Show 10 GERALD BROWN FEATURES 1 duke Af eCale private detective to 1 su arsing thi he wedding presents present at the bigelow gelow mansion willo he la Is talking with wealthy old miss alias adelaide Ul gelow they hear a shot A moment later curt Vallain court the bridegroom to to be die adlea in the front hallway mccale sa s1 clips alps away before the police arrive and hurries to VallaIn courts apartment to search it for or duel clue there he meets shari lynn a sing linger and former cormer wife of at Vallain court J she apparently knows of the ha and betrays herself under mccaleb Mc Ic Calet cales clever questioning lie notes note that the she wears a green dress as a did the woman he taw saw running away from rom the scene cene sharl shari admits that she ho was wa nearby when Vallain court was wa abol CHAPTER IX ile he was a long way ahead of me there was another dame coming up over the IHU road that meets the path he ws vas on at the gate by the bigelow house youre sure of that miss lynn ne remember member you may bs be making a dangerous accusation rago nage flared up in her she jumped up dangerous accusation she screamed 1 I should say bay it was she killed him film that little blue blood killed him I 1 tell you I 1 saw her lies hes dead DWI lie ile crossed to her quickly shaking her by the shoulders take it easy youre in a spot yourself whoever it was that met ballaine Va llaine durt at that gate had on lagreen a green suit or dress angrily she brushed his hands from her arms faced him 1 I know that she had on a 11 green suit I 1 saw it but I 1 was a long way off I 1 ten ell you youre not getting me for or this just because bocak so im wearing this green thing I 1 have killed curt god I 1 loyed loved him I 1 loved him her body sagged away from him her vol coas low and harsh was a cryor cry of despair despai raB as though her throat were nil all burned out s mccale left sharl shari lynn slumped on the couch lie he knew it was useless to talk to her any more she be of any help lie he went avent quickly through an ornate bedroom which had a fabulous connecting bath of chromium and glass there were two closets 0 of expensive linen and haberdashery lie had never soon seen so many shirts ties shoes socks and collars outside a department store and he ha went through ever everything thing dut but there a single thing to give hima him a lead to use as evidences not ah letters letter a recel receipt pt a billiot bill not even a stray address the murdered nian man had played it pretty smart emart and close toi the ground disgruntled he went back into the living room and out the front door at it was nine eteen when the buzzer r in macales Mc Cales outer office an trounced a late caller mccale laughed how are you dart bart t 41 donlavy trades liwes sortie some p ready to take you over tho the hurdles for sneaking out on me this afternoon Don levys smile mlle lb belled belied hla his growl mccale smiled back at him steadily ho he gilted lilted the man ile he had the took look of careful grooming riot not often associated with the police you would place him at about forty a large man bulking balking powerful powerful andrall and tall aga against dinst the heavy eor door ile he was as ot of the new school of officers so widely heralded but often ridiculed college bred s scientifically trained and carefully chosen arrn im not really sore lie ho began 1 11 I only wondered why you took a powder when you and abid adelaide bigelow were practically the only eye ye witnesses to this ghostly ghastly business it dawned on me very soon when khen I 1 found no keys on the corpse that gone to vallain courts apartment to steal a march lonmo on me was that nice ile he raised an eyebrow facetiously not nice but necessary from my point of view alc ive got second look before after your squad has fine toothed a place and theres never been bienn n hairpin left tor for us fellows what exactly did you find and from being fast this time nary a clue the place was as clean as a bone beyond getting a good idea of what the lad who lived there was like there a false whisker for or my trouble tho the setup he had was quite revealing it pure hollywood half demille DeMl lle halt half dorothy drop drap er er very suggestive Is that all y you have found 7 1 il I found a women woman mccale never felt elt it accomplished anything to hold out on donlevy lev it only promoted misun misunderstanding der t ding and ill feeling it was wag much 6 better to get the evidene evidence cirit arst that way was ell all he ale watched the quick in terest interest flash across Don levys eyes before lie he controlled it before ho he said easu casu BUY 1 I would call that a clue duki duke i iwed well lie he questioned shari lynn the chanteuse chantease chant euse at 1 present of the latin quarter and the abbey Ive heard of her mccale went on oil then to tell ell of his encounter with the night club singer inger ile he told it all what she 66 had said how she had looked bringing the t complete picture before t don levy in a manner that insured tho the detective of every detail you think then the lieutenant queried when at last mccale W was 18 silent that there was an old of at fair between them something in your telling it makes me feel you are anro convinced that it was not too recent some thing flaring up again after a long time mccale nodded lie he closed his eyes a moment then opened one as if the other still shuttered an inner thought im sure of it he said bald im sure find fand that they may even have been man and wife nt at one time that they have hav never been out of touch with each other for long donlevy digested this then oh sure lynn was back there after any letters of hers that val lain court may have kept I 1 dont think there were any there however there even a stray phone number chalked on the bathroom wall if you got get what I 1 mean quite it was exactly as it if the place had been cleaned of everything by the boy himself kind of disappointing what because from everything we know it seem beem as though that kind of gent would ever destroy a compromising missive of any kind whatever ra 1 1 i take it easy youre in a spot Tour yourself self true there Is the possibility of a safe deposit box at some bank 1 been checked he had a small balance at a downtown back bank but no bobof box 0 any kind McCale hunched himself over his glass for a minute musing it becomes become very confusing then for he must have got rid of everything last night or today before he stared at a t the rim of his glass just before ho he went to his death A A long minute went by while the atre crackled merrily in the grate while each one of the three thou thought glit his own thoughts about this conjecture it was wag donlevy who finally shrugged it away with a sour look duke mccale paused in front of the big aan man donlevy the gray haired police inspector looked up achim at him and said gad 1 I suppose in return for your information yo you want to be brought up to date only fair mccale mcca 0 smiled donlevy had never once let him down in A a matter of this kind though he covered it always with an air of assumed ill grace suspicion settles ott on veronica here it ts Is then for what its worth he ha said there was in the bigelow house at the time of the murder besides aldelaide Aldel alde bage low and yourself the cook an upstairs maid and the butler king the cook was preparing dinner the mold maid kitty shane was hanging around the kitchen out cut obviously no motive no opportunity port unity king was fixing a tray of hors doeu tor for the usual cocktail hour lies hes out for the same reason none of them saw or heard a thing until the prolonged ringing of the ithe bell about five minutes after the cruising car got there I 1 arrived it was then about twenty minutes since sanco had been shot shortly after that the family began ao to wander in and I 1 questioned them in the order of their appearance sybil and stephen her son came in together she said bald she had walked from the church across the gardens stopping at Shack leys drugstore for cigarettes she had chatted a few in minutes with the clerk whom she know knew she met stephen as she c came ame out of the storo store lie ile had been wandering alon along 9 charles street just killing th time ne he said likes to walk in the rain that sort of thing theres a jangled lad for you mccale waggled a linger neurotic worried about his wife was probably out hunting her up cher eve ever r she he was sybil Is no calm strong pioneer woman either collapsed like a balloon at the think val h 1 lain court was her own chee ild to hear her rave to get on with it the Garb Gar boish karen Is quite another ticket As and cold as the snow queen concerned but unruffled it 11 you know what I 1 moan mean she turned a shade whiter if possible but I 1 got the distinct impression shed only walk around the corpse and go on her way A bit too controlled troll ed victoria was next she blew in with a book under her arm had been browsing around the public library walked home mccale pursed his lips 1 I imagine she screamed earned once made an inappropriate remark and had a long ong hooker of whisky on it you are very a adroit rolt ive un on unusual mind I 1 guess said mccale facetiously what crack did sho she make she looked down at the corpse in a kind of mixture of fright and sheer excitement and said then someone did have the nerve mccale whistled donlevy turned a page chrls i copher storm the guy that get the cirlor almost what ile he probably will now ile he swears that he was walking back bac and forth along the lower common commo n path hoping to intercept veronica on her way home it if she should come that way she show so he came on up to the house theres a tunny funny thing duke them all breaking up in anestes after the wedding rehearsal oh well we come now to veronica the bride veronica drove up in a cab the last to arrive she was strangely excited I 1 thought shed been doing some last minute shopping saw it ft was getting late and got a cab at the corner of boylston and tremont ile he hesitated she said he lot let his lost last two words hang in the air A devastating conversational abyss yawned dawned for mccale made no reply minutes ticked iway away when he did speak it was quietly she Is the obvious suspect of course dart bart the accusation ol 01 0 sharl shari lynn the fact that both miss mis bigelow and I 1 saw a girl in green running away from the scene di erectly after the murder too bad she should have picked the corner comer ol of boylston and tremont street to gel ge tier her cab there are very few there and as you have noted th path running from the gate appo site the bigelow house over the hill by the cannon ends at that precise point hardly coincidence mccale shrugged what about aboul the weapon she must have thrown it away then the arga area in which to searal for it is small A woman cannot canno throw too for far 1 I know that bat A thwarted look loob came over Don levys craggy face WV weve had a special squad hunt ing it tor for three hours so fir far not bof a sign of it weve actually used floodlights flood lights and turned up every fall en leaf emptied every ash barrel in the park with no luck it where Is the murder gun that then for the moment is that funny but Mc macales McC alea Cales mind seemed relieved the case was dropped momen harily while they talked of pleasant er things it was nearly twelve when donlevy stood up to go 1 I rather thought he said at the door that you were retained by tho the old lady bigelow to get at the truth now im sure youre hired to protect the girl he tried to put it over with a slow blow smile nothing of the sort has been suggested to me I 1 can assure you mccale returned his smile sardonically the truth okay I 1 have my duty to do you know id mid find the weapon first 1 oh sure sure well fand it the echo of barton Don levys footsteps had hardly died on the stairs when mccale standing before the dying fire spoke 1 I held s out on the torn bit of letter so I 1 see chief you dont think the girl in green was the veronica dome dame then I 1 10 maybe there was a silence for a minute then rocky said they have nat found the rod no macales Mc Cales eyes lighted up as hs he looked quizzically at his friend and employee ile he smiled as though he knew I 1 anew what rocky was thinking you say the gal who ran away stopped a minute to look back when she got to the cannon on the hill yes well chief he jumped up youve been waiting to see it if id think of it of course I 1 have after all ive heard you tell it three times that gun ought i to 0 be in the belly of that cannon they left the office in a mad rush A cab deposited them in rapid time at the common entrance it was late and any police who had been searching for the gun were gone TO BE CONTINUED E 1 |