CHAPTER XVI. TRAPPED.

Nick Carter suppressed any show of surprise upon beholding Belle Braddon approaching. He halted, politely raising his hat, upon observing that the girl intended to speak to him, and they met on the Fifth Avenue corner.

Belle greeted him with a smile and a pretty toss of her well-poised head, saying glibly:

“How-dy do, Mr. Carter? You haven’t been round to call on me, sir, and play that game of ping-pong.”

“True; I haven’t,” replied Nick, rather inclined to laugh at her piquant audacity.

“How many invitations do you require?”

“Well, I can hardly say.”

“I generally have to ask a man but once,” pouted Belle, with a playful shrug of her shoulders. “I guess you don’t enjoy the game.”

“Well, to tell the truth, Miss Braddon, ping-pong is not my long suit,” laughed Nick.

The girl joined in his laugh, saying dryly:

“Dear me, you really can be amusing, can’t you?”

“Yes, when I try.”

“Try often, Detective Carter. It’s awfully becoming. By the way, sir, there’s a question I’d like to ask you.”

“Certainly,” bowed Nick; “understand, however, that I may not feel called upon to answer it.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t refuse a lady. I’m sure you wouldn’t.”

“Well, since you feel so sure, Miss Braddon, go ahead with your question.”

Belle drew nearer to him, and said, with a rather sinister gleam in her lifted eyes:

“Why did you take such pains to have me fired out of my job at the Milmore Trust?”

Nick already began to suspect her of having some design that had not yet appeared on the surface, and he decided to learn of what it consisted by leading her on a little.

“It strikes me, my dear girl,” said he, smiling, “that that is a needless question.”

“Why needless, my dear Mr. Carter?” queried Belle, in bantering tones.

“Because you already know why I did it.”

“I do?”

“Yes,” nodded Nick. “Think it all over and it will probably come to you.”

“Oh, you did it because I told Flood about Kendall’s shortage, did you?”

“Precisely.”

“Well, I rather suspected it was that, Mr. Carter.”

“Why, then, did you ask?”

“Only to make sure, sir,” laughed Belle. “A woman’s usual reason, eh? Ah, well! have no fear, Mr. Carter; I bear you no ill will for having done so. Really, I rather like you for it, for it’s awfully pleasant to be out of a job,” and the smiling jade playfully beat Nick’s arm with one of her gloves.

Then she quickly added pointedly:

“But I’ve got it in for Mr. Flood, sir, just the same.”

“That so?” queried Nick. “For what?”

“Because he betrayed that I told you. Oh, you wouldn’t deny it, Mr. Carter. I know well enough that he did!”

“I never attempt to disabuse a woman who already knows,” laughed Nick, wondering when she would come to the point.

Belle Braddon came to it, all right, in less than a minute.

“Yes, sir; I’ve got in for him, Mr. Carter, and some day I’ll get even with him. By the way, sir, the central office sleuths are having a fine hunt after him, aren’t they?”

“A vain one, certainly,” replied Nick.

“If they hadn’t been so hot after my Uncle Nate of late, I’d get even with Flood by making them wise as to his hiding place,” declared the girl, with affected bitterness.

Then, before Nick could reply, she quickly added, as if struck with a clever idea:

“Oh, I say, Mr. Carter! Just to show you that I bear you no ill will, and, in fact, rather fancy you, I’ll throw Flood into your hands, if you’d like to get them on him for that murder out in Fordham.”

Nick heard her without a change of countenance. He knew that she was absolutely ignorant of Flood’s whereabouts, who at that moment was in Nick’s residence; also, that she could have no knowledge of the latter’s relations with Flood.

Yet no man could have wanted better evidence that the girl had some design which she was craftily plotting to execute.

It was characteristic of Nick at any sign of danger to go after it, until he discovered of what it consisted. In this case, therefore, he decided to give Belle Braddon all the rope she wanted, or until he could learn at what she was driving.

Nick was too shrewd, however, to take the bait too greedily. Pretending to be entirely ignorant of Flood’s movements, he said curiously:

“Why do you think that I wish to lay hands on him?”

“You are still in Gilsey’s employ, aren’t you?”

“Well, yes; I’ll admit that I am.”

“Then, of course, you want Flood,” cried Belle bluntly. “What’s the use of denying it?”

Nick no longer did so, it now being very obvious that the girl had some object in view and cared not how she accomplished it.

“I did not deny it. In fact, I really would like to land him,” said he, with sinister eagerness. “Do you mean to tell me that you know where he is located?”

Belle winked and nodded.

“On the level?” demanded Nick.

“Sure.”

“Where is he?”

“Hiding in a house that I know all about.”

“What price will you take for the information?”

“What will you give?”

“Five hundred.”

“Done!” said Belle promptly.

“When can we turn the trick?”

“At once.”

“That suits me,” said Nick.

“There are two conditions on which I shall insist, however,” added Belle.

“Namely?”

“You must be governed by my directions.”

“I will.”

“And let me be present when you arrest him.”

“You shall be there.”

“I merely want him to know that I have got even with him,” Belle bitterly declared, in explanation.

“It’s dead lucky that she doesn’t know what I know of Flood,” thought Nick, a little puzzled as to her game.

“Come on, then,” she said. “I’ll take you into the room now occupied by Moses Flood within a quarter of an hour.”

Nick accompanied her, and they started up Fifth Avenue.

Belle Braddon was as bold as she was crafty, and she felt sure of landing her man single-handed.

The trick she was about to turn, moreover, was well worthy of her.

She took Nick to Godard’s vacant house, of which she had the key, and they entered together.

Then Nick became more watchful. The empty rooms and bare floors did not surprise him, for he knew that Godard had moved; but there was a possibility of being assailed by hidden foes, and Nick slipped his revolver into his side pocket, unobserved.

He was, too, more than ever mystified. Knowing that Belle Braddon could not possibly give him any clue to Flood, he could not imagine what design existed under her pretensions. He was resolved to learn, however—let come what might.

“Come up-stairs,” said Belle, after locking the street door. “This is a roundabout way, but it wouldn’t have done to enter Flood’s house direct.”

“Are you going in there?”

“Yes,” nodded Belle. “That’s where we shall find him. He has a secret hiding-place in there. Tread lightly on these bare floors lest the sound reaches and alarms him. Both houses are vacant, and he should be alone there at this hour.”

“Good enough,” growled Nick quietly; “I’m with you.”

“Into this room, Detective Carter!”

Nick followed her into one of the side chambers, and the girl turned briefly to face him.

“Now be very quiet,” she said softly, without the slightest sign of nervousness or apprehension. “I’m going to let you into one of the secrets of these two houses. As a matter of fact, Detective Carter, both of them are owned by Moses Flood. But my uncle, who was employed by him, has been occupying this one.”

Nick smiled and nodded.

“In this room,” continued Belle, “there is a concealed door, operated by pressing one of the figures in the wall decoration. It opens into a passage leading through another door into Flood’s private room.”

Nick instantly recalled Flood’s escape from Detective Gerry, and again he nodded understandingly.

“The passage was constructed,” added Belle, “for the purpose of quickly getting the gambling implements out of Flood’s house and into this one in case of an unexpected raid by the police.”

“I see.”

“The door is very cleverly constructed, you observe, so that the police could not discover it and light upon the trick.”

“I can see no indications of a door,” said Nick truthfully.

“I’ll show you,” whispered Belle. “But be quiet after the passage is opened, for Flood might then overhear us. He has a hiding-place in the other house and there we shall find him.”

“Good for you!”

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

Belle Braddon turned and pressed her hand on the wall.

Instantly a heavy iron door, decorated like the wall to which it was most cleverly matched, swung quickly open.

A four-foot passage was revealed, brick walled on two sides. At the farther end of it, some five feet away, a similar iron door had swung open, and beyond it was Flood’s private room, which Nick immediately recalled.

Belle Braddon raised her finger warningly, and led the way into the passage.

Nick followed her, wondering what he might expect in the adjoining house.

When both were in the passage Belle turned back and paused, whispering softly:

“Draw that door after you, please! Close it quietly.”

Nick turned to lay his hand on the door.

Like a flash Belle Braddon sprang into Flood’s private room and dashed her hand against the side wall.

In an instant, before Nick could raise a finger, both doors closed, with a loud, metallic clang and with a rapidity indicating that they were operated by powerful springs, which opened and closed both doors at once.

With a momentary thrill of dismay, Nick found himself alone in the walled passage, and in darkness so profound that it could almost be felt.