Evening Star Newspaper, December 30, 1923, Page 56

ABOVE SUSPICION || Author of “The Second Bullet,” “Unseen Hands,” “The Trigger of Conscience,” Etc. 3 Copyright, 1928, by Robert M. McBride & Ceo. (Continued from Yesterday's Star.) “Well, 1t seemed to me that his Wall street friends would have know- ed and if they did, so would Lane, and 1 got the idee that the old gentleman 1 told you 'bout would a-heard tell o the gossip’ it there was any, so I went "to town vestlddy mornin' and | asked him,sayin’ Doc Hood had sent m Geoft grinned at his triend’s round, amazed countenance. *“Told vou I'd done more lyin’ than live down in a month o' Sund: ‘nough, for the last two years or so Benkard's name had been connected with a lady's who wasn't in society, and the way the old gentleman said Kkard. pretended to fall for.it, arranged for her to be trajiled wherever she went, and came down here to report to you.: She hasn’t tried once to get in touch with Lane, since I communicated with the secret service when I reached town last night and they began co-operating “Lane returned to the city late yes- terday afternoon,” | served thoughtfully. were the Dawn woma first tapped and the house placed un- > private watchman on the block that any car had-been stari@ing=in froat of thai particular house most of last Wednesday night fromi before 1 o'clock on, He's not so dumb, but he an old man and afraid of losing his t job. When I finally convinced him, though, that he wouldn't get.in wrong, he showed me Ittle note- +| book where he't taken the num- bers of every. car left o a | t night on his beat, together Ith and the number of: the hou: which it stood. There was Lane' Tight enought” Tne detective lsughed: 1t Wi X, OF conrsd, baf. T at was luck, but, to clinch it, he it gm0 saw Lane himself come out of ‘Zoé Dawn's house and drive away at a quarter past 3 the ‘methodical old cuss stopped under a street lamp and looked at his watch to_make mure as the car rounded .the..corner. So much for Lane's actual presence there and an alibi that ve dug up for him whether he wants it or not, put it lets him out of the c: ‘onfor - row, If you say so, doctor, I'll get Dawn down for a little talk with the Old Man at headquarters, and find out what really passed between the two of them that night and about her affair ith B ard nd she won't find any kld-glove diplomacy nor he with her, with us.” the -doctor ob- “At what time ‘s phone wires ervatios -~ 6 o'clock this morning, before n established the fact from the g &t.oLr local sbility to 6 the case and you know what ti 2d | will mean to the district attorn about it, either. Want ug to put her ‘over the jumps?” -1 % ~Dr, Hood glanced somewhat doubta | fully at.Geoff, who shook his head but remained sitent. r dont Kmow. T don't bellave even out of the lady than you have, detec- tive," the former replied tactfully. “How about it, Geoff?" “’Taint for 'me to say,” remarked the reluctant consultant. “Reckon there's a good and sufficlent reason why she ain’t tried to t hold o' {'Al{e, nor him ha‘r, bl‘lfntl Ihk ml;r tlhlnk ‘twas me runnin’ this here business 5 I'd go to her tomorrow mornin” and think it over and sge Irda considerable.” through the game?" “What do you mean?" Lyons asked. “No. Give her time to git all het “Mebbe {t'd be more like takin’ a|up over it till she was bound and chance than downright lyin’, at that,” | determined to pay Lane back for Geoft amended. “Howsomeever, I'd|trickin’ her, no matter what it costy let on that Lane hearin’ tell she'd|her; and then I'd give her a free hand ‘stablished this alibi for him was go- Meanin’ that I'd have her Geoff amended. Howsomever, I'd , 6! course, without her kiow- have to find out the ngme o' some real | In' it. but T'd let ler go wherever she intimate Wall Street friend o' his that | was a-mind to. she'd recognize 80's to make it sound | _ “But nefther she nor Lane had any- a8 though it was straight goods, when | thing to do with the murder itself, T sai this friend hnd give him away|and iel} be a week the day after to- Lane b last years, ‘specially a show-down he'd stick to the seifs same story she had give to Deteci|ed ;L"m Lyonl,."hc;a. nd '{;nulz gé"t s word agin hers. When I'd got | "bou her to bellevin' it, and maddern a|@all I'd leave."” Lane and Benkard both, when he sides w as to the motive and the done it. eated ons half in- e ive h:rl‘yllma to cool ther, -“Peters is tective, risin or not he exp. leave 'it to her to make o Just a-goin' the murder was cleared up it was a-plenty!‘ There hadn't been | no talk o' it, though, for some months || back, which looked like a fallin’ out, |: and when I could git him to tell me the lady’s name, he said it like It was some kind o' epidemic!—Zoey Dawn. | “I hadn’t never heard o' her, but all | the way back in the train I kept}!| workin' it out in my own mind. Ben- ! kard was strong, and ten to one he see he was gittin' in too deep In what ever affair was between ‘em and had broke it off himself afore he let it master him, and that meant bad || blood and -mebbe real hate on the Woman's part, and a_good notion to | git.even If she ever had the chance, Lane bein' 50 thick with him this past year would know it, and when he found he'd been used by Benkard and ! played for a sucker himself, and wanted to ruin him, who'd be the first || ©one he'd think o' to help him but the woman who'd been throwed down?’ “Geoff, how did you ever learn all that?” demanded the doctor. T mind my business as much as T 'km. but when you've been a-workin' round folka's homes, insides and. out. for nigh onter fifteen vear, you git to knowin' things you'd never sus- picion when your neighbors has their company " manners on.” Geoff responded modestly. “Human nater’s the same whether you're.a city millionaire, or a truck farmer, T reckon. A pretty woman might ketch "the eve o' a_ feller like Renkard but she'd have to be mighty smart and clever to make him keep ‘on a-lookin’, and if she was, she'd soon find out his weak point and play on it. Tn his case ‘twas ambition, and she’d prob'bly git him to belleve she thought he was the || Zreatest man in the world. 1 Natter him so's he'd spread himself A turkey cock. 'specially in the beginnin' when he was real crazy over her; and to show her how won- derful he was, there’s no tellin’ but he'd brag 'bout how he had worked some o' his bigest grabs and beat the other fellers, in the Lord knows|| what shady sort o' way. Wouldn't Lane think o' that too? Rushin' away after the row that was the fin- || ish between 'em, and vowin' to git Benkard afore he was crushed, him- self. like 0o many other poor devils had’ been, wouldn’t he recollect 'bout this ZoeY woman on the way» home. and figer that If he could git . her on his side she might tell him things which even them other Wall Street sharps. to 'em? u_doped it out right again, Pe- remarked gLyons soberly. “The secret service has been keeping its eve on Dawn, as I told you they would, and Benkard saw her at the races ‘about three vears ago and got an introduction. He called on her at her apartments pretty regular for the next six months or so, and then all of A sudden she gave up her lease and bought a small house in a quist neighborhood not half a mile from the Cavendish garage. It was in front of her door that a car with TLane's Jicense plate on it stood from before 1 o'clock until after 3 in the morning!” CHAPTER XIV. A New Witness. “Then we've been barking up the wrong treet after all!”, Dr. Hood ex- claimed. “It's mighty interesting about this woman, but it shows that| Lane aldn’t kill Benkard, and my job is to find oyt who did! I wish vou had told me when you first thought of this, Geoff; every day counts.” “There. wWasn't nothin' to tell” Geoff retorted. - “Lane didn’t kill Ben-. kard, but mebbe the woman knows who did.” i *She’ll come across if she doeg.” ob- served the detective grimly. “Her | phone wires are tapped; every trades- || man or messenger who goes to her! door passes through the hands of a! couple of our men first, and the house | is being watched. Tt didn’t take her | long from past experience to get onto the fact that the authorities were in- teresting themselves in her once more, || nor to guess the reason, and when. I called she was all ready for me. . Mr. | Benkard had heen a very good friend | of hers and had advised her concern- ing her real estate investments—she's =ot 'em, too, that's what. most of. her money is soaked away in—but she had not seen him for several months and knew nothing about the murder un- til she was shocked by the account. of it in the newspapers. He had never discussed his business affairs with her in any way and she could not imag- ine what enemy he might or might not have had.” “Did you ask her about Lane?” The doctor had taken up his stand by the fireplace, and now he began‘to polish | his spectacles on the ancient lam- brequin which covered the mantel. “Sure T did!” Lyons nodded. “She admitted knowing him through Ben-| kard's_introduction but couldn’t. re- | vall when she had seen him last. She | remembered fast enough, though, when I' put her next'that we were wise about Lane's car being outside | Wednesday. and had witnesses to prove the time he entered her house and left it. She's a clever woman, Tll hand that to her, and I can ses how easily she turned the heads of those politiclans and diplomats in ‘Washington when she laid herself out to fascinate ‘em, without any of this vamp stuff, either. Was she feazed when she found we had her cornered | and she'd made a lip? Tll say she || wasn't! She just laughed that low, tinkling . laugh " of hers and held out her hands in a helpless sort of ges- ture. didn't dredm and a-been done ‘Mr. Lane was here that night and 1 did not care to mention: it because of the lateness of the hour, although his call in itself was conventlonal | enough.’ she says. ‘He telephoned from somewhere in the suburbs just before 12 and asked if he might drop in for a few minutes on hfs way home. 1 was.lonely, I sometimes find him amusing, and on an impulse I grant- 2d him permission to call. We had a little supper and Auring the co of the conversation which followed he remarked casually that he had dined at the country home of Mr. Benkard's sister on Long Island, and T remember observing then how long it was since 1 had seen him. That was the only time his name was men- tioned, T think.' "~ . Vhat was it Mr. Lanej had. to see you about that was so important it couldn't , wait -till morning? . I asked her point-blank, and she opened her eves wide; Nothing. in the world! He vestlers, didn't feel like going homé and wanted a friendly chat. I have known Mr. Lane for several months and T understand his moods; they are typical of men of large affairs who under & _continuous. mervous There’miust be ‘a letdown, an || hour or two mow and then of .com- plete mental relaxation wlien they can forget the huge plans snd prob- || lems which almost perpetually en- l _He was just gross them in the congenial compan- {onship of some one who. is sympa- thetie, ‘whe- comprehends. - We - talks about dosens of trivial,.impersonal things until_an ungodly -hour. and I was really forced to send him home at Tast, but e told me that I had done him a great deal of good.’.. = < “Zoe Dawn had the nerve to tell me that, doctor, with.an eir, o per- | ness, and I coul shake heog: story though ake.: must have- been " under pad.. . t Iy don't see that it matters what hap-| Geoff remarked quickly, as med between her and Lane while enkerd was being murdered out here.’ :: “Except that mebbe Lane suspects who_done it and wild hosses couldn’t - git him to talk, but if she once start- in, bein’ a woman, she'd tell every- 'she knew or had heard tell of an that Benkard had let out to her 'as payin’ her ‘tentions, be- —what she opined herself one who I.ain't got no-notion what Sergt. Eliot's up to nor that pri- vate detective feller, Mahoney, nei- but.it seems to me this Zoe Dawn is your one chance, and then ‘only it she talks willin’ and free.” ight!” declared the de- ‘I’ don’t know whether cts her to come openly t0 headquarters and lay her cards on the table, hut anyway she's our one est bet. ' I'll get her all steamed up, octor, the way he suggests, and then the next m?All right,” Dr. Hood assented resignedly as he followed his, visitor 10 the door. “I don't see, myself, that there’s anything else to be done.” “I_gotta bs movin’ 'long too, Do soen as Lyons had taken his departare. “Want to finish them doodabs on that ter- race In the next day or two—"" “Geoff,” the doctor . interrupted. “T wish we could have managed, our- selves, to get that woman -to talk, Don’t you see that if _she does go to headquarters and furiiish them with any real clue the city police will get all the credit? T don't want any, the Lord knows, but I'd like to have this county show ‘em it can take care of its own troubles and that our justice {sn’t 50 blind even if she does wegr & sunbonnet!"” Geoft grinned as he picked up his cap and started for the door. “Don’t let that worry you none, Af ¥ hear-Lrapt him. tomorrow.” - the latter began hastily, 3 holla ! hastily, without pre to ‘maké“my report to the examiner, named Sim Perkins, he's going his rounds. got to beat it back, and I guess can get a message to him fof me “Reckon 8o, Mr. Allen, if there ai no partic’lar hurry 'bout it,” Geoff r piled. “T won't be able to see him (1 sundown.” and after th, But it was Geoff who encountered the lone motorcyclist on his way to work early the next morning; and “Glad ¥ was in time to catch Peters. T left another of the boyy on the job imNew York and ran out here medical but the old woman who takes care of his cottage for him says he had a hurry call from somebodv T ean't wait— you Doc. By all accounts, we're dealin’ with a Woman that's as smart as a steel trap, and she’d no more go nigh the city police than she'd send an in- vite for dinner to the chief o secret service department. I'm fig- gerin’ on kind o’ a little s'prise party for all concerned. You ain't heard from Allen sincq he followed Lane away from the Cayley place yester- |ti day afternoon?” T'll get word somehow to you (Continued in Tombrrow's Star.) Getting Better. From the Yale Record “O Jackie! Listen to velous jazz!" Vhy, that re playing.” e that The January Sale of White This is our annuil white event in which women have learned to look for wonderful savings. 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