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Show body could talk to Larry and see that he isn't the kind who would kill anybody. That is, anybody but a cop !" Hanvey turned gravely to his companion. "You see what the public thinks about you, John. And seeing that we don't need any solid ivory around here suppose you run along and let me talk to this young lady alone?" "Very well," Reagan rose, without with-out resentment, and started for the door. Hanvey followed. He spoke Mff dfha MAY DAY Mrl MYSTERY- ! IM f Ociavas RoM Cohen. llll I ' and tool: part in a bank robbery be- I cause he was desperate. The robber rob-ber probably made a deal with him that all he had to do was drive a car, figuring no one would ever suspect sus-pect a college student's car in a college town, even if it was hitting sixty on the road. We're sure Vernon Ver-non was mixed up in that because we know he didn't have a thin dime before the thing happened, yet the very next day he buys a new car and pays the difference of twelve hundred dollars in cash. And I also know that be has lied like the devil about everything since I put him under arrest." Jim whistled softly. "It sort of makes Mister Vernon out to be a pretty tough hombre, John." "He Isn't that. I just think he went nuts." "Maybe so. . .- . But he sure stayed crazy a long time." Reagan was a trifle annoyed. It did not please him to have his damning summary greeted with even the slightest semblance of skepticism. "What's wrong with my case, Jim?" Hanvey arched his eyebrows in surprise. "Golly, John I I didn't say anything was, did I?" "But," accused Reagan, "you don't really think it was Max Vernon Ver-non !" "Who says I don't?" "Do you?" "Pretty near." "What do you mean: Pretty near?" "Well " Hanvey drew a long, audible breath. "I sort of just happened hap-pened to remember Larry Welch." "Teh? What about him." "Vernon had left the fraternity house before Welch got there, yet Welch says that he had a long talk with Thayer. Now it sort of seems to me, John, that If Thayer was already dead, Larry would have noticed it, wouldn't he?" "Humph 1" Reagan was crestfallen. crestfal-len. "I think Larry lied." "Why?" "To shield Miss Peyton. He's goofy about her." "Tou're right. . . . But then if he's sticking his own neck into a noose to shield her, don't it strike you that he's got some mighty good reason a reason we don't know for thinking that she killed Thayer?" "I know, Jim but we've got Vernon Ver-non dead to rights. He's bound to have done it " "Provided neither Larry Welch nor Miss Peyton did." Reagan frowned, then broke Into a disappointed laugh. "Tou win, Jim. I kept running into snags like that all the time. "This Man Here" She Jerked Her Bobbed Head Toward Regan "Is Absolutely Dumb." ThaPTER VIII Continued ' U -11- ,nny hunch. ... But at that Ss it's more sensible than col-g col-g stamps or art things." He -Sijd. "You've looked all through n( oom, John?" dort.'erywliere. I'm sure I didn't ;. a thing." hei''U never can tell. . . . Just tike sure, though, we'll make e si lore search." me lygan started with the dresser. J(nimaged through the drawers hto every corner. He inspect-Ihry inspect-Ihry ornament and spot of dust Tfi mantel. He looked behind Se3nts and P'ctures which were . on the wall. n,ew.opened the door of the hang- roset, where he commenced a aatic search into every pocket gist p;ry suit of clothes. Vias a tedious Job and Reagan jelng occasionally into the VluWas QUife sure that Han-Lsuggestion Han-Lsuggestion for a new search ieailtl10' been entirely witnovlt u" !,' motives. Kmiiii prodigious body was settled iiti!i into the big chair; the pudgy 'lira! were folded contentedly l Hi: ii the massive mezzanine and Bnnvey was or far as the eye could discern sleeping DES-dpiugl Or was he? The long " e fc'iagan was with Hanvey the t mile understood the big man. At XJG 0 "e appeared to be obtuse, at ' Uli brilliant and at times just T";dumb. Reagan returned to ilZtJask. f Hanvey wanted a i he'd darn well get one. Rea-of Rea-of rtiiad been over every inch of t Mad( round before . . . but he st as if determined to do this job j of Biroughly as he had the first ummi then the silence of the room !" hattered by a sharp cry from OLAB.oset. Nw.ivey's eyes uncurtained slow- he does the right thing Just one time. The crook can't afford to slip once." "True enough, John. Tou sure don't get any argument out of me. But it is funny you didn't see that knife when you first looked in the closet." Hanvey rummaged around In a dresser drawer until he found. a collar col-lar box. He emptied this and then waddled Into the bathroom, from which he returned with a roll of absorbent cotton. He lined the collar col-lar box with cotton and then gingerly gin-gerly placed the knife in the box. Cut he did not Immediately look up. His eyes were fixed steadily on the weapon. "Funny," he said at length. "What?" "The handle of that knife, John it's polished metal, and yet there isn't a fingerprint on it." "Well, I'll be . . . durned If you ain't right, Jim." "What you reckon ?" "Cinch. Max Vernon had enough sense to polish the prints off the handle." "Tou sure think fast, John." Reagan looked up sharply,' but the face of the fat man told him nothing. "D'you think I'm wrong?" "Seems like you must be right. It just looks kind of funny, though, that you didn't find that knife day before yesterday." Reagan was disturbed. He was certain that he had looked in that identical spot the afternoon of the murder, and he had found no knife. His brain was racing, and suddenly he whirled on his companion. "I've got it, Chief." "Got what?" "The answer to that knife. First, there's the off chance it was there all the time and I just didn't find it I hate to admit that, but it's THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING Antoinette Peyton, senior at the University of Marland, resents Pater-son Pater-son Thayer's attentions to Ivy Welch, seventeen-year-old coed, and there is a stormy scene. Max Vernon, another student, reproaches Ivy for "breaking "break-ing a date" with him. Thayer and Vernon threaten each other. Prof. Larry Welch, Ivy's brother, is appealed to by Tony to end his sister's friendship friend-ship with Thayer. Welch and Tony Peyton are In love. Tony tells him she is married to Thayer, but is his wife only in name. Larry determines to end Thayer's association with Ivy. Tony persuades him to wait until she has appealed to her husband. She does so. Vernon, visibly excited, leaves the house almost immediately after her departure. Welch goes to see Thayer, and after he leaves, Carmicino, frat house janitor, finds Thayer dead, stabbed in the throat. The Marland bank is robbed, the bandit escaping es-caping with $100,000 after being badly wounded. Jim Hanvey, famous detective, de-tective, comes to investigate the robbery. Randolph Fiske, the bank president, presi-dent, tells him he believes Vernon was driving the car in which the robber rob-ber got away. Reagan, Marland police chief, Induces Hanvey to take charge of the murder case, evidence implicating Vernon in both the murder mur-der and robbery. Tony Peyton, Larry Welch, and Max Vernon are under arrest as Thayer murder suspects. Welch insists Thayer was alive when he left him. Hanvey questions Carmicino. He admits furnishing Thayer with whisky for forbidden revels in the frat house, he and Thayer dividing divid-ing the profits. , in guarded tones. "Just had a hunch I could do more with her alone, John. Suppose you take this knife down to the jail and ask Vernon Ver-non If he's ever seen it before." "And then?" "Come back and come in. I got a hunch she and I will be pretty good buddies by then." Reagan marched off and Hanvey re-entered the dean's office, closing the door behind him. He liked the trim little figure although she somewhat frightened him. She was sitting now in a straight chair, and her legs were crossed disclosing a frank expanse of pink flesh between the knee and the hem of the dress. Hanvey felt himself blushing, but Ivy seemed totally unconscious of her display. He settled comfortably In the dean's swivel chair, mopped his forehead and the back of his neck, and then grinned disarmingly at the girl. "Answer me one question, Miss Welch: Ain't I the terriblest looking look-ing detective you ever saw?" The girl's blue eyes opened wide and a truant dimple appeared. "Well, 1 wouldn't say you were a sheik." "I ain't this bad in cold weather. Heat just knocks me for a row of tin cans. Now Reagan yonder. .-, ." He lowered his voice. "You mustn't get sore at regular dicks. Miss Welch," he advised confidentially. "If they slough everybody, they're bound to have the right one. Me I don't hardly ever make an arrest, ar-rest, and my job now is to turn loose at least two of the three Reagan Rea-gan has got in stir." Jim was using police vernacular in a deliberate effort to impress the girl, and he knew that he was succeeding. She was sitting forward tensely ; completely com-pletely awed by his authoritative manner. "One thing, Miss Welch ; I want you to know I'm on the level. I wouldn't try to put nothing over on you cross my heart and hope to die if I would. If you don't believe that, why, there ain't hardly no use for us to talk." "I think you're all right," said Ivy firmly. "Thanks. It's real nice of you to say that. And now that we've started off so good, lemme tell you one thing more: I ain't a regular bull. I ain't got the slightest desire de-sire to make a record, and I'd rather rath-er never slough anybody than do any harm to the wrong feller. You're sure your brother didn't do this thing. I sort of agree with you. But there's a whole lot of lying going on . . . and while I don't want to make you sore, Miss Welch it ain't any secret that your brother is doing more than his share which ain't helping him a bit I want to locate somebody who knows something and is willing to talk straight Will you or won't you?" Ivy didn't hesitate. "I will 1" "Good girl. Now I want you to tell me about Mr. Thayer and yourself . . . just whatever you feel I should know." The girl bit her lip. "I feel funny about that, Mr. Hanvey. I've tried to tell one or two people even my brother and they all laugh or sneer when 1 say I was in love with him." "I wouldn't laugh, Miss Welch. I'm a sentimental old bird . . . and I believe In young love. Oh, gosh I how I do." "I'm seventeen," she said. "I guess I'm not so awful dumb. I know about as much as the next girl. And I was in love with Pat Thayer. He was wonderful to me. Not always wise-cracking and show in? off smart li!;e most boys. He was awful different and I cuess a girl knows whether she's In love or not, no matter how much people I. au-h. And when he when ti e ' II. t eyes n 1 1 . i J wiih fierce hut tear.-w tear.-w lileli she dashed away. "I'm an awful silly little fool. Mr ITanvci but 1 can't help it." (TO PE CONTINUED ) H he exhibited no other excite-:23cven excite-:23cven when Reagan leaped .he room holding something IWNIl' l)e'weeD D's thumb and npinod 6-d, Chief look here." Sat j eyed the trophy curiously. ig-gonp . . . it's a knife. gwpff there's blood on It, too. jHlfe'd you find it, John?" ' the corner of the closet. On loor. I 1 don't understand, yiibecause I looked there day be-JUresterday. be-JUresterday. . . ." He was more HESt'd than he cared to show. we've got something here, rjirilpBo matter if I did overlook jLtHore. With this, it ought to be sailing." , citj,i,w come' John?" iiojn'i!cause'" snapped Reagan tri---antly "that is the knife that Thayer, and Chief I've got if et idea." jjod for you, John. What Is it?" EDtci'PiQ stepped swiftly to the horni'81- He designated a spot on ' on7a'l where the papering was a aichtrj ir color. ri!'?less Vla a11 wrong, Hanvey," " H1 "this knife belongs right atchtat spot. And If it does there LaHtmuch question but that Max sn is the man who used it." CHAPTER IX CNVEv deigned to become interested. in-terested. He and Reagan re-0IL re-0IL 111 tlle weapon. It was a pow-3ac((Jy pow-3ac((Jy delicate tiling and beauti; a poisonous snake. WAK: hamile was of polished w,i,i'. whether nickel or silver, uei-knew. uei-knew. The guard was ex-,e ex-,e Sly carved, i id the blade, otf) was unusually long and ;'3"w":')usly keen, was of the finest ggfjered steel. S'1" the moment It was not a irJW sight, however, for the steel -covered with blood which had ff!d almost to blackness. Han-: Han-: Moved away. J 'here'd you find it?" n the floor of the hanging f(Ht lu the corner." a Jdn't you look there day be-jKll be-jKll yesterday?" , ..fire 1 did... oursclf ?" t D thought you said there wasn't "1ll"g there." jji djd. Jim; but 1 suppose I ,;:ool;ed It. Though I'm darned jU e how I did." iivey shrugged. "Those things N'Pen, all right, it's queer, Vhatr ' ' othing. . . . j was just Ulinl.. Si' s"'00 disinclined to com-, com-, tfO I;'1"01"' n"d Itoiisan did not T AS n of fact. f tlle Marb.im plain- ji was uif'toii. -it's nice tn Hko. Jim a dick can a dozen mistakes, provided possible. The second theory is that Max Vernon had It with him and when he came back yesterday evening eve-ning from Steel City he dumped it in there before I stuck him under arrest. He was In this room when I grabbed him." Hanvey's big head nodded slow approval. "Now you're talking, John 1" "You think I'm right?" "It sounds mighty reasonable. Question is, are you sure it is Ver-uon's Ver-uon's knife?" "We'll ask him that's one way of finding out. And in the second place, look at that spot on the wall. It's like this, see" Reagan stepped to the mantel and removed a scimitar which hung there. "Notice "No-tice how you can see on the wall paper just where this hung, Jim? Yonder is the place the dagger was hanging it fits that spot exactly. And you can tell it's a foreign thing." "Ain't any question about that. It sure don't look awful healthy for Mister Vernon." "It don't and I'm sorry. 1 believe be-lieve the kid has gotten a lousy deal all 'round. This Thayer evidently evi-dently wasn't a thing but a plain, high-class hustler. It's a cinch that he must have been trimming Vernon at cards, and we know that he was gypping his fraternity brothers on the liquor game. Of course, Carmicino Car-micino thinks Thayer was a fine gentleman, but he would think that. As a matter of fact, Thayer was a dud and we botli know it." "We sure do." "But that don't make Vernon's position any happier. He quarrels with Thayer about a girl. We know-that know-that Thayer bad trimmed him good and plenty. We know that Vernon was desperate for want of money We know that lie went to Thayer's room and that shortly afterward Tlmver's dead body was found. Now" we locate the knife with which i,e .us killed. We find it in Vernon's Ver-non's room art;! identify it posit ive-lv-or will pretty swn-as Iumii.u part of Vernon's collection of weap ons We have every reason to be Ueve that the kid went plumb loco That's why I wanted to pass the buck to you." He eyed the big man keenly. "What's your idea about the thing?" "I haven't had an Idea In a month. They don't come to me swift, like they do to you." "But you surely think something?" some-thing?" "Yeh true enough. And the first thing I think, John is that I ain't hardly talked to anybody about this affair. Until I see some of the others, oth-ers, I won't know where I stand " "And after you do see them, you'll be absolutely bughouse. I know . . . believe me, I do." "I'll try, anyway." "Who first? Vernon?" "No-o. I think I'll have a chat with Ivy Welch." Reagan conducted Hanvey to the office of the dean in the main building. build-ing. Doctor Boyd was startled by Hanvey's appearance and appeared somewhat skeptical of the man's ability, but he was courteous and readily acceded to Hanvey's request that Ivy Welch be summoned. The door opened and a figure of vivid youth entered the room. She wore a white, sleeveless dress and a short revealing skirt The dean introduced her and then excused himself, promising Hanvey that they would not be interrupted. While he bowed himself out, Ivy stood eyeing the two detectives. She showed the effects of the terrific ter-rific shock to which she had been subjected. Tragedy grim and stark had invaded her life early, and left her peculiarly matured. There were dark circles under her eyes, to tell the story of tearful, sleepless nights and she twisted her hands nervously. When the dean had gone she addressed Han-' Han-' vey with courageous directness. ! "Are you in charge of this case now?'' "Yes. Miss Welch I guess so." "Well. I'm ghul. This man here" -she jerked her hoi. lied head to ward Reagan "is absolutely dumb." "Is lie. really?" "I'll say he Is. Flse why would he keep inv brother in jaM? Any- i |