| Show G E RAL D BROWN FEATURE duke private detective dete cUve li is investigating v vesti esti gating the murder 0 of curt cu rt villain con court ra was about to ins marry rry veronica Bl gelow I 1 w heiress to thirty million douan dollars mccale 5 lic cale she Is the principal suspect leardi earn a ot I 1 a deep plot to keep control of the great gre a t fortune in tho the family th through ro ugh a deal with ith Vallain court sharl shari lynn 0 vs former wile wife Is 1 shot to death someone fires at beccie wounding bounding him I 1 in the shoulder mccale D hurtles hurties to the mansion where sybil veronicaa veronicas Vero nicas mother mot her has teen been slugged gge aie she was bearc searching ing in an old trunk mccalf finda a large black silk handkerchief in the he trunk that puzzles him mils bliss adelaide bigelow Is not able to place it either CIT ArTun XVI ile he fingered it feeling the coarse pull ot of the silk A signal seemed to flow from the material in his hand along his arm into his brain his thoughts clouded then grew bright as they played bilde and seek with the infinitesimal shadow of an idea he sat on his haunches rooted to the spot unwilling to let the flickering image go suddenly revelation poured over his bis mind like a searchlight he jumped up placing a firm hand on miss Bige lows arm he guided her surprised and bewildered to the stairway we must go down immediately he said Is everyone at home you said christopher storm was here yes T they ey are all here somewhere azes ere must you see them all not yet he strode ahead of her on the third floor hall ile he reached the door of the second floor drawing room before she was halfway down the second stairway As he went in karen stopped playing she sat cold and austere at the piano letting her long fingers rest quickly on the keyboard she turned toward him as he quickly crossed the room to her side you drew at your bank this morning he hurled the statement at her why A sullen smile turned up one corner ot of her mouth she shrugged he waved a hand in exasperation very well you dont talk you do know why the murderer did not kill sybil this afternoon he was aware that she drew away from him that was a mistake it not finishing the job she set her mouth in a hard line he looked his exasperation he shrugged then and turned to the door where stood a startled miss bliss bigelow in the library once more mccale called his own number hullo boss did you get those pictures A list read them off okay coming through A couple of football players some guys in a canoe a petty officer a jockey no horse a marine kind of de ejected looking an army lieutenant and whoops an acrobats uh uh just what I 1 thought okay hop on over here where are you oh I 1 forgot to tell you the Bige lows make it snappy this Is the kill he dialed headquarters asked for D donlevy Eon levy donlevy im at the Bige lows can you get over here on the double quick ive solved the lynn business proof 0 of course ive got proof yeah in twenty minutes sooner if you can goodbye involved Alo motives tives are arc unravelled it came as he held the receiver a m moment too long at his ear lle he he heard ard donlevy put down his instrument m ent then so nearly after it that th the e sound was almost simultaneous came ame c another soft click as someone 0 ne else carefully cradled a receiver mccale and miss bliss bigelow were in the library ile he leaned against the mantle and spoke in a soft ruthless voice this is the end miss bigelow Bl gelow it will be all over in a few minutes the police are on their way strange he said both you and I 1 saw the murderer the afternoon of curt Vallain courts death besides that all the clues have pointed in the same direction 1 I at least should have remembered the complete picture of that afternoon clues pointing to she shook her head yes a figure in the dark outside the house bouse that afternoon sybil bathed in sherry in order to drown out what she saw A visit by karen to the abbey club the night before A picture missing from the collection of shari lynns admirers A revolver in a family where to knowledge a revolver had never been owned and last but riot not least not at all the least this he drew the black silk handkerchief from his pocket her brow wrinkled but but I 1 still dont understand he went on softly inexorably the trouble in solving this crime lies in the tact fact that in the failure of the original plot everyone had a motive you are aware by now of the plan to gain control of the bige low millions through curt vallain court stephen met curt in chicago through victoria or vice vera aa curt and victoria had bad an al af fair even though he was married to sharl shari lynn at the time he and sharl shari probably had some sort of arrangement for or the only business Vallain court practiced was preying on wealthy women miss Bige lows chin came up she seemed to be steeling herself tor for what she knew was to come V probably ably intended to marry victoria until he found that the bigelow fortune we was s controlled by you to be passed on to veronica at her marriage to veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas husband mr yes yes he held up his hand how he obtained that information Is theory but not illogical theory in view of the nonchalance of his character at that time and the open too worldly outlook of both victoria and stephen it is not wrong to assume that in a moment of raillery they told him possibly they mentioned that he was barking up the wrong tree that while you allowed vicky and stephen generous allow ances the real gold bags were ver anicas oni cas with your arid and sybila approval of course yes the whole thing must have been hatched before victoria and stephen came home to prepare the way for to in the meantime Vallain court had to dl W 4 v 7 1 you toil sure this Is the guy duke vorce snarl shari lynn no doubt promising that when he got his hands on the money and had salted away a few million he would renege a and nd remarry shari how horrible she shuddered but stephen and victoria what would they have gained while mccale talks the murderer escapes where the real machiavellian touch came in victoria no doubt thought curt w would marry her eventually and that they would live on veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas money you see there were two women curt tooled fooled fooled of course but to go back a bit victoria brought curt home as a friend she had run into new york he wooed veronica who forgot her childhood romance with christopher storm overnight in the excitement of the biological spell Vallain court was able to cast everything ery thing was going fine the wedding over a lew few months for or curt to manipulate the bigelow money and victoria would have curt stephen would have he thought karen miss bigelow closed tier her eyes in anguish mccale continued in a rush of words even christopher storm was convinced ot of Vallain courts sincerity he had met curt that morning and in a rush ol of boyish feeling had deeded the nest the house he had built for veronica and himself him that left the others out in the cold better now that veronica should marry storm than Vallain court if i he wa was going to turn his back on them storm at least would see that they had their allowances maybe something more but curt in his complete about face could not be relied upon he might cut them oft off completely in disgust with himself and them too you cant take chances with a reformed rake he is liable to become very self right bous and unapproachable you see curt Vallain Villain court had to die miss Bige lows eyes remained closed she was breathing heavily mccale hurried on V Vallain allain court of course had told only veronica to whom he had made full confession and christopher storm because he was forced to and shari lynn sharl shari lynn fatalistic in all things probably more so about the enigmatic curt set out to do a little blackmailing knowing that he come clean to the tour four who were in the plot she started plans tor for extortion she got in touch with karen and threatened to let the cat out of the bag before the wedding bells rang although they all knew that something was wrong that there was a rat somewhere karen decided to be on the sate safe side she took with her to the white abbey tor for lynn that night she surprised vallain court with her and believe me s sur ur was the word for or curt H was utterly nonplussed nonplus sed wa when karer walked in she was observed b bi my secretary and myself by her hei husband who was there on his owr own account probably to watch for or sharl shari lynn sybil was there too she and karen met on the S steps no doubt she was upset ov over e r the rumor that curt had been seen with the lynn woman and in tier her mud died way wanted to see for or her sell self hard bunches showed against me cales jarline and his face ace looked relentless in the shadows the next afternoon curt vallain court was shot on your doorsteps miss bliss bigelow sat up straight s shaking haking herself out of her reverie we we saw the murderer she whispered yes he answered slowly think be backshat back cl c What was it we saw why she faltered altered there 68 was a woman acoman with red hair veronica V no he said not veronica that was sharl shari lynn ln in a red wig she gave a cry of surprise then no she did not shoot him she was not near enough she saw who did and tried to blackmail afterward to her sorrow then it must have been the other one the other woman the one la in the raincoat that was sybil she saw the murder but in her confusion did not recognize the murderer then think miss bigelow when we looked out of the window two or three times in those few minutes before the shot think there someone else there someone already waiting he picked up the black kerchief and dropped it in tier her lap she stared at it blankly far or a long bor horrible moment then she understood yes yes she said finally awful for sybil oh godl god she burled buried her face in quivering hands in the silence that followed heard a soft footfall outside the door someone was tiptoeing quickly furtively toward the service stairs in a flash it came to mccale that during the time he had spent in preparing miss bigelow tor for the coming arrest his lengthy explanation his gift of gab had given someone the needed few minutes to plan escape for a moment he felt panic not knowing what to do next where to turn excitement raised the hair on the back of his hands he controlled himself with a titanic effort of will not stopping to explain to the old lady who sat motionless he raced out into the hall threw open the front door he was in a frenzy he ran down the front steps into blinding sleet for a moment he was utterly befuddled fudd led anger mounted in lif him m like a flame anger at himself he had lost he turned to retrace his steps when he heard a sound near hi him m ile he looked into the dark wetness a and nd saw a form mate materialize out of nothing and walk toward the curb he recognized the snug fitting pants pea jacket and round hat of a sailor he stepped up to him quickly tumbling fumbling for or a cigarette and said got a light buddy A match flared suddenly and looked up over the flame to stare into the dangerously narrowed blue eyes ol of stephen bigelow the man gave a growl making a quick gesture with his right hand 1 I do that mccale said his voice harsh this block Is lousy with police better come quietly every one of them has a gun got a bead on you right now shoot to kill then bigelow said not before I 1 get you they don dont t he f fumbled um bled in his coat and laughed hysterically 1 7 I should have noticed that sailor in that instant macales Mc Cales knee came up with all the force he could muster bigelow gave a sharp cry of agony and doubled up tip on the sidewalk tripping mccale as he went down it was not until that moment m ent that rocky bocky loomed up out of 0 the fog doehl gosh mccale heard rocky say as he gripped the fallen man under linder the shoulders bringing him I 1 upright the naval you sure this is the guy duke no less mccale gingerly felt the wounded arm on which he had fallen mr stephen bigelow in the uniform of uncle sam he joined the navy once remember he must have saved his suit oh yes and his pistol by the taie way see if his black kerchief is missing it w was Is bigelow mounted the steps between rocky and the officer all ali the fight was gone from him A squad car slid up to the curbstone as mccale turned to follow Z the trio he walked over to it and opened the door with a flourish welcomed Wel comel he bowed as donlevy stepped out late as usual lieutenant TO BE BB CONTINUED CONTINUE Gl |
