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Show Tie WEDDING MARCH MURDER by MONTE BARRETT Copyright. 1933, by the Bobbs-Merrill Co. WMU Servlca. SYNOPSIS Waiting In the minister's study, Jim Franklin, about to bo married to Doris Carmody, is stabbed to death. Peter Cardigan, novelist, and amateur detective detec-tive of some note, with Sergeant Kil-day, Kil-day, begin the official investigation. Franklin, while waiting, had visitors, among them his mistress, "Choo Choo" Train; his intended wife's father, Ambrose Am-brose Carmody; her brother, Rylie; Daniel Bullls, politician, and a woman In a blue frock, who had quarreled openly with Franklin. Rylie Carmody admits trying to stop the wedding, after aft-er being Informed by Webster Spears that Franklin was still friendly with Choo Choo, despite his approaching marriage. Kilday secures the dead man's keys. Callis Shipley, one of the bridesmaids, is contradictory in her answers to questions, but the Investigators Investi-gators learn nothing of Importance. An Interview with Bullis Is also fruitless. fruit-less. Webster Spears admits informing Rylie Carmody of Franklin's relations with Choo Choo, for Doris Carmody's sake, In the hope of preventing the wedding. Fletcher, Franklin's manservant, man-servant, Is reticent An Interview with Milo Dunbar, Franklin's law partner, and search of the dead man's office, reveals nothing of importance. Choo Choo admits her relations with Franklin Frank-lin were to oontlnue after his marriage. mar-riage. She says she was decoyed Into visiting Franklin at the church by a telephone message from Fletcher, telling tell-ing her to come. . CHAPTER V Continued 11 "He had a key. I suppose it's there." "Mind if I try it?" Choo Choo shrugged. "Nice of you to ask," she said. There was a trace of bitterness in her voice. "I've already al-ready told you he had a key. I'm not hiding anything." "I just want to make sure," the detective de-tective retorted, over his shoulder, as he disappeared toward the living room. When he returned, he nodded toward Peter. "It fits. That's six of them." "You sound disappointed," observed Choo Choo. "I had hoped that key would help me find some one else," the detective commented. "No matter. We'll play the hand just as It is dealt." Peter frowned thoughtfully at his lean brown hands. "Miss Train," he put the question deliberately, "how did you feel about this marriage of Franklin's? You were in love with him, weren't you?" Choo Choo moistened her Hps, but did not reply. Her dark eyes returned re-turned his stare, but the shadows concealed their expression. Finally she nodded. "Yes, I loved him. What of It?" "What did you think of this marriage?" mar-riage?" Cardigan repeated. Once more she lingered over her answer, her head bent now so that It was impossible to read the expression expres-sion of her face. "What does it matter what I thought?" the girl answered finally. "He was getting married, wasn't he? That's your answer." "No." Peter wished that it were answer enough, and that he need no longer probe this girl's wound. He fortified himself with the memory of Jim Franklin's body, as he had last seen It in the rector's study. "No, that was his answer, Miss Train. I'm asking how you felt?" . "There are times," said the girl distinctly, "when your feelings don't count. I wasn't exactly happy over the marriage. You can't expect me to say that Still," her glance faltered before the novelist's unwavering Bcrutiny, "I figured that I'd get over it. Other people have." "Then when you left Franklin there In the study, you knew you were telling tell-ing him gooO-by, for good, didn't you?" Kilday questioned for the first time. "I didn't say that," the actress replied re-plied quickly. Then, noticing the un-lighted un-lighted cigar in the detective's hand. "Go on and smoke," she invited. "I need one myself." She fumbled on the table by the stand and found a cigarette. Cardigan held a match for her. For a minute she puffed, deeply, as though keenly enjoying the smoke. Her glance traveled slowly, from one man to the other. "What made you ask me that?" she inquired of Kilday, finally. The sergeant shrugged. "lie was getting married, wasn't he?" A half-smile curled about the girl's lips, momentarily, and was gone, as quickly as It had come. "He was marrying a position," she said quickly, quick-ly, ".lira never loved Doris Carmody. He loved me." "tie did love you," Kilday conceded. con-ceded. "But that was finished, yesterday, yes-terday, wasn't It? By the wedding, I mean." "The wedding," said the girl slowly, slow-ly, "wasn't going to make any difference differ-ence between Jim and me. We had been ail over that." "You mean you were going on the same as before?" The detective's tone was Incredulous. Choo Choo exhaled a cloud of smoke. "That's exactly what I mean," she declared. "For a detective, you can be terribly dense, sometimes." "You can say that now." Kilday objected. "Franklin's dead." "I'm only telling you what Jim and I had decided." The girl leaned forward for-ward angrily. "There's one thing you don't seem to understand. Jim loved me! He didn't love that Carmody girl." "But he was marrying her." the sergeant declared, with finality. "Marrying her !' Choo Choo tossed her head. "He wasn't marrying a girl. He was marrying a social position. posi-tion. Jim was going to be the next governor of New York." Kilday could cope with the woman's wom-an's anger, where her sorrow, a short time before, had silenced him. "And I suppose you were going to Albany with him, eh?" "I wouldn't have been so far away," retorted the actress. "If he loved you so much, why didn't he marry you?" the sergeant Insisted. "Don't be silly," the actress scoffed. "Where would Jim have been If he'd married an actress? Wouldn't the papers have had a good time on that? 'Candidate for Governor Marries Show Girl' That would've been murder. mur-der. It would have finished him." "As It turned out," replied Kilday dryly, "it was murder anyway." The girl shivered. "You're wasting wast-ing time here," she said in a quieter voice. "Why don't you talk to Dan Bullls. Maybe he can tell you what happened yesterday afternoon. He was sore at Jim, and he'd been trying try-ing to see him. Bullis called me here, yesterday, wanting to see Jim. When I said he wasn't here, he swore. He said Jim was hiding from him, and that I was helping him. But he said he'd find him. If you really want to find who killed Jim Franklin, talk to Dan Bullis." "We've talked to Bullis," Peter informed in-formed her quietly. "We've come here to find out what you know, Miss Train." "I'm only telling you where to go If you want Information about the "Jim Didn't Love Her He Loved Mel Can't You Understand? Me!" murder," said the actress impatiently. "Do you think I'd kill the man I love? Dan Bullis is your man, I tell you." "Yes. You've said that before," the novelist nodded. "We'll take care of Mr. Bullis. But some people don't think Franklin was killed by a man, Miss Train. They believe a woman killed him, and that the motive was jealousy." "You're crazy!" Choo Choo stared at him angrily. "That means me, of course, and how do you figure I'd have done a thing like that? In the first place, I couldn't get away with it Everybody knew how I felt about Jim. Even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't have tried that, because I'd have known this was the first place you would come. "But you're overlooking a bigger bet than that. I loved him. Why would I murder the man I loved? That doesn't make sense." "If you thought you were losing him, it would make sense, all right," Kilday interjected. "But I've told you I wasn't losing him." "Forget about the wedding for a minute," Cardigan invited. He rose and strode about the room aimlessly, but his eyes never left the woman who sat upon the bed. "You've been reading these accounts ac-counts of the murder." Cardigan indicated in-dicated the newspapers beside the bed. "Did you notice anything there that sounded strange, Miss Train?" "Plenty," replied the actress. "It looked like half of New York came around there to see Jim. Just before the wedding. They make It sound like he was quarreling with all of them, too." "Including yourself," said Kilday. "Yes," the actress admitted, "including "in-cluding me." "It seems to me you have overlooked over-looked one of those callers," Peter continued. "I mean the woman In the blue dress." Choo Choo looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Who was she?" "That's what I'm asking you," said Peter. She shrugged silk-clad shoulders. "How should I know? I didn't see anybody there In a blue dress." "Nobody else knows who she was, either, Miss Train." declared the novelist. nov-elist. "We can't find anyone who ever saw her before. We only know that she was jealous of Jim Franklin that she " "Jealous?" Then the actress leaned back, more calmly. "What is this? Are you trying to trick me. some way?' Peter shook his head. "There's no trick to it," he replied simply. "Apparently, "Ap-parently, this was another woman that loved Franklin. She thought she had some claim on him, evidently In fact," Peter was remembering the story Daniel Bullls had told of the scene in the study, "she threatened tc ruin him, if he went ahead with tlu wedding. Are you still sure you don't know who that woman was?" "Say!" Choo Choo was sitting erect, her eyes stormy. "Why don't you question her? If this is straight she's the one you are looking for.'' Then she relaxed against the pillows. "But this isn't on the level." Hei voice had gone flat "If it was, you wouldn't be wasting your time here.'' "Perhaps it isn't wasted," said Peter. "Perhaps you are the very person per-son who can tell us where we may find this woman in blue." The actress did not answer, but her eyes watched the novelist's, guardedly. "Suppose you have told us the truth, as far as you have gone," Peter continued. con-tinued. "Suppose you weren't jealous of Doris Carmody, and didn't care whether Franklin married her or not." Choo Choo winced. "Even granting that everything was just as you have said, that would not have kept you from being madly jealous jeal-ous of Franklin, if you had discovered there was still a third woman this woman in blue that he loved." "But I tell you I didn't know there was such a woman." Choo Choo raised clenched hands above her head. "I still don't believe it Jim wouldn't have done that to me. I loved him. And he loved me! Can't you understand? under-stand? Me!" She beat her breast with her fists. Peter waited quietly until the actress' storm of emotion had passed. "Perhaps," "Per-haps," he suggested, "this other woman wom-an heard of you yesterday, for the first time. That being the case, she might have been the one who went to see Franklin, with vengeance In her heart." There was hatred in the glance Choo Choo turned on him. "You're mighty sure there was another woman, aren't you?" was all she said. In spite of his certainty that there had been another woman, and that she had played a dramatic, probably fatal, part In the slaying of Jim Franklin, Peter felt that he was making mak-ing no headway. He had succeeded only In antagonizing a witness from which he had expected much assistance. assist-ance. Like every other trail they had followed, this, too, seemed to lead nowhere. And yet Choo Choo Train had been the last person, as far as they could determine, who had seen Franklin alive. According to the testimony testi-mony of Nick Royce and Doctor Ab-ernathy, Ab-ernathy, she had been in the study with Jim Franklin after Daniel Bullis and the woman in blue had left. And her motive, too, was apparent, if she had known of the existence of that other woman. Or even if she hadn't, could he believe her statement that Franklin's wedding was to have made no difference in her relationship with him? He wondered, too, at the woman's apparent lack of grief. To be sure, there were moments when she appeared ap-peared grief-stricken. But they were only moments. She seemed to turn her emotions on and off, 'like a faucet, almost al-most at will. Opposed to these arguments, argu-ments, of course, were Webster Spears' activities; Daniel Bullis' reticence concerning con-cerning his conversation with Franklin Frank-lin ; Rylie Carmody's efforts to halt the wedding; the suspicions aroused by Callis Shipley's movements, and, of course, the woman In blue, still unexplained unex-plained and as mysterious as ever. "Miss Train," the novelist inquired suddenly, "how well do you know Webster Spears?" "Webster Spears? I've never heard of him." "Are you sure a man by that name didn't telephone you yesterday?" "If he had, I'd have heard of him." Choo Choo's manner was contemptuous. contempt-uous. "Outside of Jim and Dan Bullis, the only man who phoned me yesterday yester-day was Fletcher," she declared. "I've already told you about that." Peter frowned. "What was Franklin's Frank-lin's number?" he demanded curtly. She told him. "Do you mind if we use your telephone?" tele-phone?" "Certainly not." Choo Choo handed him the instrument from the table at her bedside. Fletcher answered the call. "This Is Peter Cardigan, Fletcher. I called there with Sergeant Kilday to ask you some questions last night, remember?" "Yes, sir, I remember." "I forgot to ask you about your telephone tele-phone call to Miss Train, yesterday, Fletcher," Peter explained. "How did you happen to telephone her?" "There must be some mistake, sir. I never telephoned Miss Train." The novelist hesitated, his hand over the transmitter, "What time did you say you received that call, Miss Train?" "It must have been about half past two," replied the actress. "Think again," said Peter, Into the telephone. "Didn't you call Miss Train about two-thirty yesterday afternoon?" after-noon?" Fletcher's tone was positive. "I'm quite sure. sir. I have never telephoned tele-phoned Miss Train." "Here, let me talk to him Sensing Sens-ing the tenor of the servant's replies from Peter's conversation, she snatched the instrument from the novelist's nov-elist's hand. "What did you say. Fletcher? You never called me! Don't be a fool, man!" She slammed the receiver In place and faced the two men, "Just the same, he did call," she declared stormily. "He told me Jim wanted me to come to the church. I don't know why he should lie abouL 1L" (TO BE OONTIXLKD.) |