Show THE DING MARCH hy by Aon e Buret o 4 1 U 3 bl r Ibo Bobb Merrill Co w n NU Service SYNOPSIS g In the ministers II study Jim about to 10 be married to Doris Is stabbed to death one no of the bridesmaids bridesmaid Is ob n t a ls ot of anxiety ty Peter no and amateur detec ome me note with Sergeant 11 1 he o New York police pollee begin the thc rear gatlon Franklin while many visitor among mistress an actress Choo Choon n his Intended wife a father r her brother well known politician unknown woman In a 1 blue o had quarreled openly with Carmody admits try op p the wedding after being by Webster r Spears that was WIlS still friendly wIth Choo Pita his approaching mar Ich marIch Idly secures the tho dead man IIII s II II Shipley Is somewhat eon In her anaw era to questions learn nothing of o An Interview with Daniel also fruitless CHAPTER IV s sIang g- g gLang Lang a Woman In Blue still early when hen and quitted Bullis club do you think de- de deIS deLs Ls IS they waited for their car lIe He s only telling wants to tell There s no lowIng when Bullis left that n n Ambrose Carmody rapped made hIm wait alt before ad adm adm m There must have been there who hod time to lea leave e 11 door before beCore Carmody en enIt enit It was as Bullis he could have haTe til tH Carmody left lect and then thenOr thenOr Or ot of course It may have roman In blue who returned ble bIe It was as both I am only ne thing Some one oue was t have haTe kept Jept dy cy wilting w about Choo Chao Choo Train 1 i 3 Shipley They both vis stry niter 10 know about Choo Choo Chao re ovell t wearily As for tor the she never entered the declares tie he rapped on and Franklin replied that mody wasn t there As tar far IW that s all Miss Shipley with It it au aused sed In the lighting of a that she drove drover r l its III v and lied fled to toft It ft And knew that Jim Jimas Jimas as killed but can t explain ew It it And he be brandished for tor further emphasis h why n around there looking for lod In the first place I m he added that she Isn t woman In the blue dress r Abernathy saw lie may rig ng the truth about that Doctor Abernathy er nesters are human the ser I m not saying he herig rig to do with It nut But It if hp girl so well ho may mal have Idea or of chit airy and be her r still was not cOnvInced sea pen Shipley wouldn t Identified her from the plc pic ne newspaper Mat Ma Mabe be not not 1 think you hat question yourself a bit Bulls BulUs doesn t want scant to toe I e woman he saw S-IW In the theu u use e she beard bard all that him and Franklin y possible she knows too o Peter we score re not through rl yet by any means Nor either And then more Ulan than to his companIon he hike to be watchIng those st time they meet both Callis Shipley and andody andody ody had referred to Web as the man who had been of Information regarding rain It ft was decided that question him next And AndI I ise e awaited them rs home was a private last to linger In a neigh apartment buildings which und and It it At the curb be- be becar car cars were parked a road sedan This ell attention because It try for tor them to park In Ine ine e apartment house next t to see sir II Webster Ilay Informed the butler butlerS S d hIs ring sorry sIr Mr J Spears Is be bc dl curbed too said the detective detectives s II bad bac e a In fn tile the palm of 1 ibis Is once onre he hell II ha base e to toL L tt It or minutes Stir hi 1 Y tersely ell a 11 It t tOil tou lied man r 1 I h rn m t Carly now as he be glanced InquIringly first at Cardigan then at the detec th the e Peter noticed how his hall hair pre pre- prematurely prematurely maturely receding nl nt at the temples dl attention to tho sleekness ot of the man You wanted to see me Spears began abruptly lIe He did not offer to shako shaIe hands We e wanted to know knots why hy you were so anxious to stop Doris Carmody s wedding eddIng tIlls this afternoon to In bluntly The Thc question caught the young man manoff ofT off bllance l I stop the wedding lIe smiled as though I to e found the Idea absurd W hy by else did you tell Car Carmody Carmody mody about Choo Choo Train today the sergeant demanded You did tell him Skin t you l Spears drew up a chair and sat down deliberately before beCore replying I eter felt Celt that It was his method ot of sparring for time Yes he admitted finally I In informed formed Rylie about this actress of cour course e It seemed the only thing to do flow lIow did you happen to know Laou about her It seemed to be common knowle knowledge ge geI I heard gossip of It at the club After that I made some Inquiries which sub substantiated what I had bad heard so I la In formed When was ras It you heard thIs gos gossip gossip sip Peter Interjected Spears glanced nt at him quIckly Only this morning T Two 0 chips at the next table were dIscussing the wed feeling ding sorry for tor the They mentioned thIs actress That angered me mc ot of course You see he be shrugged dapper shoulders Rifle and Doris have been almost brother and sister to me e W e have grown up to- to together together gether I felt the same Interest In InthIs Inthis thIs wedding ns as though It had been my myown own o sister Tints 8 why I made In inquiries Every Ivery one oae seemed to know that Choo Chao Choo TraIn was FranklIn s mistress It was the most natural thing In the world for tor me to Inform n lie And you wanted to b be sure didn t you That s why hy you called up his ta fa irI J T I 1 i II 1 C r r rr r 7 i I s l a f t ty 1 d dl dI da I y I I 1 m GIving You a Chance to Ad It Now Did D You ther too wasn t It 1 Kilday d do- do I I don t know what you mean De- De ely Oh J yes eq you do the sergeant per lou telephoned Ambrose Carmody and gate him the Ule same matlon lust just this afternoon Did Did lie he say that 1 The young mans man's voice was Incredulous I Ieter eter found himself wondering whether or not the tone was assumed The detective studied the glowIng ash of his cigar You t gIve him your name he continued Put you must realIze that you youe se e talked to Mr Carmody often enough that he heI could recognize your voIce hilday was trying a shot In the dark What was UI the Idea ot of that anonymous call Spears Still just n a brotherly later Inter Interest est In Doris Carmody I I didn t admIt I made that call I m gIving J you ou a chunco to admit It now Did you ou Spears looked at the sergeant stead fly Don t be absurd It If I had been telephoning there was no reason why I t give my name apparently dismissed the question with a shrug lou used to tobe tobe be iq 11 1110 10 lose e with Doris Carmody didn t you t he began again W hen we were very young Web Web- Webster Webster J ster Spears admitted A sort ot of boy bOl bOland and girl affair You You area aren t exactly an old man mannow mannow now retorted the bluntly I suppose you rou feel teel only a brotherly Interest In her now di l I suppose you would call caU It that t It strike you as al odd that Miss Carmody s brothers didn t es e een en cure to stay for tor the wedding lou lou- for tor example You didn t stay and you felt a very ery brotherly Interest In her you tell me And her own TD brother brothern n lie warn t there eIther runny business t It I wa was there declared the young man flushing ye Yes but you rou walked out And when you dId you told Miss Carmody that there wouldn t be any wedding It If Rylie were only there I Spears frost frO ned I I couldn t have saId that be declared untIl RIle nIe got there I remember noticing that he be hadn t arrived yet Yes I must have made some such Buch re- re murk which was mIsquoted when you OU heard beard It Then you never neTer said anything to Miss Carmody of out stopping the weddIng Of or course coure not And you never neer telephoned Ambrose Carmody about Choo Choo Chao Ibon elbows s on knees knee eyed the young man soberly his glance never neTer wa watering from the young man mans s face We ye vo already been os 0 or er that nut But you rou did tell Rylie about Choo Chao Choo Train Yes The sergeant ser grunted noncommittal ly Iy noncommittally and glanced to toward ard Peter Car Cardigan ligan digan The next net question came from the litter What hat lId did you expect would happen after you informed n lie Car Carmody Carmody mody about this actress he be Inquired Spears appeared to ponder the ques I I don t know that I expected an thing to happen he answered slowly Iy It was wal so lute The wedding was only oaly a te few hours oft off Ot Of course I Iam Iam am sure It if there bad hod been time the would have called It oft off offlie lie smiled briefly I I t hate hae been sorry to see sec that happen but I Ican cnn can t say that I expected It it Then just t what was the reason you left the church Peter hoped thIs question would sound casual W hy by I-I I had noticed that wash wasn t there That was why I made that remark to DorIs I only meant for tor her to hold thIngs up until I went ent out to look for him Where here dId you go to look de demanded demanded quickly Back to Doctor Abernathy s study I r I ne net or er went near that study de declared the young man soberly I-I I just waited around In front of at the church expecting Rylie to arrive any minute But But he didn 1 t to o 1 At lea least t If 11 he did I never neler saw him r I thInk that s for all the present declared the sergeant I m sorry we kept you away aay from your guests Guests Peter could not be tale but ho he thought he detected an abrupt change chane In W ebster Spears man manner manner ner a quick gleam of emotion as quickly veiled behInd a mask ot of In Indifference difference I have no guests Ser Sergeant Sergeant geant day My Iy mistake replied the thc sergeant Your Tour man said you rou were busy and andI I guess I jumped at conclusions He De picked up hIs hot hat We won t bother you any further tonIght I Igue Iguess gue guess s It its s needless for tor mo me to advise you ou not to len leave the city until this matter Is cleared up It will be only a few v days I hope We may want to ask you a few more questions you rou knor 1 IJ be here whenever you want me Spears assured Wm him as he ushered them to the door hilday walked down the steps In sIlence o 1 guests eh lie t like tint question did he Peter is His grip about his friends s arm as they strode pat past the two vo cars parked at the curb Help me remember those license numbers W e II 11 soon find out who ho s visiting here and wh why he hc doesn t twant twant want us to know it t When ho he reached hIs own car he jotted down lown the numbers he had noted un What hat time Is It Still early Peter assured him W here do e w e go from here Franklin s apartment I want to see how far I can enn go In l identifying the keys kes on this ring And I want scant to have havea a talk with Franklin s what servant was his name Fletche Remember Ick ck Royce noyce referred to hIm lIe may be maybe able to give us a hInt about this woman In blue I want to find her But the IntervIew wIth letcher l 1 was dIf disappointing as tar far as the m mysterious woman In blue was concerned The Theman Theman man admitted them with Ith evident re- re reluctance reluctance A copy of at Topics Topics-an extra ca edition caught the detectives detective s eye I I see you already know what has hap hap- happened happened i he began Yes sir 11 I was expecting you You are tram from the polIce 1 It If the servant had been shocked by the news hIs manner did not betray It now Without answerIng the tho ser sergeant geant displayed his badge Then fumbling la In his pocket he drew out the keys found In the murdered man mans s pocket Recognize these Yes Yes sir They were are Mr Ir Franklin s Can Can you tell us os which doors they lIt fit Some of them probably The man took the thc ke keys s and examIned them lie Ho selected one This Theis opens this apartment and this ho be indicated an another other Is n a key to the main entrance of the building I m sorry I m afraid I can t Identify the others hUdy Inspected both keys care care- carefully carefully fully for tor future Identification then crossin crossing to the door tried ono one ot of them Tt worked s face tace reg regIstered regIstered annoyance The detective s ob- ob obvious obvious method of checking up on hIs i statement was IlS not to hIs liking Who ho his been hero today fill KIJ day began bean again abruptly Mr Royce noyce was here herl replied the tho servant Mr fr l Royce lIo Ho was to be Mr s best man manThey manThey They had ranch lunch together and Mr Royce noyce called here late to accompany Mr Franklin to the church Ot Of course Was 9 there anyone else les Mr Ir the Carmody-the young one lie He called just after Mr Franklin had left leet for tor the church I Had ho he I 1 era |