Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings Page 6

  _Chapter VI_

  THE HOLD UP

  With Bill at her right and Mr. Bolton at her left elbow, Dorothy pushedher way through the crowd behind her father to the entrance of the Bank.The policeman at the head of the short flight of steps to the doorwaystood aside at a word from Mr. Dixon. The four passed inside and theheavy door swung shut behind them.

  "Rather like locking up the barn after the sheep vamoosed, isn't it?"Bill nodded over his shoulder toward the police guard.

  "Never mind, son--this isn't our party," rebuked his father.

  A fat man in a dark blue uniform, rather tight as to fit and muchbe-braided, came bustling up. "Who are these men, Mr. Dixon?" heinquired pompously. "Can't have strangers around the bank at thistime--"

  "From what I hear, Chief, you and your men let some strangers get awaywith about everything but the bank itself a little while ago." Mr.Dixon's tone showed his annoyance. "These gentlemen are friends of mine.What's actually happened? Give me some facts. Anybody hurt? Anybodycaught? Just what has been taken?" Questions popped like revolver shots.

  "Well--it's like this, sir--" The Chief seemed pretty well taken down.

  "Thunderation! You and your sleuths are enough to tempt any man to lawbreaking. There's Perkins! Perhaps I'll learn something from him."

  Mr. Dixon strode toward the rear of the bank.

  "You mustn't mind Dad," Dorothy said consolingly. "Just now he's halfcrazy with worry, Chief.--These gentlemen are Mr. Bolton and his son.They've bought the Hawthorne place, you know."

  Chief Jones mopped his perspiring face with a red bandanna and thenshook hands all around. "Terrible warm tonight--terrible warm. Well,let's go over and find out what's what. I was over to a party at mydaughter Annie's--only just got in here myself. Annie--"

  "Yes, let's find out what has happened." Dorothy cut in on thislong-winded effusion, and led the way behind the tellers' cages to whereher father and several other men were standing before the open vault.

  "Ah, here's the watchman now!" cried Mr. Dixon as a man, his headcompletely covered with bandages, came toward them and sank weakly intoa chair. "Now, Thompson, do you think you can tell us exactly whathappened, before Doctor Brown drives you home?"

  "Yes, sir. Glad to." The man's voice, though feeble, betrayedexcitement. "He sure knocked me out, that bird did--but I'd know himagain if I saw him. I c'd pick him out of a million--"

  "That's fine," Mr. Dixon interrupted gently. "But start at thebeginning, Thompson, and we'll all get a better idea of him."

  "That I will, sir, and 'right _now_!' as that French guy says over theradio.... Well, it was about eight o'clock and still light, when thenight bell buzzed. I was expecting Mr. Perkins. He'd told me he'd beback after supper as he had some work to do. I'd been readin' the paperover there by the window, so I got up and opened the front door. But itwasn't Mr. Perkins. A young fellow in a chauffeur's uniform stoodoutside."

  "'I'm Mr. Dixon's new chauffeur,' he said. 'Here's a note from him. Hetried to ring you up, but the phone down here seems to be out of order.He said you'd give me a check book to take back to him. Better readthis.' He passed over a letter--"

  "Have you still got it?" asked Mr. Dixon.

  "I think so. Yes, here it is, in my pocket." Thompson handed the missiveto the bank president, who read it aloud:

  "'Dear Thompson:

  'Please give the bearer, my chauffeur, a blank check book and oblige

  'Yours truly, 'John Dixon.'"

  "Looks like my handwriting," sighed Mr. Dixon when he had finished, "butof course I didn't write it!--What happened after that?"

  "Well, sir, he asked me if he could step inside and take a few puffs ofa cigarette, seein' as how you didn't like him to smoke on the job. So Ilet him in. Then I goes over to one of the desks for a check book and--Idon't remember nothin' about what happened next, until I found myself inthe far corner yonder, with Mr. Perkins near chokin' me to death withsome water he was pourin' down my throat--and a couple of cops undoin'the rope I'd been bound up with. I reckon that feller must have beanedme with the butt of his revolver just as soon as I'd turned my back. Dochere, says as how the skull ain't fractured--but that bird sure laid meout cold. If I hadn't had my cap on, he'd of croaked me sure. Of course,I shouldn't of let that guy inside, but--"

  Mr. Dixon's tone was abrupt as he silenced Thompson with a word. "Thankyou, Thompson," he said. "You are not to blame. If you hadn't let himin, he might have shot you at the door. Doctor Brown is going to takeyou home now. Lay up until you feel strong. And don't worry."

  He patted the man on the shoulder and Thompson departed, leaning on thedoctor's arm.

  "I guess you're next on the list, Harry." Mr. Dixon nodded to Perkins."How did you happen in here tonight?"

  The cashier, a slender young man, prematurely bald, and dapper to thepoint of foppishness, removed his cigarette from his mouth and steppedforward.

  "Had that Bridgeport transit matter and some other work I wanted tofinish," he said crisply. "Told Thompson I would be back abouteight-thirty. Matter of fact, it was twenty to nine when I rang thenight bell. I rang it several times, no answer; then tried the door andfound it unlocked. I thought something must be wrong--and was sure of itwhen I stepped in and saw Thompson lying on the floor, his arms and legsbound. Saw that he was breathing, and went to the phone. It wasdead--couldn't raise Central. I didn't waste much time then, but ran outand hailed Sampson, the traffic cop on the corner. Told him there'd beena holdup here, so he blew his whistle, which brought another policemanand we three raced back here."

  "You brought Thompson to and cut his bonds--then what?"

  "I went to the vault. The door was ajar, with books and papers scatteredall over the place. Haven't had a chance to check up, but it looks asthough everything in the way of cash and negotiable securities has beentaken."

  "But the door hasn't been damaged--they couldn't have blown it open!"

  The cashier shook his head. "No," he admitted, "they opened it with thecombination. Must have used a stethoscope or the Jimmy Valentine touchsystem--"

  "Not with that safe, Perkins. But how about the time lock?"

  "It is never put on, sir, until we have no more occasion to use thevault for the day. I notified the Protective System people that I wouldbe working here tonight and would set it when I was through."

  "Humph!" growled the president in a tone that boded ill for someone. "Sothe time lock wasn't set!"

  "It is the usual practice, sir," explained Perkins nervously. "I--"

  "Never mind that now. Anyone else know anything about this robbery?"

  "Yes, sir. Sampson, the traffic policeman saw the car."

  "Well, let's hear from Sampson, then, if he's here."

  The officer came forward rather sheepishly.

  "I was directin' traffic at the corner of Main Street and East Avenue,sir, when I seen your car run down Main and stop in front of the bankhere."

  "_My_ car!" exploded Dorothy's father.

  "Yes, sir--least it was a this year's Packard like you drive--and it hadyour license number on it--AB521--I ought to know, I see it every day."

  "Yes, that's the number--but--well ... did you notice it further?"

  "Yes, sir, I did. That was about eight o'clock. The chauffeur got outand rang the bell at the entrance to the bank. Then I seen him speak toThompson and pass inside."

  "Did you investigate?"

  "Why, no, sir. The man came out almost directly and the door swung shutbehind him. Then he jumped into the car and drove up the alley at theside of the bank. You always park your car there, sir, so I thoughtnothin' of it. About twenty minutes later, out he drove again and upMain Street the way he'd come. And that's the last I've seen of him."

  "There was only one man in the car--the chauffeur?"

  "I only saw one. If there was anybod
y else, they must've been lyingdown, in the bottom of the car."

  "Very likely." Mr. Dixon turned to the chief of police. "And what hasbeen done toward catching the thieves--or thief?"

  "Nothing, as yet," the Chief confessed. "But I'll get busy on the wirewith descriptions of the man and the car right away. You see, I onlyjust--"

  "Never mind that--get along now and burn up the wires. That car has hadover an hour's start on you. I'll look after things here for thepresent."

  The head of the local police force waddled off with much the air of afat puppy who had just received a whipping, and Mr. Dixon walked over toMr. Bolton.

  "You can do me a great favor, if you will," he said.

  "Name it, Dixon."

  "Thanks. Go to the drug store down the block and call up the BankersProtective Association in the city. You'll find their number in thedirectory. Tell them what's happened--that will be enough. I want you tocall their New York headquarters. That will start them on the jobthrough their branches in short order."

  "Right-oh!" his friend agreed. "And when I get through with New York,I'll see what New Canaan can do to fix your phone here."

  "Thanks. I'll appreciate it."

  "Anything I can do, Mr. Dixon?" inquired Bill.

  "Nothing here, thanks. But if you will take my daughter home and seethat she doesn't get into any more trouble today, I'll be much obligedto you."

  "Oh, _Dad_!" Dorothy, threw him a reproachful look, then stood on tiptoeand kissed her parent's cheek. "There, there. I know you're worried.Phone me when you want the car. I'll have sandwiches and coffee waitingwhen you get home."

  Mr. Dixon gave her an affectionate hug. "You're a good littlehousewife," he praised, "but run along now--both of you. There are amillion-odd things to be done before I can leave."

  He beckoned to the cashier and disappeared with him into the vault.

  "Not that way, Bill--" Dorothy's voice arrested Bill as he started forthe door. "Come out the back way."

  "What's up?"

  "I don't know yet. But I've found something that the rest seem to havemissed. It may be important--come and see."

  "You're on, Miss Sherlock," he said. Catching her arm, he hurried withher toward the rear of the bank.