New Britain herald., 1929-02-27
@E E, RI ]; 4, AGK !!a:: X! RE}!!Gz;E|5!Q,{!X RE}!z;| 5!,{!X

ipermit MT. Ferber here to take your fingerprints. It is my duty to tell you that none of you is com.
 pelled to do 90 unless you are placed under arrest as suspect. he added. with slow. significance How about it? Anybody got any objections?'
 "I have no objection" Mrs. Bor- den answered promptly.
 Its all right with mel" Rita Dubois answered defiantly.
 Ruth and Jack agreed almost si- multaneously, and five minutes later the ugly. shameful business was accomplished. Seated at the desk again. McMann compared the fresh prints with the enlarged pho- tographs of the fingerprints which Ferber had found in the death chamber"
 Mrs. Borden. you were wearing gloves Saturday. I presume? Did you remove them during eith, r visit?" the detective sergeant asked.
 T was wearing gloves on both my visits, of course, and l did not remove them,' Mrs. Borden an- swered.
 That accounts for it!" McMann muttered to Ferber. who was bend. ing over him. You. too, Rita?' he asked casually. without looking up.
 Yes! was wearing gloves anl l didn't take them off"
 Then how do you account for the fact that the print of your right thumb was found on each drawer of Miss Lester's desk?" Mc- Mann demanded.
 Jacks hand closed so hard over Ruth's that the girl winced, but she was not conscious that she was hurt: she only knew that here was evidence that Rita Dubois had been searching her-Ruth's- desk for something. Had Rita found the thing she was looking for-the gun with which to kill Harry Bor- den, perhaps?
 "Oh! forgot" Rita was answering. defian'ly. T wanted to paste together the two halves of 1 the five hundred dollar bill Harry had given me. was looking for paste. and had taken off my glove to do the job
 With Borden In a hurry to get rid of you?' McMann reminded her. Tt was Harry who suggested it." Rita answered. "We were in the outer office. saying goodby-" She glanced, ashamed, at Mrs. Bor- den. who was looking steadily at her own claspad hands. "Id just stuffed the two halves of the bill in my handbag and Harry said ! might lose one of them. and sug- gested ] paste them together ] looked for the paste and couldn't find it. and he was in such a fidge, that I went on without bothering about the paste. and later bought a little tube at the drug store." "There's paste pot in plain sight on Benny's desk" Ruth could not refrain from telling the detec- tive.
 McMann glanced at her and smiled slightly. as if to assure her that he was very much on the job Then. with .he suddenness of cat bouncing upon mouse: "Wha: did you do with the gun, Rita? Or course we'll find it sooner or later. but you might as we'll save us the trouble!"
 Ruth gasped, tried to realize all that McMann's question meant. as Jacks hand again closed with fiercely exultant pressure upon hers.
 Gun? What are you talking about?' Rita almost screamed.
 The .3S caliber Colts automatic that you found in the bottom draw CT of Miss Lester's desk" McMann interrupted coolly. You were looking for 1t. and you found it. Borden had told you. as he had told several other people. that Miss Lester owned gun, kept in her desk in case Of a holdup. Borden wouldn't give you the other half Of that all-important $500 bill. and you were desperate for need of it. You couldn't wait till Saturday night You quarreled with him, pretended to be leaving. went into the outer office. got the gun out of the drawer. and-shot him."
 Rita had gone dead white as the detective summed up against her. but when he had finished she laughed. her wildly rouged lips twisting in an ugly loop of disdain.
 Sounds simply swell, don't it? But listen here, and get his straight: didn't know Baby-face had gun in her desk; there wasn't one in the bottom drawer when looked for the paste. and I didn't kill Harry Borden. That's the truth, and you can third degree me till hell freezes over if you want to-"
 "Then-someonc else had already killed him with that gun when you looked for the paste to stick to- gether that bill you'd taken off his body?" MoMann shot at the defi- ant dancer.
 Wrong again. big boy," Rita answerei insolently. He was | alive when I came and alive when l left as I seem to remember hav- ing told you betore!' Ferber said something to Nc Mann in low voice. and the de- tective frowningly studied two pho togra phs of fingerprints. Then: