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Show THE WEDDING MARCH MUftDEH by Monte Barrsti O Copyright. 1933, by the Bobb3-Merrill Co. WNU Service. IWUitM tl CHAPTER XIII Continued 23 V "There's one thing I never thought to ask," Peter continued. "Did you discover how Franklin's apartment was entered? Did the person who searched those rooms have a key or were you able to find where he forced his entrance?" en-trance?" "He must have had a key. None of the windows had been forced and the locks showed no signs of having been tampered with." "Well, who had keys to Franklin's apartment? We had Franklin's, on his key-ring. Fletcher had one with him. We'd better talk to Choo Choo Train again. She had a key to that apartment. apart-ment. Our burglar either used her key, or else " "Or else what?" "Or else our woman in blue had a key, too." j "I'll soon find out," promised the de- j tective. He used the telephone to call Choo Choo Train, who promised to ' come to the hospital immediately, bringing her key to the murdered man's apartment with her. "Good hunch, Peter. Either the murderer mur-derer borrowed ChooOhoo's key, or else there was a fourth one. There were no marks anywhere to Indicate that the prowler broke into the place." "While we're waiting," Peter suggested, sug-gested, "tell me about Franklin's office. Were you able to determine how. my assailant got In there?" The detective admitted he was puzzled. puz-zled. "The reception room was a wreck," he said. "You must have staged quite a battle there. That's about all we were able to find out, however. There was no fire-escape from which any of the windows could have been entered. The main entrance was the only means of access to the suite. If that door was forced, we couldn't tell it. "Dunbar helped us, too. Aside from his key, and Franklin's, which you had, there were three other keys to that door. Two of them belonged to clerks in the office and have been accounted ac-counted for. The third was the janitor's. jani-tor's. He, too, tells a straight story." "So it looks as though our visitor walked in through a locked door, eh?" Cardigan mused. He reclined against his pillow and stared fixedly at the ceiling through the smoke of a constant procession of cigarettes. "But how about the outside of the building? Was there any ledge by which the intruder could have reached those windows? Every sensible question ques-tion has an equally logical answer, if It can only be found." Before they could explore the question ques-tion further, the actress arrived. Choo Choo's black-lashed eyes turned first to Peter. "I'm sorry," she said. "The papers said you were seriously hurt." The novelist smiled briefly. "The doctor says I'm to have a short leg that will make me limp a bit," he said. "But I'm getting used to the Idea. After all, I'm fortunate to be alive, even if I must carry a permanent souvenir of the experience with me. How about it. Miss Train? Do you care for men who limp?" "I adore them," declared the actress swiftly. "I detest men who either walk, act or talk just like every one else." But she was obviously at a loss as to how to continue the conversation con-versation and turned abruptly to Kil-day Kil-day with the question. "Why did you send for me?" "You have a key to Franklin's apartment. apart-ment. I want to see it." The actress searched In her purse and produced the key. Without saying a word. Kilday carefully care-fully compared It with the other key In his possession, the one on Franklin's Frank-lin's key-ring. It was Identical. "This Is the only key he gave you, Isn't it?" he asked. "Yes." "Miss Train, has this key been In your possession all the time since Franklin's death?" "Why, yes, of course." "How can you he so sure?" Inquired Peter. "Where did you keep the key, Miss Train?" N Choo Choo looked at him In be wilderment. "Of course I'm sure," she replied. "I always kept it In my purse. This morning, when Sergeant Kilday telephoned, I looked Immediately. It was there where I had always kept it." Unless the murderer had taken the - key and then returned it again, without with-out her knowledge. It seemed obvious that It had never been out of her possession. pos-session. Apparently this was another of the many false trails they had encountered en-countered since the beginning of this Investigation. "So there was a fourth key." Peter mused a'oud. after the actress had departed. de-parted. The woman in blue had it, Sergeant, and passed it on to the murderer. mur-derer. Kvidentiy he was just awaiting await-ing his charce to search the apart- I ment, and when he saw Fletcher leave, I admitted himself and turned the place ! upside down." "Then it must have been Rylie Car-mody Car-mody Instead of Spears," growled Kil-, day. "He fits Into all our clues, Peter." "If," declared Cardigan, "Callis Shipley Ship-ley is the woman In blue, then Rylie Is our man. Somehow, I can't picture her In an illicit relationship with Franklin, and having a key to his apartment Yet, if Rylie is guilty, he obtained the fourth key from some one. And what other woman is he Interested Interest-ed In? Of course, that's taking It for granted that the other key belonged to a woman. Who else would have had such a key?" He subsided into another reverie. "There's one thing you're overlooking, overlook-ing, Peter," said Kilday. "Why won't young Carmody talk? He says he had an appointment in Westport at nine o'clock. But he won't say who he was supposed to meet there, and he won't tell us why he gave our detective the slip. Obviously, he never met anyone at Westport. He claims It was on account ac-count of the accident. Of course, I think otherwise. But if he were as Innocent as he pretends, wouldn't he at least tell us these things? I believe he would." "Why not have hlra over here?" suggested sug-gested Peter. "You said before that you wished I could have questioned him. Give me a chance." The sergeant reached for the telephone. tele-phone. "Now you're talking," he said. "Talk to him for five minutes and you'll be as sure of his guilt as I am." IhI "I'm Sorry," She Said. "The Papers Pa-pers Said You Were Seriously Hurt." He telephoned Instructions to bring Rylie Carmody to the hospital immediately. imme-diately. But if Peter hoped to glean more Information In-formation from the young man than had the detective, he was doomed to disappointment. "I don't see that it matters who I was going to meet," declared the young man impatiently. "My accident prevented pre-vented me from keeping the appointment." appoint-ment." "Still sticking to the accident story, eh?" Kilday commented derisively. "If you haven't anything to hide,- why don't you tell us who it was?" Rylie maintained a stubborn silence. "Perhaps," suggested the detective doubtfully, "you can explain why you were so anxious to give my man the slip. Was there anything about this mysterious meeting at Westport that you were afraid for the police to see?" "Of course not," Indignantly. "Why were you going all the way out to Westport for the meeting? Why didn't you meet this person in New York ?" "You can save yourself a lot of trouble," declared Rylie slowly, "if you'll understand, once and for all, that I'm not going to tell you anything about that appointment at Westport." "Was It a woman you planned to meet there?" This question from Peter. The young man laughed shortly. "I just said I wasn't going to answer any more of these questions." Kilday leaped at the suggestion. "A woman, eh? What If he did meet her, Peter? Had you thought of that? Perhaps Per-haps he doesn't want to answer our questions because he did meet a woman wom-an at Westport. What about It, Carmody? Car-mody? And she gave you a key, didn't she a key to Franklin's apartment. "You went to Westport, all right, but you went there earlier In the afternoon. after-noon. You gave my man the slip, kept your appointment with that woman and got the key. Then you returned to Franklin's apartment, searched It and, not finding what you were after, went on to his office. That's where Cardigan surprised you and where the struggle took place. After that you returned re-turned to Westport and returned the key to the woman who was still waiting wait-ing there. Then you drove out into the country and turned your car over, in order to account for your battered-up appearance. How's that, Peter?" He turned to his friend, smiling grimly. "That accounts for the only flaw in our case against him. That's how he got possession of that fourth key." "From whom?" asked Petpr. "I don't know yet. But I'll find out. Maybe It was this woman in blue, and maybe she is Callis Shipley. I'll soon know. I told them to bring her here. At last I've got a few facts to go on. It won't take long to shake her story now." The timely arrival of the girl they were discussing seemed to bear out the officer's promise. Dismissing the detective who escorted her, he admitted admit-ted the girl "Rylie 1" Callis hurried across the room, her arms outstretched, oblivious to the other men In the room. "Darling, "Dar-ling, I told you to be careful, that they " Rylie silenced her with a hand across her lips. "Don't say anything about Westport," he cautioned her In a whisper. The byplay had not escaped Cardigan's Cardi-gan's attention. "I'm glad you came, Miss Shipley," he said. "I was just trying to get Rylie to tell me about his appointment to meet you at Westport the other afternoon." ne hesitated, waiting for an answer, but the girl only faced him silently, her hand clutching Rylie's desperately. "You did have an appointment with him, didn't you?" prompted the novelist nov-elist gently. "Leave her out of this," cried the boy. "She had nothing to do with It. Leave her out, I tell you." Peter ignored the command. "Rylie seems to think it would Involve you In this unpleasant affair If he told us about It, Miss Shipley," he continued. "He is making a mistake. If there is a way for him to explain his movements move-ments that afternoon, he should do It, by all means." "Don't listen to him, Callis." The young man clutched her arm and shook it fiercely. "Don't tell him anything." "Be quiet, you," growled Kilday. "What Is it you want to know?" Callis asked Peter. "The same day that I was attacked in Franklin's office," Peter explained, "Rylie Carmody gave the detective that was following him the slip. Late that evening he had a wreck about ten miles from Westport. It is Important that we know where he went and what he did, betweer the time the detective last saw him and the hour of that wreck. The only explanation he has offered for his presence in that neighborhood neigh-borhood is that he had an engagement at Westport. But he persistently refuses re-fuses to tell us whom he expected to meet there. Was It you?" The girl glanced first at the novelist, then at Rylie Carmody. "Don't say anything, Callis," the latter lat-ter pleaded. "They'll just try to drag you into It." She hesitated a moment longer. "There's nothing for us to conceal, is there, Rylie? I think I'd better tell them." Peter wondered if the girl were preparing pre-paring to deceive him again. "He was coming to meet me," she said. "What time did he get there?" Peter asked sharply. "He had an accident," declared the girl. "He never got there." "Don't tell me that," Kilday exclaimed ex-claimed truculently. "He met you there, all right. And you gave him the key to Franklin's apartment." Rylie Carmody made a lunge at the detective. "What do you mean?" he snarled. His face was white and drawn with Impotent fury as the officer grasped his wrist. The young man struggled Ineffectually. Ineffectual-ly. "You had no right to ask her that. It's absurd. Callis scarcely knew Franklin." "Rylie is right," declared the girl gravely. "I scarcely knew Mr. Franklin. Frank-lin. I met him for the first time only a few weeks ago, at a party given In honor of Doris." "And you didn't have such a key?" "Never. I've never been to the apartment. I don't even know where it is." "Miss Shipley," Peter took up the questioning, "suppose you tell us why you planned to meet this young man at Westport the other evening?" "There Is very little to tell. I was going to meet him there at nine o'clock. But on account of the accident, of course he couldn't get there." "Why didn't he meet you at your home? Why Westport?" Callis frowned. "He had another appointment," she replied hesitantly. "He knew It was going to take him some time, and we thought we'd save time by meeting there." "He didn't tell you what this other appointment was, did he?" Peter pursued pur-sued the point, and when she did not answer promptly he repeated the question. ques-tion. Still she hesitated. "Perhaps," the novelist suggested, "you would feel more free in telling us why you planned to go to Martin's Cove?" This time the girl answered promptly. prompt-ly. "We wanted to get away for a few days, where we'd have a chance to forget about the murder." "Perhaps the fact that Rylie was being be-ing followed by a detective had something some-thing to do with your decision," Kilday Kil-day put in. "Did you know that he was being followed?" Peter asked in a kindlier tone. "We couldn't help knowing it," replied re-plied the girl. "The man followed him everywhere he went." "That was his job," the novelist explained. ex-plained. "But of course you both found that rather irksome, didn't you?" "I wasn't used to being treated like a common criminal," the boy interrupted inter-rupted harshly. "And so" this time Peter addressed the boy "you decided to give the detective de-tective the slip and meet Miss Shipley at Westport, so you wouldn't be followed fol-lowed to Martin's Cove. Is that it?" (TO BE OON'TINX'ED. ) |