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The Confidence King
by
“Walter, what’s on for to-night?”he asked when they had gone. “How are you fixed for a little trip out to Riverwood?”
“To tell the truth, I had an engagement at the College Club with some of the fellows.”
“Oh, cut it.”
“That’s what I intend to do,” I replied.
It was a raw night, and we bundled ourselves up in old football sweaters under our overcoats. Half an hour later we were on our way up to Riverwood.
“By the way, Craig,” I asked, “I didn’t like to say anything before those fellows. They’d think I was a dub. But I don’t mind asking you. What is this ‘portrait parle’ they talk about, anyway?”
“Why, it’s a word-picture – a ‘spoken picture,’ to be literal. I took some lessons in it at Bertillon’s school when I was in Paris. It’s a method of scientific apprehension of criminals, a sort of necessary addition and completion to the methods of scientific identification of them after they are arrested. For instance, in trying to pick out a given criminal from his mere description you begin with the nose. Now, noses are all concave, straight, or convex. This Forbes had a nose that was concave, Burke says. Suppose you were sent out to find him. Of all the people you met, we’ll say, roughly, two-thirds wouldn’t interest you. You’d pass up all with straight or convex noses. Now the next point to observe is the ear. There are four general kinds of ears-triangular, square, oval, and round, besides a number of other differences which are clear enough after you study ears. This fellow is a pale man with square ears and a peculiar lobe to his ear. So you wouldn’t give a second glance to, say, three-fourths of the square-eared people. So by a process of elimination of various features, the eyes, the mouth, the hair, wrinkles, and so forth, you would be able to pick your man out of a thousand – that is, if you were trained.”
“And it works?” I asked rather doubtfully.
“Oh, yes. That’s why I’m taking up this case. I believe science can really be used to detect crime, any crime, and in the present instance I’ve just pride enough to stick to this thing until – until they begin to cut ice on the Styx. Whew, but it will be cold out in the country to-night, Walter – speaking about ice.
It was quite late when we reached Riverwood, and Kennedy hurried along the dimly lighted streets, avoiding the main street lest some one might be watching or following us. He pushed on, following the directions Burke had given him. The house in question was a large, newly built affair of concrete, surrounded by trees and a hedge, directly overlooking the river. A bitter wind swept in from the west, but in the shadow of an evergreen tree and of the hedge Kennedy established our watch.
Of all fruitless errands this seemed to me to be the acme. The house was deserted; that was apparent, I thought, and I said so. Hardly had I said it when I heard the baying of a dog. It did not come from the house, however, and I concluded that it must have come from the next estate.
“It’s in the garage,” whispered Kennedy. “I can hardly think they would go away and leave a dog locked up in it. They would at least turn him loose.”
Hour after hour we waited. Midnight passed, and still nothing happened. At last when the moon had disappeared under the clouds, Kennedy pulled me along. We had seen not a sign of life in the house, yet he observed all the caution he would have if it had been well guarded. Quickly we advanced over the open space to the house, approaching in the shadow as much as possible, on the side farthest from the river.