| Show H dd en wals te fesby y FREDERIC h F VAN at rr DE WATE WATER jkr A TE R rac G n r r V da M service av A ay v y CHAPTER xin XIII continued 14 Al legras silence bothered me her profile was clear and sharp as the head on a coin in the uneven pulsing of lights beyond the taxi tax window she said looking straight ahead 1 I lied to agatha today I 1 dont usually do that I 1 told her when grove dropped out that I 1 get anyone to take me to the opera oper a tonight I 1 never tried I 1 only said that I 1 was disappointed and she did what I 1 hoped shed do once or twice in a lifetime fortune off offers ers you the thing you want most and remembering the way she has treated you you dont believe it I 1 did not now I 1 thought I 1 was reading wild meaning into her words she turned toward me with an odd little smile and hurried on ive been lonely and frightened and 1 I needed you I 1 guess I 1 needed to be alone with you and tell all I 1 thought we could be friends and instead you behave as though you were well a millionaire that a lowdown low down gal was trying to compromise if I 1 have I 1 told her 1 I beg your pardon my dear I 1 think though that youve got the parts mixed up youre the millionaire wait a minute I 1 saw she was trying to break in and I 1 hurried on it galls you to have misled your aunt all right what about me hes lifted me out of a hallmann hall mans uniform shei given me a job and her confidence I 1 have little integrity maybe but im not a complete so and so it do you a bit of harm to consider the problems of someone else now and then the girl did not answer she had turned her head and was looking out of the window I 1 did not wonder that so few persons in this world were ever nobly TI there ere was no pleasure in it I 1 said and now that that is all cleared up to our mutual dissatisfaction how about changing the subject its not necessary she answered and turning as though she had decided something looked squarely at me were almost horne home and maybe just as well too I 1 answered thank you miss paget for a great many things her laugh was like eke a breaking stick then she caught hold of herself if you dont stop patting me on the head she warned ill take a poke at you will you answer one question for me honestly just one I 1 could see the marquee of the morello just ahead and a group of men who lingered on the curb beneath the street light will you allegra asked again and I 1 wondered why her voice was so tense 1 I promise I 1 told her and belatedly wondered it if I 1 were pledging myself to disloyalty to cochrane unless I 1 added it concerns someone else for a few minutes I 1 had forgotten the murder and lyons almost certain part in it it came back to me now and made me a little sick the cab slowed down allegra asked in a low clear voice youre in love with me arent you the taxi had stopped and walters was opening the door I 1 might have kept silent but her hand clung to mine as I 1 helped her out I 1 heard myself say never know how much she hurried on into the foyer while I 1 paid the fare As I 1 turned to follow someone said the society bellhop himself larry duke was of the group that gathered around me I 1 knew the faces of others and the alease ro within me quickened into nausea why were reporters hanging like vultures about the morello again any statement duke asked nastily on the most recent unpleasantness count the foretaste of disaster was bitter in my mouth its savor made it easier to hold my temper ill leave the issue I 1 told duke duk e to the good sense of the american america people I 1 started away but someone else caught me by the sleeve listen fella he begged just found this everett Fer body at the bottom of the area it all about when I 1 could speak I 1 said as steadily as I 1 might you tell me suicide suicide hell bell duke said with relish they caught your girl friends brother in the ferriter flat right after everett went out the window and dusting off the hot seat for him right now CHAPTER XIV A reporter asked another question the words made no sense As I 1 broke away I 1 stepped on some ones foot and he swore I 1 ran into the foyer it was not flight dukes tidings had rubbed out thought of self my purpose was to reach allegra as quickly as I 1 might I 1 must get between her and the blows full force there was a cop in the Mo hall once more I 1 wondered it if allegra had read the portent of his presence he scowled at me and said eaid something I 1 did not catch my evening clothes must have daunted him for he be backed up and let me pass then I 1 saw her at the end of the gloomily ornate foyer she waited beside the elevator shaft but the car was upstairs wherefore I 1 was thankful and at the same time wretched I 1 must tell her what had happened here and now she looked so small in her brocaded evening wrap slender as a flame and unconscious that the wind of fresh tragedy rose to blow her about she heard me coming and turned I 1 saw in her smile a trace of the last words I 1 had blurted she thought I 1 was a lover re turning returning to complete a pledge half spoken that made it harder the world had changed since I 1 had helped her from the cab the elevator might appear someone else might intervene at any second there was no time for tact A dirty job was best done quickly I 1 let her have it all in one breath have to take it my dear everett ferriter is dead and they think your brother had something to do with it vaguely all that evening I 1 had wondered how much of her high color was makeup make up I 1 knew now her face grew white her lips were gray but they did not tremble she took it standing and never wavered her eyes hurt me she asked what happened in a level voice and I 1 told her what duke and the others had told me she said he do it I 1 said as cheerfully as I 1 could reporters think in headlines its probably much less serious than they say I 1 only wanted to tell you before you walked into it where is he be her eyes held mine as though that impersonal contact kept her up I 1 said upstairs and rang again for the elevator after the far shrill of the bell I 1 heard the old machinery groan I 1 stumbled over many things I 1 wished to say yet might not and at last managed ive hurt you but it seemed the only way ill leave you here but ill wait if you or your aunt want me you can telephone the foyer please she whispered as the shaft door slid open please come up with me she stood stiff and silent on that journey upward toward its end she turned as though her neck were stiff and asked A cigarette I 1 lighted it for her and we stepped from the car the door clanged behind us she fumbled in her bag for her key the first shock of the blow was wearing off her mouth worked and her fingers blundered in front of the ferriter flat a plainclothes man watched us he chewed gum and his derby rocked with each movement of his jaws allegra said at last please ring the bell I 1 dont think she added with a twisted smile were likely to get anyone out of bed annie in a rumpled wrapper opened the door her eyes were red and her breath came in small explosions where is miss paget allegra asked crisply in the livin room the woman faltered and closed the door behind us and mr paget the girl went on annie wept yonder she wailed them cops she jerked her head toward the ferriter apartment and could say no more I 1 followed allegra down the hall miss agatha paget her body folded precisely in a black silk dressing gown sat in her wheel chair and smoked the lids of her keen eyes were un reddened by tears her hair was drawn back by a thin braid from the face that had the bold calm of the hawk for an instant as her niece ran to her and the old woman looke dup for her kiss I 1 saw the hard features soften the girl bent over her a long instant and then with one hand locked in her aunts turned to me he want to come up she defended 1 I made him agatha what is it really happened miss agatha drew on her cigarette and blew smoke through her beaked nose I 1 thought as she looked at me of the figurehead of a ship worn and immune to storm she asked dryly material for another chapter in the book david no I 1 said 1 I had no business barging in only if there is anything I 1 can do name something she broke in I 1 stammered have you thought of a lawyer I 1 mean long ago she told me 1 I think I 1 got tertius groesbeck out of bed it if he take too long dressing he should be here before shannon finishes with grove across the hall she had lighted another r cigarette while she spoke I 1 saw her hand twitch as she uttered her nephews name allegra asked agatha what happened everett is dead and the old head jerked agreement the old voice said without a falter very dead in the area with a broken neck I 1 believe but why the g girl cried an and her aunt answered the an anguish ish in her voice without waiting for f r more mor words my dear there was a struggle of some sort before he fell I 1 heard it so did everyone else whose windows open on the area bumping and voices and then a yell and a fall her thin shoulders drew together in the least possible shudder grove said miss agatha quite calmly was in the ferriter apartment they caught him coming out you know he had a latchkey she looked up sharply at her niece yes the girl admitted miss agatha patted Al legras hand 1 I wonder she mused aloud if there arent limits beyond which h loyalty is no virtue we both knew and yet the bell rang and we heard annie shuffle to the door because the girl began but b ut her aunt took the thought away f from rom her because grove is such a stubborn young devil that we were afraid it if we protested it would only drive him further we were wrong my dear marriage with lone is better than the murder of her brother of he allegra exclaimed miss agatha nodded and bit through an invisible thread you know it she answered 1 I know it I 1 dont think captain shannon who has kept grove she glanced at the clock on the mantel for almost an hour now is so certain there is that struggle which everyone heard which turns a suicide theory rather sour the calm in which they endured their wretchedness was too much for me I 1 said one might fight to prevent a suicide as well as to commit a murder miss agatha looked at me hard every now and then david she told me 1 I admire your mind it is so much like mine obviously what happened I 1 doubt whether the police will accept our eap exp explanation la nation captain shannon entered at once miss agatha and her niece drew down over their emotion the opaque shades of utter calm shannon ducked his head toward tham and looked hard at me inwardly he fumed anger or bewilderment h had ad reddened his face and blurred its freckles outwardly he was calm and his voice was regretful miss paget said he im sorry but well have to take him in I 1 heard allegra catch her yeath breath miss agathas face did not stir she asked then he my nephew has implicated himself shannona Sh annons exasperation got away from him he rumpled his reddish gray hair well have to take him in he repeated for obstructing justice if nothing else implicated himself himsel ft 1 the facts implicate him miss paget we can get nothing out of him hell not say a word beyond that he tried to stop this ferriter from jumping tiny lines about miss agathas eyes deepened with satisfaction my own explanation she said shannon shook his head me like a worrying ng terrier unfortunately he told her not all of it why was he in that flat he wont say how came he to have a latchkey he wont say why having one he admit it when the first murder was committed same answer where was he the afternoon this blackbeard was stabbed he was walking uptown his grunt was thick with disgust I 1 stuck my oar in mr paget came in a full hour after that killing I 1 saw him they all looked at me there was no fri friendliness end liness in shannona Sh annons regard sure he snorted e everybody v ery body nobody could have kille killed d blackbeard but his corpse is still in the morgue it im thinking this his second murder or whatever is is going to solve the first anger pushed him beyond discretion he fished in his pocket and drew forth a folded sheet of typewriter paper among the things that your nephew wont tell he said to miss agatha is why he wrote this note we found in his pocket I 1 could have choked him for the pleased voice in which he read aloud my dear I 1 have failed as usual and can stand no more when another death may settle everything I 1 do not hesitate he seemed disappointed at the womans comans lack of expression and thrust the paper back into his pocket muttering I 1 had peered over his shoulder as he read and now I 1 said to miss agatha typewritten and unsigned it proves nothing shannon wheeled and glared knowledge of his own incaution made him still angrier written he said and thrust out his heavy lower jaw on the typewriter in the front room yonder as ive just proved my lad ad TO ITO BE CONTINUED |
