Show tasty filling pickled beets chopped mixed with chopped cooked meats and smoked harn ham make a tasty filling for hot toasted sandwiches ft I 1 4 A H dd wa J OFF VAN 09 WATER by F VAN DE WATE 11 W WS N L services tw CHAPTER continued 20 when al had left for his post the ca captain etain ceased to fight us and took charge once in he was game he spent the next fifteen minutes setting the stage mentally and physically for lyons entrance the door bell bells s shrill cut him off midway in his final instructions we heard annie come down the hall shannon sat behind the desk allegra looked out at the sunlight that crept up the areas wall and locked her hands tight in her lap to check their trembling cochrane stared at nothing with a half smile and lighted a cigarette please said miss agatha and he started and offered her one she lighted it steadily as lyon ferriter Ferrit cr entered he checked himself just over the threshold as though our plan were an invisible wall and I 1 tell felt that lit his S lank body grew tense in the wintry light his face looked paler and thinner but it was as controlled a as s his voice im sorry to break in on a conference but the hallman said you wished to see me miss paget his eyes questioned each of us re he must have read danger in our si si ence for he looked at me last and longest miss agatha said quite tranquilly two calls in a day may be an imposition mr ferriter but when I 1 heard you were here I 1 thought it best that you come in A pleasure he said with a little bow but now he watched sh shannon a n 1 I was just getting some thin things g s my sister needs the silence stretched each second shannon asked and your sister mr ferriter how is she ill lyon replied quite ill again the pause was hard to bear shannon cleared his throat mr ferriter ive found out who killed your visitor lyon might have been bronze at last he said in the first place im not aware that he was my visitor in the second place if this is to be a police questioning I 1 must ask permission to call my lawyer sure shannon said and chov shoved ed the desk phone toward him tell him to meet us at the babylon an and d that im on my way up to arrest lone ione ferriter that name caught lyon halfway half way across the floor and stopped him he stared at shannon glanced at me and then smiled lone one he asked lightly arrest her arrest her shannon repeated for murder im sorry to break it to you so sharply mr ferriter he made no further movement toward the telephone but stood look ing hard at the policeman what at the captain pushed back his chair no he said shall we go on up surely lyon began and then his bluff broke you ashes ill I 1 tell you you cant possibly think she had anything the pain in his voice rang true shannon cut him off 1 I better give you the usual warning about whatever you say being used against you im not sure whether youre accessory or not he paused I 1 was watching lyons on I 1 S hands they hung at his sides rigidly still shannon went on and I 1 admired the confidence in his voice she knifed this guy for reasons of her own then she came out into the hall yonder and hoU hollered ered 1 I see said lyon and swallowed the knife listen shannon answered if I 1 so certain id not be telling you the next night after the murder this mallory here bumped into her in the basement hallway in the dark lyons eyes touched mine for a split second then they returned to shannon I 1 saw his hands clench and instantly hang lax again his voice was amused 1 I 1 see he recognized her in the dark shannon shook his head immune to irony no he knew it was a woman all but a taxi tax driver saw her come out of the basement she got into his cab heres his affidavit care to read it lie he offered the paper cochrane had set down at his dictation lyon half reached for it drew back and shook his bis head im not interested he said care fully feuy its a 2 mistake my sister was at the babylon all t that hat evening 1 I dont know now 9 shannon went on with narrowed eyes whether you really think so or not ferriter she she called at mr malloris Mal MaU lorys orys boarding house mrs shaw the landlady identifies her too right after that struggle in the basement she went to see him all of which lyon began and coughed I 1 jerked jerke for an instant I 1 thought I 1 heard in his voice a trace of that foreign speech that had come to me twice before it was not there when he resumed you overlook the fact that my sister has been cleared one of the hall boys saw her come in just before hes downstairs now shannon said and hes confessed he never saw her at all he said he did it because he want to get a lady into trouble your sister zone lone killed that man whether its news to you or not she then dropped the knife down the elevator shaft and screamed shall we get on uptown this time he rose but lyon did not stir and I 1 saw the gloss of sweat on his leathery face 1 I see he said with an ugly laugh A sort of social third degree eha eh by all means captain lets go uptown id like to hear you tell that story in court shannona Sh annons voice was more silky than I 1 had thought it could be now mr ferriter it purred 1 I been asking you ive been telling you miss agatha spoke so quietly that I 1 wondered whether lyon felt the edge of her words 1 I asked captain shannon to tell you what he knows mr ferriter you were so considerate this morning that I 1 believed you would woul d rather be prepared before the arrest there will be he replied with an ugly defiance no arrest no KT 1 I 1 no he knew it was a woman all doubt lone ione it if it were she could explain her presence in the basement she wont need to shannon said quietly because it has been proved she went down there to get the knife that killed your visitor whose name cochrane said dreamily was just possibly horstman eh lyon could control his spare ex gerior he could not manage his heart color came into his face you see shannon pressed on lone ione ferriter dropped something in the e basement that night he lifted the handkerchief from the knife upon the desk the distant sound of traffic came into the still room lyon did not move but ebbing color left his face a greenish gray shannon said her finger fingerprints prints are on the handle theres blood on the blade and after another long moment in which lyon never stirred added weve got her ferriter ferritor Lr she killed him As for her alibi he picked up the telephone and said hoyt come up here down in the morello I 1 heard the shaft door clang the moan of the elevator blew through the room like rising wind lyon said thickly lone had nothing to do with it he paused and then added 1 I killed him the thrill it should have brought was oddly missing I 1 looked at lyon with vague disappointment it should have been more dramatic than that miss agatha said this is of course a rather belated but chivalrous attempt to save your sister the doorbell rang shannon called to annie tell him to wait lyon said to the old lady as though there had been no interruption she is not my sister she is my daughter ive wondered said miss agatha at last breaking the silence the man went on and as emotion relaxed his pose the guttural tone I 1 had heard first over the telephone grew beneath his accustomed speech and at last dominated it this is my confession you can write it down captain the man that I 1 killed had done my daughter much wrong I 1 thought him dead he paused cochrane asked in a blizzard in alaska that blind shot got lyon knocking his reserve away breaking for an instant his self control he gaped at his mild questioner and struggled for speech jerry drove his attack home still gently with a bullet through his chest are you the devil lyon blurted and the thick sound of his tortured voice seemed to shock him he caught hold of himself turned from cochrane and said sai d to shannon in his old easy manner do you mind very much if we dont go into that id like to keep my daughter out of trouble that afi jsam vv v a y ss wy is the purpose of my confession she married my cousin and hers lyon ferriter and went to alaska lyon shannon repeated and ana gaped the lean man frowned if you please he objected and went on she married lyon ferriter he had been my partner in vaudeville we are bohemians Bohem ians by birth I 1 thought she would be happy she was not ferriter abused her I 1 followed them to alaska all that she had written me was true and more he was making her pose as his sister with all that implied ferriter had got hold of the story of a lost gold strike farther in he and she and I 1 went prospecting for it we found it and lost ferriter I 1 thought of the bullet scars on the dead man and held my peace the slayer of lyon ferriter went on 1 I had gone there to take his wife my daughter away he wore a beard and I 1 grew one that winter after his death we looked alike clean shaven and more so bearded we came back to the states lyon ferrit ferriter er and sister M my y brother a student but a weakling had changed his name during the war he was no longer emil horstman but everett ferriter now I 1 was no longer andreas horstman but lyon I 1 had enough for comfort we were happy I 1 believed my daughter would make a good marriage when your nephew came of age he bowed precisely toward miss agatha as though he had complimented her and pursued last monday my cousin whom I 1 thought dead hailed me on the street he had my arm before I 1 saw him there was nothing else to do I 1 brought him to my flat there was no one in the hall and we walked upstairs we talked a long while he paused and seemed to look back with critical eyes upon that interview shannon bent over his writing I 1 saw the quick rise and fall of Al legras breath and the hawk look on her aunts face lyon was greedy andreas horstman said at last 1 I offered him all the money he wanted it and lone ione she was still his wife I 1 ordered him out at last he refused to go then I 1 lost my temper I 1 called the police and he drew his knife and again I 1 killed him this time permanently I 1 think his face moved with a ghost of his whimsical smile he shrugged and said the rest you have found out how I 1 hid the knife in the basement and how lone found her husband how she went back to the cellar to save her father and got the knife only to drop it when mr mallory came upon her how she lost her head and went to his room how everett and I 1 both bungled our last effort to find it and everett killed himself because he feared death too much to live longer outside of trying to help the father she loves my daughter had nothing to do with this I 1 tell you not a thing shannon started to speak but cochranes cochranee Coch ranes query forestalled him all right he crooned you killed him how did you get out afterward for an instant lyon did not seem to understand then an odd expression crossed his face oh hoe ho he exclaimed softly something is still a mystery eh you know so much I 1 thought you had read it au all it was simple let me show you he took a step backward and glanced about the room caupp suppose ose the divan behind which L lyons body lay was there our eyes followed the pointing finger the door said horstman turning toward it with a smile would then be here he leaped it slammed behind him like its echo we heard the front door close I 1 was quick but shannon was quicker he was at my elbow as I 1 pulled the workroom portal open he was past me and through the hall door before I 1 reached it where he was b barking arking at hoyt who stood in the open d doorway bled of the waiting car eddie gab downstairs on foot he fell I 1 think shook the hull elevator re he all al shannon roared down the shaft here his aid replied from be low stop him shouted the cap captain tain and plunged down the stairs I 1 lumped jumped for the car basement I 1 muttered to eddie who jerked his lever I 1 was thinking too hard to hear his quest questions eions the knife had been hidden adden in i the basement somehow the mur derer had left it there unperceived before he might be taking that mysterious route thither again shannon beat us to the foyer As we slid past its closed door I 1 could hear him yapping like a thwarted terriers terrier he came down and I 1 followed him it youve ve let him get by ill 1111 11 I 1 heard once again the voice the real voice boice ot of him we had mown known as lyon ferriter it filled the shaft with a fearful sound sud denly ended the car lurched TO ITO BE |