Evening star., 1924-03-11
Continued from Yesterdays Starr
CHAPTER VIII.
Plain Murder.

Plain Murder.
Hextall threw the kilograms back
to Smith and sprang out of bed. He
was wide awake by that time, and
his brain was setting furiousIy to
work on the problem presented by
this remarkable news. Out of the
seething mass of ideas and impress
sions one resolute conviction forced
itself uppermost.
II must go down to Lynne Court at
once." he said. as he began to dress.
That's certain"
Your days work." suggested
Smith. There's that to consider"
IL know. Fortunately, / can get
help without difficulty--a man close
by. Good heavens. Smith, what an
extraordinary development! ! sup
pose your Nurse Palliser knows what
she is wiring about?"
"If Nurse Palliscr says kesteven
was murdered. he was murdered. an
swered Smith. She meant me to
figure on that without any uncer-
talnty as to his death resulting from
suicide or accident. She's a smart
woman. and she would size things up
for herself In two minutes. So the
next thing will be to find out-who
coming with you"
"Good--good" exclaimed Hextall.
hurrying on with his dressing. 1T
will be IA mighty relief"
car. And as neither of us has break
tasted. I'll run down and tell your
servants that we'll breakfast with
you. hurriedly. We must get to Lynne
Court an quickly as we can"
Left alone. Hextall was suddenly
seized by recollection which turned
him hot and cold with fear. He remem-
bcrcd Paquita's words-words spoken
In all apparent earnestness as she SIT
In his easy chair. pouring out her
i've often been tempted to shoot
him. | could have done 1T once, and
nobody would have ever known"
Was II possible that something had
occurred the previous evening whlch
had made the girl desperate, and that
In her desperation she had killed the
man who was the cause of so much
trouble? 1t might be-and yet there
was the fact that Hextall had left
her carefully watched and guarded.
1t seemed impossible that she could
have done anything without the
knowledge of the two women whom
he had placed in charge of her. He
ran over the wording of the telegram
again. Found shot in the grounds,
said Fowler. Murdered in Lynne
Court spinney," said Nurse Palliser.
more particular. That was out OF
doors. away from the house. Hextall
felt more cheerful after that-he
could not conceive it possible that
Paquita could have escaped from her
nurses into the grounds at night.
Nevertheless. a load OF anxiety was
heavy upon him all the way down TO
Lynne Court. and he had to confess
to himself that his concern for Pa
ouita was due to the undoubted fact
that he had fallen head over ears In
love with her.
their journey until they came in sight
of Lynne Court. perched high on Its
pine clothed hill. AS they turned
| into the village at the the o foot OF ina
Look here" he said to Hextall
| "Styler and I won't go up to the
house with you, at present, anyway
III know this place-there's a very
good wayside inn here-we,n get on
at that and wait events. Go to the
Lynne Arms" he continued. turning
In front of the inn they saw Fow-
Ter, talking to police inspector in
on seeing Hextall, and opened the
' Glad you've come, sir" he said
i've just sent you another. wire
| from Miss Tress. She wanted you to
rs Miss Tress all right" asked
She's all right, sir-upset. OF
course The whole place is upset
i've just sent wire at the same time
from Mr.. Tress to his solicitors, ask,
ing one of them to come at once and
to bring a detective. But as 1 was
saying to the inspector here, ! thinS I
It'll take a good many detectives to
"Hextall," said Smith, IL think we
had better go into the inn and hear
what Fowler has to tell. Perhaps the
inspector will moce with US? Now.
he continued, a little later. when all
five men were closeted in a private
parlor, suppose you give us the
main facts of what has occurred
Fowler? 1 imagine that you're in
possession of them?"
Fowler, who had exchanged a few
words in private with Styler, looked
at Smith with a respectful interest. ;,
Yes, know what's happened, sir;
he answered. what you might call
the plain facts of it. sir-on the sur,
face, as it were; But there's deal
Give us the plain facts, if you
please" said Smith.
Well. sir. it was like TINS; re. re.
Court about o'clock last night, to
wait for Mr.. Tress coming home.
About 10 o'clock he came. Mr.. kest-
even was with him. They'd driven
a
from the driver that they'd been din
ing at the Hotel Metropole there.
And they'd brought Mr.. Tickell with
them" .c ,.- r;.,
ell?" .u S,u .n,.
sav-exactIy. He's a gentleman who
has been to Mr.. Tress's flat in Queen
Anne street, but I don't think he's
ever been down here before:
"He hasn't" he said. II got that
fact ont of the butler. 1t was the
first time Mr.. Tickell had been to
Lynne Court"
"WeIi, sir" continued Fowler, with
a shake of his head, MT. Tress, sir,
he'd evidently been dining rather
freely-you understand? I took him
straight off to bed; he's always quite n,e
manageable under ar those s.,, rreIsome rsIo
nor noisy, and when I'd seen that ne
was perfectly safe, and SOUND asieep,
I let Miss Tress's nurses Know ina.
he'd come back thouSht MISS
had better know. u
Did they call herr" asked Hextall.
"Yes. sir; Nurse Palliser told her
And that Mr.. Kesteven and MT; IickeiI
were there; thought shed better
Enow everything. I waited outside
Miss Tress's rooms while Nurse Pal
User told her. Nurse Palliser' said
she was all right about 1t Wnen sne
beard that Mr.. Tress had gone to
eiaen So then 1 went down. Mr.
Mountain-thats the butler, sir-told
me- the other two had gone into the
billiard room and had had sandwiches
and whisky and soda sent in 10 them.
tot a look at them-for my own
Satisfaction. They were playing pool"
Both sober" asked Smith.
Fowler looked at Hextall with q
knH .y nSor knew either of them any