The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1934-05-03
The WEDDING MARCH MURDER


Ing with chagrln of the quarry who
had escaped him In that bitter struggle
In the darkened room.
Kllday kept him Informed of the
progress he was making. 1t was the
novelists third day In the hospital.
How are you feellng?" the SER
geant inquired with more than ordI-
nary solicitude. "How are the aches
and pans?"
They'll take care of themselves"
Peter studied his friends anxious ex-
preston. whats on your mind?"
a haheas corpus hearing 10 release
young Carmody on ball." was the re-
ply. Its set for this afternoon. |
wish You were feeling better. think
the district attorney would like to
have you In court us Witness"
Peter smiled. I'm afraid wouldn't
be much help" he said. Il can't be-
lieye Rylie Carmody Is the fellow |
fought in that office And can't be-
ieve Franklin was murdered merely to
stop the wedding. 1t doesn't sound
reasonable.
And yet" argued the detective, the
one thing you could remember about
your assailant was that he wore a
tweed suit Carmody was wearing a
tweed suit"
Peter raised his unbandaged arm In
protest, winclng from the pain OF the
movement. THAT seemed very Inn
portant TO me when | was falling
through the window he said. Some
how, 1t doesn't seem so important now.
Almost anyone could wear a tweed
suit. That isn't enough to convict
young Carmody"
"But coupled with everything else.
sisted. 1.-THE minute heard what had
happened to you, started my search.
knew from what you told me that
you had put up quite battle. Your
opponent certainly would be battered
up. Young Carmody has black eye
and Is considerably bruised up. other
wise. He was wearing suit that an
swers your description. He claims he
was In an automobile accident but 1t
looks as though that were Just a
cleverly arranged scheme to account
for his appearance. as we'll as his
whereabouts, at the time you were
having your fight. He claims he had
an appointment at Westport at nine
o'clock, but admits he never kept 1t,
and won't tell us who he was supposed
to meet. He gave our detective the
slip that afternoon, SO that he had hIs
first opportunity to visit thateapart-
ment. And he had motive for the
crime. That's enough to hold anyone
on, Peter, and I'm going to hold him.
The novelist studied his friend
gravely. All logical" he admitted.
I'm not sure about one point. In my
fight, 7 don't know whether battered
up my antagonist or not. Oh" he
smiled, Il know | was considerably
battered. But the other fellow was
landing his blows to the head, / was
hitting to the body. He was aiming
| for knockout, and | was trying to
wear my man down; working In close
| as much as possible. | felt sure that II /
| could make rough-and- affair
| OF 1t, could beat him. think I
would have, too. IL | had not dlved
| through the window, attempting to
tackle him. All of which means moth
Ing" he admitted, Except that I don't
know that | blackened one OF his eyes.
| can't remember 1t, although I'm rea-
sonably sure I left some black and
blue marks on his body. The difficulty
Is. they aren't the sort of marks that
show
"In a fight OF that sort" Kilday OBJ
| jected, you might have landed a dozen
blows you can't remember now"
Admitted" Peter agreed "But
Rylie Carmody's black eye isn't con.
elusive evidence. How about Dan
Bulls? Does he show any signs OF
having been In fghtg'
"None that could see"
Peter reached for cigarette, light
ed II, and thouGhtfully watched the
smoke clouds roll cellingward before
he spoke again. "0f course this let's
the woman out" he began. Neither
Choo Choo Train nor our mysterious
woman In blue was capable Of putting
up the scrap that I ran into. And Of
course, II the motive of the crime was
to halt the wedding, the crime was
committed by a woman, with the single
exception of Rylle Carmody."
"Of course there was Webster
Spears" put In the detective. "Bu
he was already under arrest YoI
didn't run into him In that office"
(Which MEANS" continued the nov
elIst, "that either Rylie is our man, 0
else the wedding Itself wasn't the mo
tive. I'VE already explained why
can't think II was Rylie. A man con
templatlng murder doesn't advertis
the motive, the way he did. It's be
ginning to look as though may b
wrong, but | want to be sure. w
| x4ttt 1o-1 tl1 n.,1fIo oprla Tho r,,,,y