Page 31 - Demo

DF Studio - PDF Editor for Mac, Windows, Linux. For Evaluation. https://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudi
to pay the penalty. But if he's inno- cent, I'll know who's guilty. And if you think I won't produce those letters of yours- "
Jar household key. I heard voices here in the study and-"
"Was Hilliard alive when you went out? And how long ago was that?"
"About an hour, sir. I didn't speak to Mr. Hilliard about going out."
"Why not? Do you come and go as you please?"
"I had Mrs. Hilliard's permission. I was attending to an errand for her."
"Marcom is quite correct," Betty Hil- liard said quickly. "As Mr. Furman has already told you, I retired to my bed- room with a headache. I found I had none of the special tablets I use, so I sent Marcom downtown to get some at the office of my physician."
"Why didn't you say so before?"
"You didn't ask me," Betty said calmly.
Tracy
The fingerprint man was still yowling-
into the telephone. "Yeah. All right. 'By." He pronged the receiver with an oath of relief.
" If they've got a match in the London files there ought to be an answer in about an hour. I told him I'd take it at the bureau in Headquarters. Drop in when you're finished. I'll check our own files while I'm waiting."
"I'd like to borrow your ink pad and a couple of specimen sheets," Fitz said. He didn't explain what he wanted them for and the print man didn't ask. But Tracy knew. He was grimly glad
A lice saw
and
her
murmur
stopped. ·
Station K-I-L-L
29
"Let's see those tablets," Killan told he had sent Butch to keep a watchful Marcom. He took the small package, eye on the penthouse of Bert Lord. unwrapped it, then smiled grimly. "I The challenging talk between Alice and thought so. There's a half-filled box
Betty Hilliard hadn't changed Tra cy's mind about the identity of the man with whom he had battled in the dark for possession of the murder gun. He felt sure that was Lord.
The only thing that still puzzled him was the continued absence of the butler. Where in hell was the elusive Marcom?
Unexpectedly Marcom answered that question himself. Th ere was a timid knock at the rear door of the study and when Sergeant Ki lian sprang forward and threw open the door, Marcom was
gaping with astonishment at the thresh- old .
of these same tablets in the drawer of Mrs. Hilliard's night stand upstairs in her room. I know because I looked."
Betty's face paled. "I-I forgot I had them."
Inspector Fitzgerald waved his scowl- ing assistant aside. His own voice was suave and friendly. "You' re involving yourself in an unnecessary tangle, Mrs . Hilliard. If we don't know where you
went-"
"You don't and you won't!"
'
"The assumption, of course, explained patiently, "is that you got rid of the butler on a fake errand, so you could leave the house without the
knowledge of your hu sband or Marcom . Probably by the rear door."
"Well?"
"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm merely pointing out that a woman with a guilty knowledge of a well ar- ranged murder might leave beforehand by the back door to avoid alarming her
His K illan
liard and then went blank and expres- sionless.
amazement
changed to terr or as
grabb ed and yanked
room. He cringed at sight of H1lhard s sprawled body. Tracy , watching him narr owly, saw his eyes veer for a swift instant. They flicked toward Betty Hil-
him into tthe
" Where the hell did you come from ?"
Kilian growled. "Sneak in the back husband; and return by the front door
door? "
"I didn't sneak through any door, sir.
I came in the back way, using my regu-
in orde r to discover his murd er, in case the butler was still away."
Betty's smile was ghastly. "You might
" Fit
1tz
]