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Show HOUSE PARTY MURDER 88 By JAMES FREEMAN (Associated Newspapers.) WNU Service. IT WAS a high-pitched, ear-splitting scream; the scream of a woman. Following It there was a shot, a series of groans, a heavy, thudding thud-ding sound. Then silence. A profound, heavy silence. Clyde Greene was the first to reach the corridor. Clyde's room was next to that occupied by Marie Leland. As the youth opened the door he switched on a light button and the corridor was brilliantly illuminated. il-luminated. Clyde pounded on Marie Leland's door. There was no answer, and he decided to force the lock. By this time, the corridor was filled with people. Doors opened and fright--ened, curious faces looked up and down. At sight of Clyde opening Marie Leland's door, they came run ning. Clyde paused just inside the room. A shapeless bulk on the floor obstructed ob-structed his passage. He felt along the wall, found a switch and snapped it on.' The bulk on the floor was a dead man. Blood oozed from a wound in his temple. Clyde recognized him at once as one of his week-end guests. His name was Howard Lund, and he was known to be madly mad-ly in love with Marie. Marie lay on the bed, unconscious. A dressing gown partly covered her form. Her face was white as chalk. Clyde kept his head. It was his louse; he was, in a sense, respon- that Homer was a no-good rich man's son." "Did you tell him he could come to your room?" "No!" Bean spoke musingly, looking at Homer Dunlap. "It might be possible pos-sible that someone who thought a good deal of Miss Leland overheard Lund make that threat. That same someone might have anticipated Lund coming to Miss Leland's room; might, in fact, have been there himself, or in the corridor nearby and " He broke off, got to his feet. "However, that isn't what happened Greene, you'd better have your guests leave the room. These things are upsetting." Greene nodded. He didn't understand, under-stand, but he was glad to comply with the request. Greene remained in the room until un-til after the guests had gone. "I'm sorry you didn't get anywhere any-where with your questioning, Inspector." Inspec-tor." Bean shook his head. "On the contrary, con-trary, Greene, I got a long way. It didn't take a great deal of ingenuity to identify the killer." Clyde's face was a mask of astonishment. as-tonishment. "You don't mean you know who the culprit is!" "That's exactly what I do mean." "Well?" "Marie Leland!" "Marie! But good heavens, how could it be? When I arrived in the room she was lying on the bed unconscious." un-conscious." "How do you know she was unconscious?" un-conscious?" Clyde bit his lip. He regarded the inspector steadily, wanting to believe, be-lieve, fearful of what the man knew. "She identified herself as the murderess mur-deress when she told her story. She mentioned awakening and seeing a man's wrist watch glowing in the dark. A man's! Why not a woman's? wom-an's? She knew it was a man's because be-cause she was expecting a man. And she wanted that man out of the way because of what he might tell. Besides, how many men who were in this room tonight wore wrist watches? None. All but Howard Lund had removed their watches for the night." , Bean paused. "She shot him. The gun was lying close by his hand. She had wiped it off with a handkerchief. handker-chief. I have the handkerchief in my pocket. It's spotted with grease marks from the gun. She had barely bare-ly time to feign unconsciousness on the bed when you arrived. She must have been breathing heavily. It's odd you didn't notice." Clyde sank into a chair. He turned his head as a sound came from near the door. He opened it and Detective Detec-tive Ross stood there. Behind him was Marie Leland, fully clad, miserable mis-erable of expression, frightened, sobbing sob-bing hysterically. Clyde turned away. It was a nasty business. Xtie bulk on the floor was a dead man. Clyde recognized him at once as one of his week-end guests. sible. He kept the crowd back, turned to look at them. Jack Chase seemed the calmest "Go down and call the police, will you, Jack. And the rest of you please get back into the corridor. "We don't want to disturb anything until the police get here." . It was fully a half hour before Inspector Oscar Bean and his chief aide, Bert Ross, arrived on the scene. They went immediately to Marie Leland's room. Minutes later they came back downstairs and onfronted the scantily-clad guests in the drawing room. And with them came Marie Leland, still pale, irightened looking. She flung herself on a divan and immediately broke Into sobs. Homer Dunlap came and sat down beside her, and Marie lung to him. Inspector Bean spoke to Clyde. "You're Greene, aren't you?" "Yes." "You'll save yourself a lot of trouble, Greene, and a lot for your guests, by answering my questions unrestrainedly. You understand what it will mean If I clear this thing up tonight?" "Of course. Ask your questions." Bean glanced sidewise at Marie. "Was this man Lund in love with the irl?" "I believe he was." "Did she love him?" Clyde looked uneasy, but Marie wasn't watching him. "I don't think so." "Possibly she loved someone else, and Lund was forcing himself on her?" Clyde glanced meaningly toward the divan. Bean nodded and strode in that direction. He sat down, close by the girl, ignoring the threatening threaten-ing look with which Homer Dunlap regarded him. "Miss Leland, will you please tell me exactly what happened?" The girl dabbed at her eyes. She was holding Dunlap's hand, and when he looked at her reassuringly, she turned to Bean. "I don't know how long I'd been asleep. I was awakened by a noise. I looked up and saw a man's wrist watch glowing in the dark near the door. I screamed. There was a flash, a loud report. The door opened and closed. I saw a figure dart into the corridor. Then I must , have fainted." "You didn't recognize the figure, have no idea who it was?" "No." "Had Howard Lund been forcing his attentions on you?" "Yes." She paused, seemed to consider, and went on. "We used to be engaged. It was a silly love affair. I soon got over it. Then 1 met Homer and foil in love with him. Howard kept hounding me." "Hounding you?" "Yes. He said he'd discovered some things about my past, and unless un-less I'd let him come to my room he'd tell Homer. He always said |