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30 Black Mask
do a lot better, Inspector, by waiting for London to report on the finger-prints of Mr. Bert Lord."
. Jerry Tracy shot her a quick ques- tion. "Are you the woman who phoned me the scandal tip about him?"
Ir "I should have guessed that th!!
tipster was you! Why didn't you tell
Tracy, while you were spilling your
dirty hmts, to investigate the love life
of a sleek young lad named Ken Dun- lap?"
"It's true. Bert came here like a man and had a long talk with father. He denied those anonymous lies about his career in England and Father believed him. Father gave me a check for fifty thousand dollars and promised to stand back of Bert and me. All this talk about changing his will is pure spiteful inven- tion on Betty's part."
She drew a deep sobbing breath .
"That's why Bert and I appealed to you, Jerry, at the broadcasting station tonight not to spill that lying gossip. Its why Father was angry enough to sum- mon you to his home. He wanted the scandal covered up because he believed in Bert. He was trying to-to help us. !"
"S I' "Sorry.
m not the type." . You are, you liar," Alice said harsh-
"If you dare to soil my name-'' "Y ' 1
ou' ve a ready done that yourself, darling. Your husband knew, too. If he hadn't died so suddenly tonight, there d have been a divorce trial that would have sat you where you belong.
"Then who
killed
him?" Tracy
In the gutter." Alice was shaking with rage. But Hilliard's wife remained froz- enly composed. She said·
rasped.
"I don't know, I don't know."
She was weeping wildly. Betty, dark-
eyed, somber, watched her with bold an- tagonism. For the first time in tlus whole cocksure evening, Tracy felt com- pletely at sea.
Fitz rubbed his nose for a moment.
"Remain here on duty until you're re-
"f:slong as we're discussing charges, I think we had better stick to real facts.
Myhusband's will, for instance." What about it?"
"It was about to be changed, cutting estate."
this afternoon for fi.ftythousand dollars? leave this house. Come on. Sarge! Jerry, f ily 1 your final quit-claim on the I'll need you, too."
you and your precious British jailbird lieved," he told the gaping policeman
out of any share in your foster father's at the study door. His glance moved
toward Furman and the butler, toward
the weeping Alice and the pale, scornful • 1 is, why did he give you a check Betty. "Arrest anyone who attempts to
"That's a lie" Alice said "If it•. , i .
am1y-to get out and stay out?" Tracy and Fit ·
The three of them piled into Fitz's
Kill I zgerald and Sergeant shabby department car outside.
an were listening ggrimly. It was to t em that Ahce turned. Her effort to
"Are you absolutely certain," Fitz asked Tracy sharply, '"that it was Lord s
control herself de he .
· dible ma e er voice almost voice you heard when you had that bat-
mau I e.
"I've already told you that if Bert
Lord is guilty of murder I'll d thi in m ,
tle in the dark ?"
"That's the one thing that's got me
worried," Tracy admitted. "It sounded him I y power to help you convict like him. I still think it was. But why
. don t thmk he is, but the record of the finger-prints will settle that The check t which my father's cheating lit-
e wife refers is actually a proof of ert s innocence. It was given to me-
and to him„here in this house this after- noon, as a wedding present "
"Wh t?" . 1a •. Tracy gasped.
did he forget the damned gun in the first place? And how did he know the house would be so conveniently empty when he killed Hilliard?"
"Where' s this Lord live?" Fitz as ked .
Tracy told him. The car began to hum downtown.
''I sent Butch to watch Lord's pent-
o every-