Show A n D X R MURDER OMNI NIM 0 S S MINE of 00 coper S S van D ne V ce ley CHAPTER XIV IV continued 40 20 zaha zalia graem glared d defiantly at vance I 1 asked mrs garden what I 1 could do for her and she requested me to fill the water glass on the lit tie tle table beside her bed I 1 ant into the bathroom and filled it then I 1 arranged her pillows and asked her if there was anything else she wanted she thank thanked d me and shook her head and I 1 returned to the drawing room thank you murmured vance nodding to miss graem and turn ing to the nurse miss beeton he asked when you returned turned r last night was the bedroom window which opens on the balcony bolted the nurse seemed surprised at the question but when she an it was in a calm probes dional tone I 1 didn dian t notice but I 1 know it was bolted when I 1 went cut out he turned leisurely to floyd garden I 1 say garden when you left the drawing room yesterday aft ernson to follow swift on your er rand of mercy as it were after he e had given you his bet on Equa nimi ty where did you go with him 1 I 1 led him into the dining room the man was at once troubled and aggressive I 1 argued with him for a while and then he came out and went down the hall to the stairs I 1 watched him for a couple of mm min utes wondering what else I 1 might do about it for to tell you the truth I 1 didn dian t want him to listen in on the race upstairs I 1 was pretty damned sure equanimity wouldn t win and he didn dian t know I 1 hadn haan t placed his bet I 1 was as rather worried about what he might do for a minute I 1 thought of follow ing him upstairs but changed my mind vance lowered his eyes to the desk and was silent for several mo ments smoking meditatively I 1 I 1 m frightfully sorry and all that he murmured at length with out looking up but the fact is we don t seem to be getting any forrider for rader there are plausible ex plantations pla nations for everything and every body assuming merely as a hy po thesis that anyone here could be guilty of the murder of swift of the apparent attempt to murder miss beeton and of the possible murder of mrs garden there is nothing tangible to substantiate an individual accusation the per firmance for mance was too clever too well conceived and the innocent persons seem unconsciously and involuntary lly ily to have formed a conspiracy to aid and abet the murderer vance looked up and went on moreover nearly everyone has acted in a manner which conceio ably would make him appear guilty there have been an amazing num ber of accusations mr kroon was the first victim of one of those un lin substantiated accusations miss graem has been pointed out to me as the culprit by several persons mrs garden last night directly ac aused her son in fact there has been a general tendency to involve various people in the criminal actie aties here from the human and psychological point of view the is sue has been both deliberately and unconsciously clouded until the con fusion was such that no clear cut outline remained and this created an atmosphere which perfectly suited the murderer s machinations for it made detection extremely dif ficula and positive proof almost im possible and yet vance added some one in this room is guilty he rose dejectedly I 1 could not understand his manner it was so unlike the man as I 1 had always known him all of his assurance seemed gone then he swung round quickly and his eyes swept angrily about the room resting for a brief moment on each one present furthermore he said with a staccato stress on his words I 1 know who the guilty person there was an uneasy stir in the room and a short tense silence which was broken by doctor sie ste fert s cultured voice 4 if that is the case mr vance and I 1 do not doubt the sincerity of your statement I 1 think it your duty to name that person I 1 vance regarded the doctor thoughtfully for several moments before answering then he said in a low voice I 1 think you are right sir again he paused and lighting a fresh cigarette moved restlessly up and down in front pf the window first however he said stopping suddenly there s something up stairs I 1 wish to look at again to make sure you will all please remain here for a few minutes I 1 jand and he moved swiftly toward the door at the threshold he hesitated and turned to the nurse 4 please ome me miss beeton I 1 think you can help me the nurse rose and followed vance into the hall A moment later we could hear them mounting the stairs fully f ave ve minutes passed and then the tense silence of the room was split by a woman s frenzied and terrifying cry for help from somewhere upstairs As we reached the hallway the nurse came sturn bling down the stairs holding with both hands to the braize railing her face was ghastly pale mr markham mr markham 1 she called hysterically oh my god the most terrible thing has happe happened she had just reached the foot of the stairs when markham came up to her she stood clutching the railing for support it s mr vance I 1 she panted e he s gone t A chill of horror passed over me and everyone in the hall seemed stunned in broken phrases interspersed with gasping sobs the nurse was explaining to markham he went over oh god it was terrible he said he wanted to ask me something and led me out into the garden he began questioning me about doctor siefert and pro fessor garden and miss graem and while he talked he moved over to the parapet you remember where he stood last night he got up there again and looked down I 1 was frightened the way I 1 was yes berday and then and then while pa A Is P I 1 miss beaton I 1 think you can help bie me I 1 was talking to him he bent over and I 1 could see oh god he had lost his balance she stared at markham wild eyed I 1 reached to ward him and suddenly he wasn gasn t there any more he nad gone overl over her eyes lifted suddenly over our heads and peered past us transfixed A sudden change came over her her face seemed contorted into a hideous mask following her horn horr fied gaze we instinctively turned and glanced up the hallway toward the drawing room there near the archway looking calmly toward us was vance I 1 told you last night miss bee ton he was saying his eyes rest ing sternly on the nurse that no gambler ever quits with his first winning bet and that in the end he always loses he came forward a few steps you won your first gamble at long odds when you murdered swift and your poison ing of mrs fars garden with the barbi tal also proved a winning bet but when you attempted to add me to your list of victims because you suspected I 1 knew too much you lost that race was fixed you hadn haan t a chance the nurse who had been staring at vance as if petrified suddenly relaxed her hold on the stair rail ing and her hands went to her face in a gesture of l hopelessness and despair yes I 1 she cried at vance I 1 tried to kill you why t 19 you were about to take everything everything away from me she turned quickly and ran up the stairs A almost 1 m 0 s t simultaneously vance dashed forward quick quick I 1 he called out stop her before she gets to the gar den but before any of us realized the significance of his words vance was himself on the stairs heath and were just behind him and the rest of us stupefied followed As I 1 came out on the roof I 1 could see miss beeton running toward the far end of the garden with vance immediately behind her twilight had nearly passed and a deep dusk had settled over the city As the girl leaped up on the parapet at the same point where vance had stood the night before she was like a spectral silhouette against the faintly glowing sky and then she disappeared down into the deep shadowy abyss just before vance could reach her CHAPTER XV A halt half hour later we were all seated in the den again heath and the detectives had gone out imme after the final catastrophe to attend to the unpleasant details occasioned by miss beeton s sui sul cide vance was once more in the chair at the desk the tragic tion of the case seemed to have sad bened him he smoked gloomily for a few minutes then he I 1 asked all of you to stay because I 1 felt you were entitled to an explanation of the terrible events that have taken here and to hear why it was necess ry for me to conduct the investigation in the manner I 1 did to begin with I 1 knew from the first that I 1 a as deal ing with a very shrewd and un scrupulous person I 1 was inclined to suspect miss beeton almost from the first for although everyone h here e r e had through some act drawn suspicion upon himself only the nurse had the time and the unhampered anity to commit th initial crime she was entirely unobserved when she put her plan into execution and so thoroughly familiar was she with every arrangement of the household that she had no difficulty in timing her evry step so as to insure this essential privacy subsequent events and circum stances added irresistibly to my suspicion of her for instance when mr floyd garden informed me where th key to the vault was kept I 1 sent her to see if it was in its place without indicating to her where its was in order to ascertain if she knew where the key hung only someone who knew ex acely how to get into the vault at a moment s notice could have been guily gully of killing swift incidentally one of my great dif faculties in the case has been to act in such a way at all times that her suspicions would not be aroused at any point her motive was not clar at first vance explained and un fortunately I 1 thought that by swift s death alone she had accomplished her purpose but after my talk with doctor siefert this morning 1 I was able to understand fully her bhole hideous plot doctor si fert pointed out definitely her interest in floyd garden although I 1 had had hints of it before for instance floyd garden was the only person here about whom she spoke to me with admiration hr motive was based on a colossal ambition the desire for financial security ease and luxury and mixed with this over weaning desire was a strange twisted love these facts became clear to m ma only today vance glanced at young garden it was you she wanted he con minued and I 1 believe her self assurance was such that she did not doubt for a minute that she would be successful in attaining her goal gard garden gardn n sprang to his feet good god vance he ex claimed you re right I 1 see the thing now she has been making up to me for a long time and to be honest with you I 1 may have said and done things which she could have construed as encourage ment god help me he sat down again in dejected embarrassment no one can blame you vance said kindly she was one of the shrewdest women I 1 have ever en countered but the point of it all is she did not want only you she wanted the garden fortune as well that s why having learned that swift would share in the inner ilance she decided to eliminate him and leave you the sol sole beneficiary but this murder did not by any means constitute the whole of her scheme vance again addressed us in gen eral her whole terrible plot was clar diflo d by some other facts that doctor siefert brought out this morning during my talk with him the death either now or later of mrs garden was alo an important in of that plot and mrs garden s physical condition had for sometime some time shown certain symptoms of poisoning of late these symptoms have increased in intensity doctor siefert informed me that miss beeton had been a laborati ry assistant to professor garden during his experiments with radio ac trva tive sodium and had often come to the apartment here for the purpose of typing notes and attending to oth er duties which could not conven bently be perform d at the uever sity doctor siefert also informed ma that she had actually entered the household here about two months ago to take personal charge of mrs garden s case she had however continued to assist professor garden occasionally in hi his work and naturally had access to the radio active sodium he had begun to produce vance turned his eyes to professor garden and you too sir he said were as I 1 see it one of her in tended victims when she planned to shoot swift I 1 believe she planned a double murder that is you and swift were to be shot at the same time but luckily you had not returned to your study but but stammered the professor how could she have killed me and woody too TO BE CONTINUED |