The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-12-15

heavy suitcase she had brought up
from the basement with her.
And when he had finished his
fruirless search, she knelt and
silently smoothed the coarse, util-
itarian garments he had disar-
ranged.
Five minutes later Dundee was
alone in the house where murder
had been committed under such
strange and battling circumstances
that afternoon.
He was not nervous, but again he
made a tour Of inspection Of the
first floor and basement, looking
into closets, testing windows to
make sure they were all locked.
Everywhere there were evidences
Of the thoroughness of the police
detectives who had searched for the
weapons with which Mia Selim
had been murdered. In the base
ment, as he had subconsciously
noted on his headlong dash to ques-
ton Lydia Carr, the furnace doors
swung open, and the lids OF the
laundry tubs had been left propped
up, after the unavailing search.
He plodded YEARLY up the base
ment stairs and on into the kitchen.
Perhaps the ice box had something
fit to eat in 1.-THE fruit intended
for Nita's and Lydia's Sunday
breakfast. Those caviar and an
chovy sandwiches had certainly not
stuck with him long. ..
He was making his way toward
the electric refrigerator when he
stopped as suddenly as if he had
been shot.
The kitchen door, which he had
taken especial pains to assure him
self was locked, when he had made
the rounds Immediately after the
departure Of Captain Strawn and
his men, was standing slightly
ajarl
Some one had entered this housed
nUNDEE stared blankly at the
- door, which was equipped with
with a modern lock. Some one with
a key But why had the door
been left ajar? To make escape
easier?
With the toe of his shoe Dundee
pushed the door to, heard the click
Of the lock, then, all thought Of food
routed from his mind, made quick
but almost silent dash into the din
ing room to secure one Of the pair
of tall wax tapers, which, in their
silver candlesticks, served as orna-
ments for the sideboard.
If the intruder still was In the
houe he could be nowhere but in
that unfinished half of the gabled
top story. The nearer stairs were
those in the back hall, and Dundee
took them two at a time, regardless
Of the noise.
Who had preceded him stealthily?
BY the aid of his lighted can
die he discovered an electric switch
at the head Of the stairs, ficked it
on and found himself in a wide hall,
one wall of which was finished with
buff tinted plaster and three doors,
the other Of rough boards with but
a single door.
With his candle held high, so
that its light should not blind him,
and well aware that it made him
a perfect target, Dundee opened the
implanted door and found himself
in the dark, musty- smelling room
that had served Mia Selim and the
Grains before her as a storeroonl.
From the ceiling dangled green
cord ending in a cheap, clear glass
bulb. But its light was sufficient to
penetrate even the farthest low
hooks made by the three gables.
He blew out his candle and dropped
it as useless now.
A quick tour convinced him that
nothing human was concealed be-
hind one Of Mia Selirn's empty
wardrobe trunks, or behind one of
the several pieces Of heavy old fur
niture, undoubtedly left behind by
the dispossessed Grain family.
Big footprints on the thick dust
which coated the floor showed him
that he was being no more thor
'>ugh than Captain Strawn's brace
of plainclothes detectives had been
much earlier in the evening. Two
pairs Of giant footprints.
With an exclamation he discov-
cred smaller, narrow pair of prints
and followed their winding trail ali
around and across the attic. And
then he remembered. Ralph
Hammond's footprints, of course.
made that morning as he went
about his legitimate business of
measuring and estimating for the
job of turning the storeroom into
bedrooms and bathrooms.
Dundee had not realized that he
was frightened until he was in the
hall again, facing one of the three
doors in the buff-tinted plastered
wall.
With surprise and some amuse-
nlent he became aware that his
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