Show 0 w 0 se aa G GERALD BROWN FEATURES FEATURE 5 duke hc mccale Cate private detective is 1 g the wedding presents at the tha degelow mansion while he h li Is talking with wealthy old miss adelaide bigelow Bl gelow they hear bear a shot hot A moment later curt art vallain court the bridegroom to fie dies in the front hallway halfway mccale slips away before the th police at arrive and n h hurries 11 to apartment to search it tor for is chuei clues there ho be meets sharl shari lynn a linger ager and former wile wife ol of 6 ebe Is apparently knows of the shooting and betrays herself under mccaleh Mc Hc Cala Cales clever questioning lie ile notes that she h w wean e at I 1 a green dress as a did the woman he be saw running tway kway tam rom the scene sharl shari ad admits its the that she he wai as nearby when ahen Vallain court was shot CHAPTER IX he was a long way ahead of 0 ML me there was another dame coming up over the hill road that meets the path he was on at the gate by the bigelow house youre sure of that miss lynn remember you may be making a dangerous accusation rage flared up in her she jumped up k dangerous accusation she I 1 screamed 1 I should say it was S she he kil killed led him that little blue blood killed him I 1 tell you I 1 saw her hes dead dead I 1 he crossed to her quickly shaking her by the shoulders take it easy youre in a spot Y yourself whoever it was that met Vallain court at that gate had on a green suit or dress angrily she brushed hit his hands from her arms faced him 1 I know that she had on a green suit I 1 saw it but I 1 was a long way off I 1 teu tell you youre not getting me for or this just because im wearing this green thing I 1 have killed curt god I 1 loved him I 1 loved him her body sagged away from rom him her voice was low and harsh was a cry of despair as though her throat were all burned out mccale left shari lynn slumped on the couch he knew it was useless to talk to her any more she 1 be ol of any help k he went quickly through an ornate bedroom which had a fabulous connecting bath of chromium and glass there were two closets of expensive linen and haberdashery he had never seen so many shirts ties shoes socks and collars outside a department store and he went through everything but there a single thing to give him a lead to use as evidences not a letter a receipt a bill not even a stray address the murdered man had played it pretty smart and close to the ground disgruntled he went back bach into into the living room and out the front door it was nine fifteen when the buzzer in macales Mc Cales outer office announced a late caller mccale laughed how are you bart donlevy trades some knowledge ready to take you over the hurdles for sneaking out on me this afternoon Don levys smile belied his growl mccale smiled back at him steadily he liked the man he had the look of careful gro grooming am ing not often associated with the he police you would place him at about forty a large roan man bulking balking powerful and tall against the heavy door he was of the new school of officers so widely heralded but often ridiculed college bred scientifically trained and carefully chosen I 1 im not really sore he began 1 I only wondered why you took a powder when you and adelaide BI bigelow gelow were practically the only eye witnesses to this ghastly business it dawned on rne me very soon when I 1 found no keys on the corpse that gone to vallain courts ap apartment artmen t to steal a march on me was that nice he raised an eyebrow facetiously not nice but necessary from my point ot of view ive got second look before after your squad has fine toothed a place and theres never been a hair hairpin piri left tor for us fellows what exactly did you find from being first this time nary a clue the place was as clean as a bone beyond getting a good idea of what the lad who aho lived there was uke like there a false whisker tor for my trouble the setup he had was quite revealing it pure hollywood hau half demille hall bau dorothy draper r very sug suggestive cestive ge stive Is that all you have found 1 I found a woman mccale never felt it accomplished anything to hold out on donlevy it only promoted misunderstanding and ill III feeling eeling it was wag much better to get the evidence first that was all he watched the quick interest flash across Don levys eyes before he ha controlled it before he said casually ally 1 I would call that a clue duke I 1 I 1 well he questioned sharl shari lynn the chanteuse chantease chant euse at present of the latin quarter and the abbey ive heard of her mccale went on then to te tell U of his encounter with ithe ahe night c lub club singer he told it all what she had said how she had looked bringing the nom complete picture before don levy in a manner mahner that insured the detective of every detail you think then the lieutenant queried when at last mccale was silent that there was an old affair between them something in your telling it 11 makes me feel you are convinced that it was not too recent something flaring up again after a long time mccale nodded lie he closed his eyes a moment then opened one as if the other still shuttered an inner the thought u im sure of it he said im sure find that they may even have been man and wife a at t 0 one ne time that they have never been een out of touch with each other tor for long donlevy digested this then oh sure lynn was back bach there alter after any letters of hers that may have kept I 1 dont t think hink there were any there however there even a stray phone number chalked on the bathroom wall if you get what I 1 mean quite it was exactly as it if the place had been cleaned of everything by the boy himself kind of disappointing what because from everything we know it seem as though that kind of gent would ever destroy a compromising missive of any kind whatever I 1 0 take it easy youre la in a spot yourself true there is the possibility of 0 a sate safe deposit box at some bank been checked he had a small balance at a downtown bank but no box of any kind mccale hunched himself over his glass tor for a minute musing it becomes very confusing then for he must have got rid of everything ng last night or today before he stared stare d at the ri rim m of h his I 1 s glass just before he went to his death A long minute went by while the fire crackled merrily in the grate while each one of the three thought his own thoughts about this conjecture it was donlevy who finally shrugged it away with a sour look duke mccale paused in front ot of the big man donlevy the gray haired police inspector looked up at him and said 1 I suppose in return for your information ru you want to be brought up to date only fair I 1 mccale smiled donlevy had never once let him down in a matter of this kind though he covered it always with an air of assumed ill III grace suspicion settles on veronica ronica Ne here it Is then for what its worth he said there was in the bigelow house at the time of the murder besides aldelaide Aldel alde bigelow and yourself the clook an upstairs maid and the butler king the cook was preparing dinner the maid kitty shane was hanging around the kitchen 0 out u 1 obviously no motive no opportunity P port ort unity king was wrig fixing a tray of hors doeu tor for the usual cocktail hour hes out for the same reason none of them saw or heard a thing until the prolonged ringing of the bell about five minutes after the cruising car got there I 1 arrived it was then about twenty minutes since Vallain court had been shot shortly after that the family began to wa wander ader in and I 1 questioned them in the order of their appearance sybil and stephen her son came in together she said she had from the church across the gardens stopping at Shack leys drugstore tor for cigarettes she had chatted a lew few minutes with the clerk whom she knew she met stephen as she came out of the store he had been wandering along charles street just killing time he said likes to walk in the rain that sort of 0 thing theres a jangled lad tor for you mccale waggled a finger neurotic worried about his wife was probably out bunting her up wherever she ella was sybil Is no calm strong pioneer woman either collapsed like a balloon at the news think val lain court was her own chee ad to hear her rave to get on with it the Garb karen is quite another ticket As and cold as the snow queen concerned but unruffled if you know what I 1 mean she turned a shade whiter if poss possible able but I 1 got ahe distinct impression shed only walk around the corpse and go on her way A bit too controlled troll ed victoria was next she blew in with a book under her arm had been browsing around the public library walked home mccale pursed his ups lips 1 I imagine she screamed once made an inappropriate remark and had a long hooker of whisky on it you are vry very adroit ive an unusual mind I 1 guess said sa id mccale facetiously what crack did she make she looked down at the corpse in a kind of mixture of fright and sheer heer excitement and said then someone did have the nerve mccale whistled donlevy turned a page chris copher storm the guy that get the girl or almost what he probably will now he swears that he was walking back and forth along the lower common path hoping to intercept veronica on her way home if she should come that way she show so he came on up to the house theres a funny thing duke them all breaking up in after the wedding rehearsal oh well we W e come now to veronica the bride veronica drove up in a cab the last to arrive she was strangely excited I 1 thought shed been doing some last minute shopping saw it was getting late and got a cab at the corner of boylston and tremont he hesitated st she le said he let his last two words hang in the air A devastating conversational abyss yawned dawned tor for mccale made no reply minutes ticked away when he did speak it was quietly she is the obvious su suspect pe c t of accurti course bart the accusation c n of sharl shari lynn the tact fact that both bot h miss bigelow and I 1 saw a girl in green running away from the scene directly after the murder too bad she should have picked the corner comer of boylston and tremont street to get her cab there are very few shops there and as you have noted the path running from the gate opposite the bigelow house over the hill by the cannon ends at that precise point hardly coincidence mccale shrugged what about the weapon she must have thrown it away then the area in which to search tor for it is small A woman cannot throw too far 1 I know that A thwarted look came cam e over Don levys craggy tace face weve had a special squad hunting it for three hours so tar far not cot a sign of it weve actually used floodlights flood lights and turned up every fallen leal leaf emptied every ash barrel in the park with no luck where Is the murder gun that then lor for the moment Is that funny but macales Mc Cales mind seemed relieved the case was dropped momentarily while they talked of pleasant er things it was nearly twelve when donlevy stood up to go 1 I rather thought he said at the door that you were retained by the old lady bigelow to get at the truth now im sure youre hired to protect the girl he tried to put it over with a slow smile nothing of the sort has bee been bugge suggested sted to me I 1 can assure you mccale returned his smile sardonically the truth okay I 1 have my duty to do you know id tad the weapon first oh sure sure well find it the echo of barton Don levys footsteps had hardly died on the stairs when mccale standing before the dying fire spoke 1 I held out on the torn bit of letter so I 1 see chief you dont think the girl in green was the veronica dame then maybe there was a silence for a minute then rocky said they have not found the rod no macales Mc Cales eyes lighted up as he looked quizzically at 1 na his friend and employee he sm smiled as though he knew what roc rocky kaled was thinking you say the gal who ran away stopped a minute to look back when she got to the cannon on the hill yes well chief he jumped up youve been waiting to see if id think ot of it of course I 1 have after all ive heard you tell it three times that gun ought to be in the belly of that cannon they left the office in a mad rush A cab deposited them in rapid time at the common entrance it was late and any police who hm had been searching tor for the gun were gone TO ito BE CONTINUED |