Show T H ia A R q 1 E N U R D E R coa br E SYNOPSIS r pallo halo vance famous detective and john T X markham district attorney for new york county are dining in vance a apart anent when vance receives an anonymous telephone message informing him of a dis curbing b g p psychological cychol cical tension at professor zephriam t m gardon garden a s apartment advising that he read up on radioactive radio active sod um consult a passage in the aeneid and coun eling that equanimity is essential professor garden I 1 Is famous in chemical re search the message decoded by vance reminds him that professor garden s son tloyd floyd and his puny cousin swift are re addicted to horse borse racing vance says that equanimity is a horse running next flay day in the Kl Ri vermont handicap vance is convinced that the message was sent by dr siefert the gardens family physician he arranges to have lunch next day at the gardens penthouse vance Is greeted by floyd ployd garden and meets lowe hammie an iderle ederly folI follower of horse racing floid flod ex 19 presses S sea concern over swift a queer actions mrs garden supposedly ill comes down stairs and places a bet on a horse gathered around an elaborate loud speaker service listening to the racing are cecil kroon madge weatherby and zaila zalla graem who bet varying ar mounts on the race there is tension under the surface gaiety lalla 11 and swift are not on speaking terms kroon leaves to keep an appo be tore ore the race starts miss beeton a nurse and vance bet on azure star swift reck reek lessly bets 10 on equanimity and foes to the roof garden to hear bear the results floyd follows swift remaining away sev atral ral minutes zalia graem answers a jhone call in the den soon after the an no that azure star wins the guests hear a shot vance finds sv S ft dead shot through the head w th a er nearby he says swift has been murdered after calling the police he finds the door c of 4 vault ajar kroon returns and Is sharply questioned by vance baho ho finds he had bad not left the building vance orders miss bee ton to guard the stairway and prevent mrs garden and zaha from viewing swift s body floyd garden admits the revolver belongs to 10 bis his father further quest aning by vance reveals that the revolver had been found recently by zaha in the presence of the other ether guests floyd hints that swift bet ao 0 o recklessly because of zaila zalia markham sergeant health and two detectives arrive markham and sergeant heath scorn the murder theory CHAPTER VI continued 9 markham meditated on this for several moments so still vance to he said at length 44 reasonable objections could be raised to all the points you have brought up they are based almost entirely on theory and not on dem dern on facts 6 from a legal point of view 7 you ou re right vance conceded do and it if these had been my only reasons for believing that P crime had bad been committed I 1 wouldn t have summoned you and the doughty sergeant but even so markham I 1 can assure you the few drops of blood you see on the chappie s temple could not have thick ened to the extent they had when I 1 first saw the body they must have been exposed to ohp air for several minutes and as I 1 say I 1 was up here approximately thirty seconds after WP heard the shot but that being the case returned markham in astonishment how can you possibly explain the fact vance straightened a little and looked at the district attorney with wi Am wonted gravity S swift w f t he said was not failed killed b by th the e shot we heard that don t make sense to me air vance heath interposed scowling just a moment sergeant vance nodded to him in friendly fashion when I 1 realized that the shot that wiped out this johnnie s existence was not the shot that we had heard I 1 tried to figure out where the fatal shot could have been fired without our hearing it below and I 1 ve found the place it was in a vault like store room practically soundproof sound proof I 1 should say on the other side of the passageway i that leads to the study I 1 found the door unlocked and looked for evi ev dence of some activity there of markham had risen and taken a lew few nervous steps around the pool in the center cener of the roof did you find any evidence he asked I 1 to corroborate your theory yes unmistakable evidence vance walked over to the still fig ure in the chair and pointed to the thick glasses tipped forward on the nose to begin with mark ham bam you will notice that swifts classes glasses are in a position far from normal indication indi catin that they were put on hurriedly and inaccurately by someone else eise as was th the head phone 11 markham and heath leaned over and peered at the glasses ai well mr vance agreed the is sergeant ergeant they certainly don t look as if he had put lem em on himself 11 markham straightened up corn com pressed his lips and nodded slowly AU all right he said what else markham vance pointed with his cigarette the left lens of the glasses the one furthest from the punctured temple is cracked at the corner and there s a very small V shaped piece missing where the crack begins an indication that the glasses have been dropped and nicked I 1 can assure you that the lens was nei ther cracked nor nicked when I 1 last saw swift alive I 1 couldn coulden t he have dropped his glasses on the roof here asked heath possible of course sergeant I 1 vance returned but he dian didn t I 1 carefully looked over the tiles round the chair and the bit of glass was not there markham looked at V vance a n c e shrewdly and perhaps you know where it is to by ny 0 S S VAN DINE coper S S van D ne no ce yes oh yes vance nodded that s why I 1 urged you to come here that piece of glass is at present in my waistcoat pocket to markham showed a new interest where did you find if it he demanded brusquely I 1 found it vance told him on the tiled floor in the vault across the hall and it was near some scattered papers which could easily have been knocked to the floor by some one falling against them markham s eyes opened I 1 in beginning to see why you wanted me and the sergeant here he said slowly but what I 1 don t understand vance is that second shot that you heard how do you account for it vance drew deeply on his ciga aciga rette markham he answered with quiet seriousness when we know how and by whom that second shot which was obviously intended for us to hear was as fired we will know who murdered swift at this moment the nurse appeared in the doorway leading to the roof with her was doctor doremus and behind the medical examiner were captain dubois and detective bellamy the finger print mn and peter the official police photographer miss beeton becton indicated our pres ence on the roof and made her way back downstairs doremus acknowledged our joint greetings with a breezy wave of the hand he made a cursory examination of the limp figure scrutinized the bullet hole tested the arms and legs for rigor mortis and then swung about to face the rest of us well what about it he asked in his easy cynical manner he s dead shot in the head with a small caliber bullet and the lead s ably lodged in the brain no exit hole looks as if he d decided to shoot himself there s nothing here to contradict the assumption the bullet went into the temple and is at the correct angle furthermore V C 00 he made a cursory examination of the limp figure there are powder marks showing that the gun was held at very close range almost a contact wound I 1 should say there s an indication of singeing around the orifice vance took the cigarette from his mouth and addressed doremus I 1 say doctor sp eakin of the blood on the johnnie s temple what would you say about the amount two damned little I 1 d say doremus returned promptly but bullet wounds have a queer way of acting sometimes anyway there ought to be a lot more gore precisely vance nodded my theory is that he was shot else where and brought to this chair doremus made a wry face was shot then you don t think it was suicide I 1 he pondered a moment it could be of course f he decided finally I 1 find the rest of the blood and you U 11 probably know where his death occurred thanks awfully doctor vance smiled faintly that did flash through my mind don dont t y know but I 1 believe the blood v vas as wiped up I 1 was merely hopin that your findings would substantiate my theory that he did not shoot himself while sitting in that chair without any one else around to doremus shrugged indifferently that s reasonable enough as he said there really ought to be more blood he died instantly have you any other eions asked vance I 1 may have when I 1 ve gone over the body more carefully after these babies he waved his hand toward the photographer and the finger print men finish their hocus poc to us captain dubois and detective bel lamy had already begun their rou tine with the telephone table as the starting point and was adjusting his metal tripod vance turned to dubois I 1 say captain give your special attention to the head phone the revolver and the glasses also the door knob of the vault across the hall in side his camera having been set up took his pictures and then waited by the passageway door for further instructions from the fingerprint finger print officers when the three men had gone in side doremus drew in an ex ag sigh and spoke to heath impatiently how about getting your corpus delicti over on the settee easier to examine him there 0 0 K doc two detectives lifted swift s limp body and placed it on the same wicker divan where zaha graem had lain when she collapsed at the sight of the dead man doremus went to work in his al swift and efficient fashion when he had finished the task he threw a steamer rug over the dead man and made a brief report to vance and markham there s nothing to indicate a violent struggle if that s what you re hoping for but there s a slight abrasion on the bridge of the nose as if his glasses had been perked jerked off and there s a slight bump on the left side of his head over the ear which may have been caused by a blow of some kind though the skin chasn t been broken how doctor asked vance would the following theory square with your findings that the man had been shot elsewhere had fallen to a tiled floor striking his head against it sharply that his glasses had been torn tom off when the left lens came in contact with the floor and that he was carried out here to the chair and the glasses re placed on his nose doremus pursed his lips and in dined his head thoughtfully that would be a very reasonable explanation of the lump on his head and the abrasion on the bridge of his nose so this is another of your cock eyed murders is it well it s all right with me but tell you right now you wont won t get an autopsy report tonight 1 I in bored and need excitement and I 1 in going to madison square garden to he made out an order for the re moval boval of the body readjusted his hat waved a friendly good by which included all of us and disappeared swiftly through the door into the passageway vance led the way into the study and the rest of us followed him we were barely seated when captain dubois came in and reported that there were no finger prints on any of the objects vance had enumerated handled with gloves he finished laconically or wiped clean vance thanked him 1 1 I in not in the least surprised he added dubois rejoined bellamy and in the hall and the three made their way down the stairs well vance are you satisfied markham asked vance nodded I 1 I 1 hadn haan t expect ed any fingerprints cleverly thought out crime and what doremus found fills some vacant spots in my own theory stout fella do remus understands his business he knows what is wanted and looks for it there can be no question that swift was in the vault when he was shot that he fell to the floor brush ing down some of the papers that I 1 he struck t uck his head on the tiled floor and broke the left lens of his glasses you noted of course that the lump on his head is also on the left side and that he be was dragged into the garden and placed in the chair swift was a small slender man probably didn dian t weigh over a him hun dred and twenty pounds and it would have been no great feat of strength for someone to have thus transported him after death do thera were footsteps in the corri dor and as our eyes involuntarily turned toward the door we saw the dignified elderly figure of professor ephraim garden I 1 recognized him immediately from pictures I 1 had seen he was a tall man despite his stooped shoulders and though he was very thin he possessed a firm ness of bearing which made one feel that he had retained a great meas ure of the physical power that had obviously been his in youth there was benevolence in m the somewhat haggard face but there was also shrewdness in his gaze and the con tour of his mouth indicated a lat latent nt hardness he bowed to us with an old fash cloned graciousness and took a few steps into the study I 1 my son has just informed me ine to he said in a slightly querulous voice d of the tragedy that has occurred here this afternoon I 1 in sorry that I 1 did not return home earlier as is 13 my wont on saturdays for in that event the tragedy might have been averted I 1 myself would have been in the study here and would ly have kept an eye on my n nephew hoew in any event no one could then have got possession of my revolver to I 1 I 1 am not at all sure doctor gar den vance returned grimly that thal your presence ahre this afternoon would have averted the tragedy if I 1 is not nearly so simple a matter as it appears at first glance professor garden sat down in chair of antique workman ship acal the door and clasping his I 1 ai ar d tightly leaned foiw forward ard TO BE |