Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-05


"Bracken's private suite!" The
words seemed to pull the district at
torney from his chair by their very
violence
Exactly" confirmed Cotton. NAT |
urally you remember the talk it caus-
ed when the hotel was built ten years
ago. Bracken's deep-rooted objection
to newspaper publicity has kept it
out of the public's mind ever since.
Whenever he has to spend a few days
on dry land he goes to his hotel and
lives like a hermit. You know that"
And the suite is forgotten from one
years end to the other" The dis
trict attorney was pacing the room be-
fore the desk. "I know it well, but
1 never even thought of it."
Very few people have, up to the
present" remarked Cotton dryly. For
the simple reason that the seeing de-
ber. My brain instantly understood
that possibility because it never for
gets. But there are other things to
be done first. That could not get
away. The others could"
And the suite has absolutely no
connection with the upper halls" The
official was turning the thing over
in his mind as he walked the floor.
when Bracken comes he brings
his own servants, and the entrance to
the diningroom is in the court beside
the hotel!'
But even Bracken had his gregar-
ious moments" the blind man declar-
ed. There is a door connecting the
private diningroom with the big res
taurant that is carefully concealed be-
hind the palms near the lobby en-
trance"
THAT has not been used for years!"
put in the district attorney. II know
it. 1t is screwed shut. 1 remember
when Bracken had it done. He had
the -"
Cotton cut in on the story: "It was
used last night!'
But some one would have seen the
man and the woman coming out" pro-
tested the official.
Not when everything had been
carefully timed The attention of
every one in the restaurant was CEN
tered on the new cabaret act The
two hat-check men were away. AL
though the restaurant entrance is into
the lobby, 1t is arranged so that the
lobby loungers cannot stare into the
diningroom. The woman had to bring
the dead man but a step through the
door behind the palms, and the waiter
was there to help her. 1t was but
another step through the hiding palms
to the door. The hour chosen was
when only the ables in the center of |
the room had been filled and those |
near the entrance were empty. 1t was
the work of an instant when all eyes
were somewhere else. Eyes always
are when the attention of the ears is |
attracted, and it was too far away for !
even my super-keen ears to hear"
The waiter you mean young
Bracken ?" That was the only thing
that seemed to strike the district at
torney for the moment. "Of course! |
OF course" he answered his own
question, hands working at his sides, |
face more haggard than ever as he |
paced the floor. HE could get the |
keys of the suite, he would know all
about it. He is the only one who |
could do it." He stopped suddenly |
as another question popped to his |
mind: But the police must have |
learned of that suite! Rooms in |
hotel like the Beaumonde can't be |
hidden like secret chambers in a |
castle"
NO doubt" agreed Cotton. But
police eyes probably saw the un-
touched screw heads in the door |
They saw the marks of violence on |
the body that meant struggle. Their |
eyes told their brains that the murder |
could not have been committed in the |
Motel without raising an alarm"
They are right" The district at |
torney qualified it. "They must be
right! If the murder was commit
ted five hours before the body was
discovered, it was committed in the
daylight! The dead body would have
had to be smuggled to the private
diningroom, to the suite, and then
back. That would be more trouble
than taking it directly to the restau-
rant"
Yes, if it was a dead body, but it
wasn't. 1t was a living mani" Col
ton reached across the chess board to
pull the telephone toward him.
You think he was forced to write
the notes to the coroner and the DO
lice captain, and the death notices.
and pose for the photograph. and ad-
just the brace in that suite before
he was killed." The words came i'm
patiently
mo. Those things were all done
before he went to the private suite
in the afternoon"
Great Scott, mani" The district
attorney gasped his incredulity. You
are saying that the man himself made
all those elaborate preparations to be
murdered"
YES" Cotton answered very
quietly, as he lifted the telephone re-
ceiver from it's hook. That is ex-
actly what he did"