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Show THE MAY DAY MYSTERY! By OCTAVUS ROY COM EN CVl'yrUtu iVtftvuji Uoy Oohtfii. V NU Sorvk'fc SYNOPSIS Antoinette rytvxt, tcnior at th Untvrity ol MntUnd. rmt Pti on THvr's ttu-ttott ttu-ttott to Ivy VU'h. HVnlc-yMr-oM coed, and tbr U a itwmy n.en, th tension bmi tncrd by Mm Vrmm, another student, rirvchmj Ivy tor "brnUlnj a cUt" with htm. Thayer and Vernon threaten .'h other. Larry V Ub. Ivy brother, protecsor at the. university, U appealed to by Tony to and bia later' Iriendahip with Tbayer. Welch and Tony ar In low. Welch does not aa what h aan do in tba matter. Tcmy then telli him aha Is married to Thayer, but la hi wit only In nams. Larry determines to ses Thayer and sod bis association with Ivy. Tony persuades him te wait until she has appealed to her husband. hus-band. She visits him In his room at a rra-tarotty rra-tarotty bouss. Max Vernon, living in the lonn housa, arrives and goes to bis room. Tony nda her visit to Tbayer and departs. Vernon Waves the house almost Immediately alter-wards. alter-wards. In a state of excitement. Welch's appeal ap-peal to Ivy to end her affair with Thayer is fruitless. He determines to ses Thayer. Despite De-spite Ivy's protestations, he does so and atter be leaves, Carmicino, frat house janitor, finds Thayer dead, stnbbed. Reagan, Mar lands po-lice po-lice chief, takes charge of the case. CHAPTER V The town of Markuul sproiul (unwise (un-wise from the foot of the hill on whL-h stnud the buiUlin.es of t lie university. Oak street, some three miles from the University, Is the chief shopping center cen-ter of Marlaiul. Archer street carries the traftie load. It runs east ami west. At the four corners which murk the Intersection of Oak ami Archer there are two pas filling stations nml two drug stores. The latter, however, open on Oak street, ami uext to one of them, one door from the corner, facing Archer street and west of Oak. is the snug little sray stone home of the Marland National bank. The Marland National bears an enviable en-viable reputation. It is small but staunch, and on Its roster of directors one will find names which carry great weight even In the city of a quarter million which exists tw-enty miles away. It Is spoken of boastfully by natives of Marland, and Randolph Tiske, its president, is a real power in the community. This morning the morning of May third Randolph Fiske sat at his desk In the office which was marked "President "Presi-dent rrivate." He was a tall, well-proportioned well-proportioned man, fifty-eight years of age, whose hair matched the gray of his bank building. He had a fine, broad forehead and iron-gray brows from beneath which a pair of keen eyes peered In a manner which gave an Impression of unimpeachable effi-. effi-. ciency. He was gazing attentively at a tiny bit of pasteboard. There was printing on Its surface printing, not embossing. emboss-ing. It said simply: James H. Hanvey Bankers' Protective Ass'n. Mr. Fiske's eye roved to a yellow telegram which had arrived two days previously from New York. It was from headquarters of the Bankers' Protective association and was very explicit. "Our best operative arrives Marland Mar-land morning May Third." Mr. Fiske heaved a sigh of relief as he prepared to shift a very great burden bur-den to the shoulders of another man one professionally equipped to bear such burdens. He looked up at Miss Seward. "Show Mr. Hanvey in, please." Miss Seward put out a bony hand which trembled in protest. "Surely, Mr. Fiske not that man ! The the terrible person who gave me that card." Fiske frowned. "I don't understand, Miss Seward. This man Is a great detective." "There's a mistake, Mr. Fiske. This person couldn't detect anything. I'm very sure of that. Just wait until you see him." She vanished In triumph, and Randolph Ran-dolph Fiske stared after her. "What In the world. . . ?" Then he smiled. At least she had prepared him for a somewhat uncouth person. Probably a squat gentleman with a brown derby, der-by, square-toed shoes, a checkered vest and a dime's worth of chewing tobacco. Queer how these detective chaps always al-ways dressed so that there was no mistaking their profession. Randolph Fiske saw the door swing open. Then It closed and Mr. Fiske was rendered Inarticulate. Jim Hanvey was everything In the world which one Is quite sure a detective de-tective should not be. His two hundred hun-dred and sixty pounds of avoirdupois was distributed with heavily Inartistic effect ; It wabbled when he moved . . and he seemed to move with vast reluctance. But it was the head which rose above triple chins that filled Randolph Fiske with awe. The face was huge and round and utterly expressionless. Randolph Fiske was quite sure that never before In his life had he seen a human counterance so utterly devoid of Intelligence. It was yes, by George! it was the eyes! Round little eyes which were as vacant and colorless as the orbs of a fish. The mass of flesh stood In the doorway. door-way. Fiske knew he was breathing; he could tell that by the fact that a rather remarkable contraption which appeared In th nelgnborhood of Jim Hanvey's prodigious tummy kept moving mov-ing rhythmically. Randolph Fiske kept his eyes fascinatedly on that particular par-ticular apparatus. It hung from a hawserlike watch chain and was similar sim-ilar to nothing which the banker had ever before set eyes upon. It was long and slim and seemed to be made of gold. Then, without warning, th silence wag punctured by n sleepy, drawly voice. "It's a toothpick. Mr. Flake." "Mull?" The banker Jerked him. self together. "Wh what's a toothpick?" tooth-pick?" "'rhls," Hanvey touched the trinket trin-ket affectionately and detached It from his chain. "Swellest piece of Joolry I've got. A crook friend gave It to me. It's solid gold eighteen karat. Croat Invention: feller don't always have to be running around hunting toothpicks when he's got one of these. Look!" He touched a spring and a wicked little blade leaped out at Randolph Fiske. That gentleman gentle-man gave a perceptible Jump. "It It's very very remarkable," he murmured. Hanvey reattached the toothpick to the chain. The banker was staring and wondering . . . and then the opaque eyes of Jim Hanvey were raised slowly until they met the gar.e of the hanker. Hanvey spoke. "I hiii kind of funny-looking, ain't I, Mr. Fiske?" Mr. Randolph Fiske was completely stripped of the poise upon which he prided himself. He did not answer, but picked up the slightly soiled card which lay on his desk. "You are James II. Hanvey?" "I'h-huh. In person. Largely. I might say." "You're the man the R F. A. sent down here to Investigate the robbery?" "Yes." Mr. Fiske was getting himself under control. He sought refuge In frankness. frank-ness. "I Imagine my actions have been exceedingly ex-ceedingly discourteous. Mr. Hanvey. I apologize and only wish to explain that you somewhat startled me. You see, you are not well, not exactly the sort of detective about which I've read." "I wish I was." breathed Hanvey ecstatically. "Gosh! I love mystery stories. Them fellers sure are slick. I "I Am Kind of Funny-Looking, Ain't I, Mr. Fiskei" never could figure out how they do their tricks." Another shock for the banker. He blinked. "And you don't work like the detectives detec-tives In books?" "Golly, no. I ain't slick, Mr. Fiske. I don't hardly know any dicks who are. Lemme tell you something." Hanvey leaned confidentially across the desk and his sleepy eyes held the attention of the banker. "My kind of work ain't so hard. And why? Sup pose I go on a case. I start off wrong. All right, nobody's the, wiser, and when I find out I'm on the wrong track I start again. Same thing always. A detective can make all the mistakes In the world, Mr. Fiske but If he happens hap-pens to do one thing right he lands the man he's after: see?" "Yes I see." "But the crook, gosh ! the poor feller hasn't got a chance. If he slips Just one time, he's caught. He has to do everything right. The detective only has to do one thing right And there you are." Fiske had been studying his visitor. He was amazed now to find himself warming to the ungainly person. There was an almost childish simplicity about Hanvey which gave Fiske confidence con-fidence although he told himself that the man was a caricature. "The B. P. A. wired me," he said slowly, "that you are their best operative." opera-tive." "Hooey !" grinned Hanvey. "I've Just been lucky that's all. You see. It's this way : Most all the crooks are my friends, and they don't lie to me so that makes things pretty easy." The banker gasped. "Crooks are your friends? I I never heard of such a thing." "I guess not. But can't you see how much easier It makes things?" "Y'ou say they don't lie to you?" "Well, the high class crooks don't. Only the bums." "Good Lord !" Fiske leaned back In his chair and regarded Hanvey with wide-eyed wonder. "Y'ou are quite the most remarkable man I've ever met." "And the fattest?" For the first time, Fiske smiled. "And the fattest." Hanvey's eyes twinkled for a moment. mo-ment. He fumbled in the breast pocket of his coat and produced two thin and vicious-looking projectiles. He extended these toward his companion. com-panion. "Have a cigar?" Fiske thanked him and accepted one. Hanvey bit the end from the other, held a match to It and inhaled with vast relish. He blew a cloud of smoke RcruMi the room and Flt-ke turned utanled eyes In his direction. "They are kind of strong," tiald the detective genially. "Some folks like 'em." Fiske struggled heroically against the asphyxlatliiK effect of the violent funics. Then they got the better of hi m. "May I open another window?" he Inquired weakly. "Sure. That'll be fine." Hanvey eyed the second cigar which lay un-lighted un-lighted on the desk. "Ain't you going to smoke yours?" "I'll try one of my own, If you don't mind." As the banker moved toward the window, Jim sighed rcllevedly. Ho rescued the unused cigar and tucked It back In his breast pocket with real affection. Jim's cigars were a source of perpetual worry: he was always afraid that some day some one would smoke one of them. Fiske seated himself again. "You'd like to hear about the robbery?" he asked. "Yen If you want." "Nn't that what you came for?" "Reckon so." "Then why don't you ask me some questions?" "Gosh! Mr. Fiske how do I know what to ask? I'm waiting for you to tell me. anil you're waiting until you're sure I didn't escape from some zoo." Randolph Fiske threw back his head and laughed. "You win, Hanvey. Now shoot !" Jim's face did not change. "When?" "Pay before yesterday May first at ten minutes after two o'clock." "How much?" "Tim robber got away with approximately approx-imately one hundred thousand dollars In currency." Hanvey blinked. "Lot of cash for a little bank like this." "l'lenty. We were making up the pay roll for the Marland mills. They pay on the third." "Stick-up?" queried the detective. Yes." "Tell me all about It." Fiske rose and Invited Hanvey to follow him. They passed from his private office luto the bank proper. Under the amazed eyes of Miss Helen Seward. Fiske conducted Hanvey to the front door and gestured to the broad thoroughfare passing east and west. "That Is Archer street,' said Fiske. "The north and south street Is Ook. Oak Is a shopping street, but Archer Is the main traffic artery. Lots of cars going by here all the time. You will notice that this bank Is the only commercial com-mercial establishment on Archer street. Do you follow me?" "Easy," grunted Jim. "You sure do talk explicit." Fiske stepped back Into the bank. "Our banking business starts at nine In the morning and stops at two. At two o'clock daily and on Saturday at twelve we get rid of our last customer. cus-tomer. Then we couceal the Interior of the bank by pulling the shades so." He stepped behind the open door and pulled a shnde which rose up from the bottom of the door. The heavy green shade rose along the glass surface until It was higher than a man's head. "There are similar curtains on both windows." he went on. "As soon as we get the last customer out, we pull the curtains up, and then all of the employees em-ployees except two or three go out for a bite of lunch. They Invariably go out the back door. That door, which Is behind my office, opens onto a little alley through which you can pass into Oak street. Pay before yesterday yes-terday the bank was free of customers at two o'clock. We drew the curtains and shut the front doors." "Were they locked?" "No. They never are. We have safety vaults In the basement and they are open until five o'clock. There has to be some way for clients to get Into the building. We merely shut the doors and draw the curtains to keep our banking clients out." Fiske turned away, but Hanvey examined ex-amined the door. He saw that It was equipped on the inside with a heavy spring lock. He turned and followed the banker. Back In Fiske's office, the banker resumed re-sumed his story. Hanvey lolled In a chair, apparently asleep. But occasionally occa-sionally his eyes uncurtained for a moment and he regarded the banker gravely before closing them again. "May first was a perfect day," said Fiske. "Warm and sunshiny and almost al-most like summer. As I said, we shut the door and drew the curtains at two o'clock sharp, so that the Interior of the bank was effectually concealed from anyone on the street. At the same time everybody went out to lunch except Miss Seward and myself. Miss Seward is my secretary. She was the one who brought you in here." "Oh!" said Hanvey. And then "Nice young lady." There was no hint of humor In his heavy face, but Fiske chuckled delightedly. de-lightedly. "Efficient and sour," he explained. "But mighty loyal." "I knew she must be something." "She was behind her desk and I had just gone out to speak with her. At about ten minutes after two o'clock the front door opened. I didn't think anything of It a box holder, most likely. The man " "Remember what he looked like?" "Only vaguely. He was slim and quietly dressed. He didn't look like a crook." "Crooks never do." "He walked straight up to the cage where I was talking to Miss Seward. First thing I knew about anything being wrong was when Miss Seward uttered a little shriek. 1 turned arour. I and saw the man was pointing a gi. i at us. vTO BE CO.vnM'EP.) |