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Show t! I .Y,'.'--- i -L- ' - 1 cHtPTER XI-Co"tinud " i :Jt Mm 0,1 t!" 9Ti' jeat him rvl!s baok-'m baok-'m , chair. It I'-,;;; ' . V'MJ Nvn t'rok.M.. IMnt- n-:oJ i foot. Now. "V'Wtiaw his oriH'iiont was ' and the lis", l'otor s-a there, Cfouohlng oxer grv'i'S (ren:iei:y Into .' .'v; t-s to find hi"1- i'lu'W:i: ' ."i's'i'i breath. lVler ml-"'"i':t:eus:y. ml-"'"i':t:eus:y. Xoxv xx as Ms sirV.ea.-J up Jt as . hause'.f throusli the ;.'-i"l)is lack!. He struck his j"-t ttKxxe the kmvs, J ,"-:t BUBihins his sVuiMor. -? ?t":ef 1 n car. The uiau J", ,i lvter xxas cvnruloiit of . . to P.iht on more th.ni '- ecce be came to grips '-'i 2 fe&w. IVter Cardigan -z:v tiia sii foot tall. U!i a -jilted tirUuess that did not j if jynxer of h'.s well trained :..::r:7. Re'.faslKg hi prtn I r: .: a ;:' le;. IVter aiu:eJ a i 3i.' to t!;e abdomen. Intent the struAt'.e as promptly :::. Tie Movr misled Its : fiixir.j too hx'h. aaitKl the '; -i He drew back his arm for ' v .in Mow, but there was no - -ji Hi i-:?.;oa:st gripped him 7 :: Sx'dy. crushing him down, j I; i-.'riisso room for a bioxv now. ,t, '. til in each o:her's arms, they )"". : L ;--z. across tiie floor, j" L.: ras seekisj for aa opt'iiii:,; c.., -J e o'.icr was too cautious to .jj.. crasled into the t.ih'.e. a tinkle of broken itiass. sel-'fe ?ot the pa '.a of his pj. s ;::er iij antagonist's chin. ycL' - P"'" t-5 teeth and put all fj. isinh into the e.Tort as he '.i tie other's head back. His !k!i f M whistling painfully '.:::: his nostrils. There was an .n-rfiiiie .n-rfiiiie agojj n his chest, as 2e tremendous weight "--rr;shii5 oot his breath. Still w back tiit head. It would ; : be over now. lie was only :-i conscious of the blows l' Ottered at his face. The szsi give in soon. He tried ;':;c new energy Into his flag- 8 muscles, draiced of much of nrengtii by the punishment -i absorbed during the strug- ebw his h0d b2(1 been For the first time a feel-? feel-? "! lole5iess engulfed Peter. :; a very tired, almost at the i i".1'. ,trenrJL Hi3 opponent ru too. With the en-q en-q of despair he flung himself -?u.,lttt8ct His arm3 rer, "J "at, like cushions that he 'Mshing forward with tremen-ta'rt"n"re tremen-ta'rt"n"re blows ! Hart,mUSt Ut harder! - 6emed onIJ 10 th' : -SlJace' From some-i some-i , ar off, something was beat- .i,18 head? Or were they n n"e? D0 loger seemed to I t?6'1 t0 b inking, ;Wke C0U"J drift Het fWy' lDt0 fOTtf"'- -; he I t?rememberdazed- 'l3tlttp(Wf some reasn for - ,ahSt,?,Udln8 him- Then -1 abdomen hurt. 3 M Inf HeCUld l fJ ere. t. g up' Rut here J t!(" wa. tT',at blu"ed weaving - orHhe knew n,ust I'to'Z ? WOU,d ,ack the 0re fflo M ever. blk'eJ To"er they V,ktl1 i r; ,but tlle far a B,break"'8 glass, it f. cieaM ?' A rush of cool- r C.r:"ts from Unu. . rmya shoulder had ! ''"dow pane. esand x fgr? ,c&at- But 9 feeasT liaIIe!trie(1 to catch e fin lacked r0UBh wi of t i cIothl Falling-be Falling-be . J was crisp and cool. a mbered the broken 1&-34 r desPerate effort . murderer, he had "ed through the J l)y. he could have coat, he might wted. Curious how he garment Bhould have lmpivr.M'il INolf on hU in i ii t In that last liiMant. Then he xx us struck one hist terrific ter-rific bloxv. Kxi'U then, rUM nt the end, he xx as thinking of txxool. CHAPTER XII Another Arrest. O KUiti: ANT KI1.PW discovered O that b.th I'jillis Shipley ami Ky-lie Ky-lie I'aruuHly were missing, at itln.ut the tune I'eter xx as strui;llii Id Krar.kiln's darkened otlice with his unknown assailant. Itx lie's disap-poaraiuo disap-poaraiuo xxas reported by the unry detective xxlioui he had txen the slip. In the country. The d;ppe:ir.uuv of the c'rl xxas discoxered xx hen KiUhiy sent for her In the hope that Panlel I'.ullia nii'M Identify her the woman In blue he had neon In the rector's otmly xxith Kranhlln. "Has she kouc xvlth youui; far-mody far-mody or Is she afraid that I'.ullis uiiitht Identify her?'" pondered the detectixc. He quickly abandoned the latter theory, as he realised she had not knoxxn he intended confronting; con-fronting; her xxlth the politician, lie x as more than ever anxious to find the ni'.sslr. couple xxhen he learned xx hat had happened to I'eter Cardigan. Cardi-gan. The noxeii.-t had been found uucue:o,.:s on tl-.e sidewalk In I':1 T h' ' ' 'VV The Novelist Had Been Found, Unconscious. Un-conscious. front of the Greer building. Nevertheless, Never-theless, It was the following morning morn-ing before Itylie Carmody was located lo-cated at his home, to which he had returned during the night. Kildny was resolved to place the young man under arrest, convinced that his flight had had some connection with Cardigan's Injury. Of course, this meant that Spears was innocent How else account for what obviously had occurred at Franklin's office? Who but the murderer mur-derer would have hurled Cardigan through the window? Certainly that was not Webster Spears, who had been under arrest at the time. Callis Shipley lacked the strength for such a feat. But Itylie Carmody Car-mody He had cot been entirely wrong in his surmises, then. If Kylie Carmody had not given his shadow the slip, things would have I worked out differently, surely. The sergeant was a determined man when he presented himself at the Carmody residence after being Informed that his quarry had returned. re-turned. "I'm sorry," the butler declared. "Mr. Carmody Is ill. He can see no one." "He'll see me," declared Kilday dourly. In his extended palm he exhibited his badge. "Take me to his room." Kylle was sitting up In bed, several sev-eral pillows propped . behind his back. Ilis left eye was discolored and swollen. One arm was bandaged ban-daged above the wrist and the knuckles of the other hand were taped. "Good morning, Sergeant. What brings you here so early In the morning?" "1 guess you know," was the laconic la-conic rejoinder. "You look as though you'd run Into a buzz-saw." Itylie raised his arm, the better to exhibit the bandage. "Had an accident," he explained. "Oh, yeah?" The sergeant grinned mirthlessly. "An accident, eh? Automobile, Au-tomobile, I suppose?" "Yes, I skidded on some loose gravel, and " "This xvas while you were trying to give my man the slip yesterday afternoon?" ' Tho young ,,, pretended i,t ( luidoi-.Miind. The serKe,iht Ketllcd lilmsoir In a eoiuroilabhi ehulr beMdo llui he.l "'d "Kbled a clyar. "So you gave Iho Nllp, did you?" Uo ,,,.,, a time, or two. "Well. I won't deny oii kept half a ,o.on men busy !at night, try Inn t n.itl you. Caused ' a lot r l rouble. i;ut j .., ''""Plain. You've helped us a lot In the solution f tho murder." "Hejpod you? lo yu mean to n;v you'xe caught tho niuiderer?' "1 can lay my lunula on him, any I line I please," Klblay asserted. "I know who bo Is, where ho Is and xx hat ho did last night. It Isn't a mystery any more." Young Carmody relaxed against Iho pillows. "1 suppose It's time to cheer," he said. "Hut what has last night got to do with It?" "You ought to know." Kllday's eyes never left the, young mail's face. ".Me?" "You killed .llin Franklin." At Hist Kylle smiled. "You have a tpieer Idea of humor," he said. Then he sat up straight. "Say, are ou serious? lo you think I why, man, you're out of your head!" "You think so?" The sergeant xvas elaborately casual. "Crazy Idea, eh? "Listen, It Isn't half as crazy ns lhat story you Just told me about an auto accident. I know xvhero you got that black eye. 1 know xvhero those bruises came from. And you weren't even In an automobile, young felloxv. The things I know-are know-are going to send you to the chair." Kilday edged forxvard, the hard j lines of his face no harder than the bleak stare of his eyes. "I xvas on to you from the llrst. If Cardigan Cardi-gan had listened to mo, then, he'd j be here xvlth me today, Instead of where he Is.. Hut you're not going to pull the xvool oxer my eyes any more. "You killed Jim Franklin. Whether Wheth-er you did It to prevent him from , marrying your sister, nfter every-. every-. thing else had failed, or for another I reason. We'll discuss that later, j We know you quarreled xvlth 111 in In the study of the church, xvltliin a half-hour of the time he was murdered. We know that Webster Spears told you nbout Choo Choo Train that very afternoon, at lunch. Sp.-ars Is under arrest. He admits he told you, In the bojie that you would st"i the wedding. lie even admitted, this morning, that he xvas the author of that anonymous anony-mous message your father received, lie admits everything except the murder itself, and the phone call to Choo Choo Train. I'erhaps that was your xvnrk. Oh, Spears has tried to protect you, but he won't any longer. Spears has talked, and he'll keep ou talking." "Webster Spears?" Ilylie's tone xvas Incredulous. "Old he say that?'' "It doesn't really matter what Spears says." Kilday brushed aside the Interruption with an impatient wave of the hand. "We've got the goods on you, anyway. After your quarrel with Franklin you returned to the study, entering by the rear door, so that you wouldn't be observed. ob-served. He xxas standing In the sacristy door, with his back toward you. i'ou seized the knife that xvas hanging on the wall and stabbed him twice. Tlien you locked the door, wiped the blade off on the .curtain and replaced the knife in its sheath,, first being careful to obliterate oblit-erate your Cnger-prints on the handle. "Franklin had a revolver in his pocket and attempted to draxv It, during the struggle. You wiped It clean of finger-prints, too, and then thought of leaving Franklin's own thumb-mark on the weapon. You pressed It Into the dead man's hand, then flung It Into the bushes of the garden, In the rear. After that you left the way you had come, but you couldn't go Into the church because you had not had time to dress for the wedding. You xvere still In tweeds. So you crossed the street and waited in your car until after the crime was discovered. discov-ered. "You have already told us what you did then. After taking Callis Shipley home, you returned to the church. You knew FTanklin had been murdered. To protect yourself, your-self, you first said that the girl had told you. You knew she couldn't know Franklin was dead unless she xvas implicated In the affair. When you saw you were trapped, you tried to wriggle out of it, and the girl tried to help you. I don't knoxv. It might have worked If It had not been for last night." "Last night?" Rylle Carmody stared fixedly at the detective. "You keep coming back to that. What about last night?" "You want me to tell you, eh?' Kilday's gaze never xvavered from the youth's face. "You were suddenly sud-denly in' My anxious to escape the man who was following you, last ni'dit weren't you? Because you had something to do that would bear watching. "You were afraid there was something In Franklin's apartment that might identify you . with the crime You hadn't an opportunity to do it before, because we were watching you. You realized you were under suspicion. That heightened height-ened your anxiety and made you all the more eager to destroy that evidence, if it were in the apart-tnent. apart-tnent. "So last night you made up your mind not to wait any longer. You decided to shake the detective and Inkn your chances with Fletcher. Ami that's what you did. You had u lucky brenk when Fletcher went out for a couplo of hours. Hut you couldn't find what you went after Iheio and decided Franklin bad kept It at his olllee. "I don't know xvhat you were after-yet. lint I'll llnd out. l'robnhly N " evidence that connected this Shipley Klrl wilb the case. Or perhaps It conneclod you, or even young Spears xvllli tho crime. At any rate, Ihal's where Cardigan outguessed out-guessed us holh. II'h too bad I didn't have more oonlldonoe In him. If 1 had, I'd have been xvllli him last night, and he would be here, right now. Next lime, I'll play bis huiieli, If there ever Is a next time." Tho detective scoxvled. "I don't understand how you caught him so completely olT his balance, lie was armed. But somehow or other you did. And In the struggle which followed, fol-lowed, you knocked hi ill out of the xvlmlow. Hut not," he paused to glance significantly nt Itylle's bandages, ban-dages, "not before he had put up an awful struggle. lie left his mark on you. "You gave our detective the slip. Why? Because you couldn't afTord to be observed when you went to Franklin's apartment and office. You knocked Cardigan through the window, win-dow, but not before ho had left his mark on you. This accident story won't get you anyxvhere, Carmody." "Suppose," replied the boy soberly, sober-ly, "that I can prove there really xvas an accident V" "I'o you have witnesses?" "Not eye-witnesses, but I can produco the wrecked car. That should be pretty strong circumstantial circumstan-tial evidence, as you call It." Kilday puffed thoughtfully. "The wrecked car, eh? What time was this wreck?" "About eight-thirty, or perhaps a quarter to nine, ou a gravel road about ten miles from Westport." "Where did you go? What did you do? How did you get back to town? What time was It then?" The sergeant shot his questions with .staccato rapidity. "I xvas stunned. I guess It was this bloxv on the head that did It." Itylie lingered the discolored eye gently. "I don't know how long I xvas 'out' It xvas quite dark, I remember. re-member. The car had overturned and I had been thrown clear. I didn't realize, at first, that I had been unconscious. Then I looked at my watch. It was nine-thirty. That worried me, because I was supposed to meet some one nt nine. And the last thing I remembered before the accident, I had had plenty of time. "There xvas a farmhouse up the road about half a mile. I could see the lights. So I limped up there and asked for help. I telephoned West-port West-port from there and got a car. Then I returnei home." "What time xvas It when you reached the farmhouse?" "I don't knoxv, exactly. It might have been about ten. JCot much later, I'm sure." The sergeant smiled a slow unpleasant un-pleasant sort of smile in which there xvas no trace of mirth. "Pretty clever, Carmody, but it won't work. It xvas somewhere arouud four o'clock when you started for the country. About four-forty-five you lost the man xvho was following you. The accident occurred nearly four hours later, within thirty miles of the spot where you were last seen. It didn't take four hours to travel thirty miles not at the rate you were going. Where were you all that time? What were you doing?" do-ing?" Rylle hesitated. "I was Just going go-ing for a ride. I wasn't going anywhere any-where In particular." "You said you had an appointment appoint-ment at nine. With whom?" "That doesn't have anything to do with the ease," the young man replied re-plied slowly. "I merely mentioned it to fix the time of the accident." "You'll have to let me be the Judge of what's Important now," declared de-clared the sergeant gruffly. "Who were you going to meet, and where?" The young man remained silent. "All right," declared Kilday. "I'll tell you. Your engagement was to go to Franklin's apartment. That's why It xvas necessary for you to give my man the shake first. He last saxv you late In the afternoon. There is no record of your movements move-ments between then and the time you claim this accident occurred, near Westport. The fact is, after you had searched Franklin's apartment apart-ment you went to his office, where you had the struggle with Peter Cardigan. Then you became frightened. fright-ened. Y7ou needed some means of acounting for your movements at that time. Besides," the sergeant leaned back and studied his man thoughtfully, "you were badly battered bat-tered In that fight. You xvere going to have to explain those bruises. What better explanation could you find than an automobile accident? (TO BE CONTINUED.) |