Charlevoix county herald., 1920-03-19

the apartments In the Granuueck-
Henry Kent's. Who's he?"
81 never heard of him. I'll try to
find out, though"
II would, bur be careful how you
go asking questions around the place.
The Moore woman may have pal.
They generally work In pairs"
The ease and celebrity with which
German had learned all these things
about the girl impressed me greatly,
and I said as much. He received my
compliments with deprecating wave
OF the hand.
"Nothing to II. boy, when you know
the ropes. But last night you told
me you had taken the girl out TO try
70 pump something out Of her. What
vas It? What's doing?"
From beginning to end ! told him
ne whole story in all of its perplex-
i,g details, starting with the day that
7 had received my great-uucle Rufus
note that had led to the chance meet
ing with Miss Bradford, bringing in
nv discharge and the disappearance
of the CASTOR pearls, and explaining
what made me think these facts were
in some way involved with the at
tempt to blackmail the Br6dfords.
"What do you make of it?' / asked
as I ended my narrative. "Who do
you think is at he bottom OF itT
81 don't think" he retortcd. "In our
business II does not pay to think too
quick. You're apt to convict the wrong
party"
"But you must think something" l
protested.
"I think" he said slowly and medi-
tatively, that there's lot of crooked
work going on-I'll say that much.
And you and Miss Bradford's pretty
close to being the center Of it,"
"What can we do about it"
"There's a way / learned from
lawyer that amt bad. He'd take his
client and put him in the center Of a
big circle with lines running in all d.
rections - alibi, insanity, mistaken
identity, no proof of guilt, lack of
Jurisdiction, escape on legal technical
ity-he'd mark out every possible de-
Tense Then he'd follow each line out
and see where it led and what plan
the opposing lawyers would be likely
to spring on him. Generally he got
his man Off"
81 don't quite see how that applies
"YOu don't, eh?'
He traced an imaginary circle with
his forefinger on the table in the little
back room where we were sitting.
Here's you and Miss Bradford in
the center surrounded by lot of mys.
ferrous deviltry. Wen make two cir
Giles. This inside one is the things
that have happened to both of you
the wall safes opened, the papers
stolen. the pearls gone, the anonymous
notes. the blackmai threats, the loss
of your job, the voices you've heard.
Now on this outer circle we'll mark
down all the people who might be
mixed up in these things-mind We, |
say only might be. First, there's
Lefty Moores woman-we know she's
q crook. Then who do we know that
knows her? There's at least two
Mr.. Wick, the superintendent that
hired her, and this Mr.. Henry Kent,
whose apartment she telephoned TO-.
Then there's all the rest of the help in
the house. Any one Of them might be
her pal Then there's the Eighty
Bradford girl"
"You don't suspect her, do your |
cried, Mortified at the prospect Of his
investigation taking this turn.
'Be easy" he retorted. "Pm not
suspecting anyone. I'm only putting
them down. There's the Bradford
girl and her ex-husband. He's a big
amist and that makes him crook.
Those two men you saw in the park.
one Of them with scar on his face
wei lun them down. You know a
cafe the scar-faced man goes to, so
that's start. There's the man who
Swallowed you-would you know him
again IL you saw him?"
I shook my head doubtfully.
I'm afraid not" ] admitted, "you
| SEQ"
"Dont bother to explain. You either
would or wouldn't, and that's all we
need to know now. There's old Mr..
| CASTOR and his wife. It's queer about
their ducking out so suddenly and
leaving no address, but maybe they're
only scared. Let's see who else Is
there-the Bradford servants and the
old mans, the old washerwoman-
and the families who live in the house.
We've got the circle pretty well COW
cred, haven't WEI"
More and more I had begun to ap-
preciate how valuable the services Of
an experienced detective would be
likely to be in helping to solve the
mystery.
Look here, German" I said, "why
can't you take charge of this case for
us"
whats in it?" he asked.
My face fell, and my enthusiasm
died a sudden death. Once more
was confronted by the specter Of my
poverty. OF what use my talking
to a high-prced investigator like Cor
man when all the money / had in the
- II