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Show Synthetic Gentleman ' ACHANNING fT y POLLOCK- "jyrc; awiT, Chakmxj pollock WNUsewiCE V CHAPTER V III Continued j sS-'s try Ins to Iwlu me with l"at." lirry thought. The uvs!ut :is ttuit l't took ' .Htul ttio y.mn.Cor to Soiittmnp- ton tin' iu't morning. "IVIiT cu -sti'd It." toM l':ii'i'y. "Ami. of ; 'ours.-, you're ri.tit 1 ilo owe iliem N SOTOtlllll'---" It u.-isirt the i!oM t!i:it did It, l'-:irry realised. It :is .lueky. i : wauled I'.-urieU to see liliu. ami the k ho::se as so near. There really v wasn't any seed eeuse for not i;o-iiii. i;o-iiii. So, for the tirst time In her l::'e. I'at sr.HYed fried tisti In an en- irar.eo h:i!l, tiiul tripped on worn s:air e.irpe:s. Hiu! fomul herself $;i:i:ns in a haek room without air or sunshine. She'd known people lived like that, of course, hut. somehow, some-how, she'd never thought tui:oh " ahout i:. She fomul herself think-" think-" i: -j now. "If I had to spend one M',:clit 111 this place That's whufs .. lie u:a::er wi:h the hoy." It was arranged that Kvans was 1 to drive them out. and come back i for Tarry on Thursday. When r-arry left l'a; at her hotel. , she said. 'You seeiu to he every K!y's friend, Mr. ililhort. It's a a l:::'.e hard to understand, coi.sider- "Corside.-ln that I'm an adven-6 adven-6 t-rer and an iLuposlerl" -Ves.- ' "Yes." Barry repeated, "hut that's s how you learn what friendship ;v means." That n!jht. Parry went to the Co coanut Uar. "I mustn't overlook anything." - hp rp'-.ved There wasn't much to overlook In the Coooanut Par. Not In the way of clothing, at all events. The lobby was full of nvn, more or loss surreptitiously glancing at framed photographs of girls whose cos tames mitht almost have been packed in a vanity case. Inside wis a square dancing floor with tables about it, like the seats about a prize rin;. Above, there was a balcony with more tables, except at one spot, occupied by offices. There were three shows a night, tie amateur Hawkshaw discovered from his menu at seven, eleven, and one. It wasn't hard to get acquainted with any of the girls. One had only to look prosperous, and- Incline his head an Inch or two In the direction direc-tion of a vacant chair. "We're not supposed to do this," Violet Kane in-formed in-formed Barry, "but Luis's got a swell stand-in." Barry had his expense account and his ingratiating grin, and used both to the limit. It wasn't long J before the blonde was telling the c.wj VL UCI me. -i oin wun Luis ever since I was a kid," she -bragged. "He's a swell guy. Ton oughta know him. I'll give you a ;: tumble alter the next show." 1 Luis was most affable. A sen-4 sen-4 timentalist, but a business man, with a keen eye to spenders, and J a withering contempt for tight--1 wads. 2 A flashy young fellow, Morano was, who wore sporty clothes, and much jewelry, glim and dapper, ; his shining ebon hair was slicked back from his forehead. He had a long, thin nose, and straight, thin lips, , and a slight but rather curious iin- pediment in his speech. His voice could be very soft at times, i "Tender hearted, Luis is," Miss Fane declared later. "I've seen him cry when somebody sang about Smother or the kid or sumpin'. That t loved-her-and -lost -her stuff, specially. spe-cially. He was married onct." -J "Didn't it take?" 4 "Sure, it took. That's why he cries. The Jane died, or sumpin'. J Know what Lnls did when he got tlie coin, I mean? Bought the house they used to live in, and went on hvin' there alone, with a couple of servants." "Gee I" y "Ain't that romantic? I'll say ; so! He's still got the servants, - too. They all moved to a farm, i somewhere In Jersey, a couple's . years ago.t Would yon believe It-V It-V he drives out every morning, after 'he last show. Nuts about horses ; Luis is. N0t t0 bet 0Q j I em 'j "Learned about horses In Fauquier Fau-quier county," Lus saldj returnIng that Instant. "I lived there 'til I was nineteen, and that's all they ) Go on. VI; you'll be late." Vv , neVer was Iate for a How 1 yet' s,,e retorted. "Nor out of one Not In all the years I've " worked for you." 1 "That's straight," Morano admit-as admit-as she was leaving. -Never LP;bm out of a show In her life. She's ,a swell Kr vi." There wasn't much to be got at We Coc.Hi.ut bar; not that Violet and Morano weren't nilllng to lull;. Morano'a lomanco had l.M't him n gentle melancholy or, perhaps, lie was only worried about bushiest. l'Ul. if ho had anything- to conceal. con-ceal. It certainly seoim to ,,VI. no relation to Kelly. On that suli-Ject suli-Ject everything was 01,ou 1UU iibovo board. "Just n gorilla," Morano said of the I'.ig Koss, the not night, when It.irry returned to the L'oeonnut Par. "Oh, Mike was a' right," Miss Kane protested. "Sure!" her employer ngreed. "lie wouldn't do nothing worse than sieal pennies from i dead baby. 1'al of Vis though," Luis added, winking at Parry. "Yeh." Violet declared, drvly ; "until that l'.arclay dame came along." "He was In here that evening, wasn't he:" Parry nsked. "Yeh. Just a few hours before they croaked hlui." "lie had a girl pinched, or something some-thing V "Yeh," Morano repeated. "Nice kid. too. 'look her around to the station In them things." "I don't blame the Jane's husband for getting sore," Morano continued. contin-ued. ' thong!! bumping a guy off for that's going a little too far." "Kelly was soused." Miss Pane said. "Yeh. Plenty. And he thought the kid was plckiu' his pocket. Nothin' to It." "Wasting my time," Parry told llarwood, the next morning. In the city editor's busy otlice at The (.llohe. "My time, and nearly a hundred dollars of the paper's money. Wlnslow had It straight. The Kane girl was strutting her stuff from one o'clock until long after the murder." "Well, it's good to be sure." "Yes. and I'm mlghiy sure now. Every step I've taken since our last meeting leads right up to Mrs. Kelly." llarwood !o"ked at him quizzically. quizzi-cally. "Step No. 1?" he asked. "My advertisement offering a reward re-ward for the number of the cab that killed that artist's wife." "You don't mean that you got It?" Triumphantly. Parry opened his note book. "There it Is." he said. "OWl". The figures under It are the number num-ber of the driver who gave me the Information." Ernie copied both numbers. "Swell work," he commented. "Anything else?" "Lots. This fellow had a passenger passen-ger who got out at Twenty-third street around midnight. When the woman was killed two hours later the driver bumped Into him again In Sixteenth street, very much rattled, and looking as though he'd committed a murder." "Any description?" "Rather a vague one. Ths' doesn't matter. I'm sure. In mj own mind, that this passenger was the caller Kelly expected, and that he wasn't the murderer. I'm equally equal-ly sure that he knew murder had been committed." "Lets call It a mere supposition. In that case, Kelly was kllli 3 around two o'clock. At two o'clock, Mrs. Kelly wasn't In Harlem." "How do you know that?" Barry's answer was a full report of his adventures of Saturday. "Without Step No. 1, Step No. 2 means nothing. In other words, if Kelly'd been killed at midnight which is the theory every one's worked on Mrs. Kelly's alibi would have been holeproof." Harwood Joined his finger-tips in an almost prayerful gesture. "I wish we could find the guy who looked 'as though he'd committed a murder.'" Parry made no reply. "That's always the trouble," the city editor went on. "What kind of a skate Is this Luis Morano? Tough?" "(in the contrary. Cries over a mammy song." "There's a heap of 'em do," Har-wood Har-wood philosophized. "He's a Southerner, with a soft voice, and a funny impediment in his speech?" "That so?" Harwood Inquired. "Where is this Cocoanut Par?" Carry told him, and promptly returned re-turned to Mrs. Kelly. "How the deuce are we going to prove what she did after she got home?" "That's up to you," Ernie said. "I'm off on a new tack now." His eyes twinkled. "One that would go a long way toward establishing your theory of coincidence. Gosh, I'd give my new uppers to break this story within the next week or two." Thursday evening. Barry spent In his room, mostly thinking. He had telephoned Put tw leo hIiich tholr Innclusm together, and found her enthusiastic over her gucxIH. "There's nothing wrong wllh the boy," she declared; "nothing that a few weeks out hero won't cure. He's on the bench now, wllh bis mother." Judge llambldgo hud taken to the III Ilo fellow lit once. Almost like having n grandchild. It kept bis mind off bis worries. And no one could see Peggy, being brave, bill always Ntarlug at nothing, always thinking of what might happen, without pity that warmed Into affection. af-fection. "She's really an awfully good sort," Pat said, from Southampton. South-ampton. "I llko her a lot. When are you coming out?" "Tomorrow, 1 hope." "Well, we'll expect you for dinner." din-ner." That broach was healed, all riht. Pat had called him "the scum of the earth." In Iho same hour, ho remembered re-membered again, he had told her be loved her. As to Hint, she Mill maintained silence. "That's the kindest thing she could do." Parry thought. "A Judge's dai ghter, and I " Parry bad learned not to think of the future. "N,.r hoed the rumble of n distant drum," as bis own father fa-ther had put It. Just for now, It was pleasant to be somebody who knew Pat and be wanted to take that awful look out of the other girl's eyes. "That oughtn't to be hard now." Parry thought. "If 1 could got that Filipino to talk, lie knows when Mrs. Kelly came home, and he's probably got a darned good Idea what she did afterward, if we could get to that Oriental" At which point. Evans came, and he had been drinking. "Sorry, sir," bo apologized, taking tak-ing the nearest chair. Evans had none of Wllletts' compunctions. "Sorry, sir, but I've been having dinner with Kelly's chaullei.r." "Liquid nourishment?" "Yes. sir."' E ans admitted, sheepishly. sheep-ishly. "Put that was the only chance I had with that Irishman." "Well?" "Well. I drove Miss llambldge. and Mrs. K 'gers. and the boy to Southampton, like you said. And I started back today. It was nearly eight when I made the garage, and I was good and hungry. "There's a decent cafe n few-yards few-yards away. Nolan that's Kelly's chauffeur was sitting nt a table, with a load be ought to've gime twice for." Evans smiled. "Ed had a grouch on women In general. And he was chewed plen- I 4 II mm Ernie Copied Both Numbers. ty. I hadn't been with him long when he opened up on Mrs. Kelly. There's something queer between her and this Filipino, he says." "Charlie?" "That Isn't his name, but let It go at that. And, when Ed said 'queer,' he didn't mean anything wrong. Just some kind of an understanding. under-standing. Mrs. Kelly's been giving the Chink colo and Jewelry, regular. Charlie showed him some of It, Ed says. "Well, the night of the murder Noland drives Kelly to the Cocoa-nut Cocoa-nut Bar. And home at nine o'clock. When he gets out at his house, Kelly say3, 'Put the car In the garage. Mrs. Kelly's gone up to Harlem, and I won't need you 'til tomorrow morning." "Ed obeys .orders, ne goes back to Kelly's, and sits In the kitchen. This Chink Is in the butler's pantry pan-try getting a tray ready. And, while the two of 'em are down there, the damnedest row starts upstairs up-stairs " "Rogers and Kelly." "No. This was around nine o'clock. Mrs. Kelly. She was laying Mike out so you could have heard It a block. Well, this goes on for ten or fifteen minutes, and then the bell from the parlor rings. Charlie starts upstairs with the tray. He gets up two steps, when Kelly appears at the head of the flight. "Come up here, you lousy spy. Come up here while I tell you where you get off!' "Charley sets down the tray, and goes. Nolan follows Into the pantry, pan-try, and has a stiff drink. Then he sits down again, and listens to Kelly laying out the Chink." ''Could he hear anything? Words, I mean?" "No. Just Kelly's voice. Mrs. Kelly was out of it. She'd gone to her room, Nolan thinks. But Kelly made noise enough for two. And, after another ten minutes or so. Charlie conies back. "T'm fired,' Charlie says In the Chink lingo. 'I got to get out. That blaiiUely blank I 1 it mo to go quick, or he'd kill me,' "'Are you going?' Nolan asks, "Sine,' Iho Chink nays. 'I got to get my money Hist. Ilo chased me out of Iho room when I asUod for It, hut Pin going back,' Iho Chink says. "Nolan then look Iho cook to a movie, mid when they got back, everything's (pilot. H'h after mill night, because these two walked home. Kelly's upstairs, talking to somebody, and the Chink's In his room, packing and niullerlng to himself something frightful. So Nolan No-lan says good night to tho cook, who goes Into her room, ami then Nolan slips Into the pantry, and takes aiiol her shot of that hootch." "What hoolehV" "Tho ryo whiskey 1 was tolling you about." Parry sprang from his chair. "The rye whiskey?" "Sure. Ami It was In a cut glass decnnler." "Are you certain?" "Nolan Is. Ami he's Ju-t as certain cer-tain that It was slill In the pantry when the guy upstairs left." "Why?" "Pecause he hoard Iho front door close leu seconds before he' Weill out the back way." "Cosh!" Parry exelali 1. "Thai Hits It up to Mrs. Kelly, all right." Evans shook his head, ilrunkenly. "Mrs. Kelly wasn't home," he said. "She went to her sister's afier the high jinks In I larlem, ami No Ian got her there the next morning before they called the police. There were only three people In that hnii-e after the guy went who was visiting visit-ing Kelly Kelly lilm-elf, cook, and a mlghiy mad Chinaman." "Filipino." "Whatever be was, ho was mad, and the decanter that killed Kelly-was Kelly-was downstairs with hi in until Just about the time Kelly was killed." "Thanks," Parry nodded. "I think we've got something." "Oh, I forgot to give yoll this. It ca to Soiit hamptoii Just as I was Joining," said Evans. "This" was a cablegram. Alone. In the smoke-tilled room. Parry opened It. Nine words. "Father and I sailing for home Sundav. Love. Mother." l-'or an Instant, he stood, frozen, the wire In bis hand. I'lrectly before hlui. nn evening newspaper lay open on the table. "'Outgoing passenger and mull .ships.'" he read. "'Sailing tomorrow tomor-row Steamship Oranje Nassau. For l'ortau-l'rlnce, I.n Guayra. Curacoii, Maracalho, ("arupano, and I'ampalar.' I'm on my way to one of 'em tomorrow !" CHAPTER IX T) vKKY'S panic was short lived. U Pet ween ti I in and the sailing list bad come a vision of J'eggy, with beaded lashes screening eyes forever staring at nothing. "I can t do It," he said to himself. him-self. "I can't run away and leave that girl In the lurch. Nor Par either. I've tackled this Job. and I've got to go through with It. "Anyway, It begins to look ns though the end were In sight. If Kidder sails Sunday " He went back to the shipping news. "If Rldder sails Sunday, that's the Bremen and she's due here the following Saturday. That gives us eight days. I'd better see Wlnslow." He called Peter next morning, but the attorney was out In the countrv "Left liisr nh'lif " his sec retary reported, "and won't be back untll Monday." Barry had a dinner engagement at Southampton. "Weil start things humming on Monday," Barry told himself. "I've got my house to put In order, too. Bidder's house, that Is." Evans telephoned around ten, and before noon they were on their way to Southampton. "My last weekend week-end with Pat," he was thinking. "Whereil I be next Saturday? Out of luck, and out of a Job. In Jail, maybe, and In the newspapers. That's my finish with everybody." There was a new atmosphere at the Hanibldge's. Pat had been right In telling Jacky that he'd "cheer my father up a lot." "They're building a railway on the beach," she laughed, when the boy sunburned, sun-burned, and active Joined them before dinner. "You must go to bed now," Pat bade him, "if we're to take our ride In the morning. We have a canter every day before breakfast," she added to Barry, ringing for a maid to take charge of the youngster. "I discovered the dearest little pony in the village, and the man brings it over at nine o'clock, with another horse for me. Jacky's getting to be a regular Buffalo Bill." The strained expression of a week ago was beginning to disappear from the face of Judge Hambidge. But the greatest difference was in the boy's mother. Naturally imitative, imita-tive, as Barry had remarked, she had been quick to observe and emulate emu-late Pat's moderation with make-up. Her speech, too, had lost all Dut an occasional Inadvertent reference to "guys" am! "dames." She bad stopped staring into space. "What's the news about Jack?" she asked, quite calmly. (TO BE C0T1UED) |