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Show u - "hc WEDDING AAAKlCIHI Xm MONTE tow-'" , SERVICE. Pctor Interrupted him. "Did anyone any-one see you at home?" "Yes. The butler. lie told me they hud been gone fully fifteen minutes." "So I sv.ppo.se you came on back to the church?" "Yes." "Did you Intend to halt the wedding?" wed-ding?" "Yes." Defiantly. "How?" "I was going to tell Doris and Dud what I Unew about Choo Choo Train." "That was the only thought that had entered your mind, up to that time?" Peter urged gently. "That was the only thought I ever had," replied the boy curtly. "Ah. And when you arrived here, how does it happen that you never saw your sister or your father?" "1 was too late or at least I thought I was," Rylie leaned forward for-ward eagerly, now. "When I got back, I could hear the 'Wedding March,' on the organ. I thought everything was over." "Then what did you do?" "There was nothing -1 could do." The young man shrugged helplessly. "You didn't enter the church?" "No." "Then where have you been since the wedding?" Peter intended the question to sound casual. TiyleJ hesitated, clasping and un-clasplnff un-clasplnff his hands nervously in his lap. "I I've just been driving around," he answered finally. "But of course you've talked to some one who was at the wedding. At home, perhaps." "No, I haven't been home," the youth denied. "Then how did you know Jim Franklin had been killed?" The question shot home like the swift about Choo Choo Train and Jim Franklin," he said, "I forgot all about the wedding. I've told you about that. I came here to see Franklin, and then went home to try to catch Doris before she left. Failing In that, I came straight hack here. I forgot all about dressing." dress-ing." "You have told us that several times," said Peter. "Suppose you tell us how you heard about this actress. Who told you?" Once again Rylie hesitated. Then, "Web Spears told me," he said. "He told me all about It at the club, after lunch. I didn't meet hira until un-til one-thirty. Ue said he had something to tell me, but he kept It to himself until after lunch. "It was two-forty-five," he continued con-tinued more slowly now, "I remember remem-ber the time, because I looked at my watch. I wanted to see if I had time to catch Franklin at his apartment. But by the time I got there he had left gone to the church, his man said. So I drove on here. By that time It must have been after three-thirty, as you said." "Who Is this Web Spears?" "Webster Spears? Why, he's oh, every one knows Web. His father fa-ther was my father's partner, before be-fore he died. We've been friends always." "The families have always been close friends, I gather?" "Of course." "And was there ever anything between be-tween this young Spears and your sister, Doris? Any boy-and-girl affair. af-fair. Were they ever sweethearts?" "Yes," reluctantly. "But that's all over, now." "Since when?" "I don't know. For some time, though. I'm sure of that." Peter's next question was ad- "The man who was to have been your son-in-law has been murdered. We are only seeking the assistance of every person who can help us shed some light on the circumstances circum-stances of that crime. No one but the murderer himself has anything to fear from answering these questions. May I suggest that you step Into Doctor Abernathj's study and discuss the matter with your son. Perhaps that will facilitate matters." The old man's clutch tightened on his son's sleeve. The color flooding his face threw his snowy mustache Into vivid relief. "An excellent idea," he commented briefly, and followed by Rylie, he crossed to tlie study, closing the door carefully behind bim. After a brief Interval Ambrose Carmody reappeared in the doorway. door-way. "My son has explained his w 1 1 1 sill CHAPTER II Continued -A Royce nodded. 'There couldn't be any mistake?" "Not a chance. You see, I've met liss Shipley a dozen times, re- ently, at parties given for the iiridal party." "But you never saw the woman n blue that Doctor Abernathy told is about, did you?" rr.ei "We've been over that," Koyce de- Iared impatiently. "I was out In :T ront, looking for Milo Dunbar." The sergeant turned to the rector. w-sIIow well do you know Callis Ship-rjf Ship-rjf y, Doctor?" I "I've known her all her life. I ;hristened the child." "There Isn't any chance that you ould be mistaken, then?" Kllday -'vorried the question, like a dog vith a bone. "You're positive that he woman In blue you told us bout, earlier, could not have been iallis Shipley?" "I am positive of that," declared )octor Abernathy, and his manner !ar ?as convincing. 0N Kiiday was baffled. "What do you IdaJ.iake of this, Peter?" The detec- vvlve turned to his friend for sug- ;estion. "Jim Franklin was mur- lered at or about the stroke of our. lie arrived here at twenty J ninutes of four. In that twenty- I ninute Interval, eight people vls- 3f lted this room, that we know of." Here he ticked them off on his fingers. "Doctor Abernathy, who was In the church when Franklin was killed; Nick Royce, who was bis best man, and claims he was standing right at this door at the t'ime of the murder; Rylie Carmo- 3n3y, who was to have been his broth- .jjjsr-in-law, and who quarreled with nj.him in the study, according to two witnesses ; Mr. Carmody," Kiiday glanced respectfully toward the loolbanker, "who explains that he came -to demand the truth from Franklin jJLregarding Choo Choo Train ;vCallis si-iShlpley, one of the bridesmaids, j&Vho did not see Franklin while she was here, but did see Nick Royce; another woman, dressed in blue, like Miss Shipley, who has not been identified; Choo Choo Train, the onactress, who is supposed to have enibeen In love with the dead man; w:and Daniel Bullis, who evidently C'was very angry when he entered "e'the study without knocking. "All this," he threw out his hands in a gesture of despair, "in twenty minutes, and we can't find anybody that seems to know any-ses., any-ses., . thing. "And yet we have enough to go -S on," Peter expressed a confidence he did not entirely feel. "We can talk to Choo Choo Train. We'll want to ask Daniel Bullis some j questions. We can discover something some-thing of Franklin's private life jffrom his man-servant, Fletcher, whom Mr. Royce mentioned, which may put us on the trail of the mysterious mys-terious woman In blue; we can locate lo-cate and identify that woman; we can question Callis Shipley and discover dis-cover why she was so eager to find Rylie Carmody, and what she was ;T doing back here In the sacristy, 'When, as a bridesmaid, she was supposed to be with the bridal gnjparty, In the front vestibule, and ue;we can look up Rylie Carmody, who Bitjuarreled with Jim Franklin so lonshortly before " "You wanted to see me?" a slen- tier young man stood In the door-1 door-1 way. .3 The novelist's eyes took In the id tweed-clad figure of the boy before v!iim, in such strange contrast to the nndmore formal wedding attire of the pothers. ich- "Yes, Mr. Curniodv," his manner j,rlsvas engaging, "we were just men-fo'tioning men-fo'tioning you. I believe you came to ""see Mr. Franklin, at about twenty frminutos to four." ,p-;d "Yes, i wag here." "What was the oblect of vonr dressed to the senior Carmody. - "I suppose you knew young Spears pretty well, too, didn't you, Mr. Carmody?" "Of course. I've known him all Ms life." "You told us, earlier, that some one wdio refused to give his name, telephoned you this afternoon and told you about Choo Choo Train. Could that have been Webster Spears?" The elder Carmody shook his head doubtfully. "I don't know," he said. "I hardly think so." "Why?" "Because Web would have given me his name," declared the old man with dignity. Peter was evidently through with the Interview.. With his hands crammed In his coat pockets, he ambled about the room, his forehead fore-head corrugated in thought, his blue eyes gleaming beneath their shaggy brows. The sergeant motioned Peter to follow him and strode Into the study. He made sure the door was shut before he spoke. "Nine suspects sus-pects already, and we know who eight of them are. The devil of it is, we can show a motive for most of them." Peter watched silently as his friend crossed to the rector's desk where the contents of the slain man's pockets had been methodically method-ically arranged. They had been few a bill-fold, some loose change, two handkerchiefs, one of them still folded, and a leather encased ring on which there were seven keys. Displayed on the folded handkerchief handker-chief was the wedding ring, a slender slen-der platinum circlet studded with emeralds. There had been nothing more. Kiiday picked up the keys, weighing weigh-ing them idly, his eyes still clouded in thought. "Nine suspects, and we know eight of them. But this woman wom-an in blue if it was Callis Shipley, then Doctor Abernathy is trying to protect her. Why? If she was the woman in blue," the detective continued con-tinued deliberately, "we'll have to find a way to shake Doctor Aber-nathy's Aber-nathy's story. That shouldn't be hard. "But if she wasn't" again he examined ex-amined the keys in his hand "these keys may tell us something. If the woman in blue killed Franklin, jealousy jeal-ousy was probably the motive for the crime. We know Choo Choo Train was his mistress. He had a reputation repu-tation for infidelity, where women were concerned. If that is true, then one of these keys probably fits the door of her apartment." , Peter examined those keys minutely. mi-nutely. Two were small, of the type frequently used for desks and files. The other five were larger. Any one of them might fit an apartment apart-ment door. ' Kiiday might be on the right track. "How about young Carmody?" the novelist inquired. "What do you think of his story?" "I can't afford to think about it till I check up on It," the detective replied grimly. "Come on, let's go visit Callis Shipley. I've got to know if she was the woman in blue. "And," he added ominously, as they left by the rear door of the study, "one of these keys may fit her apartment. You never can tell." (TO BE CONTINUED.) thrust of a rapier. Rylie glanced nervously at his father, fa-ther, then back to the novelist. The elder CSrmody's knuckles showed white as he gripped his son's arm. "I don't like your tone," he interrupted, in-terrupted, angrily. ' "Don't answer that question, Son." "Carmody," Peter had grown suddenly sud-denly stern, "you don't have to answer, an-swer, but if you don't you are in very grave danger of being accused of this murder." The young man hesitated. "All right, I'll answer," he said at length. "I haven't anything to hide. I should have told you the whole truth in the first place. Callis Shipley told me about it. I have seen her. I took her home from the church." "But you told us you never got back to the church until after everything every-thing was over?" Peter endeavored to shake his story. "No," the youth denied. "I said that when I got back, I heard the organ or-gan playing the 'Wedding March,' and thought everything was over. I v, as standing across the street, by my car, and Callis came running across to me. She asked me to take her home." "Oh I And she told you what had happened then?" "Yes. I came straight back here, of course." Cardigan arose abruptly. "There's only one flaw in that," he said. "How could Callis Shipley have known what happened here?" The young man's face went pale. Involuntarily, he clenched his hands. "I guess she knew, just like everybody every-body else knew," he said. His voice sounded strangled, far firay. "But every one else didn't know," Cardigan pointed out. "There has not yet been any announcement made concerning Franklin's death." "I guess Callis didn't say there had been a murder," the boy's voice was frantic. "She just said something some-thing terrible had happened and that the wedding had been postponed. post-poned. I guess I must have jumped at conclusions about the murder." "Rather odd, wasn't It, that you should Jump to that kind of conclusion?" con-clusion?" "No. No, I don't think so." Rylie brushed the hair back from his forehead and swallowed nervously. "I don't think It was so odd. It would take something very unusual to stop a wedding, wouldn't It?" "Very unusual," Peter agreed. "And you had undertaken to stop this one." "You think I did It, don't you?" The youth pointed a trembling linger at the novelist. "You're accusing ac-cusing me of murdering him ! That's what these questions amount to. Do you think I'd have come back here, If I had. been guilty? Wouldn't I have run away?" His voice broke. "Wouldn't I?" Rylie Carmody gripped the arms of his chair. "I'm not afraid," he said slowly. "I didn't do It. You can't convict me of something I didn't do." "Then how were you so sure there would be no wedding?" Peter queried swiftly. "I I wasn't sure." "And yet you never tool; the trouble trou-ble to dress for it," the novelist pointed out. "You are wearing a tweed suit." Rylie glanced at his coat, as though for the first time realizing its existence. His answer was deliberate. de-liberate. "From the time I heard "You Wanted to See Me?" reason for coming here to me," his eyes were on Kiiday as he spoke. "Obviously, he had no connection with the crime. However, as there was a quarrel, he feels it necessary to make a brief statement, regarding regard-ing it. I have no objection to this, but I reserve the right to halt the examination pending the advice of my attorney, should it, in my opinion, opin-ion, become necessary, in order to safeguard my boy's Interests." Rylie Carmody, standing behind his father, shrugged impatiently. "Don't make mountains of molehills, mole-hills, Dad," he said. Then, facing the detective, he continued: "I had a quarrel with Franklin in Doctor Abernathy's study a short time before the wedding. it concerned con-cerned an actress called Choo Choo Train, whom I had just been informed in-formed was his mistress. "Naturally, I was angry. I went first to Franklin's apartment, and missing him there, I followed him on here. I asked him If the story I had heard were true. He admitted ad-mitted that it was. We quarreled, then, after which I hurried home in an effort to intercept my sister and father before they started tor the church." The sergeant clucked softly to himself. "You say Franklin admitted admit-ted his connection with thlg woman?" wom-an?" "He did to me. He even laughed about it," Rylie replied bitterly. "He called me a foolish kid and told me I was old enough to understand under-stand such things. Thank God, I'm not!" The boy's lips were quivering but he rushed on. "lie laughed at me when I said I'd stop the wedding, wed-ding, too! Stood there and laughed at me !" "Did he laugh when you threatened threat-ened to kill him?" the sergeant interpolated in-terpolated In a suave tone. "Of course not. I never made any threats." "Y'ou just told us you threatened to stop the wedding." Rylie shrugged impatientlj. "I mean physical threats. That never entered my mind. I only Intended to inform my father of this woman. That would have been sufficient to stop the wedding." "And did you?" Kilday's tone was Ju dicial. "No. I arrived home too late. My father and sister had already left for the church." visit, my boy?" 5 Rylie hesitated, and glanced at tnh his father. "Just a minute, Son," the elderly -Carmorly laid a detaining hand on the young man's sleeve. The hand trembled, but his voice was firm as 'lx? he faced tho novelist. "My son had hothing to do with this," he said. )o '.(Of that I am sure. And I am not oing to permit him to answer your estious, except under advisement , 110t'ra llis attorney. Any man being thoest'onrt' ,,y the n"''e as a right the services and protection of his -orney." Carmody's voice rang lantly through the room. 'rd T agree with you, Mr. Carmody," " ter said, his manner once more Jjj gagingiy warm. "But I am sure n- It sill agree that there are times, ich as this, when the police have . right to expect the co-operation J Jf hnv-nhlding citizens. In their efforts ef-forts to apprehend a criminal. . a i |
