The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1938-03-10
|[AI' kiIDNAP MURDER, ri
- - Cos 81 SIS. Van Dine ) ,s,ss...

the stairs. I can't see it at all, and
I'd bet money that fellow Kaspar is
as safe as you or {"
I'm afraid you'd lose your wag-
4 er, old dear"
"But all the evidence points !"
began Markham.
please, oh, please, Markham"
implored Vance. unjust we neces-
sarily lean wherever finger
points?"
Damn it, Vance!" Markham re-
turned angrily; I want to know why
you said what you did on the stairs,
in the face of all the evidence to
the contrary"
Pardon me, Chief" put in Heath;
81 didn't hear what Mr.. Vance said
to you on the sairs. I don't know
what his ideas on the case are"
Markham looked at the Sergeant.
'Mr. Vance doesn't believe that,
Kaspar Renting was kidnapped
merely for money or that he may
have walked out and staged the
kidnapping himself. He said he
THINKS that the fellow is already
dead.
Heath spun round abruptly to
Vance.
''The hell you say!" he exclaimed.
''How in the name Of God did you
get such an idea, Mr.. Vance?"
my word, Sergeant! It seems
sufficiently indicated"
"Do you really think, Markham,
that your plotting Kaspar would
have gone to the Jersey casino to
indulge in bit of gamblin' on his
big night-that is to say on the
night he intended to carry out his
grand coup involvin' fifty thousand
dollars?"
"And why not?"
"It's quite obvious this criminal
undertaking was carefully prepar-
ed in advance. The note itself is
sufficient evidence of this, with its
letters and words painstakingly cut
out and all neatly pasted on piece
of disguised paper"
1.-THE criminal undertaking, as you
call it, need not necessarily have
been prepared very far in advance"
objected Markham. 'sKaspar would
have had time to do his cutting and
pasting when he returned from the
casino"
ooh, no, I don't think So" Vance
l,returned at once, 81 took a good
look at the desk and the wastepaper
basket No evidence whatever of
such activity. Moreover the john
MES phone call in the wee hours of
the morning shows certain.amount
of expectation on his part of getting
the matter of his financial difficult
ties settled"
eco on" said Markham.
Every good" continued Vance.
why should Kasper Renting have
taken three hours to change to
street clothes after he had returned
from his pleasant evening of de-
sult'ry gambling? A few minutes
would have sufficed And another
question: Why should he wait un-
til bright daylight before going
forth? The darkness would have
been infinitely safer and better
suited to his purpose"
''How do you know he didn't GO
much earlier-before it was day
Light" demanded Markham.
But, my dear fellow" explained
Vance, the ladder was still leanin'
against the tree around dawn, when
Mclaughlin saw it and therefore
was not placed against the window
until after sun-up."
81 see what you mean, Mr.. Vance
Heath threw in eagerly. "And Mrs
Renting herself told us that she
heard some one in the room at six
o'clock this morning"
"True Sergeant; but that's not
VoAASS
swered causally. GAS matter OF
fact, I don't think it was Kasper at
all whom Mrs. Renting says she
heard in her husbands room at
that hour this morning ;. And,
by the by, Markham, here's still
another question to be considered
Why was the communicable, door
between Kaspar's room and his
wife's left unlocked, if the gentle
man contemplated carrying out a
desperate and important plot that
night? He would certainly not
have left that door unlocked if he
planned any such action. And,
speakin' of the door, you remember
the lady opened it at six, right
after hearin' some one waikiki in
the room in what she described as
soft slippers. And don't forget that