Show ic KENNELS 11 A 8 IE I 1 id 0 C ky WN u ae rev I 1 C F SYNOPSIS philo vance expert in solving crime mysteries Is called in to investigate vesti gate the supposed suicide of archer coo coe district attorney markham and vance go eo to coes coee house they find wrede a friend of 0 coes there also a signor signer grassl grassi a guest the door of the death chamber Is bolted from the inside they force it coo COB Is clothed in a dressing gown cown but m ears street shoes heath says 1 it t Is suicide vance says it Is murd murder 1 r CHAPTER II 11 con continued linued 3 she turned and contemplated the inert figure in the armchair well what do you think has happened she put the question in a hard even tone there is every appearance of suicide suicide she turned back to Mar markham khani coldly 1 I call it that vance who had been standing at the rear of the room near the bed came forward neither would 1 I miss late lake lie he said she moved her head slightly and lifted her eyebrows ahl ah I 1 good morning mr vance la in the excitement of the moment I 1 see you you are quite right its not suicide her eyes narrowed why do you repudiate the suicide theory vance asked with pronounced noun ced courtesy very simple she replied uncle was too great an egotist to deprive the world of his presence but egotism vance submitted Is often the cause of suicide boredom dont y know the inability to find a responsive appreciation suicide gives the egotist his one supreme moment of f triumph vance spoke with academic aloofness uncle archer needed no supreme moments hilda lake returned contemptuously he had bad such moments every time he acquired a chinese knick knickknack nack an utterly worthless piece of soft chun porcelain in a silk nest which was of no use to any human being gave him a greater thrill than I 1 would get out of beating bobby jones I 1 dont think uncle killed himself J forgive me vallee bowed you tire are unquestionably right but neither sir markham nor sergeant ileath heath agrees with alth us they are quite ready to dismiss the case as suicide she looked from Mar markham kharn to heath with a hard cold smile and why ully not she asked it would be so easy and would save a lot of bally scandal markham was piqued by the womans comans attitude who miss lake he asked in his typical courtroom manner would hate haie any reason for desiring your uncles death 1 I for one she answered unhesitatingly looking markham straight in the eye ne he irritated me beyond words ile he stood in the wily of I 1 wanted to do da nd lie he was able to make life pretty miserable for me because he held the purse strings S A nice cold arctic day it was nas for me when lie he vi was as appointed my guardian and I 1 was deven dependent dent on him ills his death at any ny me these past ten years noted have been a godsend to me now that lies hes out of the way ill get my patrimony and be able to do what I 1 want to do without interference ter M Mii aik kham haill and ileath re regarded her in attia amazed zed indignation there was something icily venomous in tier her manner a calculating hatred more potent and devastating even than tier her words it was vances languid and indifferent voice that broke the monotony that followed her tirade my wo word d I 1 really y know miss lake youre dashed refresh ln in bour frankness are we to accept your comments as a confession of murder not tit at present was the even reply but it if the authorities are arc set on calling it suicide I 1 may come forward liter later and claim the credit for ills his demise by the way of upholding the honor of the family you see I 1 regard a good healthy justifiable murder in higher esteem than a paltry sul suicide cide 11 the blood was mounting to markhams Mark hams checks he was becoming an angry gry bt at hilda lakes apparent flippancy who besides yourself lie he asked trying to control his feelings would have had reason to murder your uncle the woman looked up at the ceiling with meditative shrewdness and sat down on the edge of the desk t esk any mamber of persons she spoke poke indifferently de mortals and all that kind of rot but after all the alie fact that uncle archer Is dead make him any more admirable and there are several people who would prefer him dead to 0 o alive markham stepped forward youre a brutally unfeeling woman miss aliss lake he said through set jaws vance proffered tier her his cigarette ease case no thanks she was now look ing ng down at archer coes body 1 I rarely arely smoke e bad for the w wind ind upsets the nerves yes sh she e mused as it if reN reverting erting to tier her conversation ver stion with markham there wont be any great mourning g at dear uncles passI passing Dg ala markham raham returned to the point would iou care to I 1 name anyone in n particular nho might be pleased with sir mr coes death that be cricket she returned but ill say this much there here are several chinese gentlemen whom uncle has swindled and tricked out ot of rare treasures who will voll be delighted to learn that his collecting days are over and you probably know yourself mr markham that there were many unpleasant rumors after uncles return from china last year gossip about his desecrating dese crating graveyards and removing filDer funerary ary urns and figures lie he received several threatening letters Alar markham kharn nodded yes I 1 remember lie he showed me one or two of them do you seriously believe an outraged oriental killed him certainly not the Chi chinese riese have more sense than to kill anyone for a piece of bric a brac vance yawned dawned and strolled between hilda lake and markham again lie he held out ills his cigarette case oh do have a el cigarette garette he pleaded sometimes they quiet the nerves dont y know the woman looked up at him and gave a hard bard questioning smile then after a moments hesitation site she took one and he lighted it for her what do you think thin of this affair mr vance she asked casually dashed if I 1 know ile he spoke tightly lightly your suggestion of abbina a chinaman la Is most fasci fascination I 1 wonder if f there are any objects dart miss allm ng from the house 1 I be surprised she blew a long ribbon of smoke toward the ceiling cel ling personally I 1 hope all gone id infinitely prefer wedgwood and willow ware nare markham again took the floor door im afraid were all talking a bit dramatically if your uncles death was not suicide miss lake how do you account for the fact that the door of this room was bolted on the ins inside id e hilda lake rose to tier her feet a puzzled look on her face bolted on the inside she repeated turning toward the door ali ah I 1 so you had to break to binl I 1 1 41 1 4 t r I 1 q youre a brutally unfeeling worn wom an miss lake he said through set jaws she stood still for several moments looking at the hanging bolt different in just what way asked vance maybe after all it was suicide Idel A bell sounded downstairs and we could hear bear gamble opening the front door markham stepped quickly to hilda bilida lakes side and put his hand on tier her arm the medical examiner la Is ably coming will you be so good as to go to your room and wall valt there 1111 right ight o site strode to the door lefore she went out she he turned but please send gamble up with my ten tea and muffins muel ins im positively starving A minute later inter dr emanuel doremus was ushered uslie red into the room lie was a wiry devious nian culea liard hard bitten and alth fill a jaunty manner lie ile resembled a stock salesman far more lhnn th n lie did a doctor ue be greeted us ua ailta a wave of the hand ban and glanced about the room then lie he teetered teet ered back and forth on his toes and pinned a baleful eye on heath more allore shenanigan he complained pla ined 1 I was vas in the midst or of hot cakes rind and sausages when I 1 got your message you always pick on me at meal time sergeant well what have you got for me die now heath grinned and jerked ills his thumb toward coes body ile he was used to the medical examiners grousing doremus turned ills his head and let ills his indifferent eyes rest on the dead man tor for several moments the door was bolted on the inside doctor markham volunteered we had bad to break it in doremus drew a deep sigh and turned back to heath with a grunt of disgust well what about it lie he asked impatiently you have let me finish my breakfast all you needed was an order to remove the body lie ile reached in ills pocket and drew out a small pad of printed blanks mr air markham told me to call you personally doc ileath heath explained pla ined it aint my day funeral doremus holding his fountain p pen en poised cocked an eye eve at markham straight case or of suicide lie he announced no breezily nothing to worry about ill give you the approximate time of death if you want it and the routine autopsy 1 I say doctor vance asked languidly an would it be unprofessional it if you ten look at the body doremus spun around im going to look at the body he be snapped im going to dissect it im going to give it a post mortem te what more do you want just why doctor pursued vince vance do you lump jump at the conclusion that its doremus sighed impatiently the guns in ills his hand the bullet I 1 wound is in the right place and I 1 know a dead man when I 1 see one furthermore the door was bolted on the inside vance finished oil oh quite cut but what about the body well what about 10 it doremus began filling in the order theres the body look at it yourself 1 11 I have looked at it dont y I 1 know you see doc ileath explained with a grin rin of satisfaction mr vance and I 1 made a bet I 1 said sa I 1 d say suicide and he said say murder im a doctor not a detective doremus returned acidly the guys dead with a bullet hole in ID his right temple iles hes holding n R gun in his right hand its the kind of wound that could have been self inflicted nis fits position Is natural and the door was locked on the inside the rest of it Is up to you fellows in the homicide bureau if the bullet from the gun dont fit the autopsy ll show it get all the data tomorrow then you can draw your own conclusion vance had sat down in a chair near dear the west wall and was ing placidly would you mind doctor taking a close look at that bullet hole before you return to your hot cakes and sausages and you ml might lit also scrutinize the dead mans mouth Do borenius Dorc renius stared at vance a moment then lie he approached archer coes body and bent over it ile ho inspected the tha wound carefully and I 1 saw his fits eyebrows go up he lifted the hair from the left temple and there was visible to all of us a dark bruised indentation on the scalp along the hair line then he be lifted coes upper lip slightly and seemed to inspect ills his teeth which aphea appeared red bloodstained from where I 1 stood after a close inspection or of the dead mants mans mouth he again focused his attention on the bullet wound in the right temple presently he stood up straight and fixed a calculating gaze on vance in ia your mind lie he asked truculently nothing at all the brains a mere vacuum vance took ills his cigarette from his lips and yawned dawned DILI did you aln find d anything illuminati in n T Dore doremus illus nodded his eyes still on vance yeah plenty P 1 oll oh really now vance smiled smile ingratiatingly and you still think its suicide doremus crammed his fits hands into ills his pockets and made a wry face 11 II 11 1 not no I 1 theres something queer here something d d queer ills eyes shifted to coes body theres blood in hla his mouth and hes got a slight fracture of the skull on the left frontal lies iles had a dirty blow by a blunt instrument of some kind D d queer markham his eyes mere silts carno caino forward what about that bullet wound in hla his right temple doremus Do renius looked up took one liand hand from ills hla pocket and pointed toward th the e det dead ad mans head mr air markham ho be said with precise solemnity that baby had bad been lend dead for hours when that bullet entered ills fits head the only person in the boorn who was ivas not staggered by this unexpected announcement aDno was vance heath stood glaring nt at the corp corpse is as it lie almost expected it to rise marshani Mar khani slowly took his cf cigar ar front croni his mouth and looked vaguely bad back and forth bet between veen doremus ind and vanco vance As for myself I 1 must that a cold chill ran up my spine the sight of a dead man Sitt sitting illg with anith a revolver in ills his hand and a bullet wound in his t temple ample coupled with will the knowledge that the bullet had bad been fired into him after death affected we me like a piece of african sorcery vance as I 1 say was unaffected lie merely nodded ills his head slightly and lighted another cigarette ich steady fingers interesting Inte situation eh what he murmured really markham a man anan ordinarily shoot himmen jr 11 1 I J f r 7 r have been known to do queer things after death self after death I 1 fear you simply must eliminate the suicide theory Slark ham brott ned deeply dut but the bolted door A dead man ordinarily bolt doors either vane vance returned Mar markhard kharn turned with slightly dazed eyes to doremus can you determine what killed him doctor if given time doremus had become sullen he did not like ilke the turn of events 1 I say doctor drawled vance the state of rigor mortis in our victim its well advanced dead eight to twelve hours lend me a hand sergeant and well nell put him on the bed just a moment doctor vance spoke poke peremptorily take rake a look at the hand on the desk Is it clutching the revolver tightly hes clutching the gun tight all right with difficulty doremus bent coes fingers and removed the revolver taking great care not to make fingerprints on it ileath heath came forward and gingerly ider inspected the weapon them then he dropped it in a large pocket handkerchief and placed it on the blotter and doctor pursued vance was coes finger pressed directly against the trigger yep was vias doremus curt answer then we may assume that the re voler was tas placed in coes hand before rigor mortis set in what well ill tell you ne he pointing to coes body imay may have had the gun in his land hand when he died I 1 present y understand and it if the gun was already in his hand then nobody put it there later in that case how could it have been tired fired it but how do you know it was fired theres no way or of telling until the post mortem whether the he bullet la in his bis head canle came from the gun he was holding do the caliber of the revolver and the wound correspond yes tes ill say so the guns a 33 38 and the wound looks the same size and put in neath heath one chamber of the guns boon been fired markham SIar kham nodded and looked at the medical examiner it it should prove to be true doctor that the revolver in coes hand band fired the shot in his head then we could assume could we not as mr air vance suggested that the revolver had been placed in the dead mans hand before rigor mortis set in sure you could Dore doremus tone was greatly mollI mollified fled nobody could have forced the gun into his hands and made it appear natural after rigor mortis had set in though vances eyes were moving idly about the room lie he was listening closely to this conversation there is he remarked in a low voice another possibility farfetched far fetched ill admit but tenable men have been known to do queer things after death there are recorded instances of suicides who have shot themselves and then thrown the thirty feet away dr hans gross cross in it his I 1 Hand lland buch limb fur ter tee but that hardly applies here noo no o vance drew deeply on his cl clarette cigarette arette quite so just a fleet ing in g thought TO DE CONTINUED |