| Show the e men mem EL m the n VA iea alo s wola s he ar SJ A by service copyright the bobbs dobbs merrill co FROM THE BEGINNING during a holdup at the dutch mill chicago night club a pa tron dunn clayton Is killed lieutenant ot of police stanton questions a club visitor buck duck trembly in Clay clayton tons s pocket stanton found a note signed maisie making an appointment with the dead man at the dutch mill stanton Is inclined to BUS sus hect trembly ot of the murder at a wisconsin winter camp a bols berous crowd includes preston brown an apparent stranger arrives later two men driving come on the scene the stranger leaves in his car and the two men follow passing him A via duct Is out and one of the two men removes the danger signals the stranger in his car goes over the embankment he is dead when found brown is dead in his papers clayton a s name is found and stanton connects the deaths he ile goes to wisconsin and finds the dead man Is trem bly trembly had caused brown 9 death apparently an accident A vermont lawyer john whittle 9 sex ex reading of the case recalls the names in connection with an odd will made by a man named turner turner had bequeathed the interest on 6 to six men blair ashley roberts brown trembly and clayton the income at the death of each beneficiary Is to be divided among the rent rest turners son on the deaths of the six bene fi clarles claries Is to inherit all turner dies shortly alter after making the will whittlesey esex suspects foul play in the three deaths and writes to the chicago police stanton interviews asa darling one ono of the executors of the will I 1 CHAPTER V continued 6 well lieutenant as pompey e came ame with the tray heres our treat at least it a mine you re young I 1 im in old I 1 try to like being old but it isn lent t natural to do so it requires a philosophy if you have it your health lieutenant A lieutenant of the chicago police I 1 do you know that would give any man a thrill you run us ragged on that here in the east mr darling I 1 in completely out of comebacks A patagonian onlan can do no more im 1 in sincere lieutenant to a man who mostly sits here and finds his world in books and in pompey a chi cago lieutenant Is a man from the danube the german forests or had rian irian s wall a roman centurion I 1 assure you mr darling that its it s a great joke aside from knowing bome hoodlums and knowing of some more I 1 get my wild life by reading about it I 1 refuse to believe you said mr darling smiling I 1 have more antu alve confidence in you you are from our glowing animated med eval gothic chicago I 1 approve of it all pompey put that napoleon bottle down after you youve ve taken it out and poured another for yourself well lieutenant you had some other mis elon ion than that of treating an old new york gentleman to the s of an actual chicago lieutenant of police of a centurion in of an angle long swordsman in byzantium of a viking chief in sardinia I 1 pre sume it s the turner will you re right of course mr dar ling I 1 ive ve been in a way expecting the police but thought I 1 id d have a new york call in fact lieutenant ive even considered that I 1 might be ar rested as an accessory an experience which would brighten up any reason able old age what do you want to know lieutenant stanton you know that three beneficiaries of mr turners turner s will are dead our chief point of concern seems to point to the surviving three you may be able to tell me where they are in a fashion id have to say yes and no twice a year I 1 must know where they are to send them their checks I 1 couldn t enable you to lay your hands on them at once you have a copy of the will I 1 have just come from the probate office in white plains I 1 hear from them prior to august I 1 and december I 1 those were the dates of payment I 1 could tell you where Aey were last august pom pey 1 please get me the address book but that aas as some eleven or twelve weeks ago and three of them will not send me addresses any more unless I 1 am to believe sir oliver lodge and conan doyle which I 1 don t aleather 1 I the old colored man brought him a griea leather bound book here we are he said opening the book clayton was in chicago as you no doubt know preston brown was at little butte des mortes lac vieux desert wis arthur trembly was in nova scotia lie ile would get his mall mail at halifax august 10 blair and ashley were in england and would be in london loudon to receive mall mail by an gust 15 ronald roberts seems to tave been traveling his ills letter was post marked genoa and gave hig hi call for mall mail as paris also about the middle of august the three who were on this side of the water are dead said stanton the other three are al ie we for what that may be worth for speculation those are unbalanced dates for twice a year payments mr darling area arent t they lieutenant you will notice they are so fixed in the will I 1 fo to question my friend tur ner on this point he seemed to relish it my conscience suggested that it might be easier if it had noth ing more definite than my own imag illation I 1 think I 1 follow you professor said stanton I 1 was sure you would said mr air darling you ud kid a policeman im probably wrong but I 1 d guess the gen tiemen were easy spenders from de cember 1 to august 1 would seem a long time unless the spender was care ful with his budget it might make him restless mr darling suggested As 1 I said my friend turner seemed to relish his this point I 1 refrained from questioning him between us lieutenant I 1 think it occurred to him that thirty thou sand a year might tend toward con tenement tent ment ills real conviction I 1 am sure was otherwise but he took this precaution the lieutenant looked at mr dar ling there isn t any doubt in your mind then he eaid said if I 1 im in certain of what you mean there isn t id I 1 d prefer to concede that to you in an informal say confidential manner as it were my friend turner is dead mr clayton mr brown and mr trembly have passed on to their reward there seems to be no evi dence seriously and directly involving anyone living in what might be called a series of crimes my associates in this trust truthfully may say that their duties and connections with it have been perfunctory but what would you say of me as an accessory to murder lieutenant I 1 t thought of it mr dar ling you might make a case out against yourself I 1 don dont t think it would stand in court I 1 might indeed and I 1 can see a prosecuting attorney looking askance at me I 1 usually keep a certain reserve in my meditations on this will but speculate with you if it you wish the answer unquestionably Is that tom turner wanted these men to have a reason for killing one another As a trustee of his will I 1 must think that the suggestion Is grotesque and derous As a friend of turner I 1 might protest that it is fantastic but I 1 must say that I 1 think it Is true I 1 should tell you said the lieuten ane that we had a letter from an attorney in dorset vt which gave us the turner will as a bey key I 1 know of mr whittlesey esex tur ner spoke of him he ile liked him he thought he was delightfully cons clen itous turner asked if whittlesey esex ever had been an accessory to murder be fore the fact and told him he was going to be no doubt on occasion tom would bellow out that he intended to kill six rascals in a most enjoyable way he must have had some idea that he would be ballooning around somewhere above to see it tom was an incorrigible sentimentalist romanticist and idealist he should have cor erected himself nothing happened for nearly two years stanton suggested what do you imagine broke the peace tom turner was shrewd where men were concerned said mr dar ling he was more than shrewd he was intelligent that s a tall thing to say of anyone but he was he knew these men and they knew one another they would see from the first why the bequest had been made tom laid it on thick with terms they misunderstand ag as to loyally loyalty and fidelity their first Ilis instinct you see lieutenant would be to smile and resolve to defeat him they had each an income of say thirty thousand a year and what could be more rea than to shake hands with one another on it and laugh at tom tur ner they would do this turner knew they would but he also arnew new them deeper than that he knew they couldn coulden t trust one another they were justified in not trusting one another they were of varying degrees of cour age but none I 1 was as afraid of direct ac tion distrust Is a bad thing to have in your mind it puts an enemy be hind you in the dark it was bound to become intolerable for these men to be wondering which one would break the truce the temptation was always there they had feared tur ner himself for a long time he ile knew they did and that gave him so much satisfaction that he was content to wait for this gradually they convinced themselves that they were out of danger from him they knew they were when he died until they learned of the will you will see how completely he had them it did none of them any good to try to withdraw from participation one might have done so he ile might have renounced his rights and have denounced his patron but ne less it if he died of pneumonia or a bad appendix or from having a car run him down the shares of his ills socrates a increased if men did not have con floence in one another these conditions would be unpleasant you will have read in the will that turner said money was what the man who had it vials v as our gentlemen evidently have tried believing they could trust one another they also strengthened their conti delice by keeping as far apart from one another as they could my records show them widely scattered about the world all except glair blair and ashley who seem to have chummed it all that satisfied me as to motive said the lieutenant its it s fantastic as you observed mr darling but there theres s cause and there theres s continuity in the case of clayton brown and trembly by the way do you know of a woman named malsie maisie I 1 mean in connection with any of these men mr air darling shook his head she was used as a decoy for clay ton the lieutenant continued she chasn t been found that s a sid side e issue our continuity breaks at the red lan ian terns at the wisconsin bridge if the three other men of these six are in europe they can be almost anywhere said mr darling they can be in the united states they can have been here all of september until its it s proved that they ha haven v en t been I 1 said the lieutenant one of them picked up the lanterns in my story and I 1 stick to it my guess I 1 Is that at 91 9 1 you are from our glowing ani ant mated medieval gothic chicago least one of them will be found here or it he skips to europe has been here now mr darling I 1 know I 1 im in imposing on your evening time and probably am quite out of order by no means far from it I 1 am a man of late habits I 1 hope you will live long enough to know that some people in old age love the night old age Is congenial to the dusk and the end of day externals are fading out we are subjective people may my old age be as yours mr darling but it won wont t be I 1 IU U ably be a night watchman 1 in a warehouse although I 1 would like to retire with a couple of bees to a clover coun try just a few more questions can you suggest a way of picking up the whereabouts of blair ashley or rob erts only by beginning where they were when I 1 heard from them last or wait ing until they give me their post offices next month what influenced mr turner to make this will mr darling was silent a moment these men had injured him anfor he said as it if he were con si dering bis his wo 11 it in terest anyone very much ae As to the actualities of it he never talked much although he was seldom reticent at first I 1 was unable to believe that he was serious in this arrangement when I 1 was forced to know that he was I 1 represented the case of his son as strongly as I 1 could he ile was persuaded that his son was amply provided for I 1 was incited to be angry and might have broken our friendship but I 1 have been generally delinquent in the moral grace which should have compelled me to interfere in other people peoples s lives and purposes in the end I 1 did not take a firm stand tom turner had been almost mortally injured this idea of justice pleased him whatever I 1 should have done I 1 didn dian t and what ever conscience I 1 should have I 1 haven t the lieutenant waited tor for what more mr darling might say of turner turners s will when it was apparent that he would not of his own desire go fur ther the lieutenant to fo to press the question mr turners turner a son he said after a pause lives here in newburgh I 1 believe tes yes the boy Is recently married he will get his education without col lege I 1 have encouraged him in that he is a young fellow of the most en seriousness I 1 hope to live to see what comes in the way of learning to a young fellow who cuts loose from our delightful american college life then I 1 probably could see him to morrow oh surely just go north say a half mile from the palatine and in quire may I 1 call on you again mr dar ling there therell 11 be more questions it if you don t mind I 1 t like it if I 1 t to see you again lieutenant pompey came into the room lies ile s always just around the cor ner said mr darling pompey looked critically at the brandy bottle I 1 im in glad you remind me of hospitality pita lity said mr darling lieuten ant stanton and I 1 will have a stirrup cup pompey you are in the presence of a lieutenant of chicago police this gentleman has been a centurion where dion 0 bannion tim murphy lorn loin bardo bugs moran al capone and twenty others lived or still live don t md kid us so to much mr darling we do the best we can and good night to you 0 0 in walking to the turner boy a house the following morning stanton made some mind pictures of thomas tur ner ners s son and the toy boy he thus prepared himself to find proved to be that boy it was fairly conclusive that if a hard fighter of repressible con science of an elastic moral code and find of a world easily adjustable to his de sires had alienated so much of his fortune from his son it wag was because his son was unlike him the differ ence might be at one side or the other of the elders character such a boy might be much of the worst of his father or largely the best of him the house was a new england remove into the hudson valley the type which was framed raised and painted white and which generally contained the question whether the coffin of an adult could come out the front door or must it be let out of a window in the old days of infant mortality see the diary of samuel sewall for in stance godly man of serious and prayerful life a salem witchcraft judge in the court of oyer and ter miner he begat in december and buried in september the little coffins came easily and often out of the front door which had to the right an en trance to the living room to the left an entrance to a down stairs spare bedroom and directly ahead up stairs steep in pitch and narrow in step access to the dormitory the hall space for this movement in these three directions might be three feet by four or leffas meditation upon the mor bality of life would include wishful looks at the door and pensive con tempi temp atlon littlon of the windows specula tion governed as the case might be by calvinism or by conceptions of the universality of efficacious grace TO BB BE CONTINUED |
