Show on t he bac I 1 M all S C 6 est FROM THE BEGINNING during a holdup at the dutch mill chicago night club a pa tron dunn clayton Is killed lieutenant of police stanton questions a clab club visitor buck trembly in Clay clayton tons s pocket stanton found a note signed maisie making an appoint ment with the dead man at the dutch mill stanton is inel ned to suspect trembly of the mur der at a wisconsin winter camp boisterous crowd includes pres ton 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 foul d jerown Is dead in his papers Clay clayton tons s name is found and stanton connects the deaths he goes to wisconsin and finds the dead map mail Is trem bly trembly had bad caused brown browns s death apparently an accident A vermont lawyer john whittle sex reading of the case recalls the names in connection with an odd will made by a man named turner bequeathing the interest on ts 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 rest turn era er s eon son on the deaths of the six beneficiaries is to inherit all turner dies shortly after making the will whittlesey esex suspects foul play in the three deaths and writes to the chicago police stanton interviews asa darling one of the executors of the will darling tells him he believes turner wanted and expected the six beneficiaries of the will to kill one another they havins having in the past injured him the will Is his method of revenge turn ers era son Is contented and happy with his small income roberts one of the three survivors of the six cared tor for by turners will visits darling he reveals the tact fact that blair and ashley sup posed to be abroad are in this country ashley and blair arrive at mr darling a abode they manifest uneasiness at their friends deaths I 1 I 1 CHAPTER VII continued 9 ashley and I 1 are ready to put our cards on the table blair continued ignoring his companion 8 remark give the money to the boy bisone isone Is one of us want it this way now mr air dar ling here heres s the three of us let lets 9 come to an understand ng S t down gentlemen said mr darling take chairs wherever you like what kind of an understand n ng have you in mind I 1 for one said blair would I 1 ke relief from the general c assume t alon on t that at we are asnass ns cut but said mr darl ng if you don t asnass nate anyone you won t be assassins that s odd but its true only ashley had sat down roberts stood on the hearth rug fingering his chain blair of d of d short nervous turns stanton noted how large he was physically he ile was a man whose mus cu larity may be draped by but Is not concealed it seemed to bulge through and it seemed to be driven by a quick and nervous vital ta t what public attention are you get ting mr blair stanton asked these murders said blair with a sharp turn to face the lieutenant the will our assoc atlon with it you mentioned a desire to der your interest in the estate said mr darling it may be the ethical thing to do be a little bit yourself said ash ley give up your right eye I 1 tur ner gaie a me my interest he ile was the judge I 1 m not yellow ill keep mine I 1 think ill presently have the whole thing blair confronted him with a sharp turn yes yes 11 said ashley coolly you re giving bour share chare up and pon looks as if he d of d e of heart of d sease within a month things I 1 haven t done and do not intend to do cant wrong me lieutenant stanton arose from his chair walked about the room for a moment looked out of a window into the october garden and then without being observed stepped into the hall mr air blair said darling are you serious in suggesting that you wish to surrender your equity excuse my laughter mr darling said ashley dont permit yourself yourself to be kidded we have explained to mr roberts said mr darling darlin that a renunciation would have no effect in one respect it would not make the death of that beneficiary less profitable to the sur livors I 1 seem to state that indell cately but such Is the fact on the other hand mr darling slightly shift ed his posture in illustration such renouncement would be effective in removing the person from any sus dicion of purposeful gain in the death of any of his associates the lieutenant came back into the room why don t you gentlemen keep con between aou ou if you wish to avoid suspicion or one another he asked who will stay put roberts asked you are just as dead in bombay as you are in chi chiago ago I 1 im m at a loss to explain your calls ve m me said mr ur darling you pre sent nothing I 1 can do 1 I think the gentlemen are merely uncertain said stanton and nervous under suspicion who says were under suspicion blair asked whirling around by CLIFFORD RAYMOND service copyright the bobbs merrill C co I 1 bel eye eve you did stanton replied pompey came in then with a tay tray t ay of glasses they were water glasses filled with pommard he bent toward the seated ashley who took a glass A break said ashley and an uni un expected break I 1 dian didn t expect a drink even of wine good luck ron and you too blair pompey served blair and roberts then stanton and then mr air darling who when he saw the burgundy of him in a water glass exclaimed pompey I 1 stanton had bad stationed himself close to his host please mr darling he said I 1 what do we care what we get our wine in here heres s luck good fellowship and bet ter times under the turner will roberts ashley and blair raised their glasses in salute and drank the wine pompey gathered the tumblers back again on his tray which he placed on the library table near blair stanton sipped slowly mr air darling looked at his wine and then at pom pey who with an apparently uneasy conscience came and took tle tl e glass from his hand mr darling looked at him as if he must find some tome tion in his face for such inexplicable behavior I 1 id of like to join my guests pom poin pey he said but what a strange manner I 1 cant account for it pompey s uneasiness was mute but his glance flicked an instant toward the lieutenant mr air darl up ng perceived something and motioned for the return of his glass of wine gentlemen said stanton you know I 1 am a copper I 1 m not a detec tive I 1 never could be one but my bad breaks in the police business oc cislo nally put me in the pos tion you see me in now I 1 suppose you are in te rested in what has happened that I 1 suppose Is why you have called on mr air darling there s not much to corn com plain of the newspaper accuracy clayton was shot in the dutch mill by or for buck trembly I 1 think by trembly at least that s my guess do any of you know a lady named balsle the three men glanced at one an other balsle said ashley lieutenant don dont t 3 iou on know who mats e Is he ile laughed a mirthful chuckle alainie Is or was mrs arthur trembly A nice girl I 1 D dd of I 1 say I 1 was no detective I 1 think I 1 mentioned it that s quite wonderful and I 1 never even guessed well gentlemen getting on let me ex plain that there was an unusual cir comstance cum stance attending the death of trembly when he ran off the road you of hardly expect it of the local constabulary you just couldn coulden t ex hect it but the lanterns were ex for fingerprints finger prints its it s all un believable these lanterns are next to impo sible for prints you pick them up by the handles but its the strange fact that two of them had been handled at the base they were oily olly and dusty and consequently the prints were excellent roberts on the hearth rug ashley in his chair and blair nervous nervously Iv pivot ing on his heels or toes looked at the lieutenant with suspense for his next words that wont interest you much if at all the lieutenant continued al though of course it has interested me A little while ago I 1 went out and found pompey in his pantry he has offended mr darling by serving wine in these glasses I 1 asked him to do so I 1 asked him to take tale glasses which had been unused for a very long time it if he had any which might con vict him of bad housekeeping to use them and to ladle them with a fish knife or some such thing on a tray without touching them then to fill them and bring them in you see gentlemen if pompey has done as I 1 think he has these glasses contain our fingerprints finger prints of course courso they could have been obtained other wise but here bere they are lieutenant stanton pointed to the tray on oil the table which had the three glasses from which blair ashley and roberta roberts had drunk blair picked up two mo books from the fable table one in each hand and ed the three glasses there theres s your cheap trick he cried you cheap diali nobody cares for fingerprints but our ideas are sour the lieutenant looked at him smil ing I 1 told you I 1 was as not a detective he said but I 1 should tell ou on that no finger fingerprints prints were found on the lan ian terns lo 10 10 one would have looked for them and arid they wouldn t have been there it if they had looked blair stepped toward him menacing ly then why did you produce this comedy he asked quiet yourself mr blair said stanton lour face contains a ver diet of justifiable homicide for any john law who would bump you off at thib thi moment the comedy was to see what false starts one or all of ou would make I 1 ie e told you I 1 was a copper and not a detective I 1 quite astonished myself by doing this finger print trick I 1 im in a great guesser mr air blair my guess is that you took tool the lights away its probably unreason able to ask you how you knew that buck trembly was vias at little butte des morts are you accusing me you cheap copper easy basy mr blair take ad vantage of that expression of yours and construe it as resisting an officer mr darling Is fairly primed for some acs nobody cares for finger prints thing more authentically western how did you know buck was there acton you wont mind my calling you acton I 1 was calling arthur trembly buck a half hour after he shot dunn clayton or had him shot I 1 haven t any time to waste with you said blair I 1 lou ou re not wasting it acton if you are as intelligent as I 1 think you are you re learning that I 1 do not think that just now it would be worth a d n to hold you on charges and ex you back to wisconsin my guess would be that no one near little butte des morts or along your route could identify you although my ray guess Is that you knew just what buck was doing with brown V I 1 think you had intended to crowd him off the road and wreck him or shoot him as he made hia his own getaway from the lodge bologna said blair bously isn t 10 tt then you saw the bridge and an idea occurred to you you chanced it as worth while and it worked but how did you know where buck had gone do you know acton my mind goes bach back to the dutch mill in chicago dunn clayton has a note from maisie he ile Is waiting for her when who comes in and sits near by her husband buck trembly inter esting it im lm afraid well never know anything completely satis factory about this until we find malsie do you know what I 1 guess acton no said blair and I 1 don dont t give a d n come on ashley get your coat sorry we bothered you mr darling but it s this fellow s fault we t anticipate this sc scene e ne in dour our house no indeed said mr darling in deed who could but don t apologize I 1 ve been interested ashley arose smiling and went to shake hands with mr darling it has been interesting he said and I 1 enjoyed the wine I 1 thought I 1 of d have to wait until I 1 was back in france for anything like it sorry acton Is so impulsive and breaks glasses the two men walked toward the door walt wait a minute roberts cried starting toward stanton are you letting that man go why aren t you holding him haven t you just charged him with murder what the h 11 blair exclaimed turning around why you miserable little louse I 1 roberts edged behind stanton lock hid up its it s the only crotee tion III have he cried lock him up lie ile killed buck he ile 11 kill 1111 me ashley broke into a laugh and blair slowly began to smile youre you re amusing ron said ashley better watch natch yourself or you 11 have a delirium I 1 don t believe lock you up now mister said stanton but keep in touch with us wont you dont don t go anywhere without letting ua us know have a local go to the city with you and then headquarters will be attentive to you blair stared at him and turned toward the door oh and another thing acton the lieutenant remarked I 1 didn t tell you my last guess its that maisie sent you to little butte des morts acton blair seems to have been born at the age of thirty no one who knew him ever had got into an nix earlier period he ile may have been a seafaring man although the tattooing on his forearms need or need not in dacate that presumably he was american born but again no one know his education had been mostly that ot of experience a university he appears to have entered at thirty without previous existence it may be e t that a an un hanged murderer disappeared about that time howard ashley was the son of a new haven conn physician helas he was not graduated from yale being ex polled in his junior year for conduct unbecoming an undergraduate it may have been cheating in examinations cutting chapel or being indifferent to holding them yale this last Is plausible he was perfect tor for the crew in strength weight rhythm and stamina but did not try for it it would be irrational to graduate such a mani 0 a 0 0 mister said the lieutenant to rob erts when the door had been closed on blair and ashley departing that last remark of yours was an inspiration I 1 know it was bone 11 11 II 1 I dian didn t seem able to bold hold myself you produced trembly s murderer here in the room and then you let lot him walk out of the door I 1 know that pair they of smile at you and crack you out you see who whoa s next dont don t you ile lies s here now with you mr dar ling do you mind if I 1 take a drink I 1 im in needing one I 1 have a flask let me continue to be your host said mr darling pompey will bring you and lieutenant stanton some scotch and have some wine it if you please pompey dont raise the point that I 1 already have had some you mav nt st another log or two on the fire I 1 feel a bit of excitement myself but im reprobate enough to find it pleasurable early dusk had begun to dim the day and the firelight was ruddier in the room roberts drank his whisky straight and with a look of request and apology at mr air darling poured himself a second I 1 think weve disturbed mr dar ling enough for the day said the lieutenant ho no disturbance none whatever said the old gentleman I 1 doubt that pompey agrees with you we well 11 get along I 1 might be told first what mr rob erts expects to do not that it Is prop erly my concern other than to see that he receives his december check I 1 dont don t know what to do said roberts you can see my chances it wont help it if I 1 decline to receive any more checks I 1 in to be put out of the way unless I 1 can protect my self by G d have them taken tor for a ride there are a hundred men in new york who would do it for a thousand dollars they of d do it for a hundred for ten I 1 id of not announce it in advance said stanton and particularly noi nort to a police pollee officer you know why I 1 ve got to you know it s self defense you kaow know he hes s already murdered a man you know they re us off TO |