The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-11-21
CHAPTER XIII

| Niill SoHlpleISO Ills SLdIclltul
to Captain Mahoney of the homi-
eide squad. 81 admit" he said,
that l cut it a little fine, but
Thought that when l told Fisher
of the arrest of Kenneth Boone
land of the girl who was known
both as Esther Ordway and Alice
Lorton, 1 would account for his
time for at least an hour"
"Then he didn't go to see
Mrs. Malone at all?" asked
! Blocker.
! "Of course he didn't" Grift
: said. "He wanted to try to get
some message through to the girl
who was arrested and he wanted
to arrange to secure counsel who
would get her out on habeas
corpus before she could make too
many damaging statements
"Then," Blocker said, "Fisher
must have just been leaving Miss
MockleY's room instead of going
to it when we saw him there in
the hotel."'
"Of course" Griff said. "Fisher
had just drilled her on the story
she was to give if she was ques-
toned. Then he saw us coming
in. Naturally he wanted to make
sure that we were on the trail of
! the girl and also that he was
present when she told her story.
"And Fisher was really the &C
complete of Peter Malone?" Cap
tain Mahoney asked.
eyes," Griff said. "Peter Ma
lone embezzled more than $685.
600 from the Second Security
Trust of Ell Paso, Texas. That
was more than 20 years before.
He ran away and left wife and
daughter. The wife subsequently
divorced him. She came to this
city. In the meantime Peter Ma
lone had gone to Riverview, taken
the name of Frank B. Cathay,
posed as a business man who had
sold out interests in South Africa
and therefore had some cash to
invest. His accomplice, whom we
knew as Fisher, naturally shared
in his resulting prosperity. The
two men became prominent in
Riverview. They had the secret
of their past locked safely in
their own breasts. Then Mrs. Ma
lone happened to make the dis
covery that her husband was a
Riverview millionaire. Immediate
| ly she commenced to participate
in his wealth and so did her
daughter who had been going un-
der the name of Alice Lorton.
That should have given Fisher a
clew, but apparently it did not.
Mrs. Malone had married a man
by the name of Lorton after she
obtained her divorce from Ma
lone. She, therefore, had no legal
claim upon Malone's estate. II
was a question of blackmail. pure
and simple. The daughter, how,
ever, was in a different position
She had some legitimate claim.
"Then," Mahony asked, "the
marriage of Cathay was legal?"
"Yes," Griff said. "Mrs. Cathay
is really his wife, although she did
not know it. She knew enough of
his past history to realize that he
had sprobably left a wife. She
knew his real name and knew that
the wife's first name was Blanche.
When Cathay died she moved
heaven and earth to try to find
Mrs. Blanche Malone and make
some sort of deal with her so
that the scandal wouldn't come
/ out, and so that Mrs. Cathay could
get at least a substantial part of
the estate"
"And Mrs. Malone wouldn't set
tle?"
mo. She had been carefully
coached by Fisher"
"How was that"
Griff said, perhaps l had bet
ter explain from the beginning.
The two men cmbezzled money.
They became respected citizens in
Riverview. Then the bank en-
ployed Shillingby to investigate
Mrs. Malone.
81 shall continue to refer to
the real Malone as Cathay, be-
cause that is the name under
which we knew him. Mrs. Malone
reported to Cathay that Shillingby
was making an investigation and
naturally Cathay thought Shilling
by had uncovered the secret OF
his past and was going to threat
en- him with exposure.
"Cathay's appearance had, OF
course, changed in the 20 ODD
years since he had been guilty OF
the embezzlement, a fact upon