The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-01-13
Murder At BRIDGE
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"VTERY sinplel When Sprague
pulled open this drawer, which
was just at the height Of his stom-
ach, he received bullet in his
heart.
See these four little holes?
A wise was screwed into the bo4om
Of the drawer so that it gripped the
gun with its silencer at an upward
angle. A piece of string was tied
to the trigger and fastened some
how to the underside of the draw
er, so that when Sprague pulled the
drawer open the string was drawn
taut and the trigger pulled.
Practically the same mechanism
by which he tried to murder me. -.
The kick of the gun jerked the
drawer shut. All Miles had to do
when he was pretending to look for
Sprague was to turn off the trophy
room light, by button in the hall"
"Then he had the rest Of the night
to remove the gun!"
Eyes. Some time during the
night, after Flora was asleep with a
sedative, he removed the gun and
the holes the screws had made.
His next concern was to make
the murder jibe completely with
Captain Strawn's theory Of a gun
man who had trailed his quarry to
the Miles home and shot him.
through the window.
1.-THE window already was open,
but the screen must be raised, too,
and Sprague's flngerprints had to be
on the nicked catches by which the
curtain screen is raised or lowered.
OF course, Sprague had not touched
the screen-''
do you mean to say he logged
the corpse to the window and lift
ed 1t up so that he could press the
stiff fingers upon the nicked
catches?'
NO" Dundee answered. THAT
was not necessary. He simply re-
moved the curtain screen and car
ried it to where Sprague's right
hand lay, palm upward, on the floor,
and pressed the thumb and fore
finger against the nickel catches.
But the fingerprints thus made
we're .reversed-as I discovered
when 1 examined the prints in Car
raway'G Office today.
miles could not turn the stiff
hand over without bruising the dead
flesh; consequently the print of the
forefinger was on the catch where
the thumb print normally would
have BEEN"
"Well-" Sanderson drew a deep
breath "He was a cleVerer man
than any of us suspected, and it is a
pity that Mia did not fear him as
she feared Sprague's vengeance
when she made her will"
"TTELLO! What are you doing
l. Il back hereP" Dundee ex-
claimed in surprise when, upon re-
turning to the living room, the
three men found Penny Grain. y
dad wants a private word with
you," Penny explained, her brown
eyes glowing with happiness. "He's
on the front porch And you
ought to see mother! She looks
like a 20-year-old bride!"
When Dundee joined him on the
porch, Roger Grains handsome
face flushed painfully, but there was
happiness in his brown eyes, too.
s'Serena Hart asked me to thank
YOU for giving her Penny'S mes
sage to pass on to me. I'm sure
you've guessed a lot, but what you
probably don't know is that Serena
used the securities I had sent to
her for safe keeping, to play the
market with.
"She wouldn't let me touch a
penny of the money until she had
turned it into enough to clear up
all my debts in Hamilton.
Then" and he sighed slightly.
"she sent me home. Not that
I'm sorry. I'm going to try to make
Margaret and Penny happy
Through" Penny called from
the doorway, and her red lips were
so adorably rounded over the word
that Bonnie Dundee forgot Tracey
Miles and his ingenious schemes.
There was room for nothing in
his mind but an ingenious scheme
of his own-a plan to get her alone
so that he could kiss that soft, pro-
vocative mouth.
The End