Produced by An Anonymous VolunteerTHE VOICE ON THE WIREBy Eustace Hale BallCHAPTER I WHEN THREE IS A MYSTERYMr Shirley is waiting for you in the grillroom sir Just step thisway sir and down the stairsThe large man awkwardly followed the servant to the cosey grillroom onthe lower floor of the club house He felt that every man of the littlegroups about the Flemish tables must be saying Whats he doing hereI wish Monty Shirley would meet me once in a while in the back room ofa ginmill where Id feel comfortable muttered the unhappy visitorThis joint is too classy But thats his game to playHe reached the soughtfor one however and exclaimed eagerly ByJiminy Monty Im glad to find youit would have been my luck afterthis day to get here too lateHe was greeted with a grip that made even his generous hand wince asthe other arose to smile a welcomeHello Captain Cronin Youre a good sight for a grouchy mans eyesSit down and confide the brand of your particular favorite poison to ourJapanese DionysiusThe Captain sighed with relief as he obeyedBar whiskey is good enough for an old timer like me Dont tell me youhave the bluesyour face isnt built that wayGospel truth Captain Ive been loafing around this clubnothing todo for a month Bridge handball highballs and yarns Im actually anervous wreck because my nerves havent had any work to doYoure the healthiest invalid Ive seen since the hospital days in theCivil War But dont worry about something to do Ive some job nowIts dolled up with all them frills you like millions murders andmysteries If this dont keep you awake youll have nightmares for thenext six months Do you want itIm tickled to death Spill itMonty its the greatest case my detective agency has had since I leftthe police force eleven years ago Its too big for me and Ive cometo you to do a stunt as is a stunt You will plug it for me wontyoujust as youve always done If I get the credit itll mean afortune to me in the advertising aloneHavent I handled every case for you in confidence Im not a flycopCaptain Cronin Im a consulting specialist and theres no shingle hungout Perhaps you had better take it to some one elseShirley pushed away his empty glass impatientlyThere Monty I didnt mean to offend you But theres such swellsin this and such a foxey bunch of blacklegs that Im as nervous as arookie cop on his first arrest Dont hold a grudge against meShirley lit a cigarette and resumed his good nature Go on CaptainIm so stale with dolce far niente after the Black Pearl affair lastmonth that I act like an amateur myself Make it short though for Imgoing to the operaThe Captain leaned over the table his face tense with suppressedemotion He was a grizzled veteran of the New York police force a manwho sought his quarry with the ferocity of a bulldog when the lineof search was definitely assured Lacking imagination and the subtlersenses of criminology Captain Cronin had built up a reputation forsuccess and honesty in every assignment by bravery persistence andas in this case the ability to cover his own deductive weakness byemploying the brains of othersMontague Shirley was as antithetical from the veteran detective as a mancould well be A noted athlete in his university he possessed a societyrating in New York at Newport and Tuxedo and on the Continent whichwas the envy of many a gilded youth born to the purpleOn leaving college despite an ample patrimony he had curiously enoughentered the lists as a newspaper man From the sporting page he wasgraduated to police news then the city desk at last closing his careeras the genius who invented the weekly Sunday thriller in many colorsof illustration and vivacious Gallic style which interpreted into heartthrobs and gooseflesh the real life romances and tragedies of thepreceding six days He had conquered the paperandink worldthen deepwithin there stirred the call for participation in the game itselfSo dropping quietly into the apparently indolent routine of clubexistence he had devoted his experience and genius to analyticalcriminologya line of endeavor known only to five men in the worldHe maintained no offices He wore no glittering badges a police carda fire badge and a revolver license renewed year after year were theonly instruments of his trade ever in evidence Shirley took assignmentsonly from the heads of certain agencies by personal arrangement asinformal as this from Captain Cronin His real clients never knew of hisparticipation and his prey never understood that he had been the realheadhunterHis feesMontague Shirley as a master craftsman deemed his artistryworthy of the hire His every case meant a modest fortune to thedetective agency and Shirleys bills were never rendered but alwayspaidSo here the hero of the gridiron and the class reunion the gallantof a hundred prematrimonial and nonmaturing engagements the veteranof a thousand drolleries and merry jousts in clubdomunspoiled bybirth breeding and wealth untrammeled by the juggernaut of potboilingand the salarygrind had drifted into the curious profession ofconfidential consulting criminal chaserShirley unostentatiously signaled for an encore on the refreshmentsYoure nervous tonight Captain Youve been doing things before youconsulted mewhich is against our Rule Number One isnt itThe Captain gulped down his whiskey and rubbed his foreheadCouldnt help it Monty It got too busy for me before I realizedanything unusual in the case See what I got from a gangster before Ilanded hereHe turned his closecropped head as Montague Shirley leaned forwardto observe an abrasion at the base of his skull It was dressed with acoating of collodionBrass knuckledI see the mark of the rings Tried for thepneumogastric nerves to quiet youWhatever he tried for he nearly got Kellys nightstick got hispneumonia gas jet or whatever you call it Hes still quiet in thestation houseYou know old man Van Cleft who owns skyscrapersdown town dont youWell hes the center of this flying wedge ofexcitement His family are fine people I understand His daughter wasto be married next week