Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-17
By Arthur SOmers Roche

motor car, or a fire blowing out. But
cries OF alarm convinced him that 1t
was the report of revolver. He ran
down the stoop and in a few strides
had reached Madison avenue. There.
upon the sidewalk. Just around the
corner lay young Calvert. He was
bleeding from "a wound in the head,
and a glance told Morphew that the
young man was dead. A policeman
arrived, and in 20 minutes the whole
detectice force of the city was en-
gagged In the search for the murderer.
But the police efforts had awaited
nothing.
This was not TO be wondered at; the
police had ho clues. Although half a
dozen people had been within so feet
of the young man when he was shot,
not one of them could give any exact
description of his murderer. Summed
up. the testimony Of the various eye
witnesses amounted to this: A taXicab
had rounded the corner from Fifty
sixth street; it was driven by a man
in suit that. according to one wilt
ness, was brown and to another was
blue. His headgear was debatable.
One said that 1t was a chauffeur's
leather visored cap. another that 1t
was a black fedora, and still third
that 1t was a cloth cap. Through the
window of the machine hand had
been thrust; revolver in the hand
had exploded, and young Calvert had
fallen. Only one witness claimed to
have seen the shot fired. The others
at first thought, as Morphew had
done, that the machine had back-flred.
But the man who saw the hand
emerge from the rear Of the taxicab
had screamed, and the rest OF the peo-
pie had guessed that a crime had been
committed. The taxi had sped up
Madison avenue and vanished. No
one knew its number.
There were statements issued by
members of Calvert's household to
the effect that, so far as his family
knew, the young man had had no enc
mics. Yet Morphew stated that he re-
membered that a taxi had followed
himself and the murdered man up
Fifth avenue and across Fifty-sixth
street. He had noted its slow prog
ress only subconSciously. not until
after the crime had been committed
did the trailing taxi mean anything TO
Norphew. But the very fact that the
murderer had followed the young
man. awaiting an opportunity to Kill
seemed to prove that the crime was
not an act of sudden insanity, but a
carefully planned AFFAIR.
Put why?
This was the question that IGdgely
Calvert put to Holland that afternoon.
The detective had hardly reached his
office when the elder Calvert's attor-
neys had got In touch with him, and
the result was an appointment with
the banker.
4 MAN whose gray hair was coarse
- and thick, whose features were
large and aggressive, Ridgely calvert
bore his SO years lightly.
This afternoon, though shocked and
grieved beyond measure. he neverthe-
less was in complete control of all his
faculties, and the same icy determina-
ton that had marked his business
career was visible in his manner now.
Il want you TO get the man or men
who did this. Holland" he said. Il
don't care how long II takes or how
much it costs. I want you to get
them
You know that I'll do my best"
said Holland. II liked Torrance"
80 did every one that ever met
him." said the father. "As decent a
lad as ever lived. was his father. but
IL I'd been his brother I'd not have
known him any better. A clean boy.
No dirty intrigues. no double life, moth
ing like that. No saint, and I wouldn't
Of a boy that any man would have
been glad to see his daughter marry.
Now. why did a cheap gangster trail
him in a carr"
That is the last question I'll be able
to answer replied Holland. Before
we reach that question We'll have to
ask and answer many others"
'Oh, know you'll be thorough. And
I'll help yoI all l can. Don't be afraid
TO ask me anything"
Il won't" said Holland.
Now, you said there was no scandal
in the life of Torrance. You're certain
of that?"
Absolutely Mind, no man knows
everything about the life OF another.
but I'd stake my immortal soul on y "
Holland nodded.
We'll assume that you're right.
Now then, what do you know about
his movements yesterday morning."
No more than the papers have
printed" replied Calvert.
I'VE had breakfast together. He
asked me If I We're going to church.
Il told him that I had some work to
do. He said that he guessed he'd go.
And that's all that I know
Then 7 won't harass you with any
more questions now said Holland.
AS matter of fact, he could think
Of no other questions to ask the be-
reaved parent.
He left the house Of grief and visited
Morphew. But the financier could add
little to what had appeared in the
morning papers. Nor could the wit
nesses of the murder shed any addi-
tional light upon the tragedy.
THIS much Holland had managed to
ascertain by nightfall. however
The senior Calvert had not been de-
cetved as to the mode OF life Of his
dead son. Holland talked with several
intimates of the young man, and as.
sured himself that no scandal lay be.
hind the tragedy.
And then, that night. in his own
apartment, he bethought him Of the
anonymous letter which he had re-
ceived Saturda'- evening. Could there
be any connection between his receipt
of that letter and the murder Of Tor.
rance Calvert?
There was no reason why any one
should murder Torrance Calvert. At
least. no reason that Holland could
imagine. And he was convinced that
prolonged investigation would fail to
discover a reason.
But If things happen without rea-
son, they occur because of accident.
What was the nature of the accident
that caused Calverts death?
The bullet that killed him had not
been aimed at some one else. This
theory of accident must be dismissed
at once. It was untenable, for Nor
phew testified that the taxi in which
the murderer rode had followed him
self and Calvert for several blocks.
The murderer, then, had aimed at
Calvert.
This very elaboration, this sinister
biding of his time, proved that the