Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-31

rest Of the reform administration encoun-
tered opposition. The evening paper was
financed by group Of politicians who had
thriven on lax law enforcement. SO that
y anything that could possibly be termed in
efficiency was spread in huge type before tho
public each day.
So 1t was that when a mysterious killing
occurred at Hillcrest Inn jenkins. realizing
that failure to apprehend the criminal might
have far reaching political effects. himself
took charge of the case
The killing had been discovered within a
moment after Alayne had left the private
dining room. The waiter had knocked again
Upon the door, Finding it locked and recev.
ing no response to his knock, he called tho
clerk. On the arrival Of the latter the two
men had forced tho door. They might have
entered the room from the outside stairs and
would have done so but for the inexplicable
effect that death has
For they sensed the tragedy beyond the
locked door. Man Is not yet entirely re-
moved from the animal stage; his instincts
are still strong. The two men, moved by a
common impulse, pressed against the door.
Something seemed to tell them that they
must not delay.
So it was that the clerk moment later
shrieked from the inn door to Alayne, speed
Ing down the driveway. The man watched
her skid into the letter box and then turn
down the main road. He saw that pursuit
on foot was useless. And while the owner
of the inn owned a motor car, he was not
present There we're no other patrons this
stormy day whose cars might be pressed into
pursuit.
He ran to the telephone and called up
police headquarters. But the sight upstairs
had unnerved him. He could give no coherent
description either Of Allayne or of her motor
car he couldn't even tell whether the woman
who had been with Halsey had driven away
in a limousine an open car. So that the
policemen on their beats, to whom the news
was flashed had nothing which to work.
They couldn't hold up every automobile that
contained a woman. Moreover, by the time
that the news had been relayed to- them
Allayne had sped up her own driveway and
into her own garage.
1t was the first murd + that was not an
ordinary killing following drunken brawl
that had occurred in Jenkins tenure Of Office.
His secretary told him of the CRIME as soon
as the news had reached headquarters. And
Jenkins, jamming soft hat on his head and
wrggling into an overcoat. ran downstairs
from his private Office to the street. where
a car was always in readiness for him.
"Hicrest Inn, SAM" he sad to his chauf-
feur. Behind him came a sergeant of tho
detective bureau, followed by two plain
clothes men and a police surgeon, but Jen-
kins did not wait for them. They followed
IN another machine, but their chief was on
the scene several minutes before they ar.
rived.
Alayne had never studied criminal law;
no books on evidence had been included in
the curricula Of the schools that she had
attended. Otherwise she would have known
how hopeless it is for the most astute GRIM
inal to endeavol1 to deceive the trained mind
of the criminal investigator. She had thought
that If she left q revolver close to Halseys
fingers the natural assumption would be that
he had killed himself. She realized Of course,
that the presence Of a companion in the
room with the dead man would arouse police
suspicion, but that the fashion Of Halsey
death should be doubted never occurred to
her
She did not know that when a man kills
himself with a revolver the wound is burned
by the powders flash. And, Of course. one
glance told jenkins that the dead man had
not fired the shot. There were no marks Of
powder, no burn upon the flesh.
But the gravest error that Alayne had
made was the fact that two weapons were in
the room. She had left Halsey's own revolver
upon the table!
This does not argue that Allayne POSSESSES ed
a mentality below the average. On the con
trary, her brain was far superior TO the aver
age one. But the greatest criminals in his.
tory have made faux pas equal to this Of
hers. Crime is abnormal; all natural processes
of thought are swept away in the emotions
aroused by crime. Allayne was defying he
law for purposes that seemed justifable to
her. And the moment that she embarked
upon that abnormal course OF defiance her
usual reasoning powers were swept away.
She had an eye for detail, inherited from her
father. But there never has been a skilled
criminal whose eye for details was all
observing that it saw them all. Her mistake,
glaring though it was, was one that might
have been made by the most crafty law
breaker in the world
Two weapons! No burn upon the dead
mans forehead. Murder beyond the remotest
question Jenkins decided in his first glance,
a glance that swept the room.
Continued Next Sunday