Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-08-19

course, a perfect alibi, provided the
technique of the crime had not been
revealed by the evidence she left in
the vault No. The shot could
not have been fred upstairs. The
only place she could have fired it
and still have established her alibi,
was out of the bedroom window"
He turned to Zalia Graem.
''Now do you see why you felt so
definitely that the shot did not sound
as if it came from the garden? 1t
was because, being in the den, you
were the person nearest to the shot
when it was fired and could more
or less accurately gauge the direc-
ton from which it came. I'm sor-
ry I could not explain that fact to
you when you mentioned it, but
Miss Beeton was in the room, and
it was not then the time to reveal
my knowledge to her.
There was another brief silence in
the room.
"But, Mr.. Vance," put in Doctor
Siefert, frowning, "your theory of
the case does not account for the
attempt made on her own life"
Vance smiled family.
"There was no attempt on her
life, Doctor. When Miss Beeton left
the study, a minute or so after
Miss Graem, to take my message
to you, she went instead into the
vault, shut the door, making sure
this time that the lock snapped, and
gave herself a superficial blow on
the back of the head. She had rea-
son to believe, of course, that it
would be but a short time before
we looked for her; and she waited
till she heard the key in the lock
before she broke the vial of bromin.
It is possible that when she went
out of the study she had begun to
fear that I might have some idea
of the truth, and she enacted this lit
tie melodrama to throw me off the
track"
Siefert had leaned forward and
was studying Vance closely.
GAS a theory, that may be logi-
CAL" he said with skeptical gravi-
ty. "But, after all, it is only a
theory"
Vance shook his head slowly.
ooh, no, doctor. It's more than
a theory. Miss Beeton herself-and
in your presence-gave the whole
thing away. Not only did she lie
to us, but she contradicted herself
when you and I were on the roof
and she was recovering from the
effects of the bromin gas-effects,
incidentally, which she was able to
exaggerate correctly as the result
of her knowledge of medicine"
"But don't recall"
Vance checked him. "Surely, doc
tor, you remember the story she
told us. According to her volun-
tary account of the episode, she was
struck on the head and forced into
the vault; and she tainted inmedi-
ate1y as the result of the bromin
gas; then the next thing she knew
was that she was lying on the settee
in the garden, and you and I were
standing over her"
''That is quite correct" Siefert
said, frowning at Vance.
"And I am sure you also remem-
Der, doctor. that she looked up at
me and thanked me for having
brought her out into the garden and
saved her, and also asked me how
I came to find her so soon. If she
had been unconscious, as she said,
from the time she was forced into
the vault to the time she spoke to
us in the garden, how could she pos
sibly have known who it was that
had found her and rescued her from
the vault? And how could she have
known that I found her soon after
she had entered the vault? You
see, doctor, she was never uncon-
scious at all; she was taking no
chances whatever of dying of bro
min gas"
Siefert relaxed and leaned back
in his chair with a faint wry smile.
"You are perfectly right, Mr..
Vance"
"But," Vance continued, "even
had Miss Beeton not made the mis-
take of lying to us SO obviously,
there was other proof that she alone
was concerned in that episode. Mr..
Hammle here conclusively bore out
my opinion. When she told us her