The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-06-12
CHAPTER XVIII
AGLIMMER OF LIGHT

A GLIMMER OF LIGHT
"The case," said Brant that eve
ming, has reached the stage OF
near absurdity now. What have
we? To begin with, we have o
burglar, a mysterious escort, and
the girl next door, whose finger
prints adorn the murder weapon
Circumstantially the most gul!ty:
the girl is tried-and acquitted
when her story about stolen valu-
ables is substantiated. Whereupon
it looks bad for our burglar. A
hue and cry sets up-f1nd PINK
Flint. They find him. dead.
He looked at me and smiled, at
the same time wrinkling his long
nose in a frown; a habit he had
when puzzled and one which lent
him a most Quizzical expression.
And now he began to sum, ur,
counting off each event in the
chain on his fingers. "They find
his dead" he went on, "and Flint
dead seems less guilty than Flint
alive. Where does that bring US?
Not back to Janice Fowler. Even
supposing she were capable OF
both murders, she was elsewhere
when Flint was killed. She had no
alibi for the first murder, but for
the second she has a perfect one
On the other hand Howard
Wrenn. Wrenn might have had
the opportunity to kill Flint II he
had felt murderouSly inclined to-
ward him, but he presents a cor
roborated story of having been IN
bed when Margie Shannon was
killed.
LET us look somewhere between
these two, then. Let's take the
person last seen with Margle
Shannon-the gentleman Of the
shrouded identity. He could have
committed both murders, as far as
opportunity is concerned, but
Miles is protecting him and a
complacent police department
seems perfectly satisfied that their
search for the Shannon killer
ended with the murder Of Flint.
The police department, that Is,
with the exception Of your friend
Cropsy, who evidently has some
intelligence.
"And now for the absurdity Of
it all. Saul Mitchell at last looms
on the horizon as a suspect, bit
how in the name Of the thing we
call justice can we accuse him as
long as this escort person, whose
name is known to you but a myS-
terry to mellow can he be held as
long as the prosecutors friend goes
free? Can't you just picture the
ticklish situation Miles would find
himself in?
Think Of the wave Of public
opinion that would be stirred up
if the police tacitly admitted they
suspected someone other than
Flint by arresting Mitchell. There
would be mass meetings in the
public square, demanding the
prosecutors hide. Miles, for all
his apparently good intentions,
has made a mistake and Is still
making a mistake. Unless he de-
cided to show his friend the in
side of a jail cell, I'm afraid we
won't get anywhere. And unless I
miss my guess, he has about de-
cided the same thing, but he's
just stubborn enough to want to
hold out against Sparks edi-
torial."
Resignation Possible
Prior to Showdown
Hes plenty stubborn" I agreed.
"He'S bull-headed enough to re-
sign rather than have his hand
forced. And Cropsy can be stub
born, too. Ask him for a motive
and he has one stock answer
that he looks for murderers rather
than motives. He seems pretty
keen on Mitchell now, but you can
never tell about Cropsy. He can
be pretty deep when he wants to
cover up He'll, let's have an.
other gin buck. This story's get.
ting disgusting now. I'm getting
sick of it."
you may be pleasantly sur
prised yet" said Brant, and he
looked on with an absent smile
as mixed the drinks. Eve got
theory" he said, taking the glass
from me, "but I'm not quite drunk
enough to tell you yet; you'd laugh
at me-"
LET me lace that drink for you
I'll put you on your ear in five
minutes"
Ito Be COntinued)
Copyright, 1897, BY Michael OMaIIey
Distributed by King Features
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