Show D D V W aa U 5 ZIA pi 91 91 CHAPTER V continued 10 rankin did not consider he was being unduly distrustful in suspect ing alderrick the situation created by mr air jordans will was too significant to be disregarded the temptation it produced perhaps too strong for tile the guardians probity in the cold light of reason it furnished an all powerful motive for tile the boys murder vw for all the detective was aware merrick lind had some borne urgent des need heed for tile the estate and tin dor der these equivocal the nephew lind find actually tied died less than two months before tits his birth duy day immediately however iwankin was confronted co n front td by tile problem of mr air opportunity to commit tile crime suspect in ili turn who was not a member of tit the mu beta sigma presented the same problem it if ns its merrick lie he lind left vandalla tit nt eleven the pro pre cloua morning to come east he be could collid not lot linao been beef in philadelphia tile tuesday night of the murder or be personally responsible for t the lie crime arid and nn an among those who attended the initiation was improbable nearly early rankin must have anve mr air merricks journey and 1118 movel Olits tile past forty eight hours investigated tills this was his conclusion when simpson entered captain thomas Tb oinas office to announce to him film another visitor asking for tho allicer to ili charge or of the university ense well bring him in here simp son It instructed instruct pd alid lets hear what tits his business Is ushered Uslie red into tits ills presence the newcomer was obviously a college man but slightly older than the average undergrad winte twenty sli six thin fe attired nr ar I 1 intel tits blender and pince ciez nc added several more years to his file age 1 I 1 nm am handling this unfortunate affair tile detective introduced himself my aly nnnie name Is rankin what can I 1 do for you mr Illey ward lC kenneth enneth fley ward tile tho stranger informed hini 1 I 1 nil a grut graduato grad unto hinto student in the depart ment of chemistry nt at tile the college you have sonio some information about tills this fraternity bouse mur der inquired were you ou with jordan Jon liin mr iley ward no I 1 was not hut but my reason for coming may lieve sowe some bearing on the crime though I 1 hope not hot the I 1 he newspapers till nu say tle the polson poison used to kill him blu was coil coillie lne iio tile the juice of be hemlock allock conine to Is not euby easy to obtain and it was one of tile the alkaloids with will which I 1 tim nm working tills this morning I 1 measured my epply at the laboratory an and discovered that somo some of it and some atropine ns as well were miss inelss ing 1 rh HIP e detective nodded gratified that the given tile name mime of the poison in the papers find brought the arestil rest ilta a he hoped it would you yon kept it in file chem astry laboratory at tile university he naked acs yes for tuy my specific expert indents heyward replied 1 I 1 see bee anti and for your expert ments you ion have anve in ili your lour workrooms wor krooms a n quantity of alkaloids including conine con lne just it little ut tit once they are anre beldom used anti tile tho department orders them only when required a fe few ounces at 01 n time could conine ile he procured froni from any other departments in the col I 1 leer eg e where tile handling or of client teals Is purt parl of the 1 I doubt it mr iley hoy enri answered that ans how flow I 1 knew anything was ns wrong in the first place I 1 tuy stock this mornIng wIlh lah my chart of if what remained and I 1 was ns shy two grains or of atropine and over oer six drops of tile the hemlock more titan lhnn sulli clent to cause a grea brent iteal deal of da dallinga llinge lian kill com coal inen illen teil ted gri tuly ile he benned across Capt Th thoimas oinas desh ati ls fennii your last chek up mr Iley ward have you tiny idea what giai day they flisak penrod when did abone have anve tile limity to remove II 11 bliem 1 I 1 nm am almost positive I 1 lost them thein day before yesterday esterday on oil tuesday I 1 happened to be experimenting with both poisons und and I 1 weighed them thein in tile the morning before start sta rt ing ina none was as missing then and I 1 inide no mistake about the amounts 1 trica out for my tests fatt fact Is that hint ahng the afternoon I 1 left the laboratory several times for maybe twenty minutes or more the definiteness of the probable date was pleasing the lie tuesday he mentioned was that of the tragedy the theft have bare occurred just juat ns as well yesterday lurlne during your ab absence Berice no because the place it la always under lock und and key heyward replied short of breaking in rind there Is no sign of that it Is in impossible to enter you have the only key to tile the room in the department tho the detec ive inquired oil no roy my adviser professor li harris arris also owns one the young man returned quickly allut tie he ns as sure me tills this morning that tie he lent it to no one and that it was not out ot of hla his possession either tuesday or wednesday voice held field the grave note which usually accompanied an important inquiry alave ilave you any suspicion of the identity of tile the culprit any re reason a to belleve believe he was some bome pa particular artl C poison person heyward shrugged his shoulders carelessly im afraid not mr ital licin hut but almost anyone could havo have sneaked into the laboratory tuesday afternoon and taken the poison who tor for instance was aware you were dealing with a variety of poisons well professor harris of course and the assistant professor in ili organic chemistry mr air nichols Nl chola the visitor reflected a moment then outside the department my mi roommate in the graduate dorms borms frank powell knows of my efforts lie he Is in tile In medical edlen school and yes yea so does ned patterson lie added iwankin remained casual you observe air patterson Int terson nl near a r your workroom on tuesday after noon beginning ailt it negative nod iley wards eyes suddenly widened as tit at tin an unexpected recollection yes I 1 did I 1 I 1 lie he exclaimed in evl evi dent excitement in fact I 1 remember lie was actually in the lab oratory itself while I 1 was out though I 1 I 1 think anything of it about three I 1 went downstairs to consult professor harris rind stayed with him twenty utilities minutes when I 1 returned he was in my room standing by the shelves of chemicals almost as it if tie tin had been meddling with then them I 1 what excuse did he make inake tor for tits presence iwankin asked still unmoved ile he said sald he had merely stopped in to learn how low my research was progressing and not finding me in he tin biad heen been wal waiting iwankin rose to his feet tie he was confident lie he had learned all iley hoy ward could tell nam nil and lie he did not wish to raise the train of spec illation ant and suspicion in his fisl tors mind that tino had already begun in his well whoever was guilty of the tit theft off lie con concluded chided the interview way may lime have left some clue in the laboratory perhaps hla fits finger prints yoi oi taught not have hae tit destroyed them in liand lint tile the hot bot tie he also ponched loii Ion ched anyhow I 1 would like to liae have out our fingerprint finger print expert you iou linck hack to the university and make tin an ex amitia tion of your laboratory and thank you ion for coming with this In fornia tion ile ho did not ladd bidd that one of his fits first tasks after the two then men hild had gone would he be to obtain a sped met men of ned pattersons Patter sons finger prints tit at tile the fraternity house with out ills his cognisance should the search bo be productive they would be ready for purposes tit of compall son sol until III tie he had dished that tile llie sponsor stole the conine it would be premature to sus suspect livel him or of the crime in jilt his ease however lm tir there wa vas s no doubt of his opportunity to commit it lly ily his own jovn statement lie he hall had en ell the initiation chamber at eight thirty having relinquished his position beside jordan on the HIP ex ei cuse of teeing ill III artan nun the seated scaled line of brocht brothers rs behind the pled gees lie he could approach lits his kiil liil intended vic tim more safely to untie his fits wrists particularly was the substitution suspicious in view of his disquiet and anxiety while being interrogated after the tragedy ue had easy access to jordans quarters ile he could therefore have marked all of tits his shoes iwankin was certain that if patterso a killed the boy he had acted for himself and not to aid buckley against whom he had voted as a candidate and whom lie he obviously disliked were they in cahoots buckley ickley lii would not have needed to enter the house at all ulie the real obstacle in making out a case against patterson wits that of motive for ostensibly lie he was jordans friend up till tuesday itself lie he appeared to favor the hoy recommending him film to membership anil and guiding him otherwise unless lie he deliberately masked a 10 longstanding ng I 1 s enmity lie he would have prevented stuart from becoming a it followed then that the cause for hatred it if any existed was of extremely recent origin but what could have happened in the past few days to turn esteem abruptly into murderous fear or hostility groping for an answer rankin recoiled recalled the scene ho he had overheard at tile the morton club when the sponsor explained why he could not pay carl walton his gambling debt something he said had find prevented him from obtaining the money both on tuesday and wean wednesday edday was that something tile the students murder or in some fashion rash lon connected with the motive behind it whether or not this supposition was far fetched fet chod tile incident at least re vented Catter Vatter sous sons desperate need of money anti and the colnel dence of events was remarkable hla his need the theft of the poison and tile the murder were all developments of the same day tuesday so significant was this sequence that iwankin felt it justified further steps against tile the sponsor besides securing tits his finger prints he ought to search his room and belongings at the fraternity possibly he might discover sonie some trace of the missing chein chemicals leals for the present too lie resolved to have patterson watched led and followed there was always the likelihood that some borne of it his Is ft future I 1 tur e actions would be incriminating kenneth Hey wards visit did not ell end d tile the unanticipated occurrences or of the day scarcely had lie he gone with the finger print expert when tile the phone bell rang tb ahe e call came front from the lie dormitory office tit at tile university the detective had no difficulty in ili recognizing over the wire the deep slightly crackling tones of 0 mr 1 thorne home the attendant at the college post office ile he lind hall phoned to apprise iwankin that he was in possession of a letter for stuart jordan I 1 1 I 1 found it just now on sorting the batch of noon mall he stated im holding it for you sir and I 1 waste a minute in ringing you very good of you mr thorne the detective returned ill be out for it this afternoon can you iou tell whether it Is it a personal letter or not well ll ii looks private if what you mean mr air thorne refilled it was walled mailed early yesterday and mr iwankin lie he paused 1 I think I 1 ought to tell you there was a lady here today asking for tits mall too whether vUi ether any anything thing had find come for him voice held a note of wonder A lady to find out about his letters what was slip like quite young poling sir hardly more than twenty tive and viry very attractive was the response and precisely when lid did ane stop in to make tills this inquiry the he detective queried at about ten after id utcy the first niall inell which arrived at nine site she asked kind of anxiously if a letter had come this morning for mr air stuart jordan and when I 1 said none had she looked and worried as if silo she was expecting one she wanted to know what time this text net mall would be sorted then site she thanked tile me nervously and I 1 left eft in a hurry without another word you have no idea I 1 suppose iwankin demanded eagerly who she evns mr air 1 I borne chorne was positive no to tell the truth I 1 was su so surprised fly by tier questions that I 1 gave tier the information she ehe was after arid and slie site went before I 1 hild biad a chance to think it over then the only thing I 1 could do was vs get in touch with you only I 1 evasn t able to get round around to it until this letter arrived ive decided to call for it at once iwankin announced abruptly 1 I his requires immediate In gatlon gallon expect me to in about ten thin utes mr air thorne SYNOPSIS S OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS stricken during initiation into the mu lists beta sigma fraternity stuart jordan university student dies almost immediately A physician declares declare he was pol poisoned rommy iwankin philadelphia detective takes charge of the ilie in esti gation iwankin fanda all the dead students shoes are marked with thumbtacks ill ills only known relative Is in his undo howard merrick derrick st loul hanker banker also his guardian and his hl heir an injection of conine to Is shown to have been the cause of jordans death two students from thi th vicinity ot vandalla ill jordans jordan home town ralph 13 buckley a and n d wa waller iter randall andall It figure in the investigation A pr prominent lawyea lawyer adward pletcher fletcher present at the initiation has also engaged ged rankin hankins attention A student larry valmer palmer mu deta sigma member was wa drugged by ralph buckley on the night of the initiation and a key of the fra house stolen from him jordan has been paying by check 1400 00 a month to some unknown person but the canceled checks are not among his effects howard errick bl Merr lck as jordans Ku khardin ardin had supervision of his conduct until he ha was waa twenty two years old aid when the tha boy boys largo large f fortune became hla his own the name of dr arnold prince st lou boult hr is brought into the investigation hurriedly he rang off and hastened from froin headquarters into the city hall courtyard below where his machine was parked there was ample cause for tits his growing excitement in sir mr recital which the postmaster could ilot appreciate it was tile the that first indication in the case that a woman had had some contact with the dead boy thus far nil all the evidence the existence of any girl in his life the absence of feminine letters the ignorance of members of the fra ra eternity and air merricks testimony arid and now suddenly out of nowhere this woman appeared mysteriously interested in the student all and in all probability being at least indirectly concerned in tits his death otherwise she would have conic come forward openly and offered her assistance rather titan than hide bide and surreptitiously at tempt to learn about tits his mail twelve minutes after leaving headquarters lie ho parked his car behind a long low limousine outside tile university dormitories lie he found mr thorne standing outside watt wait ing to meet him film and he was amazed to observe fits agitation the post master nervously intertwined his hands arid and seemed genuinely re llevad at tile the advent of the detec tive thank goodness youre here mr I 1 he be blurted out the same lady has come again for sir mr jor dans letters just three minutes ago ashes inside now waiting for me to look in the last mall for a letter rankin could scarcely credit lj li j good fortune ashes back you told her you are holding one for me ive said nothing sir the post master was breathless 1 I 1 bashop was hop ing to delay her until you |