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Langner tapped s were satisfied
The cellist began the opening notes of “A Grace”
At the tenth measure, the violins-a torpedo-propulsion man and a burly steaan to repeat
Langner raised his big hands over the keys, stepped on the sustain pedal, and lofted “a wretch likeG chord
Inside the piano, Yaen iodide had hardened to a volatile dry crust When Langner fingered the keys, felt ha them to vibrate Up and down the scale, six s vibrated syen iodide
It exploded with a sharp crack that sent a purple cloud pouring from the case and detonated the sack of Cordite The Cordite blew the piano into a thousand slivers of wood and wire and ivory that riddled Arthur Langner’s head and chest, killing him instantly
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BY 1908, THE VAN DORN DETECTIVE AGENCY MAINTAINED a presence in all American cities of consequence, and its offices reflected the nature of each locality Headquarters in Chicago had a suite in the palatial Palden, Utah, a railroad junction, was served by a rented room decorated anted posters New York’s offices were in the suton, DC, with its valuable proximity to the Department of Justice-a prime source of business-Van Dorn detectives operated from the second floor of the capital city’s finest hotel, the new Willard on Pennsylvania Avenue, two blocks from the White House
Joseph Van Dorn hi with up-to-date devices for riding herd on the transcontinental outfit he coraph, he had three candlestick telephones capable of long-distance connections as far west as Chicago, a DeVeau Dictaphone, a self-winding stock ticker, and an electric Kellogg Interco Telephone A spy hole let him size up clients and informants in the reception room Corner s overlooked the Willard’s front and side entrances
Froic death at the Naval Gun Factory, Van Dorn watched apprehensively as to sidewalk, and disappeared inside the hotel
The interco
“Miss Langner is here,” reported the Willard’s house detective, a Van Dorn employee
“So I see” He was not looking forward to this visit
The founder of the Van Dorn Detective Agency was a heavily built, bald-headedRo red whiskers, and the affable manner of a lawyer or a businessman who had earned his fortune early and enjoyed it Hooded eyes ence; the nation’s penitentiaries held h to clamp on the handcuffs
Downstairs, the toh the Willard’s gilt-and-hteen or nineteen, was a stylishly dressed redhead with a vivacious gleam in her eyes Her companion was a tall, raven-haired beauty, so, her hat adorned with the feathers of black terns, her face partially veiled The redhead was clutching her elbow as if to give her courage