Show h e u d n t flathe r arder by MILTON avi a VI cht 1132 bt mites CHAPTER IX continued 17 thank you captain rankin returned ill see him right away As lie he entered the room in question lio ito too sensed the promise of trouble brewing air fletchers fletcherr Flet chers greeting was harsh and he was manifestly angry at the same time he fie was uneasy as it if anxious and under a distinct strain lie ile began without preliminaries giving iwankin no time to reflect on the object of his visit 1 I imagine you have a pretty good notion why I 1 lim am here llan itan kin lie he spoke sternly your position ns its a detective gives you no ito authority to annoy innocent people compel them to answer you by indiscriminate threats and trespass on private premises and search them this hilgh handed d conduct requires ren ulrea a satisfactory tion lion unless dunles you want the matter carried to your superiors wits os this assault a bluff the detective asked himself by which I 1 was this assault a bluff the do asked himself by which mr fletcher hoped to hide his quilt guilt mr pletcher etcher ri hoped to little his billit or was his indignation sin cere unable to judge as yet set tie he met it without the least hint of perturb perturbation atlon 1 I nin am not aware air fletcher fietcher that ive I 1 vu overstepped over stepped the bounds 0 of f my authority lie he said openly you ou intent As the lawyers wrath increased tie he outwardly became more subdued what right it lind ad you in the first place to tits tress my wife just been because tise she was in the vicinity of the lite university not con content lell with that you questioned tier again last night and at my own home hoino too and you in her tx r into telling you ex amine my grounds and p property ro perty oh ive I 1 ve heard all about your ac and ani I 1 warn you to watch your step or aull surely he be in liot hot witter antor iwankin ignored the threat who active you ion this information he inquired mrs fletcher etcher ri indirectly yes but not until my max told me what he witness eI last night ile he sa saw v you and my iny wife afe together this he reported to me ile and also mrs hirs pletcher chers s indiscreet trip to tile the university yesterday when I 1 taxed tier her site she told I 1 I 1 uie me why she had e there out at she was kind enough not to wah to baku you liny any tremble over wh ahn N 7 I 1 0 i vp 0 0 SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS stricken during initiation into stu dota segma fraternity stuart jordan university student dies almost immediately tommy rankin philadelphia detective takes taken charge of at the investigation an injection of canine condne la in shown to have been the cause causa of jordans death two students ralph buckley Ll and walter randall figure in the investigation A prominent lawyer edward fletcher present at the initiation has hag also engaged rankins attention A student larry palmer was drugged by ralph buckley the night of the initiation and a key of at the fraternity house stolen from hi him jordan ha has e been paying by check shoo a month to some unknown person howard bl errick jordans jordan uncle as aa his guardian had supervision of lite ills conduct until he was twenty two years yeara old when the boys large fortune became his bla own dr arnold prince st louis physician to la brought into the investigation conine la is stolen fiam the university laboratory A letter to jordan from edward Flet fletcherr fletchers chers young wife reveals that fletcher has ban been suspicious of jordans attention to her on the night before the initiation the pled gees geen were taken to an isolated spot and abandoned to get home as an best they could the stolen poison Is found in the room of ned patterson rt a student rankin finds that on his abandonment jordan telephoned tole Phoned from a farmhouse to mrs hire fletcher who came tor for him in an auto in fletcherd pletchers Flet cherB chers roadster rankin nankin finds a hypodermic needle evidence involving ralph buckley Is secured rankin learns learna of a series ot of thefts in the fraternity house questioned concerning a watch he had pawned patterson admits the thefts tie lie also aloo admits stealing the poison claiming lie he took it with the idea ol of suicide walter handall to is forced to leave school on account of his health lie ile has a doctors certificate explaining clous actions buckley confesses the forgery of a fellow students name 2 to KO a check rankin Is forced to eliminate Ji train from the list of the burder suspects not it was to recover this before it fell into my hands that she came to the university post billee she expressed the belief in it that yuu are capable of such a terrible deed naturally she want you to learn how tier her imprudence involved involve you and first set bet me on your trail lie ile waited in silence while mr fletcher read the missive this time lie he was rewarded by signs of apprehension the hip hand holding the letter trembled and the lawyers eyes widened with increasing assurance su rance pointed out as he be had already done to mra airs pletcher letcher how it supplied the motive for cor the crime the two occasions on which the lawyer caught her and jordan together As lie listened mr fletcherr fletchers fiet Flet chefs chers w wrath rath it flared ared agnan agnin but somewhat an subdued blued by dismay are you daring to suggest he be demanded that I 1 killed jordan because I 1 suspected my wife of being unfaithful and having relations relation with him it wont help you to lose your te temper the detective warned him smoothly nor to pretend you t persuaded of 0 their guilty in I 1 t intend acquainting you with tills this evide evidence tiep kintli until I 1 waa wa ready to arrest you but as that was just a matter of hours you can realize your position uhe the lawyers features grew slight ly vale pale but he replied scornfully that t frighten me linn kin what you mistakenly consider as adequate motive gives you no case in court you even een get a warrant on such flimsy conjecture perhaps not fiot llantin admitted but I 1 have more proof of your guilt than that dont don t forget you had the opportunity to commit the crime throughout the initiation your hands were free to adminta t ter er the poison you stood close to the boy and marched around the chapter room just behind him and you will ind find this difficult to explain sir mr Flet fletcherd cherl suddenly he placed on the desk h b fore the lawyer the hypodermic needle discovered in the roadster which the city chemist had returned that morning but mr I 1 letcher fletcher only looked at it in wonder it if lie wits acting his self control was remarkable he queried puzzler puzzle 4 why its a hypodermic 1 what has it got to do with mp it asat by any chance the needle that that exactly mr Fletch net chr pT expect art A U 4 rry wa 11 I 1 I 1 L k just before you reached croft hall rankin ignored the protest inexorably the cleaning woman straightened out jordans rooms she put all his clothing awak awny and slie she can vouch as a witness that after you iou arrived three pairs of tits ills shoes were scattered about removed from where she had neatly set them bait I 1 tell you they were already lying in the vestibule when I 1 entered I 1 almost tripped over them all I 1 wanted was to have a little talk with the boy I 1 felt that plain speaking would save him future trouble the detective shook ahls head yet not finding him film in he 5 stated t a te a deliberately you iou gave the charwoman a cock and bull story about being his uncle and got her to let you enter tits his quarters its hardly likely that some other person stole in unnoticed by tier her in ten ted minutes between the time she quit them and opened the door to let you ou in 11 in answer mr air fletcher spoke s so 0 persuasively extending h his 19 hands compelled attention try to judge my state or of mind he requested when I 1 called on jordan I 1 had just proved tie lie was the chap who fled from my cifes bedroom at two fifteen that morn ing inscho who was waa responsible I 1 be lieveld for stealing her affections naturally she enjoyed youth and excitement slie she had always loved living at a pace with which I 1 am unfortunately unable to keep up but though I 1 dont blame tier I 1 wanted no repetition of the incident the foy boy threatened to disrupt my marital happiness and break up my home I 1 was resentful enough to wish him out of the way but murder was farthest from my thought amazed that for all his shrewdness the lawyer was so blind to his cifes shortcomings unless he purposely glossed therm them over lian ilau klu kin merely asked and how else did you propose to get rid of hint him by bringing about hiis dismissal from the university that would provably ably cause him to quit phil ehla la delp delphia tila and go home and again insure my peace of mind anil and the integrity I 1 valtie in my house but of course his expulsion had to be subtly managed for some other rea c r it n than my real grievance that would have hae reflected my own weakness and necessitated necessitate a a public aubil c scandal that was why I 1 seized z the clance chance to enter his rooms to n n comet I 1 n J A 0 IMP had shared an apartment together for some months mr pletcher fletcher related lie had bad evidently taken it for her for she bhe reminded him of their pleasures together and reiterated her affection for him she seemed anxious to rejoin him after a separation and the tone of her messages was placating as if to conciliate him after some difference with him other letters which also acknowledged money he sent her indicated he was at school during their affair she mentioned the weekends week ends as the only time he could got get away to spend with her that meant their intrigue was clandestine and the arrangement secret while he ostensibly to lived respectably at college the detective shook his head soberly that sound at all like jordan he commented my inquiries suggest lie he was decent quiet and well behaved quiet chaps are often the most deceptive the lawyer returned and I 1 was only too ready to credit the letters at the moment I 1 was too rushed to discover from where they came and when they were written and I 1 tell how long ago their habitation cohabitation co occurred it had apparently ceased for the time being but if the boy had lived with this woman at any time this year while at philadelphia phia I 1 had a weapon to cause his dismissal then how Is it possible yo you tu were mistaken the facts seem to speak for themselves mr air pletcher fletcher replied slowly with emphasis because they had another interpretation which I 1 failed to consider the correct one lie ile paused namely that instead of tits his mistress the writer was his wife T their heir nuptials were a secret but even so the affair was entirely legal where iwankin was astonished before this revelation left him literally speechless its wife lie he exclaimed finally good 0 d are you positive of that I 1 have had no inkling before of her existence from any source whatever but lies hes married nevertheless later in my office I 1 studied the letters at my leisure and learned the situation they alluded several times to their wedding last spring and she tried to win him back by recalling the obligations he owed her as her husband this apartment from which she wrote was in st louis he visited her there regularly from the college he attended last year aberdeen in hannibal mo but since coming to philadelphia in september he be has evidently not seen her for what 1 46 n A hp A R 1 7 IT |