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Show - ' " t WEDDING MARCH MlUIWiLlR By MONTE BARRETT CHAPTER Xll-Contlnued ,irtment was searched ' ,m botweon four-thirty and S' Vour rttto with O.r- nd 01,-lU-tUteen r" f ttaf the time He went . -h thit wuulow. There are R 'itnesses who saw his ' Lt driving wouUi have taken f,M thereof the so called ae-,t ae-,t by tbout the time you ap-""'j ap-""'j s't tlie farmhouse. It was 11 trick for an experienced driver nwll bis car off the road In loose ei You claim you laid uncon-lm uncon-lm Id the ditch for about half u Jour. No passer-by discovered Lorfdeot hardly seems llke-., llke-., ist no one passed the spot iu jutt minutes. The roads In that .n are fairly well traveled. ' -Nevertheless, you were not dis-Ki dis-Ki until you regained con-(rtcsness con-(rtcsness of your own accord, you kJb4 Then you limped to the S-nhuuse. That gives you the add-jj'tiiue add-jj'tiiue necessary to complete your fll Carmody, there was an ae-eijt, ae-eijt, all right But It was a de-';rate de-';rate one, planned hy you, to "sw us off the track. You were r,ver unconscious. That part of l:ir story has been added to make he time fit Into the events at Fwklin's office so that It would i::ear to be Impossible that you lire there." I Kilday glanced slowly about the j Soa "Where are the clothes you lire ffearingT he next asked. "I r-::t to have a look at them." in the dressing room, I suppose." He indicated a door across the a "It was a brown tweed. fc'U recognize it, because It was a a bit" ' The detective, rising, backed eare-tZj eare-tZj into the dressing room and, laving the door open in order to keep the young man In sight, found the suit 'This settles it," he said. "Come on. Get some clothes on. You're jicg down to headquarters with Li." V have ' . jour ir'nd," de-1 de-1 pwt C .ri.:. :'j hoarsely. , ' ! tc A ii k':o I intended Ad at export at nine o'clock o Vould you believe me KMay smiled. "Sure," he agreed, 'ilaybe you did have an appointment appoint-ment to meet some one at West i'rt. If jou were clever jou did. ll would strengthen jour alibi. 'Bat Til tell yon something else." Ee leaned forward, all trace of the tile vanished into the stern lines Ms face. Til bet you a hundred i'iilars that yon never kept that ap-l-'atment "loo couldn't Not and be at fciain's office when you were." CHAPTER XIII In Search of a Key. AWXLVG stretched above le sidewalk below, saved Pe-r Pe-r Cardigan's ur e when he plunged the window of Jim Frank-f Frank-f m i office. ' lity, it was only the space " second, but to the falling man e,kcrashe(i into the steei sup- I Mtot the awning, the blow eatch-h eatch-h on the right leg. Its force I " 'i side. J fid Dot recover consciousness J ZT time later' at the bo- tad Z n 6 attendi"g Physician lt fc- T t0 determine the ex-1 ex-1 kllsVT'1'3- His right fore-1 fore-1 k 1 ry fractured. His left 1 ttr-I tlroken and, In addition, lot -ij ' ,Were cracked. 15 1 ,, ,tck ej'e-" the doctor add- T' Cit"'-"6 haven'1 been t'hil agrin ot the quarry i lle i rHaied him ln that bitter b' Ki'dl t darkened room. f ffogrej pt Informed of the : ?' novelst,7a!w mtkinS- It was ia SiUl thlrd day in the "OW Ufa !fai" lnoLr,U feeli"E'" the ser- !fltW' f cafe of them-,D!1M them-,D!1M etT Udie(1 tlis fiend's ' m$Vmm- "What's on TcarlUfheari t0 re" tt( repl, .,rni0ur on bail," was 1 lsh S6t f0r tllis aft- 1 4 LU T,ere feelins bet" ,ald like to I dlStrlct Forney ' witness.- Ve 'ou court as :"' rn"k"n was mur- ' ' '"-a, th wedding. , , liable." .1 "u"e i-hiJ't" tne detective, assallant was that he wore a tweed suit. raniHuly was wearing n tweeil suit." lVtor raised his iinhainliiK'ed arm In protest, wincing from the pain of the movement. 'Almost anyone could wear a tweod suit. That Isn't enough to convict young Carmody." "Hut coupled with everything else, It Is," the detective stubbornly persisted. "The minute I heard what had happened to you, I started my search. I know from what you told me that you had put up quite a battle. Your opponent certainly would he battered up. Young Carmody Car-mody has a black eye and Is considerably consid-erably bruised up, otherwise. lie was wearing a suit that answers your description. lie claims he was In an automobile accident, but It looks as though that were Just a cleverly arranged scheme to account for his appearance, as well as his whereabouts, at the time you were having your tight. He claims he had an appointment at Westport at nine o'clock, but admits he never kept It, and won't tell us who he was supposed to meet. He gave our detective the slip that afternoon, after-noon, so that he had his tirst opportunity op-portunity to visit that apartment. And he had a motive In the crime. There's enough to bold anyone on, Peter, and I'm going to hold blm." The novelist studied his friend gravely. "All logical," he admitted. "I'm not sure about one point. In my tight, I don't know whether I battered my antagonist or not. Oh," he smiled, "I know I was considerably consider-ably battered. Cut the other fellow-was fellow-was landing his blows on the bead, I was bitting to the body. lie was aiming for a knockout, and I was trying to wear my man down ; working work-ing in close as much as possible. I felt sure that If I could make a rough-and-tumble affair of It, I could beat him. I think I would have, too, If I had not dived through the window, attempting to tackle him. All of which means nothing," he admitted, "except that I don't know that I blackened one of his eyes. I can't remember it, although I'm reasonably sure I left some black and blue marks on his body." "In a tight of that sort," Kllday objected, "you might have landed a dozen blows you can't remember now." "Admitted," Peter agreed. "But Kylie Carmody's black eye Isn't conclusive evidence. How about Dan r.ullis? Does be show any signs of having been ln a fight?" "None that I could see." Peter reached for a cigarette lighted it, and thoughtfully watched the smoke clouds roll ceilingward before he spoke again. "Of course this lets the woman out," he began. "Neither "Nei-ther Choo Choo Train nor our mysterious mys-terious woman In blue was capable of putting up the scrap that I ran into. And of course, If the motive of the crime was to halt the wedding, wed-ding, the crime was committed by a woman, with the single exception of Rylie Carmody." "Of course there was Webster Spears," put in the detective. "But he was already under ar-st. You didn't run into him Jr. 'uiat oflice." lUVhieh means," continued the novelist, "that either Rylie is our man, or else the wedding itself wasn't the motive. I've already explained ex-plained why I can't think it was Rylie. A man contemplating murder mur-der doesn't advertise the motive, the way he did. We still have the Bullis angle. The murder might have been political, as you first suggested. Or, as I have previously suggested, the woman In blue may be the key to the case. "She Is the only factor of the case that remains unexplained. I still believe it Is logical to assume that Franklin was killed in a fit of Jealous Jeal-ous rage, over a woman, not by a woman. Why couldn't It have been that woman's brother or husband? Sergeant, either you are right, and Rylie is our man, or we still have to locate a blond woman with whom Franklin had an affair. "There's one thing I never thought to ask," Peter continued. "Did you discover how Franklin's apartment was entered? Did the person who searched those rooms have a key, or were you able to find where he forced his entrance?" "He must have had a key. None of the windows had been forced and the locks showed no signs of having hav-ing been tampered with." "Well, who had keys to Franklin's apartment? We bad Franklin's, on his key-ring. Fletcher had one with him. We'd better talk to Choo Choo Train again. She had a key to that apartment. Our burglar used her key, or else " "Or else what?" "Or else our woman In blue had a key, too." "I'll soon find out," promised the detective. He used the telephone to call Choo Choo Train, who promised prom-ised to come to the hospital Immediately, Imme-diately, bringing her key to the murdered man's apartment with her. "While we're waiting," Teter sug- gestod, "tell mo about Franklin's olllce. Were you able to determine bow my assailant got In there?" '-Hie detective admitted he was puzzled. "The reception room was a wreck," ho said. "You must have staged iuito a battle there. That's about all we were able to llnd out, however. There was no fire-escape from which any of the windows could have been entered. The main em ranee was the only means of access ac-cess to the suite. If that door was forced, wo couldn't toll It. "Dunbar helped us, too. Aside from his key, and Franklin's, which you had, there were three other keys to that door. Two of them belonged to clerks in that oflice and have been accounted for. The third was the Janitor's. He, too, tells a straight story." "So It looks as though our visitor walked in through a locked door, eh?" Cardigan mused. He reclined against his pillow and stared tlxedly at the celling through the smoke of a constant procession of cigarettes. "But how nbout the outside of the building? Was there any ledge by which the Intruder could have reached those windows? Every sensible question has an equally logical answer, If it can only be found." Before they could explore the question further, the actress ar- lillll rtNii n if "I'm Sorry," She Said. "The Papers Said You Were Seriously Hurt." rived.. Choo Choo's black-lashed eyes turned first to Peter. "I'm sorry," she said. "The papers pa-pers said you were seriously hurt." The novelist smiled briefly. "The doctor says I'm to have a short leg that will make me limp a bit," he said. "But I'm getting used to the idea. After all, I'm fortunate to be alive, even if I must carry a permanent perma-nent souvenir of the experience with me. How about It, Miss Train? Do you care for men who limp?" "I adore them," declared the Hctress swiftly. "I detest men who either walk, act or talk Just like every one else." But she was obviously ob-viously at a loss as to how to continue con-tinue the conversation and turned abruptly to Kilday with the question. ques-tion. "Why did you send for me?" "You have a key to Franklin's apartment. I want to see it." The actress searched ln her purse and produced the key. Without saying a word, Kllday carefully compared It with the other key In his possession, the one on Franklin's key-ring. It was identical. "That Is the only key he gave you, Isn't it?" he asked. "Yes." "Miss Train, has this key been ln your possession all the time since Franklin's death?" "Why, yes, of course." "How can you be sure?" inquired in-quired Peter. "Where did you keep the key, Miss Train?" Choo Choo looked at him ln bewilderment. be-wilderment. "Of course I'm sure," she replied. "I always kept it In my purse. This morning, when Sergeant Ser-geant Kilday telephoned, I looked immediately. It was there where I had always kept it." Unless the murderer had taken the key and then returned It again, without her knowledge, It seemed obvious that it had never been out of her possession. Apparently this was another of the many false trails they bad encountered since the beginning be-ginning of this investigation. "So there was a fourth key," Peter Pe-ter mused aloud, after the actress had departed. "The woman in blue had It Sergeant, and passed it on to the murderer. Evidently he was Just awaiting his chance to search the apartment, and when he saw Fletcher leave, admitted himself and turned the place upside down. "Then it must hare been Rylie Ry-lie Carmody instead of Spears, , growled Kllday. "He Ills into all out clues, Peter." "If," declared Cardigan, "Oallls Shipley Is the woman ln blue, then Itylle la our man. Somehow, I can't picture her In an Illicit relationship relation-ship with Franklin, and having a key to his apartment. Yet, If Rylie Is guilty, be obtained the fourth key from some one. And what other woman Is lie Interested In? Of course, thnt's taking it for granted that the other key belonged to a woman. Who else would have had such a key?" he subsided into another an-other reverie. "There's one thing you're overlooking, over-looking, Peter," said Kilday. "Why won't young Carmody talk? lie says he had an appointment In Westport at nine o'clock. But he won't say who he was supposed to meet there, and he won't tell us why he gave our detective the slip. Obviously Ob-viously he never met anyone at Westport. He clulms It was on account ac-count of tbo accident. Of course, I think otherwise. But If he were as Innocent as he pretends, wouldn't he at least tell us these things? I believe he would." "Why not have him over bore?" suggested Peter. "You said before that you wished I could have questioned ques-tioned him. Give me a chance." The sergeant reached for the telephone. tel-ephone. "Now you're talking," he said. "Talk to him for five minutes min-utes and you'll be as sure of his guilt as I am." He telephoned Instructions to bring Rylie Carmody to the hospital hos-pital Immediately. But If Peter hoped to glean more Information from the young man than had the detective, he was doomed to disappointment. "I don't see that It matters who I was going to meet," declared the young man impatiently. "My accident acci-dent prevented me from keeping this appointment." "Still sticking to the accident story, ell?" Kllday commented derisively. deri-sively. "If you haven't anything to hide, why don't you tell us who It was?" Rylie maintained a stubborn silence. si-lence. "Perhaps," suggested the detective detec-tive doubtfully, "you can explain why you were so anxious to give my mnu the slip. Was there anything any-thing about this mysterious meeting meet-ing at Westport that you were afraid for the police to see?" "Of course not," Indignantly. "Why were you going all the way out to Westport for the meeting? Why didn't you meet this person In New York?" "Y'ou can save yourself a lot of trouble," declared Rylie slowly, "if you'll understand, once and for all, that I'm not going to tell you anything any-thing about that appointment at Westport." "Was it a woman you planned to meet there?" This question from Peter. The young man laughed shortly. "I just said I wasn't going to answer an-swer any more of these questions." Kilday leaped at the suggestion. "A woman, eh? What If he did meet her, Peter? Had you thought of that? Perhaps he doesn't want to answer our questions because he did meet a woman at Westport. What about it, Carmody? And she gave you a key, didn't she a key to Franklin's apartment. "You went to Westport, all right, but you went there earlier ln the afternoon. You gave my man the slip, kept your appointment with that woman and got the key. Then you returned to Franklin's apartment, apart-ment, searched it and, not finding what you were after, went on to his oflice. That's where Cardigan surprised you and where the struggle strug-gle took place. After that you returned re-turned to Westport and returned the key to the woman who was still waiting there. Then you drove out into the country and turned your car over, in order to account for your battered-up appearance. How's that, Peter?" He turned to his friend, smiling grimly. "That accounts for the only flaw In our case against him. That's how he got possession of that fourth key." "From whom?" asked Peter. "I don't know yet. But I'll find out. Maybe it was this woman In blue, and maybe she is Callls Shipley. Ship-ley. I'll soon know. I told them to bring her here. At last I've got a few facts to go on. It won't take long to shake her story now." The timely arrival of the girl they were discussing seemed to bear out the officer's promise. Dismissing Dis-missing the detective who escorted her, he admitted the girl. "Rylie !" Callis hurried across the room, her arms outstretched, oblivious to the other men ln the room. "Darling, I told you to be careful, that they" (TO BB CONTINUED.) |