| Show 1 11 7 I 1 s D L I 1 c t r es Dutton LY I 1 I 1 V I 1 I 1 vhf ba dodimead Dodd Mead and co iri ir I NOT PLANNED john job a bartley noted crim criminal inal investigator ves vesti ti gator recently returned from secret service work during the war to Is asked by the governor ot of new york to investigate a mysterious attempted robbery of the robert bobert home at circle lake near saratoga and to establish the guilt or innocence of two men mea in the penitentiary tor for the cri crime A miscarriage of justice Is suspected d bartley finds in it the re rest staging aln of an old case Is interested and agrees to solve the mystery with his friend pelts pelt a newspaper man an bartley goes foes to circle lake the th pair becoming the guests of bob currle currie an old friend the three visit the home resents bartless Bart leya leys coming saying sayin he Is satisfied the two men in prison are guilty bartley Is not next morning la is found dead in bed apparently having shot himself miss potter tho the dead mans man sister ln in law the village police chief roche and the family phy doctor kins king all agree killed himself but bartley insists he be was murdered investigating bartley finds evidence that after a card party he had given was ras shot on the tower of the house undressed and placed in bed during his bis ab absence from the room someone removes the revolver from hand A boy working in the garage asserts he be heard a shot during the night apparently in the air of course really on the tower ruth stepdaughter still further complicates the case pelt interviews the members of the card party he finds to his surprise that apparently wealthy broker had bad offered to sell his friends whisky ile he finds evidence that the men in jall jail for attempted robbery of were framed CHAPTER V continued continue 9 you did not see three glasses did you 7 no he answered surprised at my question no only two thanking him I 1 sald said goodby and left when I 1 returned to the newspaper office I 1 found the files of the past year awaiting me the story that rogers told us in bartless Bart leys library and the account of the crime in the paper were substantially the same there idere ere however one or two slight differences that seemed to me important I 1 had understood rogers to say that the stepdaughter step daughter cluth had positively identified the men now in prison but nowhere in the newspaper was it stated that this had been the case what she had bad actually said was 1 I think one of them la Is the man I 1 saw in the room there had been no positive identification of the men by her or by anyone else tor for that matter himself had bad testified that he h did not know whether they were the men or not three things had convicted them first the place piece of paper found in the room rethe burglary had taken place and which fitted into a torn corner of a newspaper discovered later in the coat of one of the men second the piece of cloth said to have been found on a rose bush beneath the window of the room entered and which fitted the torn place in a pair of trousers belonging to one of the men there was some doubt as to whether the trousers had been torn ea at the time the wan man was arrested and nd last of all the footprints under the window thus their conviction rested on a piece of torn newspaper and a hole in a mans trousers rather feeble evidence it seemed to me moreover the pollee police had bad not discovered any of it until some days after the crime the more I 1 thought of it the more I 1 agreed with bartley that the case was remarkably like that old burglary case la III england leaving the newspaper office I 1 called on some of the other men who had been at tile the card party they all agreed that it was who had bad suggested lawrences laurences Lawren ces staying and laughed at the idea that he knew anything about his death one of them told me that several weeks before he had bought three cases of whisky from I 1 could noli noe understand why a man of SI abkes kes position should wish to sell to his friends As I 1 passed the court house on my way home I 1 noticed the words district attorneys office on a window and it occurred to me that stored away somewhere in there would be the exhibits in the burglary case cn se I 1 entered and asked to see the torn piece of paper and the bit of cloth the only person in the room was a boy of eighteen who went into a back I 1 room and retained with a box under his arm opening it he shook out on the desk before me a newspaper saying baying this Is tile the paper they found in the mans pocket you can see eee the torn edg ile he pointed to the front sheet of the newspaper one corner of which bad been torn away lifting another piece of paper from the box this time a small one he fitted it into tile the turn torn corner I 1 at tho heading ot of the paper it was a copy of the boston evening times and the date was that of the day befi the burglary I 1 felt that I 1 had accomplished very little by my afternoons work the only new evidence was lawrences laurences Lawren ces statement that had bad been expecting some one after lie he left I 1 wished that lie had accepted invitation to remain until this other person came with the exception of this and having offered to sell whisky to two different men a fact that could have no bearing on the murder I 1 had bad found out nothing I 1 found bartley talking with mrs aurrie Oi irrie who had returned during the afternoon I 1 was introduced and we went in to dinner at once when the dessert was over and we were drinking our wine and smoking comfortably bartley leaned back in his chair with such a deep sigh of contentment that currle currie laughed better than murders eh john bartley joined in the laugh anything Is 1 I have often wondered mrs currle currie said ald thoughtfully what causes people to commit murder they always get found out not always laura answered bartley 1 I know its the opinion of most people that a person who commits murder Is discovered in the long run but that Is not true I 1 should say that about 80 per cent of the murders are never solved you tou ask why people kill As a rule it Is done in rage or in a sudden passion of some kind such crimes are easy to solve it Is the small percentage that are planned that are difficult you toil see we first look for the motive ot of a crime and if we can find that we can usually solve it currle currie who had been listening carefully broke in with III 1 I pres presume Zime you will solve this affair quickly bartley was silent watching the smoke of his cigar curl toward the belling cel ling nis HIS face was expressionless I 1 36 W it was a copy of the boston evening times time when he replied oh I 1 cant tell bob I 1 have not found anything of importance yet I 1 glanced at him in surprise it seemed impossible that he could have spent a whole day at and not have discovered something of value mrs currle currie turned to her husband bob what are you men going to do this evening you know this Is the night ight of bf my musicale cale currle currie gave such a groan that we all laughed there Is a long haired tenor coming here tonight and a crowd of women who will roll their eyes at him and lie ile like the devil murmuring how beautiful V 1 its no place for us well go to saratoga and come back when it Is all over before we started currle currie sold said he had bad to ghe some orders to hl bis S men and bartley and I 1 went to our r rooms I 1 gave him a brief outline of what I 1 had discovered in saratoga lie he did not ask any questions until I 1 mentioned that the newspaper from which the corner comer had been torn was a copy of the boston evening times the then 11 he be asked the date of the issue when I 1 told him it was that of the day before the robbery he took his cigar from his mouth grinned and threw out his hands in an expressive gesture enough to prove those men had nothing to do with the burglary you know the times Is an evening paper and Is not sold cold on the news stands far from boston not up here at any rate it if a copy of the paper had been mailed here as it would have to be it could not have reached saratoga until hours after the robbery had taken place such being the case the men that broke into the house could not have had it with them nor could the pollee police have found a piece torn from it in the room the next morning I 1 saw his point and wall va eager to learn what he thought of 0 the other things I 1 had bad discovered above all I 1 wanted to know what his bis opinion would be of lawrences laurences Lawren ces statement that waz waa expecting some one to call after he be left to ray my surprise he was wag much more interested in the fact of having offered the whisky for sale I 1 had expected when I 1 had finished with my story that he be would tell me what he had discovered after I 1 left him at Sly keg cut but as he did nothing of the sort I 1 finally found courage to inquire well pelt he said with a cal smile walle there are two things that I 1 want very much to discover the first thing I 1 would tike mite to know Is what has become of chauffeur T seeing I 1 did not understand he went on you know we sent for him but they could not find him up to the time I 1 left the house they were still looking for him not kot only that but the chauffeur and had a quarrel yesterday afternoon A quarrel lr yes no one was near enough to hear all that was said but the cook heard the chauffeur say any 1 I dont dare to do it and reply 1 I should have done it before the butler you remember told us that w while alle we ue were in the tower he saw the chauffeur on the steps leading to the second story the chap has disappeared no one on knows where the police are looking for him and may get him I 1 hope so there are a few things I 1 should like to ask him maybe it was he who took the revolver I 1 suggested has it occurred to you that it Is a strange thing that a man like should spend most of his time up here for the past two years yeara he has lived here almost entirely il his Is office in new york Is closed and he Is rumored to have lost money why did he stay here all the year round hartley bartley suddenly changed the subject miss potter cleared up one thing for us today I 1 knew that if the murderer was shrewd enough to go to the trouble of placing in bed he be knew enough to know how the eyes should look their being closed puzzled me I 1 wondered how he had made such a mistake but when miss potter told us it was she who had closed them I 1 knew that I 1 had not been mistaken whoever killed knew what he was doing there was only one chance in a thousand that he would not get it across it was well planned I 1 suggested it was not planned at all it was a sudden impulse a quarrel I 1 dont believe that when the murderer went into that tower room to see he had the least idea of killing him but think of the pains he took it must have been planned no he replied the planning was done afterward after he be was killed yes look at the facts pelt was wag killed on the balcony of a tower fifty feet above the ground A man who planned a murder would not pick out such a place it was wag th the last place in the house he would have hav chosen just suppose that some one had bad heard beard the shot and investigated the murderer would have been trapped with the dead body of his victim to escape he had to go down two flights of stairs and through the big room let us say that invited the man to go upon the balcony for what we cannot say and then they quarreled and the person killed him on the impulse ot of the moment the next thing to do was to get rid ot of the body finding the coast clear he took it into the next room and undressed it and carried it down to the bedroom and placed it in bed ile he knew how bow a body should look after suicide and that a gun could be placed in its hand band he seemed to be pretty sure no BO one would disturb him at lt it I 1 ventured bartley nodded yes there Is no doubt of that that brings up another astonishing fact down in the big room U was a young dot dog that did not nor like strangers the murderer in order to get out ot of the house had to go through that room yet the dog did not bark then it was wag someone in the lio house usell 1 I 1 interrupted the coolness with which the th e murderer took plenty of time in und undressing ress the body and the fact that be did not seem to be afraid of being found out makes it seem probable why the dog barki bark because he knew whoever it was that makes it seem as it if it were someone in n the house or at least as if it were someone that knew both the house and the dog well of course pelt until we discover the motive we cannot get very far at present there seems to be none there Is nothing missing and no apparent reason for murder it reems beems an absurd sort of a crime crim why I 1 think it was done on impulse not premeditated lie he thought a moments moment then added 1 I did think I 1 knew the kind of a person that mient have committed a crime like this but but what I 1 asked eagerly ne ile opened the door with a little smile on his lips and it was not until wa we were halt half way down stairs that he completed his sentence but I 1 dont know ho he removed the paper and disclosed the label of a well k known n wm brand of imported whisky TO BK bill |
