| OCR Text |
Show DESEER (47. f, ! . CLEAVER. : j R':'T 1 kept us waiting so long for the" report. re-port. They are still working on It, hoping for results. The other was nitrobenzene. Miss MacDonald says that, in small doses, induces coma and takes as long as twenty-four hours to act. But It is apt not to be deadly by Itself. It was combined with this other drug the one that must have made death certain." Miss MacDonald came hurrying into the kitchen. She was holding the monkey charm bracelet In her hand. "See here," she said, "this bangle thing opens. I think we can be certain cer-tain that the poison she took, or was given, came out of it. There is a trace of the odor. Smell it." She handed It to me. It smelled a little like shoe polish, with sort of a faint almond flavoring, underneath. I gave It to Sam, who ha'1 been reaching reach-ing out his band for It He smelled It, and then knotted it up In his fist. Remembering, I can't th-'nk of anything any-thing that he said which would do to quote. The gist of It was, that If Gaby had given Martha the poison, he was not sorry that Gaby had been killed, because justice had been done. Not satisfied with that, he expressed, violently, his r-;grts that vengeance had been taken out of his hands. "It Isn't vengeance you want, Mr. Stanley," Miss MacDonald reminded him, pretty sternly, "but justice. That Is within our reach. 1 am practically prac-tically certain that the person who poisoned Martha, who strangled Miss Canneziano and her father, is right here on this place. My work from now on Is to get the proof. If you would help me, 'nstead of " (To Be Continued) ! C..TERXV Another Murder Canneziano did not come down lor reakfast the following morning. I fought that a little strange, for meals Wera the one thing he had been real Polite to ever since he had been on the Desert Moon. As soon as breakfast was over, Miss jllacDonald spoke to Sam and asked jWm, as she had asked him that first morning, If she might detain him. Mrs. RIoker Went Every Day to Visit Martha's Grave. "Men Don't Wear Well In Times of Trouble." . I I uj and looked stupid. "Won't you listen to reason," she urged, "before you go downstairs to telegraph for other detectives? If, when the coroner and the others arrive ar-rive today, you confess that no progress prog-ress has been made, they will undoubtedly un-doubtedly step In and take matters into their own bungling hands. 1 think that they would make an arrest That would be fatal, now. For I am positive that they would arrest an in-noceat in-noceat person, and that the guilty person per-son would then have an excellent opportunity op-portunity for escape. "I have a certain reputation, Mr. Stanley, and these men particularly the sheriff respect It. If you will keep me on this case, I will tell them that 1 am making definite progress. That I believe I shall be able to turn the criminal over to the state within a comparatively short time" "Would that be the truth?" Sam demanded. She hesitated. "If you mean, Is? that what 1 believe now my answer Is yes. I may be wrong. I have, at least, a very definite suspicion. I have no proofs." "You wouldn't," Sam questioned, "gire these men that assurance if you knew that I was going to get some men detectives up here to work with yon?" "I couldn't," she said. "I can speak only for myself. Please give me my chance. Do you realise what It means to be tried for a murder, even If one Is acquitted? I am not asking this for myself. I wouldn't stoop to beg for anything for myself as I am begging for this, now. I am sure you mean to be i fair man. Be fair to me, and to all of the Innocent people here on your ranch, I don't say that other detectives detec-tives might not be able to discover the murderer. I do say that I am certain cer-tain they would do Irreparable harm before they succeeded." "If you stayed," Sam had the cheek to question, "and worked along with them that was my Idea couldn't you prevent iheir doing any harm?" "I could try to. I will try to, If you insist. But I am doubtful of my success. suc-cess. Consciously, or unconsciously they work against me, because I am a woman. You don't know them as I do. You don't know their methods, as 1 do. If you feel that you must have others here, working on the case, allow al-low me to send, at my own expense, for my own assistants ; the girls whom I have trained " "We don't need any more girls around here," Sam said. "It Is pretty certain that we do need some one to protect the lives of all of us on this place " "When you telephone for the coroner," cor-oner," she said, "won't you telephone for a locksmith to come out with him, and bring strong bolts for all the doors " "You admit, then, that we are all In danger?" "Nothing of the sort. Ton are all perfectly safe at present I do believe be-lieve that before long, my own life may be In danger. I want no one to think that I suspect that I need the protection of the bolts. It must seem that I think that every one needs the protection." "You believe," Sam questioned, "that your own life In is danger. And yet" "Please reconsider, Mr. Stanley. Please allow me to have the case alone, at any rate for a little while longer." "You honestly think," he questioned, "that you can manage this single handed, and keep us all safe, and produce pro-duce this murderer pretty shortly? "I do, Mr. Stanley. Mary, can't you say something. Won't you help me to persuade Mr. Stanley?" "You don't need any help," I told her. "He's persuaded." "Is that true, Mr. Stanley? May I have the case alone, for a little while longer?" She was all breathtess with eagerness. "Drat it all, yes," Sam said. Im d d if I know what I ought to do. But you are dead game. I- Well, shake on it. Miss MacDonald. You II do the best you ran for ns, I know. The hand she held out to him was trembling, and her voice as she thanked him trembled. But still I was amazed when, right after Sam had gone out of the room, she said to me, "Mary, I believe on my soul that I have Just had an experience that is too strong for me," and hid her face in the crook of her arm and began to cry. In the week that followed 1 had times of thinking that Sam had likely made a mistake in keeping M.ss MacDonald Mac-Donald on, alone. 1 couldn't begin to describe the horror of that week. It Is, I suppose. I what books call a paradox to say that the worst turng about the week was that nothing, just nothing, happened. To all outward appearances the Desert Moon ranch was as peaceful as an empty grave: hollow peace, false peace, and all of us conniving at the falsity made It worse. Sam locked up the house early every evening. Then, trying to make it casual, one and another of us would go sauntering around to make sure that he hadn't overlooked a door, or a window. People were constantly jumping, and starting, and looking behind them at nothing. None of ua women ever went far from the house, except Mrs. Ricker, who went every day to visit Martha's grave. She went alone. I would not have gone with her, not for any price. I was afraid of her. I was afraid of Hubert Hu-bert Hand. By Wednesday of that week I was afraid of every one In the house except Miss MacDonald and Sam. Friday found me doubtful of Sam. None of our minds went straight, those days. I am sure that the rn'nd of each one of us on the place always excepting Miss Mac-Donald's Mac-Donald's did as mine did. It went groping in the dark; It bumped into obstacles of doubt; It tripped over fear ano fell Into senseless stupidities; stupidi-ties; it lost Its way, and wandered Into wild suspicions. I tell you, there were times, during those frightful days, when 1 found myself seriously considering whether or not I had committed com-mitted the two murders. At that moment I was certain that every one on the place was more or less Insane, especially Miss MacDonald. MacDon-ald. I think yet that I was right about the others. I know, now, that I was wrong about Miss MacDonald ; but she had certainly given me plenty of reasons for thinking either that she had lost her senses entirely, or else that she had never had any to lose. AH week I could see Sam watching her and growing more and more impatient. im-patient. On Thursday he said to me that she was too busy flirting with John to have time for anything else. That was not fair. She didn't flirt with John she wasn't the sort who would flirt with anyone. But she surely did begin to notice him, and his attentions to her. I tried to make excuses for John. Poor little Danny wasn't, I had to admit, much like the girl he had fallen In loye with. She had lost practically all of her prettlness, and she looked, all the time, too white and wan and generally dragged out to seem quite wholesome. She had explained to John about the reference to her and to her doll in the code letter. He had taken It all right, and had been, as she said to me, "sweet" about it, and never doubting her word at all. Still, I sort of thought that u grain of suspicion might still be bothering him. And 1 knew that he had not been quite able to forgive her, not for telling of her suspicions concerning Sam, but for suspecting Sam in the first place. On Friday morning, when Sam came zigzagging into my kitchen, ordered Zinnia out of it, his voice all thick and husky, he fell down into a chair. "Mary," he sajd, "we've got the report from the 'Frisco chemists." Miss MacDonald had thought it necessary nec-essary to have Martha's body exhumed ex-humed and sent to San Francisco. That is what the coroner and the undertaker un-dertaker had been about on their second sec-ond trip to the ranch. Sam had not wanted Mrs. Ricker to know. That had suited Miss MacDonald better, too; so they had had the men do the work wtiHe we wera all at dinner that day. They had been careful to fir the grave so that it would not show that It had been disturbed; and then, being be-ing men, they had left their shovels right there in the cabin for the first person to find. As you know, the first person had been Mrs. Ricker. We had been waiting ever since for the chemts-ts' report Sam's first words were reassuring. "It is too good 'o be true," he said, and repeated, dazedly, "too good to be true. Miss MacDonald had her assistants as-sistants trace the prescription from Doctor Roe. The powders were harmless. harm-less. I didn't cause my girl's death. The report proves Miss MacDonald sayS The report proves " "Take it easy, Sam. What does the report prove?"' "Somebody gave her a deadly poison. The chemists found two traces. One they can't analyze. That's why thev've tai him i-'i - 1 mm!t 1 1 .i---'JI' "You, also, Mrs. Magin," she smllea at me. j "I wonder," she said, as soon as we three were alone together, "If Mr. Canneziano could have given us the Blip, last night? Will you go and see .whether or not he is in his room, now, Mr. Stanley?" Sam went When he came back he had to drawl a lot more than usual to keep his voice steady. "His door Is locked. He doesn't answer when I pound on It" Miss MacDonald said, "I have an excellent pass key. Let's go up and try It" Curiosity dragged me along with her and Sam, though erery bone In Ely body protested. !'r Miss MacDonald's key unlocked the floor. The three of us went Into the j room. ' The blinds were tightly drawn. The electric fan was whirring and buzzing away In the gray gloom. Miss MacDonald crossed the room, quickly, and snapped up the blinds. Sam walked to the bed where Canneziano Can-neziano was lying huddled up under the covers. I looked the other way. I heard the rattle of Sam's pipe as It fell on the floor. I heard the rustle of Miss MacDonald's quick movement I beard a queer, throaty note that she uttered. Something dragged my hot, aching eyes open. I looked toward the bed. I saw Canneziano's swollen, discolored face. I saw the deep yellow yel-low throat, wito great brutal bruises at its base. I felt Sam's strong hands on my 'shoulders, pressing me down into a chair. I 'heard myself saying, shrilly, over and over, "What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" It was Miss MacDonald's voice, cold ; and clear as spring water that brought me to my senses. "We are going to ! find the murderer on the Desert Moon 1 ranch." Sam said, "You're d n right we t are. And we are going to have half a I dozen he-men detectives on this place j by tomorrow night" I "Very well," Miss MacDonald an-L an-L swered. "Will you telephone, at once, , for the coroner, Mr. Stanley?" "H 11" Sam said. I had my face covered; but there ' was a hollowness in that oath of S Sam's that told me, plainer than any I looking at him could have told me, that he was frightened; scared to the ? marrow of his bonas. $ It took Miss MacDonald, though, to a understand the reason for his fear. "Yes, Mr. Stanley," she said, "these men, when they come this time, in spite of their friendship for you, are not going to be as easily satisfied as I they were last time. They were able 3 to blink at one murder. They cant keep on blinking. They dare not even in Nevada." J "Who wants them to blink?" Sam 4 bluffed. , "You do. We all do, for the y lim'dld not answer that He stood, J |
