he.
00:29:03.887 --> 00:29:08.538
If there were evidence showing positively that he was shot rather than the contrary.
00:29:08.958 --> 00:29:10.577
I might think the rascals killed him.
00:29:11.258 --> 00:29:22.877
His going there voluntarily however, his feigning despondency for close upon two months, apparently paving the way to get by with a fake suicide all convinces me that he was not killed.
00:29:23.528 --> 00:29:24.188
I see.
00:29:24.837 --> 00:29:29.428
This is further confirmed by the removal of his photograph, which Mrs.
00:29:29.428 --> 00:29:32.488
Darling thinks is the only one in existence.
00:29:33.137 --> 00:29:34.817
What was his object in removing it.
00:29:35.468 --> 00:29:41.528
To prevent broadcast publication of it in the newspapers, in case the truth was suspected said Nick.
00:29:42.178 --> 00:29:44.667
Verbal descriptions cut no great ice.
00:29:44.978 --> 00:29:48.428
A picture, however, has brought many, a knave to the ring bolt.
00:29:49.057 --> 00:29:53.258
He was heading off that means of identification, exposure, and arrest.
00:29:53.907 --> 00:29:55.557
Gee that listens good to me chief.
00:29:55.728 --> 00:29:56.417
Said Patsy.
00:29:56.928 --> 00:29:58.877
10 to one, it hits the nail on the head.
00:29:59.528 --> 00:30:01.268
I feel reasonably sure of it.
00:30:01.917 --> 00:30:03.178
But what are your plans?
00:30:03.337 --> 00:30:04.117
Chick enquired.
00:30:04.438 --> 00:30:09.748
If Darling is up against a gang, as you suspect and they discover that his wife has put us on the case.
00:30:10.107 --> 00:30:12.508
It's long odds that they will lose no time in bolting.
00:30:13.157 --> 00:30:15.258
That's the very point I was coming to.
00:30:15.417 --> 00:30:16.768
Nick said more forcibly.
00:30:17.067 --> 00:30:18.478
They must have discovered it.
00:30:18.867 --> 00:30:20.637
Danny's report convinces me of that.
00:30:21.208 --> 00:30:26.607
Kate Crandall knows it, also the unknown man who informed her, he must be identified.
00:30:27.087 --> 00:30:35.387
We have Danny's description of him, which will probably be recognized by persons employed in the Ashburton Chambers, if he has been in the habit of visiting Kate Crandall.
00:30:36.038 --> 00:30:36.667
No doubt.
00:30:37.317 --> 00:30:43.317
You tackle that part of the work Chick and we'll get after these suspects before they can make a successful getaway.
00:30:43.968 --> 00:30:47.567
But Kate Crandall said she would be in her apartments all of this evening, chief.
00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:48.800
Patsy reminded him.
00:30:49.490 --> 00:30:51.020
That don't look much like bolting.
00:30:51.671 --> 00:30:53.800
That may have only been a blind.
00:30:53.973 --> 00:30:54.634
Nick replied.
00:30:55.284 --> 00:31:00.983
She may have feared that she already was being watched or that the clerk might be questioned later.
00:31:01.763 --> 00:31:06.054
Be that as it may, we'll lose no time in seeking tangible proof of my suspicions.
00:31:06.503 --> 00:31:08.544
While Chick is hunting up the unknown man.
00:31:08.544 --> 00:31:12.713
Patsy, you see what you can learn about Ralph Sheldon and Phillip Floyd.
00:31:13.364 --> 00:31:14.144
I got you chief.
00:31:14.794 --> 00:31:23.193
If the former visits Kate Crandall, as she directed, we may be lucky enough to clinch the case and round up the entire gang this very evening.
00:31:23.354 --> 00:31:24.973
Nick added rising abruptly.
00:31:25.624 --> 00:31:27.993
I will tackle Kate Crandall personally.
00:31:28.534 --> 00:31:31.864
I'll find out in short order, what she knows about Cyrus Darling.
00:31:32.513 --> 00:31:34.554
That's the stuff, Chief, cried Patsy.
00:31:35.203 --> 00:31:36.223
We'll be off at once then.
00:31:36.523 --> 00:31:37.634
Danny is still waiting.
00:31:37.784 --> 00:31:40.544
We can make the Ashburton Chambers in 20 minutes.
00:31:42.044 --> 00:31:45.463
What does Kate Crandall know about the disappearance of Cyrus Darling?
00:31:45.943 --> 00:31:48.703
And who exactly is the unknown man.
00:31:49.134 --> 00:31:55.463
We'll find out next time on episode three of The Suicide or Nick Carter and the Lost Head.
00:31:57.713 --> 00:32:00.564
Well friends, that's it for this episode of Forward Into The Past.
00:32:01.074 --> 00:32:04.104
Thanks for joining us on our journey, through the stories of the public domain.
00:32:04.763 --> 00:32:11.673
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an installment.
00:32:12.213 --> 00:32:23.114
You can also visit forwardintothepastpodcast.com for links to our merchandise shop where you can pick up Forward Into The Past t-shirts, mugs and other great gear.
00:32:23.653 --> 00:32:31.034
While you're there why not follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on news and some behind the scenes glimpses of the podcast.
00:32:31.784 --> 00:32:34.903
Well, we'll travel to another fascinating story next time.
00:32:34.933 --> 00:32:37.394
But until then, Thanks for listening.
00:32:37.693 --> 00:32:41.653
Keep sharing the stories and be a good human.
00:32:42.554 --> 00:32:43.634
Bye for now.
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