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Show I The KENNEL MURDER CASE By S. S. Van Dine Copyright by W. H. Wright WNU Service SYNOPSIS Philo Vance, crime expert, Investigates Investi-gates the euppotjed sulfide of Archer Coe. With District Attorney Markham, he goem to Coe's house. They find Wrede, a friend of Coe's, there; also BlKnor Grasnl, a guest. The door of the death chamber Is bolted from the Inside. In-side. They force It. Coe Is seated, a revolver In his riff h t hand and a bullet bul-let hole In his temple. He Is clothed In a dressing gown, but wears itreet ahofcs. Markham thinks It Is suicide. Vance says It Is murder. Medical Examiner Ex-aminer Doremus declares Coe had been dead for hours when the bullet entered his head. A wound, made by a dagger, la found on the body, and there la proof that Coe was fully dressed when he was stabbed. The Investigators And a wounded Scottish terrier In a room of the Coe house. Vance declares the animal will prove an Important connecting con-necting link. Brisbane Coe, Archer's brother, is believed to have left for Chicago the previous afternoon, but his dead body Is discovered in a closet in the Coe home. Vance Interrogates the Chinese cook, Liang. A splinter of porcelain from a vase that has disappeared disap-peared la found to have blood on it. CHAPTER V Continued 7 Heuth gave orderB to Burke to remain re-main at the library door and see that no one entered the room. Gamble waa told to stay In the front hall and an-wer an-wer the doorbell. "Which one of the babies do you want first?" the Sergeant asked. "The Italian, by all means," said Vance. "He's frightfully upset, and therefore In an admirable state of mind for questioning. We'll keep Wrede till later he's teeming with possibilities." GrasBl and the sergeant joined us a few seconds later. "Mr. Grassl," Vance began without preliminaries, "we should like to know exactly what your social and professional profes-sional status Is In this house. We understand un-derstand you have been a house guest of Mr. Coe's for a week." The Italian had himself well In hand. He sat down In leisurely fash-Ion. fash-Ion. "Yes that Is right," he returned, looking at Vance with calm disdain. "I came here at Mr. Coe's Invitation a week ago yesterday. It was to have been a fortnight's visit." "Had you any business with Mr. Coe?" "Oh, yes. I am connected, in an official offi-cial capacity, with a museum of antiquities an-tiquities In Milan," he explained; "and I had hoped to be able to purchase from Mr. Coe certain specimens of Chinese ceramic art from his remarkable remark-able collection." "His Ting yao vase, for example?" Grassi's dark eyes became suddenly brilliant with astonishment; but almost al-most at once a wary look came Into them, and he smiled with cold polite-Bess. polite-Bess. "I must admit I was Interested In the vase," he said. "It Is a magnificent specimen, of the amphora shape. . . . Have you examined It?" "No," Vance told him. "I've never Been It . . . but I think I've had a fragment of It In my hand." Grassl stared. "A fragment !" "Yes; a small triangular piece," Vance nodded. Then he added : "I have grave fears Mr. Grassl that the Ting yao vase has been broken." The Italian stiffened and his eyes clouded with suspicious anger. "It's Impossible"! I was inspecting the vase only yesterday afternoon. It was on the circular table In the library.' li-brary.' "There's only a Tao Kuang vase there now," Vance Informed him. "And where, may I be permitted to ask, did you find this fragment of Ting yao?'' "On the same table," Vance replied carelessly. "Beneath the Tao Kuang." "Indeed?" There was a sneer in the inflection of the word. Vance appeared to Ignore It. He came closer to the Italian. "I understand from Gamble that you left the house at about four o'clock yesterday afternoon." "That Is correct I had a business appointment for dinner and the evening." eve-ning." "With whom?" "Is that information necessary?" "Oh, very." Vance met the other's smile with one equally arctic. "Very well then. . . . With one of the curators of the Metropolitan Museum of Art." "And," continued Vance, without , change of tone, "at what time last night did you meet Miss Lake?" The Italian rose indignantly, his somber eyes flashing. "I resent that question, sir! Even if I had met Miss Lake, I would not ' tell you." "Keally, Mr. Grassi," Vance smiled, "I would not have expected you to. Your conduct Is quite correct. ... I take it for granted you were aware that Miss Lake is engaged to Mr. , Wrede." Grassi calmed down quickly and resumed re-sumed his seat. "Yes ; I knew there was some understanding. un-derstanding. Mr. Archer Coe Informed nie of the fact. But he also stated " ' "Yes. yes. lie also stated that he was opposed to the alliance. He en-. en-. Joyed Mr. Wrede Intellectually, but did not regard him favorably as a husband hus-band for his ward. . . . What Is your opinion of the situation, Mr. Grassl?" The Italian seemed surprised at Vance's question. "You mu6t forgive me, sir," he said after a pause, "if I plead my inability to express an opinion on the subject I may say, however, that Mr. Brisbane Coe disagreed with his brother. Ha was very much in favor of the marriage, mar-riage, and stated his views most emphatically em-phatically to Mr. Archer Coe." "And now both of them are dead," Vance remarked. Grassi's eyelids drooped, and he turned his head slightly. "Both?" he repeated In a low voice. "Mr. Brisbane was stabbed In the back shortly after Mr. Archer was killed," Vance Informed him. "Most unfortunate," the Italian murmured. mur-mured. "Have you," asked Vance, "any suggestion sug-gestion as to who might desire to have these two gentlemen out of the way?" Grassl suddenly became austere and aloof. "I have no suggestion," he replied In a flat, diplomatic voice. "Mr. Archer Coe was the type of man who might Inspire enmities; but Mr. Brisbane Coe was quite the opposite -r genial, shrewd, kindly " "An excellent characterization," Vance complimented him. "And what are your Impressions of Mr. Wrede? ... I assure you any opinion you express will go no further." Grassl appeared 111 at ease. He did not answer at once but contemplated the wall before hira for some time. Finally he spoke In the slow, precise manner of a man carefully choosing his words. "I have not been particularly lm-. pressed by Mr. Wrede. On the surface he Is most charming, but I have a feeling he Is Inclined toward superficiality. super-ficiality. Withal he Is very clever. . . ." "Cleverness Is our national curse," Vance remarked. "But forgive my Interruption. In-terruption. You were speaking of Mr. Wrede." "Mr. Wrede, as I have said, impresses im-presses me as being very clever. But I have sensed another side to him. He Is capable, I should say, of unexpected unex-pected things. I have a feeling he would stop at nothing to gain his own ends." "Thank you 1" Vance spoke with unwonted harshness. "I perfectly understand un-derstand your feelings." He looked down at Grassl contemptuously. "And now, sir, we should like to know exactly ex-actly what you did yesterday between four o'clock In the afternoon and one o'clock In the morning." His tone was almost menacing. The Italian made a valiant effort to meet Vance's stern gaze. "I have said all I Intend to say," he announced. Vance faced the man threateningly. "In that case," he said, "I shall have to order your arrest on suspicion of having murdered Archer and Brisbane Coe !" A look of abject fear came over Grassi's pallid face. mered. "I didn't do it I assure you I didn't do It!" His voice rose. "I'll tell you anything you want to know. I went to Doctor Montrose's for tea. We discussed ceramics; and I stayed to dinner. At eight o'clock I excused myself and went to the railway station sta-tion to take the train for Mount Vernon Ver-non to the Crestvlew Country club. "Your appointment with Miss Lake was at what time?" "Nine o'clock." The man looked ap-pealingly ap-pealingly at Vance. "There was to be a dance . . . but but I took the wrong train I'm not familiar " "Quite quite." Vance spoke encouragingly. en-couragingly. "And what time was it when you arrived at the club?" "It was after eleven." Grassl fell back Into the chair as if exhausted. "I had to make several transportation changes," ha continued In a forced tone. "It was most unfortunate. . . ." "Yes, very." Vance studied the other Icily. "Did the lady forgive your tardiness?" tardi-ness?" "Yes! Miss Lake accepted my explanation," ex-planation," the man returned, with a show of heat. "The fact is, she did not arrive until several minutes after I did. She had motored to the Arrowhead Arrow-head inn with friends for dinner, and had an accident of some kind on her return to the club." "Very distressin'," murmured Vance. "Were her friends with her at the time of the accident?" "I do not believe they were," Grassl answered. "Miss Lake told me she had motored back alone." At this point Detective Burke stepped luto the room. "That Chink downstairs wants to speak to Mr. Vance," he said. "He's all hot and bothered." Vance nodded to Heath. "Send him up, Burke," the sergeant ordered. Liang appeared at the door and waited till Vance came to him. He said something in a low voice which the rest of the room could not distinguish, dis-tinguish, and held out a crudely twisted paper parcel. "Thank you, Mr. Liang," said Vance; and the Chinaman, with a bow, returned re-turned downstairs. Vance took the parcel to the desk and began opening It. "The cook," he said, speaking directly di-rectly to the Italian, "has Just found tills package tucked away in the garbage gar-bage pail on the rear porch. It may Interest you, Mr. Grassl." As he spoke, he smoothed out the corners of the paper; and there were revealed to all of us many fragments of beautiful, delicate porcelain with a pure white luster. "Here," he went on, still addressing the Italian, "are the remains of Mr. Coe's Ting yao vase. . . . And, if you will notice, several of these pieces of fragile Sung porcelain are stained with blood." There was a long silence. Finally Grassl looked up. "It's an outrage!" he exclaimed. "1 don't comprehend It in the least. . . . And the blood! Do you think, sir, that this vase had anything to do with the death of Mr. Coe?" "Without doubt." Vance was watching watch-ing the Italian with a puzzled look. "But pray sit down again, Mr. Grassl. There are one or two more questions I should like to ask you." The other resumed his seat reluctantly. reluc-tantly. "If you were with Miss Lake at the Country club late last night," Vance proceeded, "how did It happen that you and she returned to the house at different hours? I presume, of course, that you accompanied her back to the city." Grassi appeared embarrassed. "It was Miss Lake's suggestion," he said, "that we should not be heard en-teringthe en-teringthe house at the same time. So I waited in Central park for a quarter of an hour after she had gone in." Vance nodded. "I thought as much. It was the proximity of your two returns that made me conclude that possibly you had been together last night. . . . But what reason did Miss Lake give for the deception?" "No particular reason. Miss Lake merely said she thought it would be I Hi "At What Time Last Night Did You Meet Miss Lake?" better if Mr. Brisbane Coe did not hear us coming In together." "She specifically mentioned Mr. Brisbane Coe?" "Yes." "And she did not mention Mr. Archer Arch-er Coe?" "Not that I remember." "That Is quite understandable," Vance remarked. "Uncle Brisbane was her ally in her engagement to Mr. Wrede; and she may have feared that he would not have approved of her being out so late with another man. By the by, Mr. Grassl, when you came In last night or rather, this morning where did you hang your hat and coat?" A cautious look came Into the Italian's Ital-ian's eyes. "I did not wear an outer coat. But I carried my hat and stick to my own room." "Why? There Is a closet In the lower low-er hall." Grassl moved uneasily, and I could have sworn the pallor of his face Increased. In-creased. "I did not care to make a noise opening and shutting the closet door," he explained. Vance made no comment. "That will be all for the present," he said pleasantly. "And thank you for your help. . . . Would you mind waiting In your room? We shall probably prob-ably want to question you again before be-fore the afternoon Is over." The man bowed and went down the passageway of the hall toward the front of the house. Markham was immediately on his feet. "What about that broken vase?" he demanded, pointing at the parcel of porcelain fragments on the desk. "Was that the thing with which Archer Coe was struck over the head?" "Oh, no. This delicate Ting yao china would crack under the least pressure. If a man were struck with such a vase he would hardly feel It. The vase simply would break Into pieces." "But the blood. . . ." "There was no blood on Archer's head." Vance selected one of the fragments frag-ments and held It up. "Moreover, please note that the blood Is not on the outer glaze, but on the Inside of the vase. The same Is true of the little lit-tle piece I found on the table downstairs. down-stairs. But I can't possibly connect this broken vase with Brisbane's death or with the Scottie." "And how do you connect It with Archer's death?" Vance became evasive. "Give me a little more time," he said. "1 have a fairly definite Idea about this broken vase with the bloodstains blood-stains on the inside; It's too fantastic fantas-tic too Incredible. I want to verify my suspicions. . . ." His voice trailed off, and he lighted a cigarette meditatively. medi-tatively. Markham regarded him a while and then said: "The whole affair strikes me as fantastic fan-tastic and Incredible." Vance exhaled a blue ribbon of smoke. "Suppose we talk to Wrede," he suggested. "We may know more when he has unburdened his heart to us." Markham gave an order to Heath, but at that moment Burke announced the arrival of the wagon from the department de-partment of public welfare. The sergeant ser-geant went into the hall and was halfway half-way down the stairs when Vance hastened has-tened after him. "Just a moment, Sergeant !" So Impetuous was Vance's manner that Markham and I followed him Into the hall. "1 could bear," Vance called down to Heath, "to snoop In the pockets of Brisbane's suit before It's taken away. . . . Would you mind?" "Certainly not, Mr. Vance. Come along." We all went to the library. The sergeant ser-geant closed the door. "I had the same idea," he said. "I've been figuring right along that maybe that slick butler was lying to us about the ticket to Chicago." It took but a short time to empty the pockets of Brisbane Coe's suit to the library table. But there was nothing noth-ing of interest among the contents, only the usual Items to be found In a man's pockets a wallet, handkerchiefs, handker-chiefs, keys, a fountain-pen, a watch, and the like. There were, however, the ticket and berth reservation to Chicago, Chi-cago, and also the parcel room check for the suitcase. Heath was crestfallen, and expressed ex-pressed himself In violent terms. "The ticket's here all right," he added ; "so I guess he Intended to go, after all." Vance, too, was disappointed. "Oh, yes, Sergeant, he intended to go. But It was not the ticket that was worrying me. I was hoping to find something else." "What?" asked Markham. Vance gave him a vague look. "Really, don't y' know, I haven't the slightest Idea." He would say no more. Heath summoned the two men waiting wait-ing In the hall with their basket, and the body of Brisbane Coe was taken away to Join that of his brother at the mortuary. As the men went out to the car, Snitkin came in with the dead man's suitcase. The contents consisted merely mere-ly of the Items which would ordinarily ordinar-ily be taken by a man making a short trip. Vance nodded to Heath, and the sergeant ser-geant ordered Gamble to put the bag away. "And you, Snitkin," he added, "wait upstairs." Both men disappeared, and the sergeant ser-geant went to the drawing room doors and pulled them apart. "Mr. Wrede," he called. "You're wanted." Wrede came Into the library with a haggard, questioning look In his eyes. "Have you learned anything, Mr. Markham?" His voice seemed to quaver qua-ver slightly, and as he spoke, his eyes roved over the room. "Where's Mr. Grassi?" "Mr. Grassi's upstairs." Markham motioned to a chair. "And I'm sorry to say that thus far we have learned very little. . . . We are hoping that you may be able to help us out of our nnnndflrv." "Good Lord ! I wish I could." Wrede was like a man on the verge of collapse. col-lapse. "It's horrible!" Vance had been watching him from under half-closed eyelids. "It's more horrible than you perhaps per-haps realize," he said. "Brisbane Coe has also been murdered." Wrede sank heavily Into the nearest chair. "Brisbane?" His voice seemed to come from afar. "But why why . . .?" "Why, Indeed?" Vance spoke harshly. harsh-ly. "Nevertheless, he's dead. He, too, was stabbed in the back with a curiously curi-ously shaped instrument." Wrede stared straight ahead. His lips moved, but no sound came from them. "Tell us what you know about this double murder, Mr. Wrede." Vance went on with grim relentlessness. A shiver ran over Wrede's body. "1 know nothing about It," he replied re-plied after a painful pause. "Gamble told me this morning that Brisbane was In Chicago." "He started for the station yesterday yester-day afternoon, but returned here last night to meet his death." "Why should he return?" stammered stam-mered Wrede. "Have you any Ideas on the subject?" sub-ject?" "I?" The man's eyes opened wide. "Not the slightest Idea." "What do you know of the conditions condi-tions here at the Coe house yesterday? I would like as full a description as you can give." "I was here talking to Archer Coe from ten to twelve yesterday morning" morn-ing" "About ceramics or Miss Lake?" Wrede caught his breath. "Both," he answered weakly. "The fact Is, Archer and I had a somewhat bitter session regarding my coming marriage with Miss Lake. But It was nothing unusual. He was, as you may know, violently opposed to the marriage. mar-riage. Brisbane took part in the discussion, dis-cussion, and called Archer some rather harsh names. . . ." "And after twelve?" "I lunched In my apartment Then I went to an auction at the American art galleries. But I had a bad headache. head-ache. So I came home around three, and lay down. I did not leave my apartment again until this morning, when Gamble phoned me." "You live next door, do you not?" "The first house to the east, across the double vacant lot." "Who owns the vacant lot?" "It Is part of the Coe estate." "And you remained In your apartment apart-ment from three o'clock yesterday afternoon aft-ernoon until this morning?" "That's right I had a beastly headache head-ache . . ." "Did you see Miss Lake yesterday?" "Yes, in the morning when I was here. The fact Is, I made an appointment appoint-ment with her for last night at the Country club. But when I got home yesterday afternoon, I called her by phone and excused myself. I was in no condition for dancing." "Mr Grassl substituted for you," said Vance. Wrede's eyes clouded, and he set his Jaws. "So she told me this morning." "When Gamble phoned you this morning," Vance asked, "what was your mental reaction to the news?" Wrede frowned. "That would be difficult to analyze. ... I was not overfond of Archer," he admitted; "and I was not personally person-ally distressed by the report of his death. But I was extremely puzzled. It was not like Archer to take his own life; and frankly I had very grave doubts. That Is why I advised Gamble to get In Immediate touch with Mr. Markham." "You acted wisely," Vance observed, with a tinge of sarcasm. "But If you did not believe that Archer Coe had committed suicide, there must have been in your mind another possibility to wit; that" of murder. Who, Mr. Wrede, do you think would have had sufficient motive to commit the crime?" Wrede did not answer at once. He appeared sorely troubled and ran his fingers several times through his hair. "That Is a question I have been trying try-ing to answer all morning," he replied without looking at Vance. "One may speculate, of course, but It would not be fair to voice those speculations without definite evidence of some kind. ..." "Mr. Grassi?" "I I really, Mr. Vance, Vm not well acquainted with the man. He was after Coe's collection of Chinese ceramics; but that would hardly constitute con-stitute a motive for murder." "No-o." Vance smiled frigidly. "What about Miss Lake?" Wrede almost leaped from his seat "That suggestion Is outrageous !" he cried, glowering at Vance. "How dare you 7" "Spare me the drama," Vance cut In, with a contemptuous smile. "I'm deuced difficult to Impress." Wrede sat back, with a mumbled remark which we could not make out. "What do you think of Liang, the cook?" Vance asked next The man glanced up with a swift shrewd look. TO BH CONTINUED. |