Show THREE RE E HIED IBM WU till UL A COPYRIGHT WN U SERVICE SYNOPSIS jn young oung well ell to do clint Jer jervice who Is gin g the estate alter after the marriage r 9 e 0 f his former guardian miss moss io to hl his s dear friend inspector tope Is driving home through a torrential rain he picks 1 cie s u up p a girl scantily clad in running 9 in terror rr or stricken fright down the ro road a d lie he offers to help her she rides a short way leaves the car and runs into the woods clint continues on his way deciding to tell inspector tope of his experience in three shuttered houses all gloomy and forbidding on hill near where clint picked up the frightened girl lived three families in one house lived old den danman man murder his wife who aho had been ella kenesaw Kc and his daughter kitty leaford and her daughter june living in a second house was aunt evic taine uncle justus and brothers rab and asa the third held old matthew bowdon and his wife living on the estate was a man knon only to june as uncle jim following their usual custom the three families gathered in the hurder home saturday night kitty junes mother retired early with a headache she was given warm milk and insisted on taking two sleeping tablets one more than usual strangely upset june slept fitfully and in the middle of the night in to see her mother tier her uncomfortable position warned arned june that her mother vas as not sleeping she was dead panic stricken june ran from the room out the unlocked door and into the storm to get doctor I 1 cabler clint tells his story to inspector and mrs irs tope they communicate with the police ho ire are told by the fa family ily doctor that kitty leaford died of an over overdose of sleeping pox powders ders clint and the 11 inspector arc not satisfied when clint and tope drive back to kenesaw hill they find inspector hdale and the medical examiner there CHAPTER NI continued 7 mrs leaford was much afraid of thunder doctor derrie contin uld and doctor cabler thinks that when hen she go to sleep as quickly as she expected even with a double dose she got up and took the rest of her store of the tablets certainly the bottle they were in is gone they listened soberly and inspector ecale asked then you say it was an accident her own doing doctor derrie derric hesitated and lie he lowered his eyelid wisely ac accident cl yes he said then 1 I shall agree with doctor cabler that it was an accidental overdose he added she had been dead for some time before her daughter found her miss leaford Lc aford clint prompted ad wid doctor derrie explained yes he smiled condescendingly when the storm broke she went in to make sure her mother i was asleep and found her dead she tried to telephone and raise anyone and then the lights went off and she lost her head ran down the road to get cabler that was foolish and unnecessary of course as long as her mother was already dead but she claims she stop to think of that maybe she know mrs leaford was dead tope suggested but derrie derne confidently shook his head she knew all right he exi pla ined that was the first thing she said to doctor cabler that her mother was dead he and mrs cabler got some clothes on her gave her some whisky took her home in the car he snapped his ingers fingers in a sort of amazement mr and mrs hurder even waked up he explained when cabler got there the front door was open the hall flooded with rain 1 I saw the light in the hall as I 1 passed clint remembered doctor derrie assented miss leaford said the front door blew J f open and the light went out while she was trying to telephone the 4 light must have come on again after she left the house bouse he rose ill give them an accident verdict he said a little complacently even it if she meant it an accident ver dict will be carlel on cin mr and mrs hurder dint clint came to his feet impatiently id like to see sec miss leaford he said is she up there now doctor derrie shook his head she went out before I 1 left he told them not a bad looking girl I 1 saw her walking oft off through the woods behind the house as I 1 came away inspector heale volunteered she does a lot of that walking a round around alone then theres a man g lives I 1 1 ves in there by the pond and ashes pretty friendly with him tope asked quickly where by what pond who is this man why theres a good sized pond on the kenesaw land heale explained pla ined its pretty in there there was some talk awhile back of opening it up for house lots but they wont sell the land this fellow names glovene has built himself a cabin in there how do we get to his place tope asked heale explained you go back toward town till you come to thay ers garage about two miles from here theres a path just this side of the garage goes right into the pond thayer will show it to you he moved with them toward the door and he asked uneasily what are you after tope it all looks plain enough to me tope answered mildly well I 1 dont like questions unless I 1 know the answers to them for instance did something happen to the telephone circuit over the hill last night did something happen to the electric current did the harders most generally bolt their front door when they went to bed and why do folks like those people on the h hill U let et some one squat on their land the way you say this glovene does and how dol does s it happen hes so friendly with miss leaford when she got any other friends and where did that bottle go heale grinned and scratched his head and doctor derrie said in a sardonic anger if youre trying to make a murder out of this I 1 can tell you where to start miss leaford put her mother to bed gave her the dose dos e she was the last one to see mrs leaford alive and the first to see her dead begin with the girl gir 11 the place to begin CHAPTER VI june leaford loved her mother patiently and tenderly but there was something more an intangible kitty leaford whose latter days were such sad and dreary ones had once been gay once she had known romance once for the sake of love she had dared greatly even june had seen sometimes the glint of shining armor in her eyes A single valorous action though it may fail and be punished endlessly does docs nevertheless in degree ennoble the soul and kitty leaford Lc aford had once done valiantly but now kitty leaford was dead and june moved like a person in a nightmare doctor cabler had brought her home wrapped in his greatcoat but drenched and shivering still and they found the door open the hall half flooded they crept up the stairs like conspirators and so came into the room where the pitiless illumination of an electric bulb revealed this upon the bed dr cabler made his brief examination she is dead yes he said but I 1 dont think well wake the old people just now the middle of the night is a cruel time for bad news ill go next door and get rab or asa to help me but june said in a cool voice mother like that and without weakness or wavering she helped doctor cabler do da what was required not till this wag wad done would she permit him to summon anyone she did not know how long it wag wad before asa came to her go to bed juno june lie he said theres nothing to do here I 1 can do that nothing as well as you 1 I wont sleep she told him go along he insisted to bed and she obeyed in a silent submission in her own room she realized that she was 1 s s still till drenched wet cold she changed h an ged into a dry nightgown and lay down she expected to stay sleepless till dawn and in fact she did lie long enouf awake to hear the doctor return and hear aunt evie in the hall then she fell asleep and when she woke the sun was shining she opened her door and saw a strange man in a black coat go quietly into her mothers room and shut the door behind hirn him below stairs when she descended all these kin of hers were gathered together grandma hurder was crying quietly tears glistening on her gray cheeks she sat erectly in her chair june as she came downstairs heard grandma bowdon say in in a heavy anger utterly inconsiderate si no other word describes it and as june entered the room aunt evie remarked in her gentle whispering voice 1 I was concerned about kitty last night you remember she had a headache I 1 know what it is to have headaches I 1 have suffered myself and kitty was sick with them really sick sometimes she continued in her pitiless soft tones kitty resented life so deeply and there was always a rebel in her she would never be happy I 1 am not surprised june stopped in the doorway incredulous and bewildered trying to understand the implication in their words rab and asa were in the room but they did not see june grandpa hurder was here in the hall walking ceaselessly up and down clown then uncle justus came in through the kitchen and said something about breakfast in the hollow voice of the deaf and grandpa hur der shouted into his ear car kittys kitrys Ki dead eh said uncle justus aunt evie came swiftly past june and went to silence him and grandma bowdon repeated in a grim anger she was always selfish no consideration june cried in passionate stifled anger oh she strode swiftly into the room what do you mean she demanded what do you mean june said grandma bowdon severely mind how you speak to me but grandpa hurder said sternly in the doorway kitty was crucified there was the dignity of anger in him in this moment crucified f he said long ago june pressed her hands to her ups lips understanding what it was they thought she she she cried she turned to escape she went out through the front door but there was a garland of ribbons on the doorknob so she returned indoors again later she slipped out of the house this time by the side door so as not to see that garland she moved directly away from the house into the tract of wooded land behind here she could be alone there was a sound at some d distance I 1 s and she raised her head without other movement to see sec what it was she saw asa go quietly past a little way off among the trees and without seeing her along a path that led to the bluff above the pond where uncle jim had his cabin it passed beyond down to the highway near thaders Th ayers filling station and of course this was vas the way she tool took when she he went to see uncle jim TO BE CONTINUED |