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Show j he 1 bv octavus Rpy cohen ' 11 uiiiniiiiniiiriTi 111 i iii i eii -ij Copyright by Octavuw Roy Cohon, ' WN"D Survive. i But If 1 do. things are to be handled han-dled my way " "Oh, boy I" Reagan was enthusiastic. enthusias-tic. 'Take my word for. It, Han-vey Han-vey you're the boss. I won't do nothing but hang around and listen." lis-ten." "Wrong," grinned Jim. "You're gonna talk and you'll start right ow." "Well, that beln' the case. I'll say that ' wouldn't like to be in this kid's shoes. I guess you want to know all the dope I've got on Vernon, Ver-non, don't you?" "Sure." Randolph FIske started to Interrupt Inter-rupt "I told Hanvey " A big fleshy paw was raised In admonition. "I'd rather bear this direct from Reagan, If you don't mind." The banker aodded and Reagan proceeded. "First, the robber was using Max Vernon's car and It's a ten-to-one bet that Vernon was driving it. Second, Sec-ond, after the robbery occurred Vernon Ver-non drove right through Birmingham Birming-ham and on to Steel City. I've Just come back from there," "now far Is Steel City?" "Eighty miles from Birmingham. A hundred miles from here. He carried car-ried his car to a dealer and dick ered for a new one on a trade-In basis. Next morning they closed the deal and Vernon turned In his old car on a new one, and paid the difference twelve hundred smackers smack-ers In cash. Now the funny part. Hanvey, Is that from all I can gather gath-er Vernon has been broke for about a month." "What makes you think that?" "He tried to borrow money sev- and go straight from that crime to the robbery of a bank, and then calmly return to college the next day with the Idea of resuming his regular life?" "He does not," answered Reagan promptly. "But Jim Hanvey will tell you what I'm saying is true, Mr. FIske: You can't tell from a feller's looks Just what he'll do If he gets plenty desperate. Ain't that so. Jim?" . "Yen, John It sure is." "Yoo see!" said Reagan triumphantly. tri-umphantly. He produced a little notebook from his pocket and consulted con-sulted Its pages. "Here's as near as I can get to .the happenings of day before yesterday May first "Shortly before noon Pat Thayer and Max Vernon meet on the campus. cam-pus. Thayer is walking with Ver non's girl. They have a row lots of the students see it About the same time two fellers come In from classes and start wasting time on the porch of the Psl Taw . Theta fraternity house. That's a sort of college secret society like the Ma sons or Elks, or something like that. These are a lot of crazy college kids, but pretty nice at that There's a long tall bird with a sad face and a big mouth and lots of sense, Hfs name Is Farnum. The other guy Is his buddy: skinny little runt named Philip Oleason. I got to them when things were still hot. and they gave me a fistful of real dope. "About half-past twelve Pat Thayer Thay-er strolls down the hill from the college and enters this house. The guess Is that he went right to his room, because nobody saw him anywhere else In the building. A CHAPTER VI Continued "Taking that for granted, we can understand that even a chap like Vernon could go crazy. The worm having Its Inevitable turn. We do know positively that shortly after their campus quarrel Vernon went to the fraternity house where he and Thayer both lived and made no secret of the fact that he was bitterly angry with Thayer. A little later Vernon left the place In his CAr and still later Thayer's body was discovered. He had been -stabbed In the throat" "And even without knowing what you know about the money situation, situa-tion, they spotted Vernon as the man, eh?" "Yes. If they heard about this . . . I'm worried about the lad. Hanvey. Maybe he killed Thayer, and maybe may-be be didn't If he did I'm sure It was the result of a quarrel and a light The boy needs help. We have the loss of what must have appeared to him as an Inexhaust Ible fortune; his desperation over finances;, the ( five thousand dollar note covering a debt of honor . . . and we have., a. staggeringly strong reason why he must have become nixed up In the robbery of this bank. I'm afraid Vernon did one or the other, and frankly. Hanvey. I'd rather see him tied up with the robbery than the murder." The detective lighted another cigar. There was a silence for a few minutes and then the door opened. Miss Seward placed a card on Randolph FIske's desk. . FIske glanced at It and passed It across to Hanvey. "Who Is John Reagan?" asked Jim. "Chief of the Marland detective must have though! he was a popular popu-lar guy. Who was this new feller?' "A professor,?. And a whale of a tine feller, too. He only graduated last June and, before that he was the best nthlete this college ever had. His name Is Welch Larry Welch and. while I'hate to land It on him, he's-' got a pretty rotten tie-up with Thayer." "How?" "In the flrsf place, this Miss Peyton Pey-ton who had Just been to Thayer's room Is supposed to be Welch's girl Everybody at the college says they're nuts about each other. In the second place, Welch Is the brother of the girl that Pat Thayei and Max Vernon are supposed to have quarreled about "Larry Welch remained upstairs only a few minutes," continued Rea gan. "The boys say he looked kind of worked up" and queer when he came out and he hustled back up the hill to the college. Five' or ten minutes after Larry Welch left the two boys on I the porch heard all h I bust loose Inside. Yelling and screaming and all. and they hear a feller coming down the steps so fast that he's almost falling. Out on the porch comes the Janitor a wop named Carmlclno. He's darn near cuckoo, but they finally get out of him that he, saw Thayer's door partly open and could see Thayer'-legs. Thayer'-legs. Thought Thayer was most probably drunk or maybe sick Went In to straighten him out and discovered that he was dead." "And you think that Max Vernon killed him?" "I almost think he did." "But a mlnnte ago you said " "That's the rotten part of this case. Hanvejv I've got too mucb dope against too many folks. I could convict Vernon - In a minute If It wasn't for two other people." "Who are they?" "Miss Peyton and Larry Welch Thayer's other visitors." "I see. . Hanvey was ab sorbed In his toothpick. "Where are they, John?" ' Reagan looked up brightly. "They're-under arrest too," he annoinrcer-" - --- - THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING Antoinette Peyton, senior at the University of Marland, resents Pater-son Pater-son Thayer's attentions to Ivy Welch, eeventeen-ycar-old coed, and there Is a stormy sceno, the tension being Increased by Max Vernon, another student, reproaching Ivy for "breaking a date' with him. Thayer and Vernon Ver-non threaten each other. Larry Welch. Ivy's brother, professor at the university, uni-versity, Is appealed to by Tony to end his sister's friendship with Thayer. Welch and Tony Peyton are In love. Tony tells him she Is married to Thayei, but Is his wife only In name. Larry determines to end. Thayer's association with Ivy. Tony persuades him to" wait until sho has appealed to her husband. She docs so. visiting him at a fraternity house. Tony ends her visit to Thayer and departs. Vernon leaves tho house almost Immedl-. . ately afterwards. Welch's appeal to Ivy to end her affair with Thayer Is fruitless. Ho determines to see Thayer. Ho does so, and after he leaves. Carmlclno, frat house Janitor, finds Thayor dead, stabbed In tho throat. The Marland bank Is robbed of S100.000. the robber escaping with the money after being shot and apparently badly .wounded. Jim Hanvey. famous detective, comes to Investigate the robbery. Randolph FIske, the bank president, tells him he believes Max Vernon was driving the car In which tho robber got away. Thayer. FIske says, has been systematically robbing Vernon of large sums. In cards games, and Vernon has finally realized real-ized It. force. If you'd rather not have him come In " "Golly f lie's the one man I'd like to talk to." Two minutes later Reagan snapped Into the room; trim and efficient He paid no attention to the banker, bank-er, but advanced on the vast bulk of Jim Hanvey. "I want to shake hands with you, Hanvey," he said heartily. "Alfroy life I've wanted to meet a real detective." de-tective." Hanvey grinned like a kid. " What-cha What-cha doing. Reagan taking me for a buggy ride?" "I mean it." The local chief turned on FIske. "Do you know who this feller Is, Mr. FIske? He's the cops' delight. He never makes a mistake" mis-take" "Say, wait a minute, Reagan. I guess I've missed more easy ones than any man In the country. Hon est 1 have. But my people don't advertise the failures so awful prominent" prom-inent" "Hooey I" said Reagan v. ith hearty , admiration. "And the minute I heard you were In town I followed , you here. I want you to do me a fnvor a big one?" . "Yeh. ..." "Take charge of two eases here: the robbery of this bank and the murder over at the college." "Man I I never fool around with eral places and didn't get It Now j 1 ask you this: If a man is dead broke one week, how does It hap pen that the next week he buys a new expensive car'and pays twelve hundred In cash on the deal?" Hanvey nodded. "Sounds queer, Reagan. And then what?" "Plenty." Reagan's face was beaming with pardonable pride. "1 discovered that when Vernon traded In his car, there was something missing, the floor rug!" "Floor rug, eh? What does that mean?" "It means this: I'm sure Mr, i FIske, here, has told you all about j the robbery and how Mr. Burke ; and the stick-up guy pot-shotted ' each other. The feller must have j been hit pretty hard because there j was blood on the floor of the bank and a trail of blood between the j front door and the curb. Now, then. ! It's natural to suppose, ain't It, that this paluka was bleeding pretty ; free and easy when he piled Into I the back of Vernon's car." I "If It was the boy's car." "We'll take that for granted. Any- ; way, he was bleeding. That blood I would have gone over all the floor rug, because we got to remember that a man who has Just robbed a bank wouldn't be fool enough to sit on the back seat of any car. Chances were he was curled up on the floor. Now. then, I Just natu rally believe It would have been common sense for Vernon and the other guy to have lost that blood stained rug, because It would have looked pretty queer If they hadn't" The huge detective nodded ap proval. "I'll hand you one thing. John you sure have made a complete com-plete Job of It" . Reagan mopped his forehead with a lavender-bordered handkerchief. "I had to, Jim. I've got those three, and 1 know I'm right on one of 'em." ,. "Which one?" "That's whpt puzzles me. One time I think t wa9 Vernon; then I come to believe It was Mis9 Pey ton. And Just when I'm sure of that I get a hunch that It must have been Welch. jOf the three, I'd rather rath-er it be Vernon." "Why?" inquired FIske sharply. "Would you pick Max Vernon as a murderer?" "Out of this bunch yes. That Is, maybe. I'm darned If I know." I Hanvey wps slumping In his chair, absorbedly regarding his huge hands. He spoke without bothering to look up. "What does Miss Peyton say, Reagan?" -Nothing! She admits visiting Pat Thayer, but that is all." "Of course she denies killing him, doesn't she?" "Sure. She says they had a talk and she came away, leaving him perfectly happy and healthy. Cut that aln'l the point Jim : There's something queer between her and Thayer. I asked her about It and she got right white but she wouldn't say' boo. I accused her 1 of holding something back, and she allowed she didn't care to discuss the case any further." x "And tills chap. Welch?" "It don't look a bit healthy for him. First of all. Thnyer was running run-ning around" with Ivy Welch that's Larry's kid sister; pretty little trick Just seventeen years old. Whether there was anything between be-tween them there shouldn't be, I can't say and Welch won't But even If there wasn't and he thought there was I" reckon Welch would be a pretty bad hombra" "What else you got ngalngt him?" "Welch was the last person known to -have been In Thayer's room before Mike Carmlclno. the Janitor, .discovered the body. Hp seemed sore twhen he went to see Thayer, and; he left In a hurry Tien Hie body was found. But even If all thai wasn't enough, there's something else ' "You mcln nbout Miss Peyton being be-ing Welch's girl?" "Exactly. And she had been to Thajcr's room before that Welch Is cuckoo about Miss Peyton. Some body tells Larry she has Just paid a visit to Pat Thayer In his room so what does Welch do but hotfoot It dovvn to find out what the h I . Ain't It reasonable that he'd be boil In'g over under those . circum stances?" "Uh-huh. I've seen lots of fellers get flghtin' mad at less." (TO BE CONTINUED.) few minutes later Max Vernon drives down the street In his car, climbs out and goes busting In looking sore as a couple of goats. Farnum and Gleason, trying to be pleasant and chatty, call out to him that his buddy, Pat Thayer, Is upstairs up-stairs In his room. And then they get the shock of their lives because Vernon swings around on them and says he don't give two hoots In h 1 where Thayer Is. Then Ver non goes upstairs. leaving my two kids goggle-eyed. "Then, before they get over this shock, something else happens. There's a girl In school Antoinette Peyton, and they call her Tony who. from all I can find out Is one regular feller. This Peyton kid comes walking down the street looking not much happier than Vernon Ver-non did. And she turns In at the same fraternity house. That gives the two kids a Jolt because they explained to me that It's against all rules for a girl to go anywhere near a fraternity house without a chaperon. "But that ain't all, either, Jim; because it seems that this Miss Peyton Pey-ton rambles up on the porch and asks where Pat Thayer Is. They say he's up In his room and offer to call him. She says not to both-' er, she'll go right up. That knocks 'em for a goal, and they sit back gasping like a couple Dsh while she calmly starts a big scandal by walking upstairs to see Thayer. You glttln' It all straight, Jim?" "Believe so, Reagan. You sure have found out a heap." . "Yeh and 'there's a heap more. About a quarter past one Miss Pey ton come8 downstairs and walks away. She nods to the two kids, but don't stop for any conversa tlon. At about a quarter before two o'clock Max Vernon comes busting downstairs and stamps across the porch without so much as a hello. He has on a different suit of clothes and there Is a bundle under his arm. He beats It out to his car, which Is parked In the yard, heaves this bundle In the back and goes down the hill at about forty, turning In the general direction of this bank. Later I'll tell you some more about that bundle bun-dle he had. Don't forget It" "I won't," promised Hanvey. "Fifteen minutes later Farnum and Gleason find out they're still not Immune, to shocks when an other guy comes down the hill to the fraternity house and Inquires In-quires for Pat Thayer." "Goshl" murmured Jim, "they Hanvey blinked. "You ain't nobody's no-body's damfooL John Reagan." "Thanks. Now, there's one more tie-up. I looked at the car Vernon traded In, and Jim there was blood right by the-sills, Just where It would have been left If It had run "over the floor rug before the rug was thrown away. Get what that means? It proves. that there was a floor rug there originally." "Sure does, John." "Then," Interrogated Randolph FIske hopefully, "you're positive, Mr. Reagan, that Max Vernon was mixed up In the robbery of this bank?" "The case against him looks about two hundred proof, Mr. FIske." "I'm glad," said the banker simply. "Because If Vernon helped rob this bank, then he couldn't have killed Paterson Thayer. Good G d I Reagan it Isn't reasonable. You've seen this boy; does he look like a person who could murder a man "Man I I Never Fool Around With Killings. They're Too Dog-Goned Messy." killings. They're too dog-goned messy." "You're handling this bank thing, ain't you?" "Maybe." "Then you'll have to take on tho , other." '"Why?" "Because," announcedReagan crisply, crisp-ly, "they'rt tied up tight together. I don't kiiow how they were done, but I've got the baby who did 'em both or knows who did. This, feller killed Thayer and then came over here and copped the mill puy roll." I "What's his name?" ' "Vernon. Maxwell Veruon." Randolph Flske looked pleading ly at Hanvey, and the Gargantuan detectlva slowly extended hl3 hand to Reagan. "Done with you." said Jim. "If you really want me, I'll take charge. |