The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-12-23
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SYNOPSIS

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 Who Killed TRACY KING, or
 cl1esiEa leader found dead iR his
 hotel apartment?
 DAVID HARVESTER, author,
 former newspaper reporter, un- deEtnIkes t0 Ind out.
 Among the suspects are an
 "unknOsgm blond~ who visited
 King shortly before his death;
 HERMAN SCURLACH, in jail
 and declaring his innocence, who
 wrote King a threatening letter;
 JOE PARROTT, Kings former Vaudeville partner. with whom he
 had had trouble; MELVIEA
 HOLLISTER, middIe~aged spin-
 ster who had quarreled with
 King after his cat killed her
 canary.
 The blond suspect is arrested.
 Bannister talks to her, but she refuses to tell where she came from or say anything about her.
 self.
 DENISE HANK, Kings flancee identifies the prisoner as the girl she saw talking to King the day
 before his death. The girl admite
 going to Kings apartment to get
 some letters, but denies any knowledge of the murder.
 CHAPTER XxIII
 David Bannister was late coming to breakfast next morning and, when he did, he dawdled over his food. He turned on the radio in the living room, listened for five minutes and then turned it off. Af- ter a glance at the headlines he ah f~.kA nk n11 t~, ,n morning newspaper.
 To his aunt's questions about the King murder case he gave sketchy answers. Kate Hewlett, not to be ignored. persisted in her question ing and finally Bannister retreated upstairs to his room.
 There he sat, smoking one cig- aret after another. He decided to hunt for an old tobacco pouch he had somewhere and rummaged through his luggage. The tobacco pouch was not found. Bannister came across 8 photograph in the search-a photograph in a leather frame, showing a pretty girl, smil- ing. He placed the picture on the desk before him and leaned for ward, studying it.
 Adele was not beautiful. Even in the days when he had been most in love with her, Bannister had never considered her that. Hers were not the perfect classic feat ures. Her eyes, for instance, slanted ever so slightly. Her cheek bones were too high. Nevertheless, she was an extremely attractive young woman. Devilishly attrac- tive.
 Bannister picked up the photo- graph. DevilishIy attractive was right! And heartless and unprinci- pied, a slave to her own ambitions. Adele was all of those things. She took 8 mans heart, played with it like a toy, using it for her pur-
 Bannister sprang to his feet. He crossed the room and strode back again. Why should he condemn Adele? She was no worse than the rest of them! Women were all alike. He was the once to be con- demned, because he was a fool. He had let this other girl-the one ac- cused of Tracy Kings murder wind him around her fingers as easily as Adele had. He had list ened to her story, believed it, even tried to help her. And he wasn't in love with her as he had been with Adele. Nothing of the sort. There waS no excuse to be offered for the blind way in which he had fallen for her guile.
 From the newspaper Bannister had learned that the girl had not yet confessed the murder. Never the1ess, she was guilty; there was no doubt of it. It took level head like McNeal's to deal with such a creature. She was guilty as hell She had shot a man and now she should take her punishment.
 With quick movement Ban mister snuffed out the cigaret he had been smoking and dropped it into a tray. The punishment for murder was life imprisonment at the least. Bannister knew all about state prisons. He'd been in many of them. He could see the girl, in a drab uniform, working at monotonous prison tasks. He could see her bending over a sew ing machine, lifting heavy tubs in laundry. He could see her in 8 small cell at night, looking out from behind the bars
 Impatiently Bannister flung him. self into a chair. There he was, going soft again! He wouldn't do it. He'd go down to see McNeal and tell him what he knew about the girl. He'd tell him about meet ing her and seeing the gun in her handbag.
 That thought died instantly. No, he couldn't do that. It was the one thing he couldn't do. He re- membered the promise he had given. "hey'll never hear about it from me-" He had been a fool to make such 8 promise but. hay