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Show THE MAY DAY MYSTERY By OCTAVUS ROY COHEN Cl'rrlM Cvtu Roy Cohwa, NU books. CHAPTEK XIV - It whs mi unusual spectacle tli!t lr.cccing In the ottlcc of the president f M.-trland university ; a thing strangely strange-ly grim ttiul umicndonilc. I'-octuise the mutter decidedly nf-focied nf-focied the reputation of itit university ttii" president sal there looking evtrvme-lv evtrvme-lv til at ease and ga-lng with somtt wonder at the nssomhhigo. At the door stood John Keugnn, tho muscular atul decidedly etllclont policeman. police-man. Net to It on (a n was Teddy Furroll, president of tho student council, president of Psl Tuu Theta. Beside him, Incongruously enough, was Mike Ciirmlclno. Janitor at the fraternity house. By his side was Kuhe Karnum, ami beside ltuhe win rtiil Gleason. Next to 1'hll was the trim little figure of Iy Welch. Ivy, considerably older than she had been a week previously, looked unusually serious. Lurry Welch occupied the seat next to his sister. Occasionally his eyes met the pair on the other side those of Tony Peyton. Tony show ed the strain under which she had labored: and she gave evidence, evi-dence, too, of the nnnoyauce which bad heen caused by the unpleasant publicity. Of course the students and faculty had been more than kind to her; but their very solicitude had rasped her nerves until she felt that all she wanted now was to get off somewhere alone. Jim Hanvey was standing beside the president's desk. He did not appear particularly par-ticularly happy, and his first words were couched In an apologetic tone. "Folks." he said gently. "I'll make things about as brief as I can, and I'll start with the most Important. Im-portant. Max Vernon didn't have no more to do with killing Fat Thayer than I did. and " He was Interrupted by a shout of g'.ee from Rube Farnum as that lanky Individual leaped across the floor and pumped Vernon's hand. He was closely close-ly followed by Gleason and Teddy Farrell, but Jim waved the others back and continued his recital Ills sleepy, half-closed eyes misled no detail: de-tail: the startled expression on the faces of Tony Peyton and Larry Welch the Inquiring looks Hashed toward them by the others as he bluntly exonerated Max Vernon. "About Max." he went on smoothly "him and me have got a little secret which nobody Is gonna find out about. Ain't that a fact. Son?" "Yes, sir." Vernon was dangerously close to tears. "And now for Miss Peyton. I suppose sup-pose you've all heard that she was Pat Thayer's wife that Is, that they went through a sort of ceremony last year. She didn't want to say anything about that, but I explained It would be best because you-all were talking anyway, and you'd never have understood under-stood why she went to Thayer's room on May day. What she went for, folks, was to let him know that his hold Over her was broken: that Is. that from then on the campus would have to know that she was legally his wife- "What happened np there Is nobody's no-body's business. Not even mine. But I'll tell you this ranch" and he grinned Infectiously "Tony Peyton didn't kill Pat Thayer and that's a fact." There was a gasp. Larry Welch was sitting forward tensely, his eyes focused fo-cused on Jim's placid face. The others stared at him In doubt and fear. Was It possible. . . ? Impulsively Ivy reached for her brother's hand. It was cold as Ice. And as though from a great distance, she heard Hanvey's words. "And now we'll discuss Larry-Welch's Larry-Welch's part In this little affair. On May first, Larry Welch learned two Important things. The first was that Pat Thayer was the husband of the girl he was crazy about. The second was that the man his sister was going with was a married man. And as soon as he found out those two things, he went to see that man." There was a tense, breathless nodding nod-ding of heads. Jim smiled reassuringly reassur-ingly toward Larry. "I've got a reason for telling yon all that, folks. The truth might be embarrassing sometimes, but It never hurts, and If I held anything back, you might either think we didn't have all the facts or else you might put two and two together and make a million. Larry and Miss Peyton have given me permission to tell all this, and they don't care whether the students hear it or not provided they hear the straight truth, see? "Just what might have happened between be-tween Welch and Thayer nobody will ever know. P.ecause when Larry Welch got to that room, folks Pat Thayer was already dead!" There was a nerve-racking hush ; then a buzz of conjecture. It wasn't Max Vernon; It wasn't Tony Peyton; It wasn't Larry Welch . . . but Pat Thayer was dead ! "You see," grinned Jim, "I'm a queer sort of a bird. Seems like all I can accomplish on a case is to find out who didn't do something. I reckon you-all think I haven't had a bit of luck finding out who did. Ain't that a fact?" They were too astonished to do more than stare. "It's a cinch Thayer didn't kill himself. him-self. And if neither Vernon nor Miss Peyton killed him and he was dead w hen lurry Welch got there then Homebody killed him between timed." Hanvey surveyed tho group In hla MUlet, friendly manner. Ills somnolent eyes lighted on the face of Mike Oar-inleino, Oar-inleino, tho Janitor, and even though he dKI not call the man's name, every person In the room knew to whom ho was speaking. "You and Mr. Thayer were pretty good friends, weren't you?" "Yes, .sir, Meester Hanvey." "You told me that you did bootlegging boot-legging Jobs together: that ho would get the orders and you would supply the liquor. The last time you worked together that way, Mike, was a few days before the killing. You told Mr. lteugan and myself that Mr. Thayer hud paid you for the liquor furnished on that last party. Is that true?" "Yes, sir." Jim turned to Teddy Farrell, president presi-dent of the fraternity. "You were In charge of the finance of that particular party, weren't you, Mr. Farrell?" "Yes, sir." "Have you ever paid either Pat Thayer or Mike Ourmlelno tho two-hundred two-hundred dollars that the liquor was supposed to cost?" "No. sir. I still have the money. It was never paid to either of them." There was Just the faintest hint of Iron in Jim's voice. "You lied about that. Carmlclno I" he accused. "And I want to know why !" All eyes were bent now upon the figure of Mike Carmlclno. It was obvious ob-vious to even the most Inexperienced that he was desperately seeking to escape from a net which he felt was being tightened about hhn. Jim Hanvey was patient enough. And finally Carmicino's eyes lighted and he gave a pleasant smile and a soft answer. "I told you lie about Meester Thayer," he suggested suavely, "because "be-cause he was good friend of mine. Meester Thayer he always pay me ns soon he gets the money when the fellers they have parties. This time lie "I Told You Lie About Meester Thayer" He Suggested Suavely. he has not got the money when he la killed and so I think It Is not nice that I should tell about how he owed me the money when he Is dead. I was only protect' my friend, you see, Meester Hanvey." "Good for you, Mike. Mighty fine of yon." Hanvey thought fur a moment mo-ment and then: "But Isn't It true that Thayer announced he wasn't going to pay you at all and would turn you over to the police for bootlegging If you dared squawk? Isn't It true that you and he were partners In the criminal crim-inal occupation of obtaining and selling sell-ing liquor and that when he threatened threat-ened to turn you over to the police you very rightly considered that he was double-crossing you?" "That Is entirely not true, Meester Hanvey." The portly detective appeared bar-fled. bar-fled. Carmleino radiated good humor a sort of taut good humor but nevertheless he seemed at peace with the world. "Maybe you're right about that, Mike. But how about the knife with which Thayer was killed?" Carmicino's smile was dissipated for a moment, and when it reappeared, seemed rather forced. "What about it?" Carmlclno asked softly. "Just this," said Hanvey in a calmly conversational tone. "Thayer double-crossed double-crossed you. He didn't have the money then but he told you flatly that he Intended to keep it, and you could go whistle or else. You were sore as a goat and you said he couldn't get away with any such stuff." Hanvey Han-vey was now making statements rather than asking questions. "You saw him go to his room on May first and you decided to have it out with him. But you knew you were dealing with a larger man than yourself and one who evidently wouldn't scare worth soup. So you remembered the collection of weapons In Max Vernon's room and borrowed the likeliest one which happened to be that Sicilian dagger. "You saw Miss Peyton go to Thayer's Thay-er's room and waited until she had left the house. Then you went In. You had a quarrel and finally a fight. You killed Thayer because he threatened to squeal and also, perhaps, because he attacked you. You had sense enough not to make your discovery of the body until someone else entered the room. Larry Welch found the body. As soon as he left you let out a howl. It was real slick of yon, M Ue, because no one ever thought that tho man who found the body una the murderer.' At the door John Itingnn was tense, his bendy eyes never leaving- Carmicino's Car-micino's face, llo whs watching Ilka a hawk ready to Intercept any move toward escape. Tho other! were too startled by the Hidden chnnge of events to do more than sturo first lit Mike Carmlclno am) then at the Impassive, Im-passive, Immobile face of his accuser. ac-cuser. "Ijiter on," continued Hanvey smoothly, "when the whole fraternity house win buzlug with comment about the murder, you heard tho name of Max Vernon frequently mentioned. You also knew that he had disappeared. disap-peared. You thought of the knlfo, Mr. lteugan, yonder, had already searched that room thoroughly. And after his search you planted the knife In Vernon's clothes closet, knowing that It would be a mighty strong piece of evldenco against him." Carmicino's face was atony, but hl fixed smile was unchanged. "You can't prove none of that, Meester Hanvey." Jim smiled triumphantly. "Oh. yes, I cnn." "How?" "Because," announced Hanvey quietly, quiet-ly, "your fingerprints ure on the handle han-dle of the knife." Carmlclno leaped to his feet. "That Is a lie!" he shouted. "There were not any fingerprints on that knife!" And now the Gargantuan detective became positively friendly. Ills words dripped honey. "How did you know that, Mike?" The spectators did not qulto understand under-stand the hyplny ; but they knew from Cnrmlclno'8 flush of terror that something some-thing vital had occurred. "You sim'," explained Hanvey smoothly, smooth-ly, "nobody but Itengan nnd myself knew anything about whether the knife had fingerprints on It. Jut ourselves nnd the murderer. But he knew! Oh, yes, he knew !" "You knew, Mike, because you very, very carefully polished all the fingerprints finger-prints off that handle! I think we've got you. Mister Carmlclno. But even that Isn't all I've got against you. I have one more piece of evidence. Just one, but It will prove a grent deal." lie plunged a big fist Into his bulging bulg-ing coat pocket and took therefrom a diamond ring. He waddled across the room and came to a halt before Ivy Welch. "liver seen that ring before. Miss Welch?" The girl's voice was trembling, but she answered without hesitation. "Yes, sir. I put It on Mr. Thayer's I finger myst'lf several days before he before he died. It Is my ring." "Mr. Thayer never returned It to you ?" "No. sir. He promised never to take it off his finger." "Good!" Jim smiled genially. "You see, folks, that little ring Is mighty Important. It was not on Thayer's finger w-hen the police got there. It was. In fact, stolen by whoever killed Pat Thayer. Ami that ring, folks, was found by me personally where Mister Mike Carmlclno had very carefully hidden It !" Carmlclno was quivering. Some-think Some-think like a howl of animal terror escaped es-caped from his lips. Fie leaped to his feet and brnke forth Into a torrent of words. His eyes rolled, his body twitched "Yes, I kill Thayer. I kill him. Meester Hanvey but I swear It was i only after he nttack' me." "That's all right! Mike." Hanvey's! voice was gentle. "I'm glad you ad-1 mit it was you. And if you cnn prove that it really was self-defense, maybe you'll have a chance." He turned to the others and bowed with elephantine grace. "I reckon that's all . . . and I'm much obliged to every one." They crowded about him and shook his hand. Reagan slipped a pair of handcuffs over Carmicino's wrists. Alone with Hanvey John Reagan j turned to stare. "I'll be everlastingly d d." he said slowly. "There wasn't hardly a minute, min-ute, Jim, that I didn't think you were Just plain blundering dumb." "Shuh! John I ain't so smart" "Like thunder you ain't. Man, I'm grateful. Only for you I'd have sent Max Vernon up for that thing, and even if I am a cop, I ain't keen about convicting an Innocent person." "I figured that, John. . . . Well, I'm hot and tired. Let's beat It." Reagan continued to display his astonishment. as-tonishment. Then his eye fell upon a scintillating something which Jim was holding between thumb and forefinger. fore-finger. "Gosh, Jim," said Reagan, "you forgot for-got to give Ivy Welch her ring." "No-o ... I didn't forget. This ain't her ring." "What?" "Naw. I had to run a bluff, Reagan. Rea-gan. You see, the kid is a good scout She wanted the guilty man caught and was willing to help me. She went to the city with me and helped me select an Imitation which looked pretty much like the one she had given Thayer and which had disappeared. Of course, the bluff happened to work, and It yanked a confession out of Carmicino. I always was lucky, John." "Lucky? You're a wonder!" The mammoth detective sighed deeply and started for the door. "We've got Just one more Job, John." he said, "and then I'll hop the rattler for cooler weather." "What's the job, Jim?" And nanvey grinned like a schoolboy. school-boy. "We'll have to search through Miks Carmicino's things until we really dnd Ivy's ring," he said. "Let's go ! ' THE END. |
