Evening star., 1924-03-12
The Mystery of Lynne Court
By J. S. FLETCHER
Copyright. 1923. BY Norman Renissto. Company.

charge Of the nurses. Going through
the house on his way to rejoin Smith.
he encountered the boy Ronnie and
his governess and stopped to speak to
them But he gave little more than
seeming attention to the child;
what he wanted was a good look at
Miss Brock, in view Of what Paquita
had told him the previous day. Miss
Brock, however, was not inclined to
iinger, and she drew back into the
ridor in which they met. But Hex
tails sharp, professional eye saw dark
circles under Miss Brooks eyes, and
drawn lines about her mouth. and in
checks was very apparent, and he
drew his own conclusions.
That girl knows something" he
thought, as he left the house and
went Off to find Smith. She looks the
sort. too, to keep her knowledge to
herself. Odd!--if Kesteven was with
Tress at Bologne, how could the boy
have seen him here, talking to the
governess, that night? He must have
been mistaken-and yet Paquita
seen them together. However, that's
matter that can be quickly cleared
up-when it's necessary"
He found Darrell and Smith in the
spinney, at the scene of the murder.
There was nothing to show that any
a.
small clearing in the heart of the
pine wood. in the center of which
stood a rustic seat. There were no
signs of any struggle, no trampling
Of the grass, nothing had been left
there. But round the clearing the po-
lice had placed a rope, and a constable
was on guard to prevent treSpass.
Smith shook his head as Hcxtall came
up;
Il 4
tie blood on a few blades of grass
It's an odd thing, though, seeing how
near this spot is to the house, that
nobody heard the shot l make 1t to
be about two hundred yards from here
to the west wing-now, the sound of a
revolver fired in the silence of the
night would carry lot further than
that. And that makes me wonder IL
Kesteven was really shot here, or III ne
was brought here after he was killed.
eating the constable, has been de-
scribing the position In which the
body was lying when they found it,
and according to my theories. which
are based on evidence, that position
was not exactly consistent with sud
den instantaneous death. A man shot
through the brain falls in a certain
way, which 1 will explain to you
later-now. this body had not fallen
in that way. But we'll go into all
L
inspector there, and I'd like to get
that key from him and have look at
the room in which this man Tlckell
left his things.
The police inspector was only too
willing to play cicerone to the bed
room which Fowler had carefully
locked up, but he insisted that moth
ing should be touched until his own
superiors from the county town and
the expected detective from London
had made their own examination.
Everything is just as we found II.
gentlemen" he said, as he uShered
Hextall and Smith into the room. And
Mr.. Fowler assures me that nothing
had been interfered with up to then
il was exactly as the man left it. And
he didn't leave much, as you can see"
Hextan certainly saw little. On
stand at the foot of the bed lay
small suitcase, thrown. open. II ap-
peared to contain nothing more than
linen and toilet articles. On the dress
ing table lay a razor-uncleaned since
using; near it was china shaving
pot Into this Smith peered curious
ly, and he suddenly lifted his round
face and smiled.
"That's what l wanted to know"
he said. It's rather illuminating. The
gentleman left his mustache behind
you mustn't touch anything. SIR
said the inspector Warninsly. NOT an
We're not going to touch as much
as a pin, my friend" said Smith
soothingly. People who can use their
eyes don't need to finger things Do
You see, Hextall? Tickell evidently
shaved off his mustache--a small
black one-and washed the individual
hairs off the razor into this shaving
pot. However, you also see that he
left q few sticking to the razor-and
I see a few more on that towel Now
what do you deduce from that, ofh-
cer?" he went on, turning with an
arch smile to the inspector. "Of
course, you'd noticed it, eh?''
NO, ! hadn't particularly noticed
that" answered the inspector. But
| my own common sense told me that
lif a man comes to this room and
shaves himself after committing a
murder, he goes away ctean-Shaven.
| And it's for a -shaven man that
| we've sent out our inquiries. They all
forget some detail, these chaps-th1s
| fellow did for himself when he lefi
| that shaving tackle lying about"
"You think he shaved himself after
he shot his man." said Smith inno-
Gently.
| The inspector did not trouble to an
swer that question, except with LOOK
He showed the two visitors out
locked the door again and went off.
! And Smith, when he was out of sight
drew Hextall into the deep window
Il did finger something after ali
Though neither of you noticed 1t, he
said Look here!'
He held up to his companions gaze
! a tiny scrap of some filmy white stun
which looked to Hextall to De no more
! than a bit of rag.