| Show FT he MAY MA DAY E fal M M IV M AY MYSTERY MY by y OCTAVUS ROY COHEN by at roy ch CHAPTER V 6 ifal tp town of marlund marland spread fanlike n like from the foot of the hill bill on which stand the buildings of the university oak street some three miles from the university Is the chief shopping chopping center of Mn marland archer street carries the traffic load it runs cast and west weal at tile the four corners which mark the intersection of oak and archer there are two gas filling stations and two drug stores the latter however open on oak street and next to one of them one door from the corner facing archer street and west of oak Is the snug little gray stone home of the bl marland urland national bank back the marland national nil bears an enviable reputation it Is small but staunch and on its roster of directors one will find names which carry great weight even in the city of a quarter million which exists twenty miles away it Is spoken of boastfully by natives of marland and randolph flake its president Is a real power in the community this the morning of may third candolph Kan Ita dolph tidolph flake sat eat at tits his leak desk in the office which was marked president private Irl vate ile he was a tall well proportioned man efty eight years of age whose hair snatched mat clied the gray of his fits bank building lie ile had bad a fine broad f fore 0 liend and iron gray brows browa from be ne nafi which a pair of keen eyes peered in a manner which gave an impression of unimpeachable efficiency lie ile was gazing attentively at a tiny bit of pasteboard there was printing on its surface printing not ein bossIng it s said ald simply james jamea H hanvey bankers prot protective e active mr flakes fiskes eye roved to a yellow telegram which had arrived two days previously from new york it was from hend headquarters quarters of tile the hankers bankers protective association and was very explicit our best eat operative arrives marland morning may third mr fishe heaved A sw sign ot at relief as tie fie prepared to a very ineat gr pat burden to the shoulders of another manone man inui ione one professionally equipped to hear bear such burdens he fie looked up tit at miss seward show mr air linnsey in please 11 miss alias seward put out a bony liand hand which trembled tremble in protest aurely i air flake fiske not ii 0 t that ma maul i I 1 the tho the terrible person who gave me that card falske frowned 1 I 1 dont understand miss seward tills man Is a grent great detective Th theres cres it mistake mr air fiske ilias rh Is person detect any thing im very sure of tant just walt it until you see him she vanished in triumph and randolph flake stared after her what in the hie world I 1 then lie he smiled at least she had find prepared him film for n somewhat uncouth person probably a squat gentleman with a brown derby square toed shoos shoes a checkered vest and a dimes worth of chewing tobacco queer how these detective chaps chais al a ways dressed so that thal there was no alsta their profession unit saw the dzur dofer 01 awang M open then it closed and mr hir make wits rendered inarticulate jim wits was everything in the world which one la Is bulte sure a detective should not lie be ills his two fit hundred indreI nuil sixty pounds of avoirdupois was distributed with heavily inartistic effect 11 babbled wali bled when lie he moved move and he fie seemed to move with vast reluctance but it was the liend head which rose above triple chins that tilled ilan dolph F elske take with awe the race face ans wn huge and round and u utterly expressionless randoph llan doph fiske was quite sure that never before in ills his life had he seen been a human countenance teri ance so utterly devold devoid of intelligence li Il gence it was yes by george 1 it 11 was the eyell round little eyes which were ns as vacant tind colorless as lie arbs orbs 1 h of a fishl the mass of llesh flesh stood in the doorway fiske knew he fie wits breathing he could tell that by the met that a rather remarkable contraption trap tion which appeared appen red in the lie neighborhood of jim Ilat iveys prodigious tummy kept moving rhythmically flake kept his eyes on that flint particular apparatus it hung from a haw watch chain and was alm aim liar lar to nothing which the banker lind had ever before set eyes upon it was long and slim and seemed to be made of gold then without warning the silence lence was punctured by a sleepy voice its a toothpick mr air fiske auhl the hanker jerked him self together wh weats a tooth pick 71 tills this hanvey touched the trin ket affectionately and detached it front from his chain Swell est piece of loonry ive got A crook friend gave it to roe me its solid gold eighteen THE STORY FROM THE BEGIr BEGINNING INING antoinette peyton senior at the university n ity i of 0 bl arland refi regents lentO paterson thaders Th ayers attentions to ivy welch seve n teen year old coed and there Is in a stormy scene the tension being increased by wax max vernon a nother another student reproaching ivy for or breaking a date with him thayer and vernon threaten each other larry welch watch avys brother professor at the university ver sity to Is appealed to by tony to end his slaters sisters friendship with thayer welch and tony peyton are in love tony tells him she Is married to thayer but to Is his wife only in name larry determines to end thaders Th ayers association with ivy tony persuades him to wait until she has appealed to her husband she d does oe it so visiting him at a fraternity house tony ends her visit to thayer and departs vernon leaves the house bouse almost immediately afterwards welchs appeal to ivy to end her affair with thayer I 1 Is fruitless fie determines to see thayer lie he does so no and after he be leaves carmicino trat frat house bouse janitor finds thayer dead stabbed tn in the throat karat areat Invent invention loh teller feller dont always have hare to be running around hunting toothpicks when hes got one of these look I 1 ile he touched a spring and a riched little blade leaped out at randolph fiske that gentleman gaye gave a perceptible jump it its very very remarkable he murmured flandey re attached the toothpick to the chain the banker was staring and wondering and then the opaque eyes of jim carivey were raised slowly until they met the gaze of the banker hanvey spoke 1 I am kind of tunny funny looking aint 1 I mr air fishe Fl slie sir randolph flake was completely stripped of the poise upon which lie ha prided himself ne did not answer but picked up the slightly soiled card which lay on his leak desk you are james 13 hanvey 7 uh huh in person largely I 1 might say youre the man the n B P A sent down here to investigate the robbery 1 yes air fiske was getting himself under control ile he sought refuge in frankness 1 I imagine my notions actions have been exceedingly discourteous mr uan ilan vey I 1 apologize and only wish to explain that you somewhat startled me you see you tire are not not exactly the sort of detective about which ive read 1 I 1 wish I 1 was breathed hanvey ecstatically gosh I 1 I 1 love mystery stories them tellers fellers sur eare I 1 1 I am kind of funny looking aint mr finite slick I 1 never could alg sic out how they do their tricks another shock for the banker lie blinked anti and you dont work like the detectives tec tives in books golly no I 1 aint slick mr flake elske I 1 dont hardly know any dicks who are lemine tell you something henvey leaned conal denti ally across the desk and tits his sleepy eyes held the attention of the banker sly imy kind of work aint so hard and why suppose I 1 go on a case I 1 start off wrong all right nob odys the wiser and when I 1 flud out im on the wrong track I 1 start again same thing always A detective can ninke make nil all the mistakes in tit ohp world mr bilske hut but it if lie he happens to to do one thing right lie lands the man hes after see yes I 1 see dut but the crook gosh t the poor teller feller got a chance it if lie slips just one time ties hes cat caught ight he ele lias has to do everything right the detective only hns to do one thing right anti and there you are flake lind been studying his vis via aitor ile HB was amazed now to find himself warming to the alie ungainly 1 person e r so n there was an almost simplicity about lin janvey which gave fiske confidence although he told himself that the man was A caricature the II 11 P t wired nie me he said slowly lowly that you are their best operative orera era tive grinned Ilan janvey vey imp lust just been lucky nil vou ape its this way most nil the crooks are my friends find and they dont lie HP to wo so that makes things pretty easy ohp alip banker crooks are your friends I 1 never heard of such H m thing 1 I guess not but cant you see how much euster easier it makes things you say they dont lie to you well the high class crooks dont only the bunis bums good lord lor dl 1 flake elske leaned back bach in his chair and regarded hanvey with wide eyed wonder you are quite the most remarkable man ive 1 ever met and the fattest for the first time make smiled and the fattest IIan veys eyes twinkled for a moment ho ele fumbled in the breast pocket of his coat and produced two thin and vicious looking projectiles Us ue extended these toward his companion have billave a cigar flake thanked him and accepted one carivey bit the end from the other held a match to it and inhaled with vast relish I 1 he 3 e blew a cloud of smoke across the room and flake turned startled elesin his direction they are kind of strong said the detective genially some folks like em fishe struggled heroically against the asphyxiating asphyxia ting effect of the violent fumes then they got the better of him slay I 1 open another window he inquired weakly sure be fine hanvey eyed the lie second cigar which lay nn im on the desk aint you going to smoke yours ill try one of my own if you dont mind As the banker moved toward the window jim sighed ue he rescued the unused cigar and tucked it back in his breast pocket with real affection jims cigars berj a a source of perpetual worry he was always afraid that some day some one would smoke one of them F elske ake seated himself again like to hear about the robbery he be asked yeah if you want that what you came for reckon Ile ckon so then why dont you ask me some questions gosh I 1 air fiske how do I 1 know what to ask im waiting for you to tell me and youre waiting until youre sure I 1 escape from some z zoo oo 00 11 randolph make threw back his head and laughed you win hanvey now shoot 11 1 jims face did not change when day before yesterday may first at ten minutes after two how flow much the robber got away with tip ap one hundred thousand dollars in currency esy es y janvey blinked lot of cash for a little bank like this plenty we were ranking making up the pay roll tor for the marland mar land mills they pay on the third stick up tip queried the detective yes tell me all about it it flake rose and invited to follow him they passed from his private office into the bank proper under the amazed eyes of aless helen seward fiske conducted flandey to the front door and gestured to the broad thoroughfare passing east and west that la Is archer street said fiske the north and south street Is oak oak la is a shopping street but archer Is the main traffic artery lots of cars going goin by here all the time you will notice that tills this bank Is the only commercial establishment lish ment on archer street do you follow me easy grunted jim you sure to do talk explicit fiske stepped back into the bank our banking business starts at nine in the morning and stops at two at two dally daily and on saturday at twelve we get rid of our last customer then we con real the interior of the bank ban k by pulling the shades so lie fie stepped behind the open door and pulled a shade which rose up from the bottom of the door the heavy green shade rose along the glass class surface until it was higher than A mans head there are similar curtains on both windows he went on As soon as we get tile the last cu customer tomer out we pull the curtains up and then all of the employees except two or three go out for a bite 0 ot lunch they invariably go out the hack back door that door which Is behind my office opens onto a little alley through which you can pass into oak street day before yesterday the bank was free 0 of custom era ens at two we drew the CU curtains stains and shut the front do doors 0 ra were they locked no they never are we have safety vaults in the basement and they are open until five there ha has a to bo be is some ome wa way y for clients to get into the building we merely shut the doors and draw the curtains to keep our banking clients out I 1 flake turned away but bat janvey examined the door Us he saw that it was equipped on the inside with a heavy spring lock lie ile turned and followed the banker back in fiskes office the lie banker resumed his story hanvey lolled in a chair apparently asleep but occasion occasionally ally his eyes tor for a moment and he regarded the banker gravely before closing them again slay may first was a perfect day said flake warm and sunshiny and almost like summer As ali I 1 said we shut the door and drew the curtains at two sharp so that the interior of the bank was effectually concen concealed led from anyone on the street at the same time everybody went out to lunch except miss seward and myself miss seward Is my secretary she was the one who ho brought you yon in here oh I 1 said flan hanvey veT and then men nice young lady there was no hint of humor in his heavy face but fiske chuckled delightedly efficient and sour he e explained pla ined but mighty loyal 1 I knew she must be so something n 1 ething ng 11 she was behind her de desk s k and I 1 had just gone out to speak with her at about ten minutes after two the front door opened I 1 think anything of it a box holder most likely the man remember what he looked like only vaguely lie ile was slim and quietly dressed he look like a crook crooks never do he walked straight up to the cage where I 1 was talking to miss seward first thing I 1 knew about anything being wrong wits was when miss seward uttered a little shriek I 1 turned around and saw the man was pointing a gun at us the robber was polite mollte but very positive he told us to back into the vault which we have on this floor then he saw me looking toward the electric buttons which we have all over the place they are police signals and he warned me that it if I 1 made a move to touch one hed kill me I 1 bell believed eved him wise man murmured jim lie herded us into the safe and followed us I 1 noticed then for the first time that he carried a little black satchel he stuffed it with all the currency we find in the safe about one hundred thousand dollars and then started back into the bank of course I 1 knew he intended locking miss seward and myself in this happened quickly but it seem quick to us miss seward was crying but he had roamed her not to scream and she the robber moved into the main part of the bank and then he paused and henvey prompted then what 1 harmon Ha burke came back from lunch iles hes the cashier and teller ile he came in the back way what bapp happened ened when he came in plenty said fiske grimly first thing I 1 knew of burkes return was when he and the robber started shooting at each other hanecy made a chuckling noise with his lips this burke must be a real fight in piece of furniture ile he Is though I 1 never suspected it before Is he here yes they had film at the hospital until yesterday evening he was hit in the fleshy part of the leg ile he came hack back this morning 11 make touched the buzzer on his desk and miss seward answered tile the summons ask sir mr burke if hed bed mind stepping in here A few seconds later the lie door opened and a figure entered hr har mon durke burke |
