Evening star., 1928-06-18
CHAPTER XIII.
The Third Tragedy.

tNoEember % and November so)
The following Sunday evening, No.
vcnber %, Markham invited Inspector
Moran and Heath to the Stuyvesant
Club for an informal conference. Vance
and had dined with him and were
present when the two police officials
arrived. We retired to Markham's favo-
rite corner OF the clubs lounge room
and soon general discussion of the
Greene murders was under way.
m rather amazed" said the inSpec-
TOR. ms voice even quieter than usual,
"tnat nothing has turned up there are
numerous lines to be explored, even II
the right one Is not hit upon immedi-
ately. But in this affair there appears
70 be nothing whatever on which to
concentrate.
THAT fact in itself. I should saw
reJoined Vance. constitutes a distir,-
gushing characteristic of the case
which shouldn't be overlooked. don't "
know: It's clew of vital Importance, and
Il only We could probe its significance
l think we'd be on our way toward q
solution"
"A fine elew that isl" grumbled
Heath. What clew have you got,
III,
bully clew, says ]. And what Is it?'
asks the Inspector. The fact that there
amt nothing to 90 ont says l."
Vance smiled.
You're so literal. sergeant! What I
was endeavoring to express, was this !:
when there are no clews In q case--no
tell-tale indications-one Is Justified
In regarding everything as a clew-or.
rather. as a factor In the puzzle To be
sure. the great difficulty lies In fitting
together these apparently inconse-
quential pieces. rather think we've at
least hundred clews in our possession:
but none of them has any meaning so
long as it's unrelated to the others.
This affair is like one of those silly
word-puzzleS where all the letters are
redistributed into a meaningless jum-
BILE. The task for the solver Is to re-
arrange them into an ineligible word
or sentence"
Could YOU name just eight or ten
OF those hundred clewS for me?" Heath
requested ironically. IT sure would ike
10 get busy on something definite"
You know 'em all sergeant" Vance
refused to fall In with the others
bantering manner I'D say that prac-
tically everything that has happened
since the first alarm reached you might
be regarded as a clew."
"Sure!" The sergeant had lasped
again into suilen gloom. The foot
prints, the disappearance of the revolt
yer, that noise Rex heard in the hall
But we've run all those leads up against
blank wall"
"Oh. those thingsT" Vance sent rib
bon of blue smoke upward Yes. they're
clews OF kind, But I was referring
more specifically TO the conditions eX-
iSting at the Greene mansion-the or
ganisms OF the environment there-the
psychological clements OF the situation" /"
" Don't get of again on your meta
physical theories and eSoteric hypo-
theses" Markham interjected tartly,
We've either got TO find a practical
modus operandi. or admit ourselves
beaten"
but. Markham old man, you're
beaten on the face of 1t unless you can
put your chaotic facts into some kind
of order. And the only way you'll be
able TO do that is by process of prayer
ful analysis"
''You give me some facts that've got
some sense 10 en-" challenged Heath.
and I'll put EN- together soon en-
ough."
THE sergeant's right" was Mark
hams comment "Youl admit that as
yet We haven't any significant facts to
work with"
"Oh, therell be more"
Inspector Moran sat up, and his eyes
narrowed,
What do you mean by that, MIR.
vance," II was obvious that the re-
mark had struck some chord of agree
ment In him.
"The thing isn't over yet" Vance
spoke with unwonted sombreness, THE
pictures unfinished There's more
tragedy to come before the monstrous
canvas is rounded out. And the hideous
thing about II Is that there's no way
of stopping II, Nothing now can halt
the horror that's ct work, It's got 10
go on"
"You feel that. tool" The inspectors
voice was off Its normal pitch, by
God This Is the first case I've ever
had that frightened me-"
Don't forget, sir" argued Heath but
without conviction, that We got men
watching the house day and night"
There's no security In that, serge
ant" asserted Vance. THE killer is al
ready In the house, He's part of the
deadly atmosphere OF the place He's
been there for years, nouriShed by the
toxins that seep from the very stones
Of the walls,
Heath looked up,
"A member of the familye You said
that once before"
Not necessarily. But acme one who
has bean tainted hy the perverted situa.