Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-19
CHAPTER XVII
Confessions

Captain souarely between the eyes.
| The swift change of tone and or at
| titude, coming so close on its heels,
completed the effect. Only the Wo-
man at the table was unmoved The
entrance of the police captain had not
caused her even to lift her head or to
change O line in the age-wrinkled
| face. Not even the eyes had moved
| from their fixed stare at the papyrus.
1t required a Newfoundland shake
of the burly captains body to throw
off the shock the blind mans words
had caused. Then bluster, the refuge
of the defeated, came.
Trying to scare me, eh ?" he sneer-
ed. Snap the cuffs on Bracken,
Tom"
The square jawed detective who had
been a background for Captain Nc
Mann ever since that case had be-
gun, took a step forward.
go ahead" Colton's voice was
quietly ominous; ARREST him, and by
the Lord Harry, I'll see that you lose
every cent you have on false-arrest
suit!"
"He confessed, didn't he?" The
snappishness of bluster was still evil
dent, but there was anxiety, too, that
only Colton's threat could have
brought. A suit for false arrest meant
something, even to bulldog Captain
McMann. He was getting old, and a
false-arrest suit is the Nemesis of a
policeman who has money-especially
with men like the son of Millionaire
Bracken and Thornley, Cotton.
YES" the blind man answered
evenly. "He killed him!"
For Gods sake take me to Jail
them" Bracken stepped toward the
detective with outstretched hands. II
killed him! I'll confess as soon as you
get me to police headquarters!"
False arrest on that" Gloating
triumph was in the captains manner.
slip on the bracelets, Toni"
The two sharp clicks sounded in
the silence of the room. II guess
that's bad! Bad" The detective
spoke, and for the first time in the
case, and proved that he was human,
and that human emotions were behind
the hard-looking face with the square
Better arrest Silver Sandals, too"
remarked Cotton quietly. She con-
fessed, too"
That's a lie!" Once more the snarl
was in Bracken's voice. "I did it!
did it alone! Take me away!"
Your hurry is suspicious" The
way Cotton said it made it gentle
hint.
Captain McMann took it up. He
strobe over to the table where the
silent woman sat. He glared across
the table at her. She did not move.
What did you have to do with that
murder?" he demanded. mo lies!
Come on"
that the woman had heard. There
were twenty-five years of stolid faced
posing behind her. Her eyes were on
her pad at her elbow The ink dipped
stylus wrote queer combinations of
figures, of designs
I'm guilty, I tell you! did it!
Alone" Bracken screamed the words
in rage, his face pare with fury and
fright.
Only the detective. who kept with
in touch of his elbow, paid any at
tention to him. Captain McMann
glared across the table at Silver San
dals. Thornley, Cotton appeared mere
ly as a disinterested spectator who
was bored.
of that mani" snapped the captain.
John Melton was his name" put
in the blind man casually.
How'd you know that 2" McMann
spun around as he asked the question.
Cotton waved a hand toward the wo-
man.
His sister," he explained.
Only for a second was the police
officer taken off his mental feet by
this new evidence of the blind mans
getting ahead of him. Ills pugnacious
obstinancy wouldn't let him swerve
from his path longer than that. His
hands gripped the table edge as he
leaned across toward the woman
you killed your brother" The ac-
cusation came like the vicious snap Of
a whip.
"Third-degree methods aren't very
effective on a deaf-and- person.
observed Cotton dryly. Let me try"
He walked to the rable. and leaned
| over to wave his cane so that the
shadow would fall across the woman's
eyes. She looked up, with never a
shade of expression in her cold.
black eyes.
You killed John Melton" he said
quietly.
The captain watched her eyes on
the blind mans lips. He watched
her as she pulled the pad nearer.
without haste, without outward indi-
cation of any inner emotion. She
tore the top figure e-covered sheet off.
She wrote slowly, and as slowly ex-
tended the paper toward the blind
man Captain McMann grabbed it.
Easy" He gloated. "Easy!'
On the paper the woman had writ
ten;
II killed John Neilton!"
Bracken broke away from the do
tective,, He saw the words on the
paper before the captain had a
chance to conceal them. For some
reason they seemed to take all the
strength from him for the moment,
before he braced himself to furious
outburst
What did you do that for ?" he
demanded In fury. hands clenched on
the table edge as wide apart as the
chain of the handouts would allow
Great God! Don't you know what II
means? 1t means jail! 1t means that
you.l be shut up in a cell, where YOU
can He stopped, fairly gulp-
ing the words back.
The girl doesn't need help" Col
ton put in the apparently irrelevant
words sharply.
keep her name out!" snarled
Bracken, and Cotton heard the detec
tive jerk him roughly back.
where's the girl 2" demanded
Captain McMann. What was her
part ?"
so you don't know everything?"
There was the faintest trace Of sar-