Show VICE VERSA by CARLTON JAMES 0 associated newspapers W WU NU service ce I 1 AI TIMES said retired po lice inspector andrews it seems that the more a man tries to evade capture for a crime he lias has committed the more likely ly becomes his bis apprehension and itice versa vice versa I 1 said in some astonishment Ish ment what do you mean by that andrews smiled faintly and nodded yes ses he said vice versa take ifor example the case of vie vic bradley vie vic was a murderer not chronic ml mind nd you ile he killed to pay a debt vengeance ills his victims name was ross burt ross when they were young 0 men ross had stolen Br adleys girl lie ile persuaded her to elope with him on the eve of her marriage to vie vic made hade all sorts of promises spoke slanderously of his rival produced a note written in Br adleys hand in which he admitted that he was marrying helen belen his betrothed only for her money vie never got over it he learned later from helens own lips of ross trickery learned that ross had forged 7 the note himself helen died in arms ross had killed her bradley never forgot for ot and never recovered from the wrong done him by ross ile he swore to kill the other man and dedicated his life to this purpose dut cut its accomplishment was more difficult than he had anticipated ross Tani vanished shed cut but vie vic knew that no man in this day and age can completely disappear and so bradley began his search A distant uncle had died and willed him a modest fortune so besides being able to devote his entire time to the accomplishment of his purpose he was also enabled to employ various agencies to assist him the search lasted for ten years and durin during this time desire for I 1 T I 1 vie vic called at grosss room and shot him dead as casually as you please vengeance did not diminish in the least in fact due to constant brooding and lack of other matters to occupy his mind the thing became an obsession haunting him day and night eventually he found ross in a new york hotel living under an assumed name As soon as he had bad positively identified his enemy vie vic loaded up the automatic he had purchased for the purpose called at r ross LOSS room and shot him dead without preamble and as casually as you please assured that ross was dead he pocketed his automatic strolled out of the hotel and returned to his apartment he then sat down to wait momentarily he expected the arrival of the police ile he had not planned to attempt avoiding the consequences of his act realizing the futility of it when the police arrived he would confess to the crime and gladly go with them he had expected to pay for his revenge with his own life and felt that his bargain was not unfair bradley sat in his chair for two hours but the police come this tact fact mildly surprised but did not no puzzle him he knew it would be merely a matter of a few more minutes es presently he became consalo conscious us ol of hunger and left his apartment and walled walked to a nearby restaurant he made no attempt to be secretive 01 overly indifferent he regarded no one furtively indeed was not concerned with how people regarded him ile he just care he could see no point in voluntarily surrendering himself to the authorities neither would he go out of his way to evade capture returning to his apartment he halt half expected to find a squad of uniformed officers awaiting his arrival but the place was as he had left it deserted ne ile sat up for three hours waiting but nothing happened and he went to bed the next nest morning at breakfast he read about the murder and smiled in faint contempt upon discovering that the authorities had no clue regarding the identity of the slayer throughout the day bradley lounged around his apartment at night lie he attended a movie the next nest day tor for the first time aware of his bis inactivity he took a walk in the park that night he h e visited his club played bridge with three other members the next nest day he attended an art exhibit dined with friends arlend and returned to his apartment quite late it was while he was disrobing dis that suddenly the desire came to him to live that Is for the first time in ten years bradley awoke to the fact act that he be was still a young man that ute life stretched out ahead of him he had satisfied satis fled his els desire tor for vengeance achieved his goal why not now dismiss the incident from his mind call it a closed book and be bein begin in all over again the idea grew upon him the more he thought about it the more pronounced became the longing to follow this course of action yes tes that was the thins thing to do it was the than thing he would do instantly now that the decision was made he thought though t of ross of the crime lie he had committed commett ed there was little danger of capture he knew that from his experience of the past few days still he must be more careful hed been altogether too indifferent erent and careless it was a wonder he been picked up long ago bradley crossed to his closet took down the suit lie he had been wearing on the day lie shot ross and removed from its pocket the automatic it would never do lie he told himself to have the weapon found on ills his person ile he considered several hiding places and eventually tucked it far back in a drawer of his desk he reviewed his crime and tried to think of other precautions to cover up his guilt none presented themselves and lie he became a little alarmed capture now held for him a peculiar horror he shuddered thinking of the electric chair the next nest day he visited his club again and that evening he was arrested and charged with the murder of ross andrews paused the faint smile was still on his lips what I 1 said how did they find out he was the man by vice versa said andrews dont you get it As long as vie vic care whether he was captured or not he could act perfectly normal but the minute he tried to act normal lie he failed the reason he went to the club that next nest day was because he be felt that if he dian didn the members might become suspicious of his absence one of them noticed his change in attitude another quite innocently asked him where he was on the night or of the murder A third became suspicious at answer they talked it over they questioned him further and the guilt allt in Br adleys eyes was too obvious to be ignored A member with whom he had never got along very well took it upon himself to call the police officers searched his apartment they found the gun ua he was charged with the murder and confessed andrews paused and shrugged you tou see he said vice versa |