Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-06-30
MERRILLCo

to fix this without trouble for any
body"
Inspector McGee was now playing
with flexible paper-knife, his down
cast eyes fixed upon 1t as he twisted 1t
back and forth.
'How7" he asked in a voice from
which the bluster had gone,
Rosalie established herself comfort
ably in her chair.
well. it's a funny thing for us to
do-you an me-tell the truth. Not
quite the truth. either; the truth fixed
up little. which is the best kind Of a
lie that is. Give out what happened
but say your own smartness cleared
up the case. not mine. Get Dr.. Cleary
to certify that he found apoplexy at
a more careful autopsy, made after
the Coroner's inquest. but that he sup
pressed the report at the request Of
the police. You can force him to do
that to save his skin; his work is get
tin careless enough SOS one more
slip would make his political hackers
drop him. Say the theory that a man
died Of apoplexy Just when a knife
was held at his breast ready for him
to fall on 1t, was SO strange an un-
usual that you couldn't believe 1t in
the beginnin'. So you held Lawrence
Wade until you made sure. Say you
suspected Miss Estrilla-Miss Perez
from the first, an learnin' that she
was superstitious, had her worked by
police stooLpigeon who played at
bein' professional medium. Say
your men listened to the seances. an
broke in at the end an pulled the
whole story out of her. An II that
amt awful near the truth, never
made up lie that was"
'T fail to see how that excuses us
for letting Estrilla-Perez-go." said
Inspector MCGEE, with q stir Of sar-
casm.
THAT point" said Rosalie. "is the
best thing I've thought out-the very
best. Up to the confession-that's our
story-you hadn't the least idea but
Miss Estrilla done It all herself. We'd
never thought about their changin'
clothes. An when you got the con-
fession. you sent out to arrest him.
but he was gone-probably tipped of
somehow. How. search me! haven't
thought out a good lie there. Maybe
you'll have to invent that yourself.
Otherwise it'll Just be one of the mys-
teries Of the New York Police De-
partment. Reprimand you! Why.
they'll give you a medal"
MCGEE still looked down at the
paper.knife.
THAT amt ALL" he said; you
fooled me. that's what you did. You
made fool out of me-"
At this Rosalie fred. A light came
into her eyes that rolled ten years
color came into her cheeks that took
of another ten-the pink of contempt.
Make a fool Of you. Martin MCGEE!
I only made fool Of one person
That's me. Rosalie LIE Grange. Who
took all the risks in this Job? You?
Not bit OF It! Me. Rosalie. And
what's more. Martin"-she paused and
gulped; and something came into her
face that reduced her to a girl-"who
did l do 1t for? Me, Rosalie? I
guess not. What was there in 1t for
me? When this thing broke. was
independent and living my own life
an clean. self-respecting life. Do
you think l wanted to do It? Well,
you can bet not. | started this Job
mainly cause l didn't want to see the
fine young fellow Wade go to the chair
an because l didn't want to see that
beautiful young thing broken for life
l mean Constance Hanska.
But after I got into 1t. I realized
that was workin' more for somebody
else than I was for them. And that
somebody else was you, Martin Nc
Gee. I'd given 1t up long ago II l
hadn't kept my mind on you. An I'd
become fond of that sick Estrilla wom-
an and Of that little brother of hers.
But l went right on. Do you suppose
like to do what did to them? Well.
you never made bigger mistake. l
aint what l used to be. When ]
brought back her father and mother
to trick that poor Miss Estrilla. Just
gagged. But after found that she
wasn't guilty. nor HMM a manner
of speaking-I had to hand them q
square deal Just like the rest. I'd
done everything l could think Of. Mar
tin McGee-but l couldn't kill man
I liked and sympathized with. just to
help your career. An so / done the
next best thing. fixed 1t SO nobody
| would be involved in 1t but me. I
could have told you. an persuaded you.
maybe. that the right thing was to
let Perez get away. But you'd have
been my accomplice. You couldn't
have gone on the stand an sworn
clean-as you can now-that you had
nothin' to do with 1t. l kept you
out Of 1t. I'm sure to take my medi-
cine. l never whimpered yet, an
won't now. An that. Martin MCGEE.
is why fooled you'll"
Never had words poured 30 fast
from the lips of Rosalie LIE Grange.