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Show said he'd be here, at ten-thirty that night, to deliver the goods on Kelly." "And then?" w "Then he didn't show up. "Somebody got to him." Trobably. And then somebody killed Kelly." Barry asked, "Is that the clue tou had In mind when you said, Tell Winslow I may have a tip for him some day?' " Harwood nodded. "Yes, but, as I remarked later,, that guv who phoned might have been anybody. I didn't have a darn thing to go on except that he had a soft voice and a funny impediment "And that man-" "You're sure it was a man?" Tory sure. And that man was some one who had better reason than we've found yet for hating or dreading Mike Kelly." Harry rose. Peter had picked a glove off his desk, and was turning it right side out. "Have you ever thought of Luis Morano?'' Barry asked. Winslow let the glove fall. "Why?" "lie seems to have had some reason rea-son for hating Kelly." "You mean that row In the Co-coanut Co-coanut Bar?" Peter said. "Oddly enough, that's why I haven't thought Synthetic Gentleman L CHANNING nTl 7 POLLOCK- if I yif- I &Hcm I COPYRIGHT, CHANMNG POLLOCK WNU SERVCE in his speech." "And then" "Then you told me about Morano, and I went to the Cocoanut Bar. The guy that phoned me was Morano, all right But what does that mean? Not a thing, maybe. If Morano did hop in his car at one o'clock that night" He paused. "I've got a dozen men on this trail. Now, I'm going to send somebody some-body to Morristown. Not you. They know you. Your job is to lay low. Morano hasn't the faintest idea of Morano. lie was telephoning me frouj the Cocoanut Bar about the row at the time of the murder. mur-der. "Luis always came to me when he was in trouble. And he called me, at home, just after one that morning, to say that one of his girls was in jail, and would I take the case. I could hear that jazz of his." Barry stooped for the glove. "Well, that's that," he remarked. "Kelly was threatening Morano, you know, and " CHAPTER IX Continued 12 "Free next week," Barry declared riiigiiiL'ly. At the dinner table, In spite of herself, Peg caught some of the contagion con-tagion of Barry's new confidence. They had reached the railroad builders. "Pat!" Jack called. 'Tat! We've finished" "Jacky! You mustn't call Miss Hambidge Tat.'" "Everybody else does." "I like it," Patricia came to the rescue. "We're Pat and Peg to each other now; why shouldn't I" be Pat to Jacky?" Nolan's story sounded like the solution solu-tion of everything, they agreed. "We've got to get Jack out before Salurday," Barry said. "His fa-ther'II fa-ther'II be home then." Both women looked up at him. "What'll happen to you?" Peggy who I am. I told him I came from Grand Rapids. But " The city editor was pacing the floor. "My God, how this picture begins be-gins fitting together," he cried. "Morano threatens to spill the beans. Some one tells Kelly. Kelly goes to the Cocoanut Bar. With two strong-arm men. Why? To silence a squealer. That was around eight o'clock, and, at ten-thirty, the squealer didn't squeal. Why? Be- But Peter was smiling again. "You can make a case against almost anyone," he said. "But a case that'll stand up that's another tiling." Barry grinned sheepishly. Winslow pressed a button. "Stop worrying," he advised Barry. "We're going to free Rogers. If we' have to get the guilty man to do it, we'll get him, but let's give the court a chance first." "I guess we'll have to," Barry conceded. It was almost a miracle, Barry decided. Was this the same girl of whom, only a couple of months ago, her father had said, "Pat, for short, though it takes courage to call her that." The change wasn't all his doing, or Peg's. Something else had contributed con-tributed to softening Pat, and making mak-ing her sweeter and lovelier. It was ironic, Barry felt, and bitter that she should be the loveliest when he was losing her. What of his plan to come back for her "Some day, when I've made good?" asked. "The main question," Barry urged, "is what's going to happen to Peg. And Jack. And Jacky." "We'll meet that when it comes," Peggy returned, steadily. "But now I'm worried about you." She excused herself early, with the plain purpose of leaving Barry with Pat. But the Judge stayed on. Ills legally trained mind had been busy with the Nolan disclosures. "If Mrs. Kelly slept at her sister's, sis-ter's, why didn't she say so to you? It would've been her best alibi.'; cause Kelly had something on him." Barry was on his feet, too, now. "Something in writing," he said. "Sure! The paper he accused Peggy Peg-gy Rogers of trying to steal." "Yes," Barry went on, "and get this : somebody did try. Violet Fane, probably. , Peggy Rogers says Violet had just left the table when the row started. And that Luis was talking to Vi, outside the dressing Peter's secretary opened the door. "What's Nolan's first name?", Peter asked Barry. "And Where's his garage? Got it, Miss Clark? Got it, Miss Clark? Now, get Nolan in here this afternoon." He looked up at Barry. "Don't mind my joking," he said. "Something tells me you did a grand job when you turned up Mr. Nolan." a gin use tnat might marry an ex-vagabond; she certainly couldn't marry an ex-convict. Barry drove back to town Sunday Sun-day evening without having put anybody's house in order. He had dined with the Hambidges, and gone over there in the morning "to see Jacky start for his ride." "Well, our trial's set for two weeks from today," said Winslow tvhen Barry called at his office Monday morning. "I'm still hoping there won't be any trial." "Meaning that you think you've got Mrs. Kelly?" xes, but It would have involved admitting that she'd had a run-in with Kelly." "That's true," Hambidge admitted. admit-ted. "But Nolan was drunk last night, you say. And some parts of his story simply don't hold water. I don't believe there was anything 'queer' between Mrs. Kelly and the Filipino. Kelly's finding that out wouldn't account for his calling the man a 'lousy spy,' would it?" "No," Barry retorted. "But listen. If the Chink was a 'lousy spy,' he got paid for it, didn't he? Wouldn't rooms, just before that. " What did he say? He said, 'I'll send this dame to jail, and you to the hot spot.' And you can't send a man to the electric chair for picking pockets." "No." "But you might, if you knew of something else he'd done, and had the proof of it. There was a paper, pa-per, and it had disappeared when the body was found. Who got it? Morano. And not in the Cocoanut Bar, because it was still in Kelly's pocket at midnight." Harwood laid down his pipe. "How do you know that?" "Somebody told me." "Jack Rogers?" VPeter's wonderfully kind," Barry told Harwood that evening, "but he makes me feel as small as an author's au-thor's name in a motion picture advertisement." ad-vertisement." "I don't think Winslow means to make anyone feel small," Ernie answered. an-swered. "He's too big for that. It's the small men who've got to make other people smaller, in self-defense. self-defense. The trouble with Winslow is that he's generally right, and that's trying, no matter how kind anyone may be about it." "Winslow's a great lawyer," he went on, "and a swell guy. He's had his own troubles, too. Ever meet his wife?" "Once." . That was the question Barry had dreaded. Winslow's frank amusement amuse-ment at his "sleuthing" nettled him, and made him feel foolish. Especially Espe-cially now that he was compelled to admit, "No; I'm afraid you were right about Mrs. Kelly. She slept at her sister's that night." "Well, then," Peter asked, "who's the latest candidate?" "Do you remember reading me your cross examination of the Filipino?" Fili-pino?" "A few notes for it yes." "You found a lot of holes in the boy's story?" "Yes." But Peter was still amused. "Well, I've got a few more," Barry said, "and a motive." He sat down, and Peter opposite him. Barry repeated what Evans that explain Mrs. Kelly's giving him 'coin and jewelry?' And everything else? The Chink's reporting Betty Barclay's message, and all the rest of it? I tell you, this story's as straight as a string. Betty Barclay went on the road with her show about the time Mrs. Kelly sued for divorce. I found that out some time ago. She got back the day of the murder, and phoned Kelly. Mrs. Kelly learned of that from the Chink, and lit into Mike. Then Mike lit into the Chink; and the Chink killed him. I think we can prove that." The Judge shook his head. "Anyway, it certainly establishes reasonable doubt of Jack's guilt." "Thoy can't convict Jack," the Judge insisted. "Peter says so, and I've never known Peter to be wrong "No." Harwood's eyes narrowed. "Was it Judge Hambidge?" Barry didn't answer. "If Winslow's shielding anyone it's Judge Hambidge," Harwood said. "Judge Hambidge, or someone some-one close to him. I've been thinking think-ing that ever since you put the idea in my head. The judge has always al-ways been a straight shooter. Why did he write that decision? Was that paper a threat to him, too?" Barry said, "I don't know." "I don't either. But I'm going to find out before Saturday." "Can I help?" Ernie looked at him. "No," he replied, curtly. "For the present, I want you to keen out of this." "He's nearly wrecked his career for her, you know. She ran away from home with some youngster in a military school. The kid turned crook, and the cops killed him. Then she married Winslow. The tabloids played the story up all a over, the place, and Mrs. Winslow crashed, and had to be taken to Europe. Eu-rope. She went to pieces agaiu two or three years ago, and Winslow closed the office, and went to live in the South of France. The money I gave out, I guess. Anyway, they didn't stay long. Of course, that telephone message doesn't prove anything." "You mean Morano's message to Winslow?" "Yes. Luis might have sent that at one o'clock, and still've been in time for the murder." "Is there any chance that Luis didn't senrl it?" p'v W lli I ill when he made an assertion like that. But acquittal means waiting for the trial, and waiting for the trial means that Jack will still be in jail when his father returns." Bat remained silent, but, the next morning, on the beach, she drew Barry away from the little group engaged in railroad construction. "You were right in the beginning," begin-ning," Tat said. "There was only one tiling to do. Father saw Kelly alive after Peg's husband left him, and we should have said so. , "I can't stand seeing Peggy," Pat continued. "Was that what you had in mind when you sent her here? Anyway, it's too terrible. She comes down to breakfast, looking well, you know. You knew about trouble like that all night long alone and I didn't. I do now, and we've got to 'come clean.' "I don't think it matters," Earry replied. "I still think we can free Jack without that." "How soon?" "By next Wednesday." Pat nodded. "All right,," she said. "We'll wait uutil Wednesday." Barry had never seen her more CHAPTER X ""MOT a word to anybody," Har. y wood had said. "Din- in til I phone you. One little leak, and we're finished." Barry saw that. But why should Harwood fear the leak coming from him? Pat? Nonsense! Winslow of course, who was Morano's lawyer. law-yer. But Ernie had said, "Winslow isn't that kind of a lawyer." And he had said, also, "if Winslow's shielding anyone it's Judge Ham" b.dge Judge Hambidge, or so m". one else close to him." Except Winslow, who was close to Jud 4 Hambidge, but Pat? 'iyInsmananinS tmhld tr,ck,ed iy small, insistent recollections "Why do you ask that?" "It occurs to me that Peter might be shielding some one." "Whom? Morano?" Harwood shook his head. "Winslow isn't that kind of a lawyer. As a matter of fact, I know Morano phoned him" "Who told you?" "Violet Fane." "Then you've been to the Cocoa-nut Cocoa-nut Ear?" "Yes, I went Saturday, and met all your cronies. Miss Fane says Luis followed Peggy Bogers around to the police station, and then came back to the Bar, and called up his lawyer, and drove to Morristown " "At one o'clock?" "Yes." "I'm Glad You Found Out," Barry Said. havp ginning, seemed to S was I'"", t0 d wUh the se! -rac was in town the ni.ri,t m -urder - Naturally-'' ther what of it? "n , , let me stay with hL,- : ;1" at dinner the next evening n ' ampton. What of n? Swth' z trise :z "How about 'faking an alibi''" "You reminded me it could be done, Barry went on. Ernie turned suddenly. "Eyer strike you as queer," he Kellv's hat,n0b0(Jy eV6r COnne St sgr with the Jeffersoa repiv"7 CUldD't tfUSt himself toj had told him of the dinner with Nolan. "Well," Peter remarked at the end, "that settles the case against Rogers." "You think so?" "Obviously. If Nolan sticks to his story. We say Nolan's testimony testi-mony establishes that the decanter decan-ter was downstairs all the time Bogers was upstairs. But we've got to make the jury believe it." "Or the district attornev." jerVh" di,rp, c,,ccklns clostng? And thp hVCar his lis" whydfdlfe1keen?nfCSSi0n USUlf wi.ore..jf;;;;Barry n t 'Winslow Z "a-C,r,,,e SUi(1' Winslow? But wr:,M!0ne c,ose to the IlambidS-'And 2 t"'1" ered d"ecU ring " of the Judge's conro 'si n C,n,0ml -or the woman-,.-," i n, ' 1,1,1 " knew what he-or i,?o " Kl'"-V to do." he-was going (TO BE :OiTI'u,,:D) iney were pulled off about the same tune. As I remember it, Judge Hambtdge's decision was handed down the day after the killin-" Barry remained silent. ;JeUy.St00d t0 make a D1'ion or two on at deal," Harwood contin ued. Those Jefferson Street houses were pretty decent once. Then went slummy. Through agents f b0U?ht 'era one by one, tm u le or nothing, and turned to a phoney corporation to scn to he d y at a huge proht. Som of the original owners may have Wn atle bit sore, don't yu Uiink?" The conversation was ,irir.-ifto ,irir.-ifto safer channels, and Harry let it flow on. IUl"cd, charming. As they walked down the beach, to rejoin the others, he asked, "Are you ever going to confess how you found out about me?" Pat laughed. "That was too easy. The night of Marian's visit, you told me you'd taken the name of Barry Gilbert And it had a curiously familiar sound. After a moment, I remembered remem-bered that I'd once seen an actor called Barry Gilbert in a war picture." pic-ture." "And then?" "Then you shut your hand in the door. The expression of mingled surprise and pain in your face that was what had kept the picture and the actor in my mind. Tou were the man who'd come out of the drinking place, laughing and talking, talk-ing, and been shot. I was sure of that just as sure as I was that you'd crushed your fingers deliberately deliber-ately to keep us from knowing that, unlike the Jack Bidder you were supposed to be, you couldn't play a violin any more than you could play Hamlet." "I'm glad you found out," Barry said. "I'm glad I haven't been deceiving de-ceiving you, at all events." Winslow shook his head. "The district attorney wouldn't move for dismissal of an indictment indict-ment on that evidence." "But" "You're perfectly sure that the Filipino killed Kelly," Winslow went on. "I'm not. And the district dis-trict attorney wouldn't be. The Filipino was angry. And the decanter decan-ter was downstairs. That's all there really is to that story." "And Kelly was alive an hour after Bogers left." "That's what you've got to prove to the jury. My own guess is that the decanter had been carried into the dining room when the murderer entered the house." "After Nolan went home?" "Yes, and after the Filipino went to bed." As a matter of fact" it.,,., resumed, ' some one ,vasLvTd He caned me up, the daof T murder, and offered to sL,, wouldn't give me h; ,''1- 1e fcive me his name, but he |