Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-05-05

. plan-olorhes man nom the precinct
detective force keeping II under watch
and ward
To this house came Captain McQes
and Rosalie Le Grange. They ap-
proached with all the caution Of fore
thought, entering the block through an
office building on the next street. open
ing the area door with pass-key. go
ing into the house by the basement
door at the rear.
"Ughl 1 hate to touch It," said Ro-
sale, drawing her skirts away from
the wreckage of the cellar. I'm glad
wore my old clothes. Guess Mrs.
Moore never kept this place any too
well-an' with this dust an your un-
tidy cops. Martin MCGEE. It's Just scan
dalous now. Well, come on!" And SO
she dragged her police escort through
floor after floor. room after room-at
first a superficial survey and then .
minute search.
As they came to Captain Hanska's
room. Inspector MCGEE stopped and
made Grafton.
You can see." he said. that it was
an inside Job Beginning on the roof.
there's no way to enter except by the
hatch which goes down into the lum-
ber room. On account of the flre regu-
lations. the hatch couldn't be locked,
but 1t was closed inside by bolt. That
hadn't been monkeyed with. In fact,
the dirt around the edges showed that
the hatch hadn't been opened for
long time"
"And the fire escaped" asked Rosa
lie, pursuing her brows with concentra-
ton.
Runs from the lumber room
straight down. Passes at the third
floor the windows Of Captain Hanska's
room. The corresponding room on the
second floor is vacant. No one entered
by the basement. either. Windows and
doors all bolted inside and showed no
signs of being tampered with. You
see, It was this Wade fellow. or an In
side job. And while we're talking about
locks"-here Martin MCGEE opened
Captain Hanska's door and stood with
a foot on either side of the threshold
this is little piece of evidence I've
figured out myself. Notice. he had =
spring lock. Mrs. Moore says he put
It on himself. That indicates he was
afraid of somebody-Wade. probably.
Him being SO particular on that point.
It was only natural he should keep It
locked when he was asleep. Now. look
here"
~, A. n
the ordinary pattern. 1t could be
from without only by the
key. Within. however. was knob and
a button by which one could turn back
the catch and render It temporarily
useless as a lock. We'll, now," said
McGee, "the catch was back when they
found the body. and the door wasn't
locked at all. II he'd been alive after
Wade left him, he wouldn't have gone
to sleep without seeing that his door
was locked. My idea ie. he turned the
knob and shut the catch back when he
let Wade in-the way a person does
with a spring lock. Anyhow" con-
cluded McGee, Its q suspicious fact"
Very" said Rosalie: and NcGee
did not catch the fiatness In her tone.
But anyone who got on to that flre
escape, one way or another, could have
entered Hanska's room by the window.
couldn't her"
"Yes," said Inspector McGse. "if
Hanska's window was open. But the
windows were closed when they found
the body. Most of the witnesses say
that. They remember because when
this Mrs. Moore tainted those girls
opened both windows to give her air.
They say they had to open the catches
to get the sashes up"
"Stuffy muggy night, an both win
dows closed-an' him an Americana"
well, there's nothing particularly
strange about that. IL there?" said In
spector McGee.
Not to you'll" replied Rosalie Ii
Grange, dimpling on him. Il guess
well, I guess before we do anything
else we'll go over everything in that
room"
They entered. The bed was az Rosa
lie had seen It on the night Of the
sheets and quilts turned
back as though one had risen quietly
and naturally. 1t was to the bed that
Rosalie turned her first attention. At
the foot of the white counterpane, her
eyes stopped-stopped and rested.
Its spotted" she said almost under
her breath.
Inspector McGee looked also.
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