Show S I 1 it C ta t by CB CHANNING banning POLLOCK pollock ock p CHAPTER yi VI continued 13 pat be began still standing ive stumbled on something so I 1 gai fathered hered s he observed observe J and I 1 assume that thai it has do with your pet murder it has to do with your father 1 she smiled 1 I suppose youve discovered that he killed kelly gelly ive discovered that he called on kelly that night wonderful I 1 pat mock mocked ed who told you that the tax taxman taxi man who drove him down town barry related his adventure with the errant medico pat listened almost indifferently it was sheer chance barry concluded 1 I any idea of implicating your father but now he Is implicated you must see that 1 I dont unless you insist on dragging gin tl him into it 1 I insist on nothing pat except clearing an innocent man at the expense of one equally innocent what does your father stand to lose by telling the truth we know now that kelly was alive when rogers left the house im just as sure wat that he be was alive when the judge left but he must have been killed soon afterward weve got to find out who lulled killed him why because now weve two men to clear it if my father saw kelly after the boy left il that clears rogers 0 and puts it up to my father your tour father kill kelly barry said 1 I know that and I 1 know why he went to that house Re really 61 he went to protest against filing that jefferson street decision and then filed it he had to the pressure was too stron strong 0 for him hed been struggling against it for weeks in polities politics even honest men have to listen to reason sometimes your father had to how interesting e in spite of the hullabaloo he be wrote the decision and that day came the bitterest onslaw onslaught lit of all the globe made a direct accusation your tour father was frantic just before midnight he telephoned kelly from the tobacconists shop and went straight to sixteenth street lie he told kelly this verdict would ruin him might ruin everybody for more than an hour he plead and argued no use kelly was adamant your father gave up at two left deft kelly alive aud and filed his decision next morning p before anyone knew that kehy iva as s ao no lo longer lager alive the truth it so plausible plau blau sibe sible that telling it publicly would probably e end nd my fathers career and so and aad sa so I 1 think wed better forget it you tou mean that to continue your fathers career let this boy go to th the jal gallows lows of course I 1 dont she turned to him the hardness gone out of her voice theres no chance of that and you know it theres always a chance I 1 well face that when we come to it weve got to face it now pat why she plead and then passionately siona slona tely what right have haie you to demand that we do anything you dont even know ifil this boy 1 I do since last bast 11 2 and you k know n 0 w hi him m hes the the real john clarke ridden 1 that gave her pause whoever he Is hes got a wife bif and a baby I 1 cant ilsk his life to save you or myself if hes convicted pat began be mn 1 I wont have him go through that it if the judge tell the truth now I 1 will pats mouth became a straight hard line and believe you she asked 1 I can prove P take the word of a bribed taxi driver and a branded adaven turell listen pat you sou listen ive warned you to stop prying into our affairs you went right on arid and now you the scum of the earth she was losing her head now you come into my house with a ury vilifying my father and threat en to tell it if we dont sly bly reply to that Is go ahead I 1 and an hour after you do be arrested for robbing the malls I 1 they stood facing each other that letter you opened before willetts the letter with the hundred indred hi dollar bill that addressed to barry gilbert was it no pat cro crossed qed the room rm im sorry she said but you asked for it 1 I did but I 1 cant take your answer I 1 cant because god help me pat im in love ive with you she gave no simi sign of 0 hearing im an adae adventurer he went on and youre a lady the realest I 1 ever met why you cant do this no answer 1 I barry continued and im a fake gentleman I 1 wanted to I 1 wanted to drop the whole business I 1 told Wll letts that after d warned me last friday and willetts said that done A gent lemans got certain responsibilities he ha has a tradition stronger than we are pat turned at last this Is funny she said you if Is funny he cut her short id like to behave like a loafer land and I 1 cant im willing to goto jail t to 0 save this boy and im the scum of the earth youre a lady how flow about you if it were only me w she broke your fathers a gentleman how about him before she could reply the double doors opened judge hambidge was standing there erect 0 and soldier like mr gilberts right pat he said 1 I release you from your promise to me I 1 cant go through with it IL im too tired and full of self loathing he turned squarely to barry youre right about everything about my going 0 in to kelly that tha t ril night eglit and the reason I 1 went he let me in himself we quarreled violen violently tj so violently that he took a revolver out of his desk drawer and kept it in his hand then I 1 walked out of the house but you were wrong about just one thing mr gilbert P left the house at two but when I 1 left it kelly alive CHAPTER VII they were a curiously inert little group for a minute or two after the revelation it was like a play barry thou thought glit curtain down on a climax and the actors relaxing until lt it should rise again for the next scene after a time barry crossed the room to the pair pat turned on him well now you know she said you know about us but remember we know about you too she was herself again 0 hard and defiant ignoring her for the moment barry asked the judge do you want to tell me what happened 1 I wrote my opinion in the jeffer son street proceedings proceeding s and then again as you say I 1 go through with it id never done a crooked crooke d thing in my life I 1 dont know how I 1 ever made that speech at the astor the instant it was finished I 1 telephoned kelly better come down and talk it over he said of course it would have been fatal for anyone to learn of that meeting why I 1 got out athe tt he daxl at twenty third street As I 1 told jold you kelly admitted me hiP ahe he was drunk and irk in a the matter with you when wed gone i ina into the almi edg roo room m white livered 11 here ere calra i drink and forget it r there Ther ewas was a battle on the table and two glasses both of lepi em jaaj been used but he half filled ali them m and gave me one 1 needed it but I 1 cant drink sc scotch atch never could I 1 told kelly so and lie he blazed out at me youre too good to drink with me Is that it no I 1 answered not it but I 1 cant hand down that decision I 1 simply cant mr kelly its rotten and everyone knows it ive got the cursed thing in my pocket and and ive got something in my pocket he shouted Fa father eatherl therl pat intervened for over an hour I 1 plead and argued and kelly kept drinking aej getting uglier ue he was a bi big 9 man mail with a bull neck and huge hands at last he said shut your damned mouth and get out of herell here 1 I said im not going no he sneered and got up from his chair he stumbled across the room to a great old fashioned desk and got a revolver wow beat it he yelled land and damned quick all right I 1 said but I 1 wont want file that decision 1 I walked into the hall and kelly stood leaning against the door with the pistol in his hand so furious that I 1 halt expected him to shoot before I 1 could get my hat you think you can scare me he shouted you and the globe you think you got something thin on me witnesses squealers Squeal ers well I 1 know how bow to take care of them by god cod I 1 beat it I 1 and if that decision aint filed by noon today P to ill again pat said father 1 I know hambidge Inter interrupted nip ted himself pats admonition had come just in time barry thought the judge had bad risen tense and so excited that he seemed on the verge of collapse and that was that barry calmed him not quite judge 0 hambidge continued but in a lower tone when I 1 got to the bottom of the steps the stone steps I 1 mean I 1 stood thinking if I 1 left that way there was no telling what kelly might do ive got to go tafou through h 1 I 1 thought its ruin either way but if I 1 obey orders ruin only for me id better give in I 1 rake make up my mind though I 1 kept looking back halt half decided and suddenly a queer thing happened the front door swung open the judge mopped his hands again id shut it carefully he resumed but there lt it was wide almost like an invitation I 1 walked into the hall f 4 41 I 1 J f V it r 4 its not a criminals crime either barry A answered the glass doors to thed the drawing rawin room were closed but I 1 could see the figlie through them when I 1 put my hand on ali the e knob the lights went out I 1 turned the knob and pushed but the door open not no t latched it was as it if someone was holding it kelly I 1 thought lie he wont let me in ive got to act quick now almost in a daze I 1 wandered up to the aven avenue ue at nine I 1 gave the decision to my clerk and told him to file it immediately A few hours later I 1 learned that kelly was dead the papers said his body was found stretched across that door to the hall I 1 knew then it was there when I 1 left the house and that was why I 1 open the door pat said are you satisfied are you barry asked or would you rather that I 1 tried to find who killed kelly what does it matter pat began hotly 1 I think mr gilberts answered that question the jud judge e interrupted weve got to clear young ridder at any cost pat weve got to clear him mr gilberts our friend her father went on lie ile says so and I 1 believe him 11 what do you want to know mr air gilbert how longdin long did you stand at the foot ot of the steps before that door swung open five minutes maybe a little more do you think someone opened it someone who then went in to kelly you mean the murderer ls barry nodded no the last thing he would have done the door probably latch when I 1 closed it while you were in the house did you see anyone but kelly yo no we were shut in together did you hear biear anyone an yonel since you rp men enton it t once I 1 did think I 1 heard the front door close I 1 may have imagined it but now I 1 re member kelly iteli asked ed chos ahat in tho the hall it was about halt an hour after we went into the drawing room and I 1 looked out but there anyone he DC or slie she may have gone in into t 0 the dining room barry said W whoever il 0 killed kelly came out of the dining room im m certain of that why 11 because the drink F kelly elly offered you was scotch whiskey was there anything else in the room it if there had been evve asked for it 91 exactly and the weapon that crushed kellys skull was a cut cutglass l ass decanter containing rye whiskey in the five minutes you were standing on the pavement barry reasoned someone came out of that dining room with that decanter and struck kelly there was no time tor for a quarrel that man or that woman knew what he or she was going to do why do you say she pat asked this a womans comans crime its not a criminals crime either barry answered A criminal would have brought the weapon and it ve been a cutglass cut glass decanter A criminal might have worn gloves to prevent leaving fin fingerprints finger ger prints but since this a criminal the fact that there were no finger prints suggests that the murderer just happened to be wearing gloves and pat inquired tensely and men dont often wear gloves on a warm ni night lit women do it was 1 9 warm ni night ht 11 it was very warm the judge said you are a shrewd young man the girl gibed gabed at him but your assumptions are ridiculous gloves I 1 anyone might have worn em e m anyone might remember the risk of leavin leaving f fingerprints inger and wipe them off a bottle with a handkerchief anyone might ve come in through an un latched door any time after my father left cut but barry objected kelly was dead then how do you know that how do we know my father right when he thought kelly was keeping keepin him out all your conjectures lead nowhere mr gilbert the only discovery youve made is that father saw kelly after young bidder did and as I 1 told you merely implicating one innocent man instead of another and you naturally its the second innocent man I 1 care about especially since his innocence of murder keep your disclosures from dis disgracing racing him TO BE CONTINUED |