The Coolidge examiner., 1935-03-22
CHAPTER WI
The Scented LIps;lek.
NANcEs declaration LETT US both


ham was the nrst 10 speak.
Are you certain. Yancel Maybe
yon Overlooked
"Oh. no." Vance made \ gesture
% hrniiiy. 1T wasn'i there-oh.
quite. some one pat it there after
ID examined the chest"
~rui who. IN heavens nameY-
Come. come. Markham Vance
smiled grlmly. "one doesn't know.
y know Bot Ia say Il was tho
same person who tucked the dagrer
under the cushion OF the chair IN
which Archer passed away"
The daEgerl"
"Yes. yes-the dagger. That mys.
terry Is az least cleared up-ihe
poker explained that inconsrulty.
The dagger didn't belong In Arch.
er's boudolr. Quite the contr'ry. Its
presence there confused me ahomln.
ably. Both the poker aud the dAs.
ger belonged In the library here.
And they wercn't here, q ye see
they were where they shouldn't have
been. where they couldn't possibly
have been. A gap-a mlshap--a
bit OF superficial thlnkin' on some
ones part Panlcl Yes. that's what
IL was. Moyin' things from one place
10 another. silly idea. People al.
ways think that by movln' things
they can confuse an issue. More
often they merely clarity a."
The sergeant projected himself
irascibiy into the discussion.
If some one did cache the DAG.
ger and the poker upstairs. who'd
have had the opportunity That's
what Id like TO ngure out"
Almost anyone might have done
IL. Sergeant" returned Vance lazlly.
Both Wrede and GraSsI have
passed back and forth before the
room while we were downstairs"
Heath thought a moment.
That's right. And then do you
remember how that Miss Lake
rushed TO the chair when she frst
came In the room and put her arm
back OF the corpsel She coulda
stuck the dagger under the seat with
all OF US looking at her. And that
eagy butler. he coulda done IT,"
And don't overlook the China
man. Gamble sent him 10 fetch Miss
Lakes breakfast tray while we were
all downstairs"
Heath grasped M this remark.
That's the guyl" he declared.
Just minute. sergeant r. Mark
ham suppressed him with gesture.
and turned TO Vance. IF. as you be
heve, the dagger and poker were
taken from this room and hidden
in Goes bedroom this morning. the
inevitable conclusion is that the
murderer Is one Of the persons who
have been In the house this morn
Ing"
"Not necessarily" Vance shook
his head mildly. There are several
persons here who know more than
they've admitted. No, no, II
was a stupid act. The murderer
couldn't have done II. II was some
one else-some one who didn't know
all the facts. The murderer was
too clever TO do foolish thing like
that-to hide weapons where they
never could have been. The
murderer wanted the weapons found
In this library. That's why he tried
10 hide the dagger twlce-once IN
the egg-shell Ting yao vase. and
the second time In that Yung Cheng
Ting yao. And he wanted the poker
to be found on the hearth-with the
bloodstains on II he wanted the
weapons In this room where Archer
Ooe was sitting when Gamble left
the house last night He figured
on this library being the murder
room. And then something went
wrong-the murder room shifted.
Something strange and diabolical
happened. The corpse, with a bull
let wound In his head and a revol-
yer In his hand, decided on the bed
room upstairs And when the muir
derer came back. II was too late to
rearrange the setting"
Game back? Too later repeat