Show tn m arek HOUSES y BEN AMES WILLIAMS copyright SERVICE j THE STORY SO FAR driving home through a torrential rain young well to do clint jervies picks up a girl scantily clad running in terror stricken flight down the road she rides a short w ways leaves the car and runs into the woods lie he decides to talk to his dear friends blends rl ends inspector tope and miss moss about his adventure clint still thinks of her as miss moss his bis former ormer guardian though she and the inspector are married clint having settled down now manages the jervies estate himself in ahr three e shuttered houses all gloomy bloomy and forbidding on kenesaw hill near where clint picked up the frightened girl lived three families I 1 in a one house lived old denman hurder his wife who had been ella kenesaw and his daughter kitty leaford Lc aford and her daughter june living in a second house was aunt evie avle taine uncle justus and brothers rab and asa the third held old matthew bowdon and his wife living on the estate was a man known only to june as uncle jim following their usual custom the three families gathered in the hurder home saturday night kitty junes mother retired early with a headache she was given warm milk and insisted on taking two sleeping tablets one more than usual strangely upset june slept fitfully and in the middle of the night went in to see be her r mother she finds her dead panic stricken june ran from the room out the unlocked door and into the storm to get D doctor oc tor cabler it was here that clint jervies p picked i aked her up clint clant tells his story to the inspector and mrs tope tape they communicate with the police who are told by the family doctor that kitty leaford died of an overdose of sleeping powders clint and the inspector are not satisfied and feel further in investigation ve inspector Is necessary when clint and tope tape drive back to kenesaw hill they find inspector heale beale and the medical e examiner xa miner who also reports the death due to an overdose overdo se of the powders lie he becomes angry when tope tape intimates that queer circumstances surround the death after returning home june ran to see uncle jim and told him of her mothers death there clint arid and the inspector visit them clint returns to the house with june and tells her that he be will call her soon before they leave tope questions the girl concerning the powders tope finds that the theory of the overdose Is not log logical ical it would take more powders than kitty leaford knowingly took to kill her in such a short time CHAPTER VII continued 7 heale had no more than finished living giving instructions when doctor cabler arrived the physician was a small man grizzled a little bent his shoulders surprisingly heavy with a steady severe eye after the introductions inspector heale put the case to him tope watching the doctor thought his lips stiffened and grew pale as he listened and after inspector heale had finished the physician was silent for a while her heart was not strong h he e said at last reflectively no one commented on this and in the end he nodded surrendering 1 I had overlooked that point he confessed yes gentlemen it must be true you mean she must have ha had d more than four tablets heale asked unquestionably doctor cabler agreed to die so quickly i inspector heale said seriously you understand doctor cabler this gives her death the look of murder doctor cabler nodded slowly it seems incredible he declared and yet there is so something terrible in those houses up there mrs bowdon rules them all she has something massive in her something like a crushing weight how about mr bowdon inspector tope asked and doctor cabler said guardedly he surrendered years ago he is not at all well his heart plays ugly tricks and his blood pressure is very high he has not long iona to live and he added 1 I have s sometimes 0 me thought it was his imminent death which oppressed them all the inspector nodded 1 I dont want to come right out and say murder doctor dabler he explained pla ined but we ve want to look around inside the house mrs tope here suggested that they would all go to the funeral it if they do the house would be empty then suddenly then tope asked doctor can this drug be bought by anyone without prescription from a friendly pharmacist perhaps by some subterfuge mrs leaford had used it long four or five years I 1 supplied it to her myself she did not even know the name I 1 gave it to her in plain bottles without a label so that she would not know what it was this was vas for her own protection she could not secure it except through me if someone wished to poison her tope suggested steadily that person might have stolen tablets out of her bottle one at a time over a period of weeks without the theft being noticed so he would have them when the time came readily the doctor agreed 1 I urged mrs leaford to keep a count of the tablets she took but she was careless and impetuous she took an overdose once before three tablets it made her very ill im trying to understand tope explained how she was persuaded or compelled to take the extra dose were there any bruises on her lips doctor doctor cabler shook his head no none was there any other medicine she was accustomed to take in capsules for instance so that someone could have crushed some pills into powder and filled a capsule and put it with the others she had the doctor said again no I 1 know of nothing of the kind he rose and he repeated no nothing I 1 cant help you there and he asked in a hushed voice inspector what will you do inspector heale hesitated ill 1 I dont yet know he confessed inspector heale went with him to the door and a few moments afterward asa taine was announced tope watched asa with a deep attention from the young mans first appearance this asa taine he may have been no more than thirty but he looked older and there was the shadow of dissipation on his countenance acknowledged the in productions quietly but with a quick appraising glance for T tope ope and for miss moss he spoke in a slow sardonic tone facing them fairly im told you want to see me he said why and before inspector heale could speak he added in a grim drawl to save lying I 1 might say that I 1 can guess you think kitty death vas was murder so you can begin your explanations there I 1 well there are certain circumstances heale began someone was in mrs Lea fords room after she went to sleep how do you know vp because miss leaford put a certain bottle in the medicine cabi 1 PW P W crushed with griet grief net in her mothers bathroom and it is gone asa taine without mirth and drew from his pocket a small square bottle here it he said there was a moments incredulous hush then inspector heale asked sharply how do you know this is it ive seen it often enough asa declared where when kitty liked to play grande dame asa explained she used to hold receptions in bed shed stay in bed half the day sometimes rab and I 1 liked her and we used to go up and visit with her there june and grandma bowdon did too where did you find it heale demanded tats bottle in the cellar said asa under the laundry chute howd you happen to look down there second sight maybe asa suggested viewing the scene of the cr crime imell what made you think it was a crime inspector heale snapped they were all watching him acutely but asa taine said simply kit kill herself and an ordinary overdose kill her so quickly ive handled criminal law you know see any strangers around why asa countered warily and tope said 1 I heard there was a man in the woods back of the house this morning oh that was il I 1 1 asa assured him casually 1 I saw you I 1 was afraid spotted me at the time tope for once in his life was pink with embarrassment and miss moss smiled faintly but tope asked what were you doing why my did you hide private business said asa gently miss moss asked mr taine did mrs leaford leave a will no madam he said 1 I answer you explicitly she died intestate and insolvent too for the matter of that they were for a moment silent and he turned toward the door but inspector heale said abruptly wait a minute taine inspector tope explained pla ined inspector heale want to make too much trouble but he must look into this can you arrange to give him access to the house during the funeral tomorrow afternoon the young man hesitated he said at last yes I 1 should say so you can prowl all you want but its too late now theres nothing left to find and he exclaimed in a sudden deep passion it if she was killed it was someone outside they might torture her but never kill her none of them up there then the door shut resoundingly behind him and he was gone inspector tope wiped his brow and inspector heale muttered angrily that fellow knows something maybe I 1 ought to hold on to him make him talk but tope shook his head if you set out to arrest anyone right now he pointed out have to start with miss leaford 11 and miss moss suggested softly there might be another possibility I 1 wonder if mrs Lea fords husband is still alive and how he felt toward her the two men stared at her with wide astonished eyes CHAPTER VIII the fortnight after kitty lea fords death was for in inspector S tope a long and tormenting time for a search of the hurder house while it stood empty revealed exactly not nothing h at all and his utmost urgencies failed to drive inspector heale to any vigorous action and dr derrie abetted him by sticking to the accident theory the day after the funeral tope and clint talked with heale in his office and tope said to heale sternly heres my notion inspector mrs leaford was about the most harmless person on kenesaw hill she hurt anyone she want her own way about anything she have any money she have a thing that would make anyone want to kill her but someone did kill her and whoever did it had a deep hidden reason for doing it and we dont know what that reason was all right now if we if you inspector pretend you dont suspect anything whoever did it will get bold lie he or she will do something else what youre waiting for it inspector heale nodded an emphatic agreement and tope said flatly you know what that something will be someone else will be killed up there inspector heale stared at him why he demanded what makes you figure that because there any reason for killing mrs leaford alone tope insisted killing her is bound to have been a part of a bigger scheme if you let things slide have another murder on your hands clint listening to the old man whose wisdom he knew felt himself cold with fear for june who dwelt in that shuttered house where death had been a visitor but inspector heale said with a slow fretful violence well inspector im glad to have your advice any time of course but I 1 have to make the decisions ci have to let me work this out my own way and they could not move him on the way back to town clint saw inspector tope irritated for the first time in his experience 1 I hate a fool the old man said fretfully and heales a fool I 1 tell you clint theres death loose in those old houses for the rest of the drive the old man sat silent absorbed in his own reflections till they came home to the little house in longwood where miss moss had dinner waiting they sat long at table going over and over the things they knew seeking to read their implications and miss moss was a guess ahead of the inspector tonight tope had reported that heale was trying to locate jim glovene Gl overe hes gone the inspector pointed out so heale thinks hes run away heales like one of these whippets whip pets hell chase anything that runs miss moss smiled faintly 1 I may be responsible for that the she confessed you remember I 1 suggested to heale that he try to find kitty Lea fords husband and the two men stared at her and clint whose thoughts now turned always in one direction cried you think this man is junes father miss moss nodded what makes you think that why else did he live so near e except to see june miss moss suggested and why did they let him live there unless he had some such hold on them clint asked do you think june knows who he is miss moss shook her head and tope said reflectively it if its true if who glovene is and heale finds it out hell figure that leaford wanted to marry someone else and poisoned mrs leaford to be free 1 I seen the man miss moss confessed do you th think ink he might have done it remember the front door of the house was open someone went in from outside tope sat very still no glov ere or leaford or whatever his name is do it he decided but mrs tope if mrs Lea fords glass of milk that night was poisoned why would anyone have to go into the house from outside shed drunk the milk and gone to sleep before the door downstairs was ever locked someone might have stayed in the house left the door unbolted when he went out but why tope insisted if kitty leaford was already as good as dead why he said half to himself maybe they forgot to lock the door that night im going to see mr hurder myself see what he has to say and he added 1 I want to figure some way to meet justus taine too and his sons see what like ive met asa but not the other one miss moss suggested an expedient to this end so during the next few days clint in his capacity as head of the jervies trust pretended to revive that old project of buying some of the woodlands belonging to the kenesaw farm and cutting them up into house lots the office of bowdon and taine controlled the land and clint made an appointment to see rab and took tope with him rab met them in friendly fashion discussed the project and made shrewd comments at topes suggestion he led them into his fathers father Is office and he and clint shouted the details of clints clients proposal into the ears of justus taine and that man sat stolid and silent his eyes blank watching tope while he heard or did not hear what they had to say himself spoke at last half a 41 dozen ozen words of dissent and so dismissed them after kitty Lea fords death grandpa and grandma hurder moved dumbly about the house crushed and broken with grief june tried to comfort and to reassure them but once when she sought to beguile grandpa hurder into some peace of mind he said in slow tones your mother was crucified june for twenty years 1 and I 1 was to blame TO BE CONTINUED |