Evening star., 1924-01-04
<Continued from Yesterdays Star }

No. and your folks didn't d6tice
no Kind o q attermobile trCIdfi' them,
did they?" Geoff retored. seems
uke she mebbe heade1 a rer.lar pro-
osssion down ouS 1ay last night,
aowsomever. lIrne knows what she
sS Sone and thlf I'm workin' in with
my concI<ete job at the Cayiey's The
Uoc <nt me up to the city now to
=. a little information for him, but
SHe man 1 wanted to see had gone.
80 come to you. l s'pose you folks
cases stored away that you amt got
room to keep records o suicides
which wasn't O. much account noways
ana happened long, time ago?"
,,We might have" Lyons voice
DO with the arrest of Rupert Ashe ?"
Nothin' a-tall, and neither have
we. That's the district attorneys
business and 'tain't troubiin' US none
There was young feller named
Iatin' in that there Wall street with
other folks money, and he went and
killed himself In Benkard's rooms
ten year ago on New Years Day. It's
him and who was in the embezzlin'
with him that the Doc kinder fg-
ured I better look up
sure, / know the case. Some of
the papers mentioned it only last
week in their write-ups on Bernhard 8
career. and we looked over the rec
ords, 80 | know JUS where to lay my
hands on the report. There's nothing
IN 1t; same old stuff of the boy who
lost and couldn't face the music but
you're welcome to a flash at it. Wait
here minute:
Left alone. G5eoff stared with naive
curioslty and interest at the desks
scattered a,5out the room and the men
VINO sal /busily engaged at some of
them Wholly unaware that he HIM
Set vas an object of covert scrutiny.
~ drew a mental comparison Of
their jobs with his regular one. and
be scarce for him in the winters
and the pay slow among his own
Eetghbors, but ii was his trade, and
when this case was over not even
Doc Hood would get him to mixing
Hello, Peters; the inspector says
you were asking for me-" 1t was
Aliens voice which interrupted his
musing, but there was little other
trace of the staid. niddle-aged, shah
looking, far younger man in light
tWeeds who had approached him.
Doctor Hood had the right dope all
right when he told you to tip me
off yesterday morning about listen
ing in on Lanes phone calls during
the day. A woman named Dawn
got him on the wire at eleven fifteen,
and was all up in the air because
detective had been to her the after
noon before and asked her lot Of
insulting questions concerning Lanes
call at her house late last WedneS
day night. She didn't care to men
ton names over the phone. but, of
course. it was because Mr.. Lane had
dined at a certain other house ear
lier. She had told the detective of
o,1 n1r oh,
Lane was in no way responsible for
the mans having sought her out.
she hoped he would use what in
fuence he might have to protect
her from further annoyance and no
toriety. Lane was full of regrets
and apologies, and they both seemed
to be in the pleasantest possible
mood when they rang off,
What happened later?" Geoff
asked
Nothing of Importance during the
day. Lane had dinner at his club
and was sitting around there at ten
o'clock when woman drove up In
smart little car and raised rumpus
at the entrance, demanding to see
Lane. When he came out she sailed
into him for double crossing her and
thinking he could put one over. But
she'd queered him; she'd been down
to Long Island and told the medical
examiner and that deputy Of his
named Peters the whole truth, and
now Lane could go to blazes and do
weren't her words. but I'm giving
you the line she pulled. and 1 got
the voice. all right. It was the
same woman who had called him up
In the morning.
II thought likely" Geoff nodded
you better git the report o. 1t down
to the Doc yourself, though, Mr..
Allen. L got other business he put
me on and l reckon 1 mightn't be
able to go back till all hours; past
'leven, mebbe."
Here you are, Peters" Lyons had
come up to them and laid a thin
sheaf Of typewriter pages before
two. all slightly yellowed with the
passing of, time. Hello. Allen.
What's your dope?"
The two detectives drew slightly
apart and Geoff set himself to his
task, trailing q horny forefnger
down each page.
Lawrence Shirley called at Joseph
Benkard's apartments at half-past
s on the evening OF January. /. He
seemed to be in 2 state Of great sx-
Carp"-so it had been old Henry.
after all!-"supposed no had been
paying a round of New Years calls
and was bit above himself. His
rDoSLeTp bCHnAI0s AA<A Jdot Coul6
home himself and was dressing to
go to a dinner party. but he slipped
on a lounging robe and went In to
receive the young gentleman. The
butler served drinks and retired to
the pantry until about fifteen or
twenty minutes later when he was
startled by the sound of q shot and
= Mr.. Benkards voice, calling him In
a Mortified tone. He rushed back
to the living room to find the young
gentleman, Mr.. Shirley, stretched on
the floor with q bullet hole in his
temple and revolver under his
hand while Mr.. Bernhard stood by
the table. too shocked at hrst to
move"
Benkard's own statement substan-
tiated this The account Mr.. Rob-
bins had previously given and the
rest of the report was concerned
chiefly with the method by which
Shirley had succeeded In approprfa- =
ting more than sixty thousand dol
Lars from the firm of which he was
q trusted employe.
Geof turned next to the clippings,
reading the smaller print laborious-
~. He was determined not to miss
a word. although they were for the
most part mere highly colored ver-
aions of the official report
"No one knew where Lawrence
Shirley came from nor how long he
had been in New York, and, Al no
relatives came forward to claim the
body. Mr.. Bernhard generously Of
fored to defray the funeral expenses.