The Monmouth inquirer., 1918-03-14

right" handed the bit OF evidence to-
] Marcus.
Patrolman Cobb and the wagon
/ man carried the body out and drove
away, most of the curious disappear
ing with it; the surgeon refused my
| invitation to refreshment in my rooms,
hurrying home In his runabout. and
Marcus and l took the elevator for the
sixth floor He would have just one
tall one and minutes talk with me
before getting back to report. l let
him have the Morris chair and placed
a bottle of Scotch and siphon at his
elbow. !
What do you make of it?" he ask
ed, when he had taken the first edge
off fatigue and wiped his lips.
Anyone hear a pistol shot?" re-
turned.
Nobody has reported it. haven't
interviewed all the tenants. This Is
exclusively a male hang-out, isn't it?"
Bachelors all, supposedly. Particu-
larly respectable, too; SO have been
led to understand"
"Fll have. to rout lot of them from
sleep. Someone must have heard that
shot"
eyes, il she was shot in the eleva-
tor, there will be no difficulty there.
couldn't have missed hearing it my
self was awake enough" I
"But you say you didn't"
81 didn't, therefore she wasn't shot
in the elevator. Get that idea out of
your mind, Marcus. She was dead
when she went into the lift"
The detective considered. "Per-
haps," he said, finally, but it was not
convincing. You may have been doz-'
ing or it happened. several floors down.
You are on the top, aren't your"
Eyes. l suppose whoever shot her
ran up to this floor then down to
grade for excitement, eh? That your
theory?"
you heard the elevator going down;
was 1t from this floor?"
1T was. am certain of that"
"It could not have been the fifth?"
mo. The sound would have been
less evident"
"The person who shot her was not
in the elevator. She was shot from
above"
"And she ran the elevator up and
down time or two, then sat down in
the corner and forgot to pin her hat"
1 remarked sarcastically. "Or else the
murderer ran up the stairs to this
floor and pushed the car button to
bring it up, then ran down five flights
and punched the knob to run it down.
1t doesn't sound right, Marcus. The
elevator was empty at five minutes to
two when l came up in it. Twenty
five minutes later heard 1t go down
from the sixth floor. 1t may have car
ried the girls dead body; it may have
been empty; but there was no shot
fired between that time and my dis
covery of the corpse minute later.
There are two ways of sending
that elevator from the sixth floor to
the first; one is to press the button
inside, after you have closed the door
and latched it; the other is to press a
button in the hall downstairs. Get me
clearly, Marcus You can't step in
side that elevator, press the button,
then slide out and watch it slip away
from you. It won't answer the button
until the door is closed. I've walked
up these stairs too many times. ours
ing, not to know that an open door is
bar to that elevators performing its
functions"
"She was shot from above" per-
sisted Marcus.
"Botheration, yes! Lean forward in
that chair, Marcus more more!
Now / shoot, standing here. What's
the angler" / pointed my finger at
his breast.
ut might be- he admitted.
more likely than your elevator
theory. She may have been carried
from some room on this floor and
placed in the elevator before j opened
my door, and the person went down
with her in it, leaving the house af-
ter closing the elevator door; or she
may have been brought in from the
outside and placed in the elevator by
some one who brought the elevator
down from the sixth floor, where left
it, by pushing the lower hall button.
Either one is possible, plausible. and
in either case she was dead before she
entered the elevator. But, Marcus!
It's no affair of mine; I'm not a news
monger.'
'Ill be getting on. thank you, Gil
more. I'll think over your sugges-
tions. Good night"
1 walked to the elevator with him
and showed him how it was manipu-
lated. Good night" l said as closed
the door behind him.
"By the way, what was it about her
hat?' He asked-t the question as he was
about to press the button.
"Her hat was placed upon her head
after she was carried into the car. A
man did it."
"Why a man?"
"No woman would attempt to put on