It was a shocking and extraordinary violation.  Shaughnessy believes that some personal jewels may have been buried with Phelps and that the thieves were after them, that they fought over the loot, and in the midst of the fight were scared away.

The vault is of peculiar construction, a costly tomb in which repose the bodies of the late Montague Phelps, Sr., of his wife, and now of his eldest son.  The raid had evidently been carefully planned to coincide with a time when Shaughnessy would ordinarily have been on the other side of the town.  The entrance to the tomb had been barred, but during the commotion the ghouls were surprised and managed to escape without accomplishing their object and leaving no trace.

Mrs. Phelps, when informed of the vandalism, was shocked, and has been in a very nervous state since the tomb was forced open.  The local authorities seem extremely anxious that every precaution should be taken to prevent a repetition of the ghoulish visit to the tomb, but as yet the Phelps family has taken no steps.

“Are you aware of any scandal, any skeleton in the closet in the family?” asked Craig, looking up.

“No—­not yet,” considered Andrews.  “As soon as I heard of the vandalism, I began to wonder what could have happened in the Phelps tomb, as far as our company’s interests were concerned.  You see, that was yesterday.  To-day this letter came along,” he added, laying down a second very dirty and wrinkled note beside the first.  It was quite patently written by a different person from the first; its purport was different, indeed quite the opposite of the other.  “It was sent to Mrs. Phelps,” explained Andrews, “and she gave it out herself to the police.”

Do not show this to the police.  Unless you leave $5000 in gold in the old stump in the swamp across from the cemetery, you will have reason to regret it.  If you respect the memory of the dead, do this, and do it quietly.

Blackhand.

“Well,” I ejaculated, “that’s cool.  What threat would be used to back this demand on the Phelpses?”

“Here’s the situation,” resumed Andrews, puffing violently on his inevitable cigar and toying with the letters and clippings.  “We have already held up payment of the half-million dollars of insurance to the widow as long as we can consistently do so.  But we must pay soon, scandal or not, unless we can get something more than mere conjecture.”

“You are already holding it up?” queried Craig.

“Yes.  You see, we investigate thoroughly every suspicious death.  In most cases, no body is found.  This case is different in that respect.  There is a body, and it is the body of the insured, apparently.  But a death like this, involving the least mystery, receives careful examination, especially if, as in this case, it has recently been covered by heavy policies.  My work has often served to reverse the decision of doctors and coroners’ juries.