Show 1 id ten dwar i a A FREDERIC RIC p F VAN DE WATER C vl 1 v iv vl t rm CHAPTER continued zo 20 when al had left for or his post the captain ceased to fight us and took charge once in he was game ito iio spent the next fifteen minutes setting the stage mentally and physically for lyons entrance the door bells shrill cut him off midway in his final instructions wo we heard annie come down the hall shannon sat behind tho the desk allegra looked out at the sunlight that crept up the arent areas wall and locked her hands tight in her lap to check their trembling cochrane Coch rano stared at nothing with a half smile and lighted a cigarette please said miss agatha and he started and offered her one she lighted it steadily as lyon ferriter entered ile ho checked himself just over the threshold as though our plan were an invisible wall and I 1 felt that his lank body grew tense in the wintry light his face looked paler and thinner but it was as controlled as his voice im sorry to break in on a acon con ference but the hallman said you wished to see me miss paget ilia his eyes questioned each of u us ile he must have read danger in our silence for he looked at me last and longest miss agatha said quite tranquilly S two calls in a day may be an imposition mr ferriter but when I 1 heard you were here I 1 thought it best that you come in P A pleasure he said with a little bow but now he ha watched shannon 1 I was just getting some things my sister needs the silence stretched each second shannon asked and your sister mr ferriter Ferr lter how flow Is she ill III lyon replied quite again the pauso pause was hard to bear shannon cleared his throat mr ferriter Ferr lter ive found out who killed your visitor lyon might have been bronze at last ho he said in the first place im not aware that he was my visitor in the second secand ond place if this Is to be a police questioning I 1 must ask permission to call my lawyer sure shannon said and shoved the desk phone toward him tell him to meet us at the babylon and that im on my way up to arrest zone lone ferriter Ferr lter that name caught lyon halfway half hau way 11 cross across the floor and stopped him 1 he 10 stared at shannon glanced at mo me and then smiled lone he asked lightly arrest her arrest her shannon repeated for murder im sorry to break it to you so sharply mr ferriter Ferr lter he made no further movement toward the telephone but stood look ing hard at the policeman what rot roil the captain pushed back his chair no he said shall we go on up surely lyon began and then his bis bluff broke you ashes 1 I tell you you cant possibly think sho she had anything the pain in his voice rang true shannon cut him off 1 I better give you the usual warning about whatever you say being used against you im not sure whether youre accessory or not ho he paused I 1 was watching lyons hands they hung at his sides rigidly still shannon went on and I 1 admired the confidence in his voice she knifed this guy tor for reasons of her own then she came out into the hau hall yonder and hollered 1 I see said lyon and swallowed the knife listen shannon answered if I 1 so eo certain id not be telling you the next night after the murder tills this mallory here bumped into her in the basement hallway in the dark lyons eyes touched mine for a split second then they returned to S shannon h onnon I 1 saw his hands clench and instantly hang lax again his voice was amused 1 I see he recognized her in the dark shannon shook his head immune to irony no he knew it was a woman all but a taxi driver saw her come out of the basement she got into his cab heres his affidavit care to read it he offered the paper cothrane Cosh rane had set down at his dictation ly lyon on half reached for it drew back and shook his head im not interested he said carefully its a mistake my sister was at the babylon all that evening 1 I dont know now shannon went or on with narrowed nai nat rowed eyes whether you really think so or not ferri ter she she called at mr majory MaU Mal lorys ory boarding house mrs shaw the landlady identifies her too right after that struggle in the basement she went to see him all of which lyon began and coughed I 1 berkel par for an instant I 1 thought I 1 heard in his voice a trace of that foreign speech that had come to me twice before it was not there when he resumed you overlook the fact that my sister has been cleared one of the hall boyc boys saw caw her come in just be for hoa hes downstairs now shannon said and hes confessed ile ho never saw aw her at all ile he said laid he did it because he want to get a lady into trouble your sister lister lone killed that man whether its lt news new to you or not sho she then dropped the knife down tho the elevator shaft and screamed shall we get on uptown this time he rose but lyon did not stir and I 1 saw flaw tho gloss of sweat on his leathery face 1 I see bee ho he said with an ugly laugh A sort of social third degree ch by all menns means captain lets go eo uptown id like to hear you toll that story in court shannona Sh annons voice was more silky than I 1 had thought it could be now mr ferriter Ferr lter it purred 1 I been asking you ive been telling you miss agatha spoke so quietly that I 1 wondered whether lyon felt the edge of her words 1 I asked captain shannon to ton tell you what ho he knows mr forriter Ferr lter you were so considerate this morning that I 1 believed you would rather be prepared before the arrest there will be ho fie replied with an ugly defiance no arrest no ila P I 1 7 4 no lie ho knew it was A woman all doubt lone it if it were she could explain her presence in the basement she wont need to shannon said quietly yul etly because it has been proved she went down there to get the knife that killed your visitor whose name cochrane said dreamily was just possibly horstman eh lyon could control his spare exterior ile he could not manage his heart color came into his face you see shannon pressed on lone ferriter Ferr lter dropped something in the basement that night he lifted the handkerchief from the knife upon the desk the distant sound of traffic came into the still room lyon did not move but ebbing color left his bis face a greenish gray shannon said her fingerprints are on the handle theres blood on the blade and after another long moment in which lyon never stirred added weve got tier her ferriter Ferrit cr she killed him As for her alibi he picked up the telephone and said hoyt come up here down in the morello I 1 heard the shaft door clang the moan of the elevator blew through the room like 1 rising wind lyon said thickly lone had nothing to do with it he paused and then added 1 I killed him the thrill it should have brought was oddly missing I 1 looked at lyon with vague disappointment it should have been more dramatic than that miss agatha said this Is of course a rather belated but chivalrous attempt to save your sister P the doorbell rang shannon called to annie tell him to walt wait lyon said to the old lady as though there had been no interruption she is not my sister she is my daughter ive wondered said miss agatha at last breaking the silence the man went on and as emotion relaxed his pose the guttural tone I 1 had heard first over the telephone grew beneath his accustomed speech and at last dominated it this is my confession you can write it down captain the man that I 1 killed had done my daughter much wrong I 1 thought him dead he paused cochrane asked in a blizzard in alaska adaska that blind shot got lyon knocking his reserve away breaking for an instant his bis self control he gaped at his mild questioner and struggled for speech jerry drove his attack home still gently with a bullet through his chest are arc you the devil lyon blurted and the thick sound of his tortured voice seemed to chock him he caught hold of himself turned from Co cochrane and said to shannon in his old easy manner do you mind very much if we chont go into that id like to keep my daughter out of trouble T that t Is the purpose of my confession sho she married my cousin and hers her lyon ferriter and went to alaska lyon shannon repeated and gaped the lean man frowned if you please he objected and went on she married lyon ferri ter lie ile had been my partner in vaudeville wo we are Bohem bohemians ians by birth I 1 thought she would bo be happy site she was not forriter abused her I 1 followed them to alaska all that she had written mo me was true and more ile ho was malting making her pose as his sister with all that implied farriter had got hold of the story oi of a lost gold strike in ile he and she and I 1 went prospecting for it wo iva found it and lost ferriter 11 I 1 thought of the bullet scars on tho the dead ann and held my peace the slayer of lyon ferriter went on 1 I had gone there to take his wife my daughter away ile ho wore it a beard and I 1 grew one that winter after his death wo we looked alike clean shaven and more so BO bearded wo we come camo back to the states lyon ferriter and sister my brother a student but a weakling had changed his name during the war ile he was no longer emil horstman but everott everett ferri farrl ter now mow I 1 was no longer andreas horstman but lyon I 1 had enough for comfort we were happy I 1 believed my daughter would make a good marriage when your nephew came of ago age lie ho bowed precisely toward miss agatha as though ho he had complimented her and pursued last monday my cousin whom I 1 thought dead hailed me on tho the street lie ho had my arm before I 1 saw him there was nothing elso else to do I 1 brought him to my not flat thero there was no one in the holl hall and we walked upstairs we talked a long while lie he paused and seemed od to look back with critical eyes upon that interview shannon bent over his writing I 1 saw tho the quick rise and tall fall of Allo gras breath and the hawk look on her aunts face lyon was greedy andreas horstman said at last 1 I offered oddred him all the money he Ile wanted it and lone ione she was still his wife I 1 ordered him out at last lie he refused to go then I 1 lost my temper I 1 called tho the police and ho he drew his knife and again I 1 killed him thir time permanently I 1 think ills his face moved with a ghost of his whimsical smile he shrugged and said the rest you have found out how I 1 hid the knife in the basement and how lone ione found her husband how she went back to the cellar to save her father and pot got the knife only to drop it when mr mallory came upon her how she lost her head and went to his room how everett and I 1 both bungled our last effort to find it and everett killed himself because he feared death too much to live longer outside of trying to help the father she loves my daughter had nothing to do with this I 1 tell you not a thing si iannon started to speak but coo cochranee cochranes Coch aranos ranes query forestalled him all right he crooned you killed him now how did you get out after ward for an instant lyon did not seem to understand then an odd I 1 expression crossed his face oh ho ho he exclaimed softly something Is still a mystery eha eh you know so much I 1 thought you had read it all it was simple let me show you he took a step backward and and glanced about the room suppose the divan behind which lyons lyona body lay was waa there our eyes followed the pointing finger the door said horstman turning toward it with a smile would then be here he leaped it slammed behind him like its echo we heard the front door close I 1 was quick but shannon was quicker he was at my elbow as I 1 pulled the workroom portal open ile he was past me and through the hall door before I 1 reached it where he was barking at hoyt who stood in the open doorway of the waiting car eddie gab bled downstairs on foot he fell I 1 think shook the hull elevator he all shannon roared down the shaft here his aid replied from below I 1 stop him shouted the captain and plunged down the stairs I 1 jumped tor for the car basement I 1 muttered to eddie who jerked his lever I 1 was waa thinking too hard to bear his questions the knife had been hidden in the basement somehow the murderer had left it there unperceived before ile he might be taking that mysterious route thither again shannon beat us to the foyer As we slid past its closed door I 1 could hear bear him yapping like a thwarted terrier he came down and I 1 followed him if youve let him got get by ill I 1 heard beard once again the voice the real voice of him we had known us as lyon ferriter it filled the shaft with a fearful sound suddenly ended the car lurched TO ite CONTINUED |