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Show The KENNEL MURDER CASE I 0 o . 5 Yan Dine Copyright by W. IT. Wright WXU Service SYNOPSIS fhllo Vance, crime expert, is called to In vent 1 Kale the supposed aulckle of Archer C oe. With iJiHlrict Attorney Markham, he goes to Cue's house. They And VVredo, a friend of Cue's, there; .Iao a Sitfnor Grassl, a Kue.st. The door of the death chamber Is bolted from the Inside. They force It. Coe Is seated, & revolver In his ripht hand and a bullet bul-let hole In his temple. He Is clothed In a dressing sown, but wears street hoes. Murkham thinks It Is suicide. Vance Bays It 1b murder. Med ical Examiner Ex-aminer Doremus declares Coe had been dead for hours when the bullet entered hla head. A wound, made by a dagger, ) found on the body, and there !s proof that Coe was fully dressed when n was stabbed. CHAPTER II Continued 4 "Yes, Markham," lie spoke languidly, lan-guidly, yet withal thoughtfully "there's some explanation, but I doubt If It will prove to be a simple one. Let ns summarize, for the sake of clarity, before we proceed with our Interviews of the family and guests. . . . First, Coe was struck over the head and perhaps rendered unconscious. uncon-scious. Then he probably tumbled gainst some hard object and broke rib. All this was evidently preceded by some sort of physical contretemps. Coe was, we may assume, In his street clothes at the time. Later on how much later we don't know he was atabbed In the back through his coat and waistcoat with a small, peculiarly ahaped Instrument, and he died of Internal In-ternal hemorrhage. At some time subsequent sub-sequent to the stabbing, his coat and waistcoat were removed and carefully hung up In the clothes closet. His dressing gown was put on, buttoned, and the belt neatly tied about him. Moreover, his hair was correctly combed. But-his street shoes were not changed to bedroom slippers. Furthermore, Further-more, we found hlio sitting In a comfortable com-fortable attitude In an easv chair In a position he could not possibly have been In when be was stabbed. And his broken rib Indicates clearly that he was at one time prostrate over some hard object. . . . Then, as If all this were not Incongruous enough, we know that after he was killed by the stab In his back and before rigor mortis had set in, a bullet crashed Into his right temple. tem-ple. The gun from which the bullet as presumably fired was clutched tightly In 'his right hand. And we must not forget the serene expression on Coe's face: It was not the expression expres-sion of a man who had been struggling with an antagonist and been knocked unconscious by a blow on the head. And this fact, Markham, Is one of the strangest phases of the case. Coe was in a peaceful, or at least a satisfied, state of mind when he departed this life. . . ." Vance puffed again on his cigarette, and bis eyes became dreamy. "Now, there are other elements In the situation that must be taken Into consideration. For instance, we found him In a room securely and powerfully power-fully bolted on the Inside, and with no other means of Ingress or egress. All the windows are closed, and all the shades drawn. The electric lights are burning, and the bed has not been slept In. What took place here last night, therefore, must have happened before Coe's usual time for retiring. Furthermore, I am Inclined to think that we must also consider the Implied Im-plied fact that, Just before his death, he had been reading about peach-bloom vases and that he had started to write a letter or make a memorandum of some kind. That dated piece of stationery sta-tionery and that fountain pen on -the floor must be added to the problem. prob-lem. . . ." At tins point we could hear hurried footsteps mounting the stairs, and the next moment Gamble stood at the door with a startled look In his eyes. "Mr. Markham," he stammered, "excuse "ex-cuse the Interruption, sir, but but there's something queer very queer, 6lr down In the front hall." CHAPTER III The Wounded Scottie. "Well, what's In the hall?" barked Markham. Vance's recapitulation had produced an Irritating effect on him. "A dog, sir I" Gamble announced. Markham gave a start of exasperation. exaspera-tion. "What of It?" "A wounded dog, sir," the butler explained. Before Markham could answer .Vance had leaped to his fet. "That's the thing I've been waiting for I" There was a suppressed note of excitement In his voice. "A wounded dog! My word! . . ." He went swiftly swift-ly to the door. "Come along, Gamble," he called, as he passer? julekly down the stairs. We all followed in silent amazement. "Where is It?" Vance demanded when he bad reached the lower hallway. Gamble stepped to the heavy portieres por-tieres at the right of the entrance door, and drew one of them aside. "I heard a strange sound Just now," he explained. "Like a whine, sir. It atartled me terribly. When I looked back of this curtain, there I saw the doe." "Docs It belong to anyone in the house?" Markham asked. "Oil, no, sir!" the man assured him "That's why I was so startled. There's never been a dog in this house since I've been here and that's going on ten years." As he held back the portiere, we could see the small, prone shape of a slightly brindled Scottish terrier, lying on Its side with Us four short legs stretched out. Over the left eye was a clotted wound; and on the Moor was a black stain of dried blood. The eye beneath the wound was swollen shut, but the other eye, dark hazel and oval, looked up at us with an expression of tragic appeal. Vance took the dog tenderly In his arms. "What street's this?" he asked of no one In particular. "Seventy-first? . . . Open that door, Gamble." The butler, apparently as much surprised sur-prised as any of the rest of us, hurried hur-ried to obey. Vance stepped Into the vestibule, the dog held gently against his breast. "I'm going to Doctor Blarney," he announced. "He's just up the street. I'll be back presently." And he hurried hur-ried down the stone steps. This new development left us all even more puzzled than before. Vance's animated response to Gamble's announcement an-nouncement regarding the dog, and his cryptic remark as he hurried down-stnirs, down-stnirs, added another element of almost al-most outlandish mystery to a situation already Incredibly complicated. Markham was staring at the front door through which Vance had just passed, chewing his cigar nervously. Presently he fixed Gamble with an angry look. "You never saw that dog before?" "No, sir." The butler had become oily again. "Never, sir. It's most mysterious. I can't Imagine how it got In the house." Wrede and Grassl had come to the drawing room door, and stood looking out curiously into the hall. Markham, seeing them, addressed himself to Wrede. "Do you, Mr. Wrede, know anything about a small black shaggy dog that might have found access to this house?" Wrede looked puzzled. "Why, no," he answered, after a slight hesitation. "No one here cared for dogs. I happen to know that both Archer and Brisbane detested pets." "What about Miss Lake?" "She has no use for dogs. She likes cats." Markham frowned. "Well, a dog has just been found here in the hall back of those curtains." cur-tains." "That's most remarkable." Wrede seemed genuinely astonished. "I can't Imagine where it came from. It must have followed some one In, without being seen." Markham did not answer, and Heath, taking his cigar from his mouth, stepped forward belligerently, and thrust out bis jaw. "But you like dogs, don't you?" life shot forth, in his best third-degree manner. Wrede was taken aback by the sergeant's ser-geant's sudden aggressiveness. "Why, yes," he said. "I'm very fond of them. I've always kept one till I moved into the apartment next door. . . ." "What kind of a dog?" demanded Heath, without relaxing his bellicose manner. "A Doberman I'inscher," Wrede told him, and turned to Markham. "I don't exactly understand this mnn's questions." "We're all a little on edge," Markham apologized. "Some very peculiar things went on in this house last night. Coe did not commit suicide he was murdered." mur-dered." Wrede did not appear surprised. "Ah !" he murmured. "I was afraid of that." Grass! now gave a guttural exclamation, exclama-tion, and stepped into the hall. "Murdered?" he repeated. "Mr. Coe was murdered? I understood he had taken his own life with a revolver." "He was stabbed in the back," Markham Mark-ham Informed him. "The bullet did not enter his head till after death." Again the Italian gave a curious guttural gut-tural exclamation and leaned heavily against the casing of the drawing room door. Heath was watching him like a tiger, and at this point he moved deliberately de-liberately forward until his face was within six inches of Grassi's. "Stabbed with a dagger!" he spat out "In the back. Wop stuff. What d'ye know about It?" As quickly as be had gone pale, the Italian drew himself together, and stood erect with great dignity, looking look-ing Heath steadily In the eyes. "I know nothing about It, sir," he said with quiet suavity. "I am not of the police. Perhaps you know a great deal about it." His tone, though on the surface polite, was an insult. Heath was piqued. "We know plenty," he boasted truculently. truc-ulently. "And when we get going, it won't be so d n pleasant for you." Markham stepped forward. "You gentlemen will have to wait in the drawing room for a while," he said to Grassl and Wrede. "And please be so good as to keep the door closed until un-til we want you." Heath waved the two men back into the drawing room and drew the sliding doors shut. "Come, Sergeant," Markham said. "We'd better make a once-over of I'oe's room before the boys get here." Heath sullenly led the way upstairs. During the next five minutes or so. Markham and the sergeant walked about Coe's yuarters giving them a cursory cur-sory Inspection. Heath went to each window and raised the shades. When lie had completed his rounds he went up to Markham. "Here's a funny one, sir. The windows win-dows are all shut tight but that ain't nil. Every one of 'em Is locked. And this room is on the second story, so that no one could get In from the outside. out-side. Wily all the precaution?" "Archer Coe was a peculiar man, Sergeant," Markham replied. "He was always afraid burglars would break In and steal his treasures." "Who'd want this Junk?" Heath grumbled sceptically, and moved to the desk. Markham, after casually inspecting the closet, walked, across the room to the teakwood chest beneath one of the east windows. I then remembered that Vance had regarded this chest curiously during his conversation with Doctor Doremus about Coe's broken rib. "I've seen nothing of the weapon that killed Coe," Markham remarked. "It's not here," Heath asserted dogmatically. dog-matically. "It was withdrawn from Coe's body, and I'll bet the guy cached It where It wouldn't be found." A few minutes later Vance returned to the house. As he entered the room his face was troubled, and anger smoldered in his gray eyes. There's a good chance she'll live," he reported; "but that was a vicious On the Floor Was a Black Stain of Dried Blood. blow some one dealt her. A blunt instrument in-strument of some kind." (I had rarely seen Vance so upset.) "What does It all mean?" Markham asked him. "Where does that dog fit In?" "I don't know yet." Vance sank Into a chair and took out his cigarette case. "But I have a feelin' it's our opening wedge. That little dog Is the one totally Irrelevant Item In this whole bloody affair she's our one contact with the world outside. She doesn't belong here, and therefore will have something important to say to us. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, she was wounded In this house." Markham's eyes suddenly narrowed. "And the wound was similar to the one on Coe's head, and in the same place." Vance nodded dubiously. "But that may be merely a coincidence," coin-cidence," he returned after a moment "In any event, no one in this house cared for dogs. There's never been one here. No member of this household house-hold brought that dog In, Markham. But had the dog got in by mistake, no member of the family would have hesitated hes-itated to strike It." "You think an outsider brought it In?" "No, that wouldn't be reasonable either." Vance frowned meditatively. "That's the strange things about the dog's presence here. It was probably a terrible accident a fatal miscalculation. miscalcu-lation. That's why I'm so deuced interested. in-terested. And then there's this point to be considered, the person who found the dog here was afraid to let her ouL Instead for his own safety he tried to kill her and then hid her behind the portieres downstairs. And he almost al-most succeeded In killing her. The dog either witnessed the stabbing or was present in the house shortly afterward." after-ward." "It's a curious situation," Markham murmured. "Yes. it's curious," Vance agreed. "And damnable. But once we trace the dog's ownership, we may know something pertinent." Markham looked doubtful. 'JIow. in Hp.-'ven's name, are we going to trace a stray dog?" he asked Uisphltedly. "The city is full of them. And if It belonged to the person who entered here last night, the owner is certainly not going to advertise for It or even answer a 'found' advertisement." advertise-ment." "True." Vance nodded. "But the matter Isn't as obscure and dillicult as that. That little Scottie is no mere pet-shop companion. Far from It. She'd make trouble In the ring for some of our leading winners. 1 know a little about Seotties, Markham. and I have an Idea she's got both I.auries-ton I.auries-ton and Ornsay blood In her." "That's all very well" Markham was annoyed by Vance's technicalities technicali-ties "but what do those things mean to anyone but a breeder? I can't see that they get us anywhere." "Oh, but they do," smiled Vance. "They get us much forrader. The breeding of certain blood-lines In this country Is known to every serious dog fancier. And a bitch like this one Is the result of years of intensive breeding. breed-ing. Furthermore, she's In perfect show condition now ; and the chances are that a dog as good as this one has been shown. And whenever a dog Is shown, another set of facts Is put on record." "Huh!" Heath was unimpressed. "But even if you did find the owner of this mut, where would you be? The owner might simply say, 'Oh, thank you, kind sir. The little devil ran away last Thursday.'" Vance smiled. "So he might, Sergeant. But well-bred well-bred dogs don't follow strangers into unknown houses. Moreover, dogs as good as this one are not generally permitted per-mitted to roam the streets unattended. There's something particularly strange about that dog's presence in this house last night. If I had the explanation, I'd know Infinitely more about the murderer. Until we have further data, we must assume that he viciously Injured In-jured the Scottie probably to keep her quiet " What Vance was going to say further was Interrupted by a noise of footsteps foot-steps and voices in the lower front hall. A moment later, three plainclothes plain-clothes men and two uniformed officers offi-cers from the local precinct station clattered into the room. "I have taken charge of the case," Markham told them. "We're handling It from headquarters, but we'll want two men to guard the house." "Certainly, sir." A heavy-set, gray-haired gray-haired man saluted, and turned to the uniformed officers. "You, Hanlon and Eiordan, stay here. Mr. Markham'U give you orders." The three plain-clothes men had scarcely departed when the fingerprint finger-print experts Captain Dubois and Detective De-tective Bellamy arrived, with the official photographer, Peter Quaeken-bush. Quaeken-bush. Under Heath's orders, they went systematically about their work. "What I want to know," the sergeant told them, "is who locked those windows win-dows and turned on the lights in this room. And I want to know who went outa this room last." Vance beckoned Heath to one side. "I can throw some light into the gloom of your uncertainties, Sergeant," Ser-geant," he said. "Coe himself locked the windows and pulled down the shades; and he also switched on the lights. But I'll admit I'm In a Stygian darkness as to who was the last person per-son to handle the doorknob." Heath blinked and looked up ques-tloningly. ques-tloningly. He was about to answer, but Instead he called to Captain Dubois. Du-bois. "Say, Cap : take the right thumbprint thumb-print of the body on the bed, and see If you can check it with the prints on the window-catches and the light switch." Dubois went to the bed. A few minutes later he returned with a piece of cardboard on which was an ink impression im-pression of Coe's thumb. "You had the right dope. Sergeant," he said. "It looks like the guy on the bed locked this window." He then went through the same process of minute comparison with the catches on the other windows. When he was through he came to Heath. "All the same as far as I can see. Two of the lockplates are blurred, but they seem to match." "Now, Cap," said Heath, "try the switch and the doorknob." Dubois went to the switch and, after sprinkling the powder over It, blew upon it gently and studied it through his glass. "Same here," he nodded. "I can't be sure, you understand, until I get the photographic enlargements and compare com-pare 'em. But the prints look the same the whorl type with a pronounced pro-nounced ridge dot and several distinctive distinc-tive bifurcations." Heath smoked a while in silence. "Try that gun on the desk, wrapped In my handkerchief." Dubois obeyed. "Nothing here," he told the sergeant ser-geant after a few minutes. "The trigger's trig-ger's incised and wouldn't take a print. Looks to me as If it had been wiped clean before the fellow picked it up." "It had." Vance spoke lethargically. "It's a waste of time to Inspect the gun. If there are any marks on It, they're Coe's." The sergeant stood glaring at Vance. Finally he shrugged, and waved his hand In dismissal to Dubois. "Thanks, Cap. I guess that'll be all." Dubois and Bellamy and the photographer pho-tographer had scarcely quitted the room when Commanding Officer Moran of the detective bureau, followed closely close-ly by Detectives Burke and Snltkin of the homicide bureau, came In. Moran greeted us pleasantly and asked Markham several questions concerning con-cerning the case. He seemed relieved to find Markham on the scene, and, at the district attorney's request, officially official-ly assigned Heath to the case. He left us almost immediately, manifestly glad to get away. Burke and Snitkin had come at Heath's specific request, and, after greeting the sergeant, stood by the mantelpiece awaiting orders. Markham sat down at the desk, and made a peremptory gesture to Heath. "Let's see what we can find out from the people in the house, Ser-geauL" Ser-geauL" He deferred to Vance. "What do you say to beginning with Gamble?" Vance nodded. "Quite. A bit of domestic gossip to start with. And don't fall to pry into the movements and whereabouts of brother Brisbane last night." There was, however, another Interruption Inter-ruption before the examinations took ( place. The front door bell rang, and presently two men bearing a coffin-shaped coffin-shaped basket entered the room. They lifted Coe's body Into It, and, without a word, carried their gruesome burden out. "And now let's have the windows open," ordered Markham. "And turn out those ghastly electric lights." Snitkin and Burke leaped to obey him ; he drew a deep breath and looked at his watch. "Get Gamble up here, Sergeant," he said, leaning back in his chair. Heath sent one of the uniformed officers to the street with Instructions to keep all strangers away from the house. The other he stationed In the hall outside of Coe's room. He ordered or-dered Burke to the lower hall to ans-swer ans-swer the front door. Then he disappeared disap-peared down the stairs. Presently he returned with the butler but-ler in tow. Markham beckoned Gamble to the desk. The man came boldly forward, but, despite his effort, he could not disguise his nervous fear. "We want some Information about the conditions in this house last night," Markham began gruffly. "And we want the truth understand?" "Certainly, sir anything I know, sir." "First, take a look at that revolver. Ever seen it before?" "Yes, sir. I've seen it often. It was Mr. Archer Coe's revolver." "When did you see it last?" "Yesterday morning, sir, when I was straightening up the library. Mr. Coe had left a record book on the table, and when I put it away In the drawer, I saw the revolver." Markham nodded, as if satisfied. "Who was In the house last night after dinner?" "Yesterday was Wednesday, sir," the man answered. "There is no dinner din-ner here on Wednesdays. It's the servants' night off. Every one dines out except Mr. Archer Coe occasionally. occasional-ly. I fix a cold supper for him sometimes some-times before I go." "And last night?" "I prepared a salad and cold cuts for him. The rest of the family had engagements outside." "What time did you go?" "About six-thirty, sir." "And there was no one but Mr. Archer Coe in the house at that time?" "No, sir no one. Miss Lake telephoned tele-phoned from the Country club early In the afternoon that she would not be home till late. And Mr. Grassl, Mr. Coe's guest, went out shortly before four. I understood he had an appolnt-' appolnt-' ment with the curator of oriental antiquities of the Metropolitan museum." mu-seum." "And Mr. Brisbane Coe, you said over the phone, was In Chicago." Markham's statement was actually a question. TO BB CONTINUED. |