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Show The WEDD3NG MARCH ri KH;L MONTE VM WNU f'm1. ?Yv M V SERVICE have Impressed Itself ou his mind In that last Instant. Then he was struck one last terrific ter-rific blow. Even then, right at the end, he was thinking of tweed. CHAPTER XII Another Arrest. SERGEANT KIIJDAY discovered that both Callis Shipley and Ry-lie Ry-lie Carmody were missing, at about the time Peter was struggling In Franklin's darkened office with his unknown assailant. Rylie's disappearance disap-pearance was reported by the angry detective whom he had given the slip, in the country. The disappearance of the girl was discovered when Kilday sent for her In the hope that Daniel Bullls might identify her as the woman In blue he had seen In the rector's study with Franklin. "Has she gone with young Carmody Car-mody or Is she afraid that Bullis might Identify her?" pondered the detective. He quickly abandoned the latter theory, as he realized she had not known he Intended confronting con-fronting her with the politician. He was more than ever anxious to find the missing couple when he learned what had happened to Peter Cardigan. Cardi-gan. The novelist had been found unconscious, on the sidewalk in The young man pretended not to understand. The sergeant settled himself In a comfortable chair beside the bed and lighted a cigar. "So you gave us the slip, did you?" He puffed a time or two. "Well, I won't deny you kept half a dozen men busy last night, trying to find you. Caused us a lot of trouble, hut I won't complain. You've helped us a lot in the solution of the murder." "Helped you? Do you mean to say you've caught the murderer?' "I can lay my hands on him, any time I please," Kilday asserted. "I know who he Is, where he is and what he did last night It Isn't a mystery any more." Young Carmody relaxed against the pillows. "I suppose it's time to cheer," he said. "But what has last night got to do with It?" "You ought to know." Kilday's eyes never left the young man's face. "Me?" "You killed Jim Franklin." At first Rylie smiled. "Y'ou have a queer Idea of humor," he said. Then he sat up straight. "Say, are you serious? Do you think I why, man, you're out of your head !" "You think so?" The sergeant was elaborately casual "Crazy idea, eh? "Listen, It Isn't half as crazy as that story you just told me about an auto accident. I know where you got that black eye. I know where those bruises came from. And you weren't even in an automobile, young fellow. The things I know are going to send you to the chair." Kilday edged forward, the hard lines of his face no harder than the bleak stare of his eyes. "I was on to you from the first. If Cardigan Cardi-gan had listened to me, then, he'd be here with me today, instead of where he is. But you're not going to pull the wool over my eyes any more. "You killed Jim Franklin. Whether Wheth-er you did It to prevent him from marrying your sister, after everything every-thing else had failed, or for another reason. We'll discuss that later. We know you quarreled with him in the study of the church, within a half-hour of the time he was murdered. We know that Webster Spears told you about Choo Choo Train that very afternoon, at lunch. Spears is under arrest. He admits he told you, in the hope that you would stop the wedding. He even admitted, this morning, that he was the author of that anonymous anony-mous message your father received. He admits everything except the murder Itself, and the phone call to Choo Choo Train. Perhaps that was your work. Oh, Spears has tried to protect you, but he won't any longer. Spears has talked, and he'll keep on talking." "Webster Spears?" Rylie's tone was incredulous. "Did he say that?" "It doesn't really matter what Spears says." Kilday brushed aside the Interruption with an impatient wave of the hand. "We've got the goods on you, anyway. After your quarrel with Franklin you returned to the study, entering by the rear door, so that you wouldn't be observed. ob-served. He was standing In the sacristy door, with his back toward you. You seized the knife that was hanging on the wall and stabbed him twice. Then you locked the door, wiped the blade off on the k curtain and replaced the knife in its 'take your chances with Fletcher. And that's what you did You had a lucky break when Fletcher went out for a couple of hours Cut you couldn't find what you went after there and decided Franklin had kept it at his office. "I don't know what you were aftervet aft-ervet But I'll find out. Probably some evidence that connected this Shipley girl ith the case 0r perhaps it connected you, or even young Spears with the crime. At any rate, that's where Cardigan outguessed out-guessed us both. It's too bad I didn't have more confidence in him. If I had, I'd have been with him last night, and he would be here, right now. Next time, I'll play his hunch. If there ever is a next time." The detective scowled. "I don't understand how you caught him so completely off bis balance. He was armed. But somehow or other you did. And In the struggle which followed, fol-lowed, you knocked him out of the window. But not," he paused to glance significantly at Rylie's bandages, ban-dages, "not before he had put up an awful' struggle. He left his mark on you. "You gave our detective the slip. Why? Because you couldn't afford to he observed when you went to Franklin's apartment and office. You knocked Cardigan through the window, win-dow, but not before he had left his mark on you. This accident story won't get you anywhere, Carmody." "Suppose," replied the boy soberly, sober-ly, "that I can prove there really was an accident?" "Do you have witnesses?" "Not eye-witnesses, but I can produce the wrecked car. That should be pretty strong circumstantial circumstan-tial evidence, as you call it." Kilday puffed thoughtfully. "The wrecked car, eh? What time was this wreck?" "About eight-thirty, or perhaps a quarter to nine, on a gravel road about ten miles from Westport." "Where did you go? What did you do? How did you get back to town? What time was it then?" The sergeant shot his questions with staccato rapidity. "I was stunned. I guess it was this blow on the head that did It." Rylie fingered the discolored eye gently. "I don't know how long I was 'out.' It was quite dark, I remember. re-member. The car had overturned and I had been thrown clear. I didn't realize, at first, that I had been unconscious. Then I looked at my watch. It was nine-thirty. That worried me, because I was supposed to meet some one at nine. And the last thing I remembered before the accident, I had had plenty of time. "There was a farmhouse up the road about half a mile. I could see the lights. So I limped up there and asked for help. I telephoned West-port West-port from there and got a car. Then I returned home." "What time was it when you reached the farmhouse?" "I don't know, exactly. It might have been about ten. Not much later, I'm sure." The sergeant smiled a slow unpleasant un-pleasant sort of smile in which there was no trace of mirth. "Pretty clever, Carmody, but it won't work. It was somewhere around four o'clock when you started for the country. About four-forty-five you lost the man who was following you. The accident occurred nearly four hours later, within thirty miles of the spot where you were last CHAPTER XI Continued 17 A random shot caught hlrn on the check and sent him reeling backward back-ward Into a chuir. It splintered and Peter caromed Into the wall. But his fall had been broken. Panting, Pant-ing, he struggled to his feet. Now, for the first time his opponent was between him and the light. Peter could see him there, crouching over the chair, groping frenziedly into the blackness to find him. Choking back his subbing breath, Peter advanced ad-vanced cautiously. Now was his chance ! The man straightened up just as Peter hurled himself through the air In a flying tackle. lie .struck his antagonist Just above the knees, the Impact numbing his shoulder. But Peter did not care. The man was down. Peter was confident of his ability to fight on more than nen terms, once he came to grips with the fellow. Peter Cardigan was more than six feet tall, with a lean flanked hardness that did not belie the power of his well-trained muscularity. Releasing his grip on the fellow's legs, Peter aimed a vicious blow to the abdomen, Intent on ending the struggle as promptly s possible. The blow missed Its mark, glancing too high, against the ribs. lie drew back his arm for another blow, but there was no time. His antagonist gripped him about the body, crushing him. down. There was no room for a blow now. Locked In each other's arms, they rolled, panting, across the floor. Each was seeking for an opening that the other was too cautious to grant They crashed into the table. There was a tinkle of broken glass. Once Peter got the palm of his hand under his antagonist's chin. He gritted his teeth and put all his strength into the effort as he forced the other's head back. His breath was whistling painfully through his nostrils. There was an .n-describable .n-describable agony In his chest, as though some tremendous weight were crushing out his breath. Still he forced back that head. It would soon be over now. He was only vaguely conscious of the blows which battered at his face. The fellow must give in soon. He tried to force new energy into his flagging flag-ging muscles, drained of much of their strength by the punishment he had absorbed during the struggle. strug-gle. Somehow his hold had been broken. For the first time a feeling feel-ing of hopelessness engulfed Peter. He was very tired, almost at the The Novelist Had Been Found, Unconscious. seen, it didn't take four hours to travel thirty miles not at the rate you were going. Where were you all that time? What were you doing?" do-ing?" Rylie hesitated. "I was Just going go-ing for a ride. I wasn't going anywhere any-where in particular." "You said you had an appointment appoint-ment at nine. With whom?" "That doesn't have anything to do with the case," the young man replied re-plied slowly. "I merely mentioned it to fix the time of the accident." "You'll have to let me be the judge of what's Important now," declared de-clared the sergeant gruffly. "Who were you going to meet, and where?" The young man remained silent "All right," declared Kilday. "I'll tell you. Your engagement was to go to Franklin's apartment. That's why It was necessary for. you to give my man the shake first. He last saw you late In the afternoon. There Is no record of your movements move-ments between then and the time you claim this accident occurred, near Westport. The fact is, after you had searched Franklin's apartment apart-ment you went to his office, where sheath, first being careful to obliterate oblit-erate your finger-prints on the handle. "Franklin had a revolver in his pocket and attempted to draw It, during the struggle. You wiped it clean of finger-prints, too, and then thought of leaving Franklin's own thumb-mark on the weapon. Y'ou pressed it into the dead man's hand, then flung It into the bushes of the garden, in the rear. After that you left the way you had come, but you couldn't go into the church because you had not had time to dress for the wedding. You were still in tweeds. So you crossed the street and waited In your car until after the crime was discovered. discov-ered. "Y'ou have already told us what you did then. . After taking Callis Shipley home, you returned to the church. Y'ou knew Franklin had been murdered. To protect yourself, your-self, you first said that -the girl had told you. You knew she couldn't know Franklin was dead unless she was implicated in the affair. When you saw you were trapped, you tried to wriggle out of it, and the girl tried to help you. I don't know. It end of his strength. His opponent must be tired, too. With the energy en-ergy of despair he flung himself Into a new attack. His arms eeemed light, like cushions that he was pushing forward with tremendous tremen-dous effort. Of what use were blows like that? He must hit harder! Harder! Harder! Still his blows seemed only to float through space. From somewhere, some-where, far off, something was beating beat-ing at him, steadily. Was It the throb in his head? Or were they blows? They no longer seemed to hurt. He seemed to be sinking, sinking now he could just drift away, comfortably, Into forgetful-ness. forgetful-ness. He tried to remember dazedly, dazed-ly, why he should keep on struggling. strug-gling. There was some reason for It, but It kept eluding him. Then a blow in the abdomen hurt. Once more he remembered. He was fighting fighting for his life with Jim Franklin's murderer. They were on their feet again. He could not remember getting up. But here they were. That blurred weaving shadow was the man he had come here to get. He knew he must end it soon, or he would lack the strength to end it, ever. Once more Peter dove at his opponent, op-ponent, putting all his ebbing power pow-er into the tackle. Together they tottered backward, but the wall broke their fall. Dimly refer heard the crash of breaking glass. It seemed far away. A rush of cooler cool-er air .cleared the mists from his mind. His enemy's shoulder had shattered the window pane. One last effort now. Peter lunged again, almost missed. His fingers clutched at the fellow's coat. But he was falling. He tried to catch himself, but his fingers lacked strength to grip the rough wool of his antagonist's clothing. Falling falling! The air was crisp and cool. Then he remembered the broken window. In his last desperate effort to tackle the murderer, he had missed, and lunged through the window. If only he could have clung to the fellow's coat, he might have saved himself. Rough, wool. Tweed. Curious how the texture of the garment should front of the Greer building. Nevertheless, Never-theless, It was the following morning morn-ing before Rylie Carmody was located lo-cated at his home, to which he had returned during the night. Kilday was resolved to place the young man under arrest, convinced that his flight had had some connection with Cardigan's Injury. Of course, this meant that Spears was innocent How else account for what obviously had occurred at Franklin's office? Who but the murderer mur-derer wTould have hurled Cardigan through the window? Certainly that was not Webster Spears, who had been under arrest at the time. Callis Shipley lacked the strength for such a feat. But Rylie Carmody Car-mody He had not been entirely wrong In his surmises, then. If Rylie Carmody had not given his shadow the slip, things would have worked out differently, surely. The sergeant was a determined man when he presented himself at the Carmody residence after being Informed that his quarry had returned. re-turned. "I'm sorry," the butler declared. "Mr. Carmody Is ill. He can see no one." "He'll see me," declared Kilday dourly. In his extended palm he exhibited his badge. "Take me to his room." Rylie was sitting up In bed, several sev-eral pillows propped behind his back. His left eye was discolored and swollen. One arm was bandaged ban-daged above the wrist and the knuckles of the other hand were taped. "Good morning, Sergeant. What brings you here so early In the morning?" "I guess you know," was the laconic la-conic rejoinder. "You look as though you'd run into a buzz-saw." Kylie raised his arm, the better to exhibit the bandage. "Had an accident," he explained. "Oh, yeah?" The sergeant grinned mirthlessly. "An accident, eh? Automobile, Au-tomobile, I suppose?" "Yes, I skidded on some loose gravel, and" "This was while you were trying to give my man the slip yesterday afternoon?" you had the struggle with Peter Cardigan. Then you became frightened. fright-ened. You needed some means of acounting for your movements at that time. Besides," the sergeant leaned back and studied his man thoughtfully, "you were badly battered bat-tered in that fight. You were going to have to explain those bruises. What better explanation could you find than an automobile accident? (TO BE CONTINUED.) might have worked If it had not been for last night." "Last night?" Rylie Carmody stared fixedly at the detective. "You keep coming back to that. What about last night?" "Y'ou want me to tell you, eh?" Kilday's gaze never wavered from the youth's face. "You were suddenly sud-denly ni!; My anxious to escape the man who was following you, last night, weren't you? Because you had something to do that would, bear watching. "Y'ou were afraid there was something in Franklin's apartment that might identify you with the crime. You hadn't an opportunity to do it before, because we were watching you. You realized you were under suspicion. That heightened height-ened your anxiety and made you all the more eager to destroy that evidence, if it were in the apart-men apart-men t. "So last night you made up your mind not to wait any longer. You decided to shake the detective and |
