The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-06-06


 But this gun was too big to be carried around easily. It really need | ed holster. I think you'd better tackle Dufresne on the question:" ",Not so fast. Let me think. If Du- fresne did it and we tax him with it, she'll certainly deny there ever was such a gun. If Andrews did it, he'll lie, too. But if he didn't do it and doesn't know it's gone-you stay hereI Jack, and look through these two rooms for that gun"
 Harper went downstairs. He met Officer Albright, who had stood guard over Dufresne's room, stand ing in the hall, about to go off duty. Has any one gone up or down these stairs in the last fifteen or twenty minutes?"
 Not a soul, sir"
 q want you to do something for me. want to find out if any one left this house in the last hour, and if so, where they went. Can you manage that without arousing suspicion?"
 Albright signified that he could. The officer at the front door in formed Harper that no one had gone out by that way, whereupon the de- tective returned to the breakfast room. He pressed the servants bell and signed to O'Connell to leave the field clear.
 When Andrews entered he found the detective bent over the table, carefully examining under the lens the fingerprints the dead man had left on the twin decanters. Sergeant Harper looked around, as if sur prised, then said, "Oh, yes. Sit down, Andrews. want to ask you couple of questions" |" X NDREWS, we are trying to
 A trace the movements of this man who was killed here last night. We know that he changed into some of your masters clothing. We as. sume that he lit. the fire in the hearth. By the way, was that al. ways prepared for the next light. ing?"
 "Yes, sir. In the season it would be cleaned early every morning and freshly packed"
 "We noticed that there was quite an accumulation of ashes in the pit in the cellar. Was this hearth in use while the re-decorating was going on?"
 q couldn't say, sir. I have not been in this house for some weeks"
 How long has Mr. Dufresne been at the Austerlitz, Andrews?"
 MT. and Mrs. Dufresne spent the summer at Moose Head Lodge, sir. That's on small island off the coast of Maine. We came back early in october, but we had only been here a week or two when we went to the Austerlitz."
 But Mrs. Dufresne has been stay ing at Mrs. Morlock's."
 ."Sinee the. holidays, sir. The dec orators have been very slow. Of course, I sometimes came up here with MT. Dufresne to see how things were progressing. Donaghy was here much oftener to bring back things that were needed"
 "Was the house closed up while the Dufresnes were at Moose Head Lodge?"
 "Oh, no, sir. The Whitmores looked after it all summer"
 How many keys are there to this house and who has them?"
 Mrs. Whitmore has the only com plete set of keys, I believe, but I suppose you are more interested in door keys. MT. Dufresne has a set and so has Mrs. Dufresne. I have keys to the front door and back door. Donaghy has key to the back door. That is all, sir"
 "The household keys seem to be fairly well scattered around" liar per remarked.
 & Mot unusually so," Andrews re- piled, with some asperity.
 "Oh, I'm not criticizing, An. drews," Harper replied easily. "This man who was killed showed a sur prising familiarity with the place. He knew, for instance, how to get hold of those liquor bottles without turning the place inside out"
 The butler looked at the twin de- canters." Then he must have found his way to the wine cellar. Those bottles were not kept filled. They were empty last time I saw them" "But your wine cellar is kept un. der lock and key? When we searched down there we found the door se- curely locked"
 l. "Yes, but the key hangs behind a beam, easy to reach, but out of sight. You would have to know where to look for it." That's what 1 thought. Now, An. drews, one more question. 1 must file l report of whatever firearms are kept on these premises. MT. Du. fresne reports that he keeps revol. yer in the house, a .45 caliber. That is correct, isn't it?" | Harper glanced up covertly but the buffers face was as impassive as ever, nCf did he hesitate over his reply. ~Yes, sir" L(Copyright, 1851, by Walfer c. Bro,on. Harper turns up more puxziinp information, tomorrow. sS .--