Evening star., 1924-03-25
By ]. S. FLETCHER
Copyright, 1929. by Norman Renington Compaay.l

the police headquarters on leaving
the fiat and had poured out all his
story. And now the authorities want
ed to know. With the usual ofnclai
caution they wanted to know by de-
grees. They wanted to know II Wal
ters was in his right mind; if he had
any justification for his statement; If
there was anything further to be
learned of the incident which he had
reported.
ported what he saw to you, Mr.. Tress.
and also to you. DIR. Hextall," said the
elder of the two visitors. $50 you're
as conversant with the details as we
are. You must admit that there's
evidence there which might connect
Miss Tress with Kesteven's death"
She was around there with a re-
volver"
II never yet heard of somnambu-
list shooting a wide-awake person"
interrupted Smith, cynically. II
should say such a thing was never
things absurd on the face of it. 1t
would argue that
The detective smiled even more
cynically than Smith.
"A moment"' he said. lifting
Tress was in a state of somnambu
lism. This man Walters didn't tel,
us that Miss Tress was walking in
her sleep. All that Walters tells
amounts to this-'On such and such Il
night, at such and such time, saw
Miss TreSs come from the direction of
the Spinney in which keSteyen'S dead
body was afterward found. and she
had revolver in her hand" Do you
see? Now, if man is found in n
particular place, shot dead, and il is
proved that certain person was near
that place and in possession OF a re-
SoIver at a time approximating to the
th--Ayhat
anything We know to the contrary,
Miss Tress may have had her own
reasons for shooting this man kest-
even. And we do not know that she
is given to somnambulism."
Hextall, who had exchanged
whisper with Smith drew the visit
ors' attention to himself.
Il think--having consulted with
Mr.. TresS and with our friend Mr..
Smith-that 1 had better tell you all
j know" he said. Mr.. Tress is nat
urally very anxious about his sisters
safety, and he is desirous that we
should not seem to make any mys-
terry or show any attempt at conceal
ment. So l may as well inform you
that l am aware, from experience, of
Miss Tress' tendency to somnambu-
lism, and that | am absolutely GER
tain that she was walking in her
sleep when Walters saw her"
He went on to detail his own ex-
periences with regard to what he had
"a
Lynne Court; in his desire to tell the
whole truth, he told of the discovery
of the revolver and its one discharged
cartridge. The detectives listened in
silence and made no sign, and as they
gave no immediate answer when Hex
tall had finished his statement Dar-
rell grew impatient.
Look here" he said suddenly. Il
want to know where I am, We've
told you all we know-at least DIR.
Hextall's told you; and we can't tell
more because we don't know more.
What l want to know is, Are you go
ing to arrest my sister,"
The elder detective smiled.
Not at present, at any rate, Mr..
Tress," he answered. II told you We
came to make inquiries, and we've
made them All we have to do now is
TO make our report. If we want your
quirieS, you know" he added, with a
look at Smith-"well, 1 suppose we
shall find her here or at Lynne Court"
she's not going to run away; any
you'll take my advice. you'll turn
your attention to finding out who
really did kill kesteven, and who's
killed Miss Brock. too, instead of
clever chap, but I'll lay q thousand
pounds to sixpence that whoever kill
ed Kesteven killed Miss Brock, too!
And if you've got that fool Walters
him that he'd better not turn up here
again. won't have him back
The detectives smiled and went
away, and when they were clear of
the room Smith motioned the others
to resume their seats at the table
round which they had been discuss
ing the situation previous to the OFF,
cial visit
Now, look here." he said. wed
better face matters. I'm afraid-I'm
very much afraid,-that this will re-
suit in Miss Tress' arrest.
You know what these chaps are,
Hextall.-give them plausible idea
and they'll stick to ii like grim death.
And we're face to face with the very
grim and pertinent fact that TickelI
is dead"
why is that so very pertinent
and grim?' demanded Darrell
Because the police had made up
their minds that Tfckell was the
culprit," answered Smith with de-
cision. They'd have hanged Tickell
if he'd iived-aS sure as fatei But