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Show P" The Mert ifT-on. ifT-on. th.e Dead Mans Chest Raymond "I see," said the lieutenant. "When do you want me to call?" "Now, if you can." "I can." He called the captain's chauffeur and was driven to the hotel. A development de-velopment with its origin in a volunteer volun-teer appearance of Maisie gave his imagination a lively turn. At his ring of the bell the door was opened by a handsome woman of early middle age. "Lieutenant Stanton? Come In. Take off your overcoat. That chair by the table Is comfortable. There are cigarettes at your side." She lighted one herself. "As I told you, I am Maisie. That partly explains Itself to you, I imagine." im-agine." "Partly," said the lieutenant. "Enough to bring me here in a hurry. I've a good many things to ask you. You're a long-overdue person." "I suppose, but I have some things I want to tell you first." Stanton, looking at her, thought he saw a woman of good mind and experience. expe-rience. The freshness of her good looks had passed, but she had not tried to reclaim it with cosmetics. Consequently she still was good-looking. "Why did you write that letter to Clayton?" Stanton asked. "I didn't," said Maisie, "and that's the beginning of my deciding to talk to you. My late husband, Arthur Buck Trembly, wrote that letter. Arthur's only period In the penitentiary was for not writing another person's signature signa-ture quite well enough. It taught him to do it better when he did it at all. It was too good for poor Dunn. I couldn't be sure from reading the newspapers whether you had the pleasure pleas-ure of meeting Buck that night." "I did," said Stanton. "He gave me the narrative of what happened." "Smooth, didn't you think?" "Very. Did he shoot Dunn?" "I never knew," she said. "I think not. He put him there. He had some one to do the rest. What do you think?" "I'll never be certain. I knew Dunn. He didn't need much of a chance, but I guess he wasn't given even that." "No, he wasn't. They used me and Dunn's affection for me to kill him. He was the only square one In the outfit. He was the only .one Turner They got Roberts!' the lieutenant exclaimed. "I thought he'd get clear, for a time at least." "I suppose they got him. All I know is that when Ashley telegraphed me to come to Chicago he said that Roberts had died In San Francisco. How could I know? It might have been heart disease, an automobile or something else. It didn't make any noise, did It? No police stuff?" "Nothing," said the lieutenant. "You see, this has been a panic from the beginning. You know what I mean. Like people smelling smoke in a theater and sitting there wondering If they can trust one another not to break for the exit. Then all of a sudden sud-den they all break because each thinks the other is going to. You understand what I mean? A panic. These fellows fel-lows could have gone along with what they had. Thirty thousand Isn't so bad, but they couldn't trust one another, an-other, none except Dunn Clayton. He was the white man. He was also the most dangerous one. That's why he was the first to go when the instinct of self-preservation got to working. A panic, and Blair and Buck got the jump on the others." "Did your husband talk to you about it?" Stanton asked. "Not In so many words. He didn't say he was going hunting for them. He harped on what the others were likely to do. Either nervous or alibiing alibi-ing himself. Talked about getting away to some out-of-the-way place in Europe where the mere appearance of any of the other five would make a .case of self-defense If you shot him on sight. I could see Buck living In an out-of-the-way place In Europe. And I told him if he was going to kill anyone in that kind of self-defense he'd better do his stuff In the United States, where they understood it. Imagine Im-agine the gendarme patting a boy on the back who had just popped off an innocent visitor in their midst. Buck decided to be true to his own Institutions." Institu-tions." "You and Buck were not living In Chicago?" "Oh, my lord, no. In New York. We knew Dunn was here. It was Buck's excuse that he had to see some men here and then we'd go on to Miami. He knew Brown fished and hunted from the Lac Vieux Desert lodge." "The other three were In Europe?" "They were not. They had been, but they had come back to New York. That's what started the panic." "In September?" "Lord, no. Back in mid-August." "I'm too credulous," said the lieutenant. lieu-tenant. "I'm childlike." "Maybe," said the lady. "Any one who believed any of them, except Dunn, on anything, would be. Buck had me completely deceived In coming com-ing out here. You can see plainly afterward, but I didn't know then that the panic was on. Dunn, of course, didn't know that It was, but the others always were afraid of him. I suppose the plot in their minds was this If Dunn Clayton saw that it was winners win-ners take all and coffins for the losers, they were all gone. Blair and Ashley must have had the same idea. They followed us out here. We weren't hard to find. We were registered at the Sherman. What was the night Dunn was killed? Saturday, wasn't it?" "September 29," said the lieutenant. "Well, call it Saturday or Sunday morning. It was about one o'clock if JUL Pprr CHAPTER X Continued 12 A sergeant came to the door to say that the bureau had sent over two men. "Bring them in," said the state's attorney. at-torney. Blair and Ashley were handcuffed to each other when they were brought in with a policeman at each side of them. "That isn't necessary," Stanton exclaimed. ex-claimed. "Take those cuffs off them, you men, and you can wait outside." "That's a good scout, Lieutenant," said Ashley. "I didn't like the d n things, not with Blair on the other end ; not at all, anyway." Blair scowled and then forced an expression of boredom and indifference. indiffer-ence. "This is the state's attorney, gentlemen. gentle-men. The big boy is Mr. Blair. He took the lanterns away. The smiling lad Is Mr. Ashley. Blair, I'm quite convinced, is a murderer. Ashley may be. And here we are and what to do? Their present police status is that of vags." "We can ask the sheriff up in Vilas county If he cares for Mr. Blair," said the state's attorney. "Horde, go see If you can get him on the wire. Tell him we are holding a suspect with some strong circumstantial evidence." The state's attorney looked the two men over for a moment of cool silence which was intended to be minatory and which was not. Blair stared at him and then laughed. The laugh was short and derisive. It could be taken In any trade of opinion as an insult. Ashley was cheerily Interested. "What are you fellows doing?" the state's attorney asked. "What's your reason for being in Chicago?" "Ask the lieutenant," said Ashley. "He's detaining us. We were traveling. travel-ing. He said something about giving Roberts a break. We don't crave Roberts' Rob-erts' company, Lieutenant. He isn't very Interesting, not for hours at a time. You ought to have found that out last night." "Why did you send that fat 'man up to our room in the Palatine?" Stanton asked. "That's a sensible question," said Ashley. "Not insinuating that your question wasn't, Mr. State's Attorney. But the lieutenant's question is highly high-ly reasonable. Why did we send a fat man up to your room? That assumes that we did. Don't you know we went to New York?" "You started for New York." "And none of the dicks told you we didn't get there. You'll often find them that way. Sometimes they don't like to admit they were outsmarted, and sometimes they are indifferent to such cases. We decided to travel and got off the train. It wasn't going in the right direction. We wanted to go north and west. It was going south. It was my Idea to send the fat man up to your room. Blair didn't think much of it. I don't myself now. I wouldn't have you Judge me by it, Lieutenant." Lieu-tenant." Ashley's smile was Intended to be deprecatory. "I thought it would be fun to flutter Roberts and start him In motion. I knew he must be with you. He changed your room, didn't he? He shouldn't be so fluttery, but sometimes he Is. But don't rate him as a coward. cow-ard. He has as good nerve as the next man, but he has his ruthers. Some things he doesn't like. He doesn't like heights. Neither does Blair. They don't bother me at all. Now, scorpions don't bother Roberts and Blair at all, and they panic me. That's a tip for you. Lieutenant. Introduce In-troduce a scorpion, and I'll climb a wall. I suppose you know we were a bit confused as to your room. I thought you'd make inquiries. Well, no harm done. Just some good-natured fun. Did Roberts say where he was going? We thought maybe he would go to San Francisco and take a boat. We might run Into him. We're going out to the coast. "Does Mr. State's Attorney want to ask any more questions? I may have seemed to cut him off. I didn't Intend In-tend to." "Blair, Where's Maisie?" the lieutenant lieu-tenant asked. "Now you've got him on a sore spot," said Ashley. "He doesn't want to know. That's why we re traveling. Maisie, you know, was Mrs. Trembly, and her husband was killed in an automobile auto-mobile accident. You knew that. You said something about the lights not being In place t a dangerous piece of bridge construction." Horde came in the room. "The sheriff thinks it would he use-i use-i less to hold i:he man for them to come after," he said. "He says they couldn't make a e.ise. He says the chances are a hundred to one no one would identify iden-tify him as having been in the county, coun-ty, and If they did, how would that prove he took the lights out? There's the farmer's story that they were taken away and put back. As he sees it, that doesn't make a case, and it Isn't worth the expense of trying to make anything of it and then having nothing. They're content to let it go as reckless driving with fatal results unless better evidence turns up." "That's all right with this office," said the state's attorney. "I think they are right, don't you Stanton?" "I suppose they are," said the lieutenant. lieu-tenant. "Blair, of course, did it. He doesn't have to say he did, but outside out-side a courtroom no one would have any doubts." "And you think they will kill Roberts?" Rob-erts?" "I'm not so sure. They'll try to, but Roberts isn't helpless and he may take them to get rid of his dread of them. A tip you're welcome to." "It would astonish me if he tried to," said Ashley. "He knows we are his friends." "Mr. Blair does not say anything," said the state's attorney. "And why should I? I'll be glad when you are tired of this." "There's no use keeping them, Stanton. Stan-ton. We can't charge them, and it's foolishness to hold them merely to make them get a writ. Turn them loose." "Gentlemen," said Stanton, "you're loose again. If I were you I'd take care of Roberts' health or allow him to cherish it himself. I've given him the advantage of this little interruption. interrup-tion. Take It as a suggestion to let him alone. I'll have you safely conducted con-ducted to the street. I'd not seek another way of coming in here again, if advice is admissible." "We welcome it, Lieutenant," said Ashley. "Blair, we, have the air again. Adios, gentlemen. We'll give your regards to Roberts. Adios." CHAPTER XI Maisie Two days later Stanton had another telegram from Roberts, sent from Salt Lake City and, as before, through the state's attorney's office. "So far so good," it read. "Thought you might like to know. I'll wire you before I take the final jump-off." Stanton wished he could send him a warning. He still reasoned that the situation rationalized itself only for incredulity or the most thoroughgoing skepticism, but nevertheless three killings kill-ings had to be conceded and the survivors sur-vivors of the group were not of gentler nurture and character than the three who were dead. It might be that the incentive was less, the deaths having doubled the income of the living, and the risks were greater. With everything reasoned Stanton found he still considered Roberts In danger. He could not warn him to avoid San Francisco. He might warn him to be careful. A telegram sent in care of the telegraph company had an outside chance of reaching him, a small one but a chance. After writing several drafts, trying not to alarm Roberts too much and yet to put him on guard, the lieutenant lieuten-ant accepted as the best he could do and sent a telegram reading: "B. and A. were held a few hours here. They are traveling west. They spoke of San Francisco." A week later the lieutenant had a telegram from Roberts: "Adios, Amico. Good luck. All set for the big jump. A new life and a merry one. No more from me. Buenos noctes. R." Stanton could not know whether his own telegram had been received or not. Nothing more was heard from Roberts. A week and then another went by. The Turner case evidently had been folded up and filed away. Stanton wrote to Mr. Darling and to t lie young Mr. Turner. The old gentleman in his reply said he had not received a letter from Roberts Rob-erts and did not as yet know where to send his December check. He presumed pre-sumed that in good time he would be Informed. In a few weeks more the routine of police work had put the Turner will case even further in the background, although Stanton expected that some day in some fashion some phase of the affair would recur. The recurrence came with a telephone tele-phone call the afternoon of January 7, getting the lieutenant at his desk. It was a woman's voice, and she, finding find-ing that she was talking to the lieutenant, lieu-tenant, gave the Impression of being uncertain how best to get to what she wanted to say. "I am about to ask you to call on me." was what she did say after the Instant of hesitation. ""os," said the lieutenant. "1 am at the Drake," she said. "My room is elght-eighteen." "Why do you want to see me?" Stanton asked. "I am Mrs. Arthur Trembly," she said. "I am Maisie. It is In that con- j nection." j "When You're Thirty-five You're Looking at the Sunset." had no business including In the will. Dunn and I were on the square. He was square, and I had to be. He would come to me anywhere If he got a note like that and believed it was from me. He probably thought I needed him. When Buck came In Dunn could suspect almost anything, except probably that I had not written the note. I'll not believe he could have thought that I had betrayed him. I'll not believe it. I suppose he sat there quietly awaiting the next move and planning his own. He had no chance." "Your husband," said Stanton. "Buck. It wasn't jealousy?" "Not a chance. He was one of two people who knew I hadn't written the letter. I was the other." "But his trick got a rise." "He knew it would, but he knew Dunn was square. And jealous? Stanton, Stan-ton, if I could laugh I would. My tender Buck was not of a jealous nature. na-ture. I don't know why he didn't tell me to chase myself and get a divorce. And I don't know why I didn't do it without being told. Still we got along. You know. It was what they call respectable. re-spectable. An old hen would rather be in out of the rain. When you're tiiiriy-five you're looking at the sunset. sun-set. Most women think they are before be-fore that. No, it was this will. I'll tell you what It was. It was a panic." "Is Ashley in town?" the lieutenant asked. "Yes, dear little Howard himself." "And Blair?" "That I don't know. I'd presume so if Roberts were alive, but with him dead I can't tell. Howard will tell me." when the telephone In my room rang, and it was Blair calling. He asked If he could come up. I said certainly not. He said It was Important. I'd better see him at the door anyway. It was about Dunn, he said. Something Some-thing scared me. You know how a quality gets into the voice. I told him to come up. When I opened the door he stood in the hall and said that Dunn had been killed In the Dutch Mill. He didn't need then to tell me Buck had been there. He said Buck had been held by the police for a while and then had gone away." "That's where I was taking a hand without knowing what I was doing," said the lieutenant. "Well, I guess It didn't make much difference, except mix the sequences a little." "Blair said that Buck had killed Dunn and wanted to know where he had gone. He'd made a getaway, Blair said, and he wanted to know where I was to join Buck. Well, he had killed Dunn. I didn't know then that what Dunn thought was a letter from me had brought him there. I guess that wasn't necessary. Blair was looking eagerly at me. I didn't really know if Buck had gone anywhere, any-where, hut I thought of Preston Brown at Lac Vieux Desert. Try Lac Vieux Desert, I told him. Brown's there, I said, and Buck may go there. "That's what I wanted to tell you." she continued. "You may have known something of it, but I sent Blair to Lac Vieux Desert, and I wanted him, If he could, to kill Buck. I didn't know that he would find him. If the panic was on I knew the one I wanted killed after what had happened at the Dutch Mill. You'll ask why I'm telling tell-ing this now. That's what you're thinking." (TO BE CONTINUED.) |