The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-03-09
CHAPTER xxxIIr Continued

And he admits that he had left
a, blueprint in your Office, which
was his reason for telephoning your
Ruth clapped her hands softly to-
gether. who can corroborate his
story that he called you from the
station at ten minutes after two?
Suppose it was Cowan Suppose he
himself talked with Borden over
YOU telephone, quarreled with him
over some woman, then"
"E FOLD up!" Jack laughed. BE
Il L fore you slip the moose about
CoWan's neck, tell me first how he
got into my office, how he knew ]
had gun"
Watt" Ruth interrupted, her
brow wrinkled in thought. I'm
about to get something. Let me
think! Oh, yes! 1t was a
f1eeting thought that occurred to me
this afternoon when your cleaning
woman, Lefty Miller, was telling her
story to McMann.
She says she was already in your
office, had just entered with her
cleaning things, when you returned.
I think We have there the expIe IA
ton Of how the murderer p lined
access to your office!"
Il don't quite see," Jack &C
knowledged, frowning.
THE cleaning women nearly al
ways leave the outer door on latch.
so that they won't have to bother
with unlocking it each time they
make a trip in and out of the Of
flee.
Minnie does. I know, for Mr..
Borden came back to his office one
evening after we'd all left for the
DAY and found the door unlocked,
with Minnie emptying the waste
baskets into the sack in the hall.
He bawled her out; told me about it
the next morning.
Probably Lefty had left your door
on latch, for convenience, and in
leaving, hurriedly after you returned
she did not click it on again. Did
you try the door when you left, to
see If it was locked?" She waited
breathlesSly for his answer.
Jacks thoughtful frown deepened.
Then, slowly: II can't remember
giving the door a thought. I was
too cut up over the loss of that big
insurance commission, and it's effect
on our wedding plans, to think of
whether the door was locked or not.
And, of course, I expected Lefty to
return Immediately to clean"
Il thought sol" Ruth was trium-
plant. III have McMann ask her
tomorrow if she didn't leave the door
on latch, and if, as I'm sure she will,
she says she did, one big piece of
the puzzle slips into place. Some
one besides yourself had access to
your Office. I suppose no one besides
you and Miss Barnes has key?"
Jack shook his head, then
- grinned. mo And McMann,
being nobody's fool, considered the
possibility of poor little Miss Barnes
having murdered the man across the
airshaft. possibly because she didn't
like the way he wore his hair or
the color of his necktie.
But Miss Barnes Immediately
gave an ironclad alibi. Shed gone
to lunch. Immediately after 1 o'clock,
with Miss Parkes, a stenographer
across the hall from my Office, and
the two girls had Shopped after
lunch. finishing up a Saturday
afternoon orgy with a movie.
"He checked her alibi then and
there and found it perfect. But to
get back to your case against Cowan
poor, unsuspecting devil! Sup
posing that he did kill Borden, for
motives We can only guess at; there
still remains your pistol in Borden's
Office.
"Cowan could not have had time
to go after it before Rita arrived, or
II he had had time, how could he
Nave got in? We can be very sure
that Borden's door was locked.
"And again, if Cowan did not-and
why should he?-retrieve the gun
with which Borden had tried to de-
fend himself. firing toward his muir
derer in my office window, we come
smack upon the foolish conclusion
that Rita herself, after robbing the
body, took the gun away with her,
TOO No, darling, I'm afraid it won't
wash"
No-o-o," Ruth agreed reluctant,
ly. She had no love for Bill Cowan!
"But Jack. there are other bits of