Evening star., 1923-06-07

You're way off. Morton, when you
sneer at a locked room.
1T was lock ed mean impenetra-
bly, locked There is no secret pas
sage-of that I'm sure. Your ingeni-
GUS idea of removing and replacing a
whole pane of glass was clever. 1
grant, but we've seen that not pane
has been lately reputtied. They're
all framed in old. dried, hard and even
painted putty"
way might have been devised"
Cant think of any. We've exam
ined all the window sashes and door
frame-oh. we'll, as far as | can see
the room was absolutely unenterable.
But. notwithstanding. I'm going TO
work on a murder basis. Because.
inexplicable as that seems, there are
even more insurmountable difficultieS
in the way of the suicide theory.
Now. l suppose you've had the finger
print expert in?'
"So-I haven't-not yet"
Good Lord, What kind of de-
tective are you? Well. get him. and
put him to work. What about foot
prints
Inside the ROOM"
"Or outside. either But inside. L
suppose has been trampled by score
You can't get footprints on a thick
rug" the discounted Morton grum-
bled.
Sometimes you can. And pol
shed floor will often show marks.
What have you done, anyway?
There was enough to do. Mr.. Cray.
Morton fared back at him. Il have
been busy every minute since l be
gan. except for a few hours sleep"
Over twenty-four hours since the
alarm was given. You've put in at
least twelve, then. What have you
done?"
"A lot I've found out, to my own
satisfa ction. that-if il is a murder
Gordon Lockwood knows all about it,"
You suspect him.
Either OF the deed, or of guilty
knowledge
And his motive??"
Money. That young man 10 over
head and ears in debt"
ITO whom"
TO shops-jewelers florists. res
taurants. All the debts gay young
blade would incur"
You amaze me, Morton. Lockwood
isn't that sort"
! Isn't he? You're deceived like
every one else. by that icy calm Of
his. He stares haughtily. and appears
above and beyond ordinary mortals.
deep"
well, how did he do it,
With his penholder. smooth
sharp silver penholder. And he took
the money anu the ruby
And how did he leave the room?"
Don't ask me that. That's his Sc
cret. But I've notion he was in
cahoots with that new Jap. the one
that vamoosed. | theorize." Morton
waxed important as he noted the
prosecutor's attention. that the Jap
had some grudge against Waring, and
IL was he who branded his forehead.
and who contrived way TO leave the
room locked behind him. Why. l read
L. l.v L.
was turned from the other side of the
door by means of a slender steel bar
through the key handle. and string
from the bar. leading down and under
the door. Once outside the murderer
pulled the string, the bar turned the
key In the lock. the bar fell to the
floor and he dragged it under the
door by means of the string"
Ingenious. But il implies a door
raised from the floor
II know. And this one isn't. But
ii all goes TO prove that there can be
some way-some diabolically clever
way TO do the trick. And the Japa-
nese are diabolically clever. And so
is Lockwood. And if the two worked
together they could accomplish Won
ders Then Lockwood. with his
wooden face. could disarm suspicion.
/ The Jap. let US say. couldn't, so Lock
wood packed him off.
"Interesting-but all theory"
ITO be proved or disproved. then"
Yes, but meantime you are losing
time on more practical investigation.
Let's look outside for footprints
mean for any one coming or going
from this side entrance
1.-The French window? Nobody
comes or goes that way in this
weather: the path isn't even shoveled.
That's used mostly in summer time"
Nevertheless Cray opened the
door. somebody has been here"
Morton looked out and stared hard.
How had no come to neglect matter
Of such Importance. There were two
plainly visible lines OF footprints in
the snow. one quite obviously coming
toward the house and one going away
from 1t.
There's your murderer" said Cray.
CONTINUED tomorrow