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Telegram Fiction I Murder a at the e eBy Mocking House I By Walter Brown CHAPTER 26 US Sergeant the director bc began an In n his b booming omin voice Mr Dufresne has lias asked me to see what can be done to expedite this inquiry Of OC co course he heen continued quickly it has never my policy to interfere arbitrarily with any man in my department as you know Harper but Mr Dufresne isan is an nn old friend of mine and I 1 want to 10 be as accommodating ting as I r can especially in view of Mrs Dufresne's Dufresne s mishap I think it would be inadvisable to move from the scene of the crime under under present conditions Harper r replied quietly but firmly But why in heavens heaven's name cried Dufresne Am not I the one most concerned There will vill be nomore no nomore nomore more threatening letters no more shots from hiding I dont don't care who he was or what he was It is enough to know that he will not trouble us again He was undoubtedly a homicidal homi I maniac What makes you think so EO Harper Harper Har lIar per challenged Dufresne stared in surprise What else can we think You have every characteristic of a a. a violent homicidal mania Apparently yes yea CS and of the most virulent t type e agreed Harper Harper- But you ou forget that we have no proof whatever that the man who was killed last night was the same one who wrote the threatening letters and shot at you yesterday Dufresne broke in excitedly Sergeant Sergeant Ser uSer geant you are arc deliberately manufacturing manufacturing manufacturing turing difficulties To call such a atrain a atrain train of events a coincidence is to stretch a remote possibility until it snaps snaps' of its own thinness He snorted nort d his scorn of such an idea Unknown Murderer Captain Hacklin had been taking in fn Inthis this verbal tilt intently From the first he had sensed some underlying current of oC hostility between Dufresne Dufresne Dufresne Du Du- fresne and md the detective He injected himself smoothly into the conversa lion tion Harper have you any direct evidence that this man was not the theone theone one lne who wrote the crank letters Captain Macklin I 1 would prefer to make my report privately Come now Sergeant Connors boomed theres no need to take that line There seems to be a little friction fric iric friction tion between you and Mr Dufresne We dont don't want anything like that Gentlemen said Dufresne with gre great t dignity my wife needs peace and quiet after the shock she had last night She is the Inn innocent ent victim of bungling methods methods- Mr Dufresne Harper snapped his temper rising you will please remember that I 1 had nothing to do With Mrs Dufresne's mishap I 1 am not blaming you Harper There was nothing personal in ill my complaint but the fact still remains re reo mains Lets not get sidetracked Macklin Macklin Mack Mack- lin resumed Is there any such evi dence Harper Not direct eVidencE sIr Of course there isn't Dufresne Interrupted again What happened in this room last night is plain to be seen There is no need to twist it into still more fantastic shapes nor norin norin norin in trying to rationalize a madman's actions Director Connors waved his his' big blunt cigar in the air Yes Harper if youve you've got anything substantial to build on lets let's hear about it it Harper drew himself up stiffly Very well Director I have been reluctant reluctant reluctant re re- to part with this information t for fear it would hamper my further work in this case Maniac or not he answered impressively this man I was murdered not by Officer Hamill but by a third person who was here herein in this room This same unknown person also killed Hamill The scene enc was fixed the evidence tampered tampered tampered tam tam- with so that it would look as asif asif if jf the two men had killed each other I At first this was only a theory a suspicion of mine but now I positively know it to be a fact You have the proof Captain Macklin asked with restrained ten 1 Ity For reply the detective briefly re re- eO doubts doub he and Carlin had shared concerning the w wound und in the murdered mans man's head and how it had j led to the recovery of the original 45 bullet and the roll of carpet with the telltale bullet hole Harper had been keeping a wary eye ye on Dufresne during his recital but the latter appeared as nonplussed as the others 1 This is utter nonsense he cried It cannot be The Thc bullet that killed this' this maniac manae came from the policeman's police police- policeman's mans man's gun It was found right here hereIn hereIn herein in the room The detective held up the steel steel- jacket Why was this bullet hidden j away so o carefully He stood th the 1 roll of at carpet by the table Why does this carpet have a bullet hole hol through it We tested our theory o of concealed murder by h hunting fo for tor I concealed evidence and evidence and we found it And were we're going to find more of ot it j But these ate aie not proofs Dufresne Du fresne continued A stray bullet a ahole ahole j hole in some old carpet There are traces The substitution substitution tion of bullets is Is' Isone one It IUs Itis is true there ar are no fingerprints but this criminal was too astute for that No doubt h he I wore gloves The murderer sat i ill in inthis this room with his victim The They even drank together and perhaps I Iwas It I Iwas was at that moment the killer chose to fire tire After the murder the extra I back in the cabinet But we have hav found the glass with traces of its recent use still in the bottom glass was washed dried and pu put The murderers murderer's first thought was wa to melt down the bullet by holdin holding it in the flames of ot the log fire with with wit these tongs A systematic effort was wa made to hide the victims victim's identity identity- a ring was forced from his finger an emblem from his coat lapel whatever what wha ever papers keys or other articles h he had were rifled from his po pockets Even the labels were ripped from his own clothes None of ot these things thing has come to light in th the house house we w assume that the murderer carried carrie the them away That That is all guesswork Harper Dufresne rebutted re butted If It there was a third person as you insist how hw d. d did he escape from this house after th the crime 1 Ill I'll admit fingerprints prints c can be wiped away but you cant can't wipe wip away tracks in the snow snow I III cant can't answer that question yet et the detective replied I 1 dont don't know know how it was done but I know that It happened Weve We've had men murdered in locked and sealed rooms and the solution turned out to be quite sim- sim pI II U the murderer planned a way to escape without leaving tracks Inthe in inthe the snow Ill I'll find rInd how it was done before Im I'm through I Harper looked directly at his hb commanding commanding com manding officers I 1 have other evidence evidence evi evi- dence that cannot be divulged inthis in inthis inthis this house without seriously injuring our chances of oC success success Dufresne sneered openly Its Ils fortunate fortunate for for- I was under your own police guard last night Harper or you would crown this brilliant fantasy of yours by accusing me of ot being beins the master mind behind this affair Statement St. Denied Harpers Harper's face tace reddened at the thc insulting in suIting tone ton which barbed these words He stepped forward so that thai he stood face to face with Dufresne Those two men were murdered he repeated and I am sure that at least one person in m this house hOlL ic could identify identify iden my the thc man who masqueraded In your likeness Ill I'll go even further I believe that you ou Mr Dufresne arc are helping to shield that person from us and that is Ls a n dangerous game to play The master of or the house threw back jack his head and laughed taunting taunting- ly y Now I 1 know youre you're crazy Mr Dufresne Harper purred a little whole ago you told me that you had lad only one gun in your possession an an automatic Yes Perhaps you'd be bc interested to know that you own another weapon a revolver of large caliber This was usually kept in the upper right hand drawer of the highboy in your dressing dress dress- ing room Early this morning that thai revolver was still in its place It has since disappeared Can you ou tell us anything about that Dufresne looked at him out of a face suddenly sobered I HI own no such revolver he stated firmly Your butler Andrews says that you do doRing do Ring for him Well We'll soon get to the bottom of that that Dufresne replied replied re reo plied sharply They waited in an uneasy silence until the butler made his appear ance Andrews stood looking from one to another inquiringly under his tufted white eyebrows Andrews what In the devil have you been saying to the police Go Goon Goon on on Harper you started this Harper faced the thc o l man A little little lit lit- tle tic while ago you told me that Mr Dufresne kept a revolver in a drawer drawe r of the hi highboy in his room Mr Dufresne denies that Andrews n lifted his his' head I r never I saw such a revolver was wai his calm statement To be continued |
