The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-01-16
CHAPTER XIX-Continued.

20
When Al had left for his post, the
Captain ceased to fight us and took
charge. Once in, he was game. He
spent the next fifteen minutes set
ting the stage, mentally and physi-
cally, for Lyons entrance. The door
bells shrin cut him off midway in
his final instructions.
We heard Annie come down the
hall. Shannon sat behind the desk.
Allegro looked out at the sunlight
that crept up the areas wall and
locked her hands tight in her lap to
check their trembling. Cochrane
stared at nothing with a half smile
and lighted a cigarette.
Please" said Miss Agatha and
he started and offered her one. She
lighted it steadily as Lyon Ferriter
entered.
He checked himself just over the
threshold as though our plan were
an invisible wall and I felt that his
lank body grew tense. In the win
try light, his face looked paler and
thinner but it was as controlled as
his voice.
Pm sorry to break in on a-con-
ference, but the mailman said you
wished to see me, Miss Paget."
His eyes questioned each of US.
He must have read danger in our ST.
lence for he looked at me last and
longest.
Miss Agatha said, quite tran
gully:
1.-TWO calls in a day may be an
imposition, Mr.. Ferriter, but when
heard you were here, thought it
best that you come in"
"a pleasure" he said, with a lit
tie bow, but now he watched Shan
non. 81 was just getting some things
my sister needs"
The silence stretched each second.
Shannon asked:
And your sister, Mr.. Ferriter.
How is she?"
ILL.," Lyon replied. "Quite ILL.,"
Again, the pause was hard to
bear. Shannon cleared his throat.
Mr.. Ferriter, I've found out who
killed your visitor.
Lyon might have been bronze. At
last, he said:
I'm the first place I'm not aware
that he was my visitor. In the Sec
Eond place, if this is to be police
questioning, must ask permission
ito call my lawyer"
Sure" Shannon said and showed
the desk phone toward him. "Tell
him to meet us at the Babylon and
that Pm on my way up to arrest
lone Ferriter."
That name caught Lyon halfway
across the floor and stopped him.
He stared at Shannon, glanced at
me and then smiled.
'Ione?" he asked lightly. ARREST
her?"
ARREST her." Shannon repeated.
For murder. I'm sorry to break it
to you so sharply, Mr.. Ferriter-"
He made no further movement to-
ward the telephone, but stood, look
ing hard at the policeman.
What rot!"
The Captain pushed back his
chair.
NO." he said. "shan we 60 on
up?"
Surely" Lyon began and then
his bluff broke. "You mustn't. She's
Ill, tell you. You can't possibly
think she had anything"
The pain in his voice rang true.
Shannon cut him off.
Il better give you the usual warn
ing about whatever you say being
used against you. I'm not sure
whether you're accessory or not"
He paused. I was watching Ly-
on's hands. They hung at his sides,
rigidly still. Shannon went on and
i admired the confidence in his
voice.
"She knitted this guy-for reasons
of her own. Then she came out into
the hall yonder and hollered."
II see,' said Lyon. "And swal-
lowed the knife"
Listen" Shannon answered, eff
wasn't so certain I'd not be telling
you. The next night after the muir
der, this Mallory here bumped into
her in the basement hallway. In
the dark"
Lyons eyes touched mine for a
split second. Then they returned to
Shannon. I saw his hands clench
and instantly hang lax again. His
voice was amused.
81 see. He recognized her in the
dark
Shannon shook his head, i'm
mune to irony.
mo. He knew it was a woman,
that's all. But taxi driver saw her
come out of the basement. She got
into his cab. Here's his affidavit.
Care to read it?"
He offered the paper Cochrane had
set down at his dictation. Lyon half
reached for it, drew back and shook
his head.
"Im not interested" he said care
fully. cts a mistake. My sister
was at the Babylon all that eve
ming"
II don't know now" Shannon went
on, with narrowed eyes, whether
you really think so or not. Ferri-
ter, she wasn't. She called at Mr..
Mallory's boarding house. Mrs.
Shaw, the landlady, identifies her,
too. Right after that struggle in
the basement, she went to see him."
''All of which," Lyon began and
coughed. ! jerked. For an instant,
] thought heard in his voice a
trace of that foreign speech that
had come to me twice before. It
was not there when he resumed.
you overlook the fact that NV