Evening star., 1921-10-16

was killed wouldn't look nice now"
That about settles it, Bell said,
slowly.
We haven't seen the bathroom"
said Reggie.
It was bathroom of some size but
no luxury. Only the sheer necessi-
ties of bathing were provided. The
lower half of the wall was tiled. the
floor of linoleuin. Reggie stopped in
the doorway. Anything strike you
about it, Bell?"
Yes. Nice and clean. Tidy. don't
you know. But there's no towels
and no sponge. Yet in the bedroom
everything was ready for Rand to
sleep there tonight-pajamas. brushes
towels? Didn't he have a sponge?"
What do YOU mean, sir?"
"This is where the slayer cleaned
up after the murder. And he took the
dirty towels and the bloody sponge
away with him. Just wait. will you?"
And he went into the bathroom on all
fours. About the middle Of the room
he stopped and pored over the lin
oleum. and felt it with the tips of his
fingers. Then he stood up and went
to the window. opened 1t. and looked
out. He examined the sill. and then
sat himself on 1t in the manner of a
window cleaner. and began to study
the window frame. He pulled out a
pocket knife, and. with great care.
cut a piece of wood. He put this
down on the edge of the porcelain
basin and resumed his study. When
on his hands and knees. He lay down on
his stomach and stretched underneath
the bath. When he stood up he had
in his hand something that glittered.
He held it out on his palm to Bell. 49,
Whats that, sir? A match box?"
"It might be. A gold match box
Professionally. No name. No initials.
On opening-we find inside-a little
white powder"-he smelled It, put a
fragment on the tip of his finger and
in. Bell. come in. See what you can
make of the place. I can't find
finger print anywhere" He slipped
the gold box into his pocket.
The two detectives came in and
DEGGIE sat on the edge of the bath
IN We'll well. Some things we do
know. The dead man is Rand. the
elusive Rand. He had papers worth
burning. He was killed by power
full man with one or two blows. After
death he was stripped and dressed in
the unmarked clothes. probably here.
For his body was brought where a
mess could be cleaned up. to have the
face smashed in. You can see the
dents in the linoleum where his head
lay. And then he was pitched out by
that window. There's bit of animal
matter. probably human tissue, on
that scrap of wood. Then the slayer
packed up everything that was
bloody and went off: and one of EN-
ha c1o Of la oil Two Po nd
one of 'em used cocaine"
Supt. Bell shrugged his shoul-
ders. What I should call baf-
fling case. 1 mean to say we don't
seem to get near anybody"
and went back to the sitting room.
There he tumbled Mr.. Rand's ciga-
rettes out of their box. and put his
bit of wood in it,
II suppose there's nothing more
ing round the room: TRY it with the
lights on. All. what's that? He went
to the gas fire and picked out of its
Jumps of sham coal a scrap of gleam-
ing metal. The next moment he was
down on his knees. pulling the fire to
pieces. GIVE me an envelope, will
you?" he said over his shoulder. and
they saw he was collecting scraps OF
broken glass.
What is 1t, Sir?
less eyeglasses. And IL we're lucky
we can reconstruct the lenses. When
Rand was hit his glasses jumped off
and smashed themselves. That's the
fourth thing the slayer didn't think
Of"
"You don't miss much. Mr.. Fortune.
Still 1t is baff1ing. very baffling. What
was Rand. would you say? 1t was
worth somebody's while to do him in.
I suppose he knew something. But
what did he know?"
Reggie was putting on his over
coat. He collected his envelope and
his cigarette box. looking the while
with dreamy eyes at Supt. Bell.
"Yes,' he said: "yes, there's lot
of unknown quantities about just
now, Who the devil was Rand? viii
YOU ring for the lift, Inspector"
When he WAS left alone with Bell he