Evening star., 1926-09-15

for half a second and put yourself IN
this child's place? Would you aoan-
don her under the circumstances.
would you?''
I'D hand her over to those saliva
ton Army lasses ] saw in your car
She already knows them. they are her
natural protectors under the circum
stances. The conductor will be will
ing. and your responsibility. entirely
imaginary, | assure you. my boy, Viii
cease, Now let's go back to the tele'
gram from Mrs. Reynolds. do you
think Walter sent 1t as hoax! But
he was speaking to empty air. Tor
Carolita had arisen precipitately from
her seat and hurried from the diner;
Paul in her wake. 'Oh. Lord:
Frank concluded, adding one small |
expressive word: He'll" Then gath /
ering up what remained of his dinner !
he proceeded to join Gaines at the ad' |
joining table.
Hello" he said casually. looking
for you"
cd eonaiIy casually. II was just wait
ing to catch you alone. What's going
On here?" =
You know more about that than l
do, Who are you trailing?'
Gaines shrugged his shoulders.
| That mans death was most un-
fortunate for the Reynolds brothers"
he commented. respectfully as they
were both travelling under assumed
names
come now. Gaines. don't stall.
You know all about Paul: he's abso-
| lutely AL. and Edmund Reynolds was
a good friend to YOU always. and paid
YOU well for what you did for him.
The boys been involved in miserable
business. and lost his head oyer the
girl Who is she? An adventures.
Hollywood star? For goodness sake
let me in, you know everybody.
whats your interest In the case
I'm looking after Paul Reynolds
Now. then. was the man murdered?
Funny thing that there is not
doctor on the train. I examined the
body closely; fact is. / was making
thorough investigation of 1t when you
came aboard There is no sign of any
siolence, but you can't get away
from the broken chain about his neck
Something was on that chain. What
was ii and who took it? That's the
case in a nut she'll"
Whats going to happen
Nothing until the coroner decides
the cause of death. After that
he made an expressive gesture.
II understand that everybody in the
car has been thoroughly searched and
no clue of any kind found.
Searched by train crew. yes.
You mean that they could have
been eVaded?
"Of course. There are any number
of hiding places in a Pullman, and be
sides YOU overlook the small detail
that Walter Reynolds and the woman
| with him left the train at an early
hour this morning.
Come now. Gaines. who did it?''
I'm not ready to say; fact is. l
don't know. But it wasn't young
| Reynolds of course. nor the little
South American girl. nor the Saliva
ton Army lasses. Funny thing my
meeting with Adjutant Gabrielle. I
knew her before she joined the army
lovely woman. terribly upset now
over the affair. but it's fortunate
for the girl that they were in the car.
for now there will be somebody to look
after her"
1T seems to me that you have elm
mated everybody except Walter Rey-
nolds and the woman with him. You
are the man who saw them in conver-
sation with the dead MANI"
"YeS?"
I'm afraid you have a pretty plain
case against them; too bad"
I'm not SO sure. 1t is going to be
mighty difficult to prove anything on
anybody unless the object which was
stolen from the body is found. The
man has no identification papers to
help matters
"Still. if he was on the steamer
Grizaba he can surely be traced
Possibly. but he's a foreigner
they're hard to identify. Say. to
change subject for a moment, what
kind of will did old man Reynolds
think he was making? Aren't YOU
people going to have a law suit on
your hands that will bring that
skeleton shrieking back to life?
thought he was more astute.
II think you are mistaken" Hyatt
replied quietly; "the will is entirely
comprehensive
You know best; I don't pretend to
be a lawyer. but just on the face of it.
looking backward. I couldn't help
wondering. And knowing Walter for
first class crook. | naturally put two
and two together
Gaines. was that woman with Wal
ter his wife?'
Yes"
Did you ever see Mrs. Edmund
Reynolds"
certainly. You remember -
II remember Hyatt cut in with a
hurried look around. Don't go into |
that now, Gaines. Paul doesn't know |
a thing about il and it's best he !
shouldn't for the present.
You're holding something back"
Were waiting for a certain time |
to elapse before making important |
matters public.
Il see
I'D like to have YOU look over these |
telegrams.' Frank handed the batch |
over to him. ''all received at our Los
Angeles office this morning" He |
waited while Gaines studied the mes |
sages. then: "How could Mrs. Edmund
Reynolds have telegraphed me from
this train this morning unless she had
been on board? And If on board
where is she?"
You will find her waiting for you
in Santa Barbara Gaines replied.
This is part of Walter Reynolds
game, whatever it may be. He's had
Some reason for wanting you to meet