Show I Ehe L I Ue GREEN CLOAK CHAPTER I 1 1 Doctor McAlister has often tol told 1 me that I take life Ilfe seriously because I 1 Iam Iam am young That may mayor or may not be bethe bethe bethe the reason but I am convinced that 1 know the reason why he takes it so light heartedly It is not because he heIs heIs Is 01 old 1 but because he has tins already won from life all the reward 1 he wants In 1 his own department of ot science scIence up ap applied 1 p plied piled led psychology psychology-he y-he y he has hns achieved e 1 about as high a place as ns it is possible for tor a man to reach In this field his reputation d does s not have hare to lower Its Q colors to any other in tile the world nn and If It In bis his perIo periods of relaxation he chooses to be frivolous no one olle can afford frivolity nn any better than thau he I 1 suppose that the very Idea Iden of frivolity used In connection with Prof Ronald McAlisters McAlister's name would make must most mm t people lau laugh h because of the grotesque rote unfitness of it and the people who J know him only as a gaunt gray pray old oM bachelor with a rugged homely deeply deeply deep ly Iy lined Scotch face and a big hig rough voice would be right to laugh But I am more an adopted son of his than a n mere assistant nand arid after spending spendIn the daily number of hours In his laboratory watching him tutu work worl his miracles I see e his great mind relax t and find that he Is just a n boy more mOle of ofa i a boy bov than thon ever er I was In my life lie He likes the dall daily tile the the yel- yel lower they are the better hetter and he devours ours a perfectly Incredible le number of Jf detective e stories good and had bad HIs delight over oyer a 8 good one is almost pathetic So when I read the headlines In th the k morning papers that day I 1 knew per per- well that when work was over and we met at ot our special little table in a n corner of the brilliant din dining In room of The Meredith I should he be here re regaled with a thrilling and enthusiastic I account of the Oak md Ridge e murder It was easy Indeed to prefigure ure the whole scene Similar ones oneR had been heen enacted so ninny many times before I didn't altogether relish lne prospect for I Ite hate te to see ee people smiling and nodding nod nod- ding behind Ill ray rny old oid chiefs chief's hack people people peo- peo pie who intellectually or socially or orIn orin In nay any other way arent aren't fit Ot to tie his shoes TIe lie doesn't mind their smiles and the light-hearted light emptiness of their lives lI has a n mysterious sort of i attraction for him fi rt t t And when I see him acro across s our little J table tahle his twinkling gray eyes eres glowing with excitement his long ungainly I arms and find expressive e hands working 1 away a In enthusiast gesticulation his hit voice Clice booming out the story of some sensational crime I cant can't really 1 wonder that a 11 good many runny people nod nod nods s amid nud wink and giggle gigle The tiling thing I did wonder onder lit ut somei some some- t i tinges was that Wilkins the time Otis omnipresent ent invaluable In head head- Walter contrived ed to his Bou preserve e re- re t ful mask of or professional Imper- Imper I had a n sneaking fondness for WIN kips based upon the fact that heat heal st did not nut underrate Doctor Dotor Me- Me Il lister dister tel Tonight ht for instance e It was I 1 himself whom horn I saw conduct conduct- l h lug him down dawn the long lane lone of or tables u th time the corner comer of the room where we nl- nl 1 t y Vb Smut sat t 11 1 our man inn what to bring us UR cJ he said waving wa awa away the 19 t nu which that Irreproachable In I hi him in You know knots what I t t t- t want twant to eat better than wo 0 do iThen he turned to me lLe Well Nell have haye haveT hayem T ur m I I mead ad about It f 1 The lime Oak Oal Ridge e murder I 1 n asked lp i lil n g. g No o Ive I've waited wolfert to get et the theof count of It from you u 1 You l ou really ha ent read a n word of or 0 at t II he e asked Y I Nut Not lIt a u word I know that Oak l fy is one mine of our more amore remote und mind 4 s fashionable suburbs und and that limit I f ire J has Ims been u a murder there within se past forty eight hours Beyond smut my 1 Ignorance Is 3 complete Ie Youth Youth cried the tile doctor J 1 mock dismay What is it coming coining Fancy tuRing being under thirty and Citing ailing all Ill da day for such a 0 story U as Ie rat JUt it rather than thun r read ud an un account of It J J bad bud English Well you shall have t te t story now no from tile the beginning uil a bit though Wilkins a at The head walter looked up from frum a n J voIced Tv-voIced yoked voiced discussion lon of the time menu with sith v a man who had special charge of our tile hIe Yes sir Bus Ashton conic come In yet vet ENot Not ut yet jet et sir limit hut he should he here fore long lung lies lie's seldom later inter than Qs Is sir Serve Sene for fur three a at t this tills table then fid J Id tile the doctor und found when Ashton mes Hies in ask him to tu dine with us Em n turning to me tae There are some rats lIlts which the Ole newspapers dont don't ver er Hint itin t hell he'll be likely to know Run out out Ashton I may sU say was a rising mine assistant in the district at at- ney's nes alike and und I 1 will add odd that he at ot the detection and q of ot crime con it II was not nut noti noton nuton i on his hits salary that he lived lI at The Thea a redith The Lime doctor leaned It his Ids elbows ou out the f A 4 te and ond pointed a o twig lung linger finger at ut me roe H ow w In tho the first place all nil we know Henry Mor Morgan on begins three years ears 1 tt Was iWas Henr Henry Morgan Morgon the name of ot the then theD In n D who Wd murdered 1 I 1 asked pes Yes Yes-yes yes ut at least Its It's the name he be lot by during the last three years of ot life i he be spent at Oak Ridge lUdge r r got off oft tit the e train there one morning By YORKE DAVIS DAVIS' Ben Service Ice Copyright 1928 1926 with a D nand Hand bug bag and a u check for n a small steamer trunk both worn well-worn and both hoth unmarked with any uny ny Initial lIe He went straight to the real estate alike of one James McCloskey and anti said he wanted to I mint nt a n house honse McCloskey took him hunting house and much to that gentleman's surprise surprise sur sur- surprise prise the only place In town that took tool Morgan's Morgans f fancy mc was a large dilapidated old aid house In one oue of Its remoter terse The old place was In a n state stale of considerable disrepair anti and It contained con trained a 8 lot of trap rattletrap furniture which the owner timid hud never ue moved away McCloskey e tumid had confessed that lint linthe he had never expert expected cd to find a u tenant for It The question of or repairs didn't seems seem to Interest Mr Morgan much a u patch or two In the roof mil anti and new lights of glass In iii the broken windows comprising all nil he asked for I When Then McCloskey him what family he had hud mind and when lien he tie expected them to arrive Mr Morgan answered red that he hc line hind no family faintly and rind Intended to live alone lIe He did In fact live alone Dione without even the time service of a hou house housekeeper housekeeper e- e keeper for a 0 number of months but hut finally engaged a 0 respectable old worn an nn who lived In straightened circa circum r V u r l m f c. c t Half an Hour Later tater Some Passers-by Passers Saw Him Striding Up and Down His Rickety Old Veranda stances not er very far away to come orne ever every da day and cook cool his meals and I keep cep cephis his house In order lIe He let her In er e every morning In time to get breakfast mind and she went II 11 away every ery night about seven even o'clock niter lifter washing up the time supper dishes There you yon have practically the stOl story of his life In Oak Ouk Ridge up to two nights ago Two nights ago the theold theold theold old woman oman got ot supper for him for the thelast thelast last time and ond went home as usual about seven Halt Half an hour litter Inter some sumac passers passers-by LJ saw sass him bleu striding up and down his rickety old veranda smoking u a pipe Yesterday morning when his Ills housekeeper knocked at ot the kitchen door there was no answer Then she went around to the front of the house mouse and nud rang rung the bell hell ulso without with out result She walked hack back u a little way wily up the time n and saw that one of the time windows In a 0 sort of ot stull study he had hind hindon hadon hadon on the third floor noor was open Well It semis seems that she shu told various ail vari ous Otis people about her fears that all was not well swell with her employer but hut you ou know knew what a town VII of that description de tle- sc is like There a rent aren't army any police e. e lost to t of the men In the place glare commute to town on out the early euly trains Lund and with one thin thing and f another i u Ir ras ton ten o'clock or so SU before the he hou houm-e houm e wm forcibly broken o open often n. n The rhe Investigators found nothing disturbed either r ou on the first firM lour flour or ur oron oron on the tile second hut hilt In the ol mil 1 t gentleman's gentle gentle- mans man's study u a ofT room In the attic with a R couple l of or dormer win Wirl- windows windows dows the they found him dead in III his lih chair He lIe was us leaning hack in a queer unnatural attitude mind and when the they looked more closel closely they found that thaI he had bud been heel strangled with n mm Cil catgut string from au 1111 old violin of his An Au A string he went on Oil on with rising voice u and nJ finger Unit t t gust eM I leu en muted only about six Inches from nii m nose nose un mi A string that hud bud been heen deliberately ICI de IC- I removed ed from the tile fiddle and flipped blipped in n u noose souse around his bis neck uck while lie he sat there In his chair hair mind and drown drawn taut lout What Whal do you rou say to that limit t eh elm 1 I dont don't see why wilY thc they call cull It murder mur mur- murder der said saki I. I Why Isn't suicide themore the themore themore more likely explanation lion Oh wise young oung Judge he lie mocked mucked For Just this reason my bo boy that the tho end of the string wasn't fastened to anything He couldn't have committed committed com com- suicide In that way WHY unless he lie could reach rench aroun around 1 after otter he was dead und and untie the knot behind the time back of ot othIs his neck No Its It's murder and I should he be Inclined to say a singularly pure e example of ot it it Theres no DO connection whatever with his past I J Inquired McCloskey ask for nn any references atthe at nt atthe the time Morgan rented the house He Ho says s 's he tie did on that first day duy and n Mr Mor Morgan an assure assured 1 him that thai 1 I there would be no difficult difficult on that score he would woul 1 present his references references refer refer- in a n day or two As a matter of ot fact he never did but as os he pal paid 1 a u quarters quarter's rent In advance allce and as he signed an Indeterminate lease of ahouse a u ahouse house which the agent never expected to get et oft off his hands McCloskey McCoskey didn't like to press the matter He Re used furniture that he found In the house and aud never brought In any effects of his own beyond what came with him on the tile first duty duy In his Ills hand bug bag timid Iud his little trunk He lIe never got nay any letters from out of town and und apparently never sent ofT off any auy What his business was If he had any no one ever knew You say that limit nothing on the first or on the second floor humid hud been dis dis- That would dispose of ot time tile theor theory of robbery The whole appearance of the house mil arid and its condition conditio would contradict the theory of army any ordinary rubbery robbery the time du doctor tor said No oue one would break bleak into that limit dilapidated old structure for such sucha a u purpose unless he hud hind knowledge of some SOllie secret and unusual sort of treasure treasure treasure treas treas- ure there Rut nut to my mind mimi the manner man man- manner ner of ot killing disposes even en of that alternative The house Is 18 s situated in ina inu a u lonel lonely spot remote from all other habitation If It a robber had found himself in a n position where he was orl erl to tr Mil gill kill lip lin i h i A rl n II I iJ pistol t l- l shot I t. t and I d he e couldn't dt h have garroted gar gar- r rated his victim without taking him unawares No I believe It to be a case of murder pure and simple sImple- murder committed for its own sake suIte and ond not the time product by-product of some other result And Mud these cases you know are rather rare rare rare- rore-It rore Here Mr l comes conies Ashton now sir said Wilkins from where he lie stood not I far awu away Ill have dinner served at once sir Both the doctor and I like Ashton arid and he lie often dines with us even when there Is no particular excuse such as was offered by the Oak Ouk Ridge Hidge murder mur mur- murder der cler for doing so He tie Is a burly confident quick tem quick tent tent- 1 generous minded generous young oung chin chap p of about thirty arid and If he keeps on us as ashe ushe ushe he has begun he lie will some day acquire ac nc- acquire ac- ac quire a n reputation as one of time the greatest prosecutors In the country lIe He was not In evening dress tonight and he dropped Into his chair at oui oum table with the time air of one who ha has put In a 0 trying lay day Confound those these suburban trains he said n I d. d I 1 Just spent spen t th time the e better hetter pa part pant r t of an on hour In one coming in from frum Oal Ridge e. e pia IIa Hal I cried the doctor with an un air nir of the tile most intense satisfaction Then youre you're Just the man I want to see I Did Iid id you OU turn up lip nn anything at nt the afternoon J session of the inquest Tim account In the evening papers leaves 9 off ofT at noon Ashton laughed riot not get et H it Hord word ord out of me rime about that murder until niter after the I fish If you attempt to toI I shall call on Will Wilkins Ins here for help However er he added seriously I III do want wan to talk about this case with you jou IJ for I J think It not unlikely that you OU may he able nhip to fo help us TO m BB nC CONTINUED |