Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 27: what you’re looking at

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THE BLACK TUBE, about Sands and his son having a quarrel. We could talk easier with him out of the room. 2) “ He told you about the telephone re- ceivers being off the hooks, I suppose?” The coroner nodded. “ I want to call your attention to the fact that the extension line from the booth to this desk has four feet of Wire missing.” ** When’d that Pappen?” Craton shook his head. ‘Looks as if some one wanted to cut off the telephone connections so Sands couldn’t call for help when he was at- tacked,” frowned the coroner. -_ “But Deston’s phone—a separate line— and the telephone in the booth were left in’ working order,” objected Craton. The sheriff had gone in to look at the cut wires. “Four feet gone,” he called. “ Now, what the devil good would that do any one just to cut this one phone out?” “Tt can’t have anything to do with the affair,” fumed Marsh. “‘ What we want to get at, Craton, is. the possibility of Buckwell coming back here and doing for Sands.” ‘“‘ Provided he did threaten Mr. Sands, as Deston says,” urged the coroner. “ Might that not be a lie om Deston’s part to make it look bad for Buckwell?” “ Tt surely could be construed that way,” admitted Craton, “but I’m inclined to think Deston is telling the truth on that point. 3 “ But Deston had good grounds for being _ anery with Sands having discharged him,” urged the sheriff. “He can get a position anywhere. with- out trouble,” Marsh interposed. ‘“ You'll find Deston is reliable. It—it looks more like the coroner’s idea is right or Buckwell came back.” “‘ Well, Deston couldn’t get a job at the pay he was getting here,’ insisted Sutton. “T asked him. Six thousand a year, and he didn’t seem to care to tell me.” “He didn’t have to admit Sands had discharged him,” Craton pointed out. ‘‘ No one else but the two of them knew about it.” 497 “Well,” frowned the sheriff, “ the thing doesn’t leok as simple as it did at first. Tf Sutton’s theory isn’t the right one, there are any number of people who might have done it.” “We might even say that Sands shot himself when he saw that his attack on his son had caused his death,” the coroner sug- gested. Craton drew a revolver from the top drawer of the big mahogany desk. “Mr. Sands’s pistol, so Deston tells me. Why didn’t he use it if he killed him- self?” “The devil!” exclaimed the sheriff. “Then where did this pearl handled re- volver come from?” “ Can’t say where it came from,” admit- ted Craton. “ But Ill venture this: Wil- let Sands did not choke his son. In fact, no one choked James Sands. I won’t say more than that now, except that there is a bullet in the wall there by the fireplace. It’s in the lath. I pulled away the plaster.” The three men bent down. The sheriff was the first to straighten. “Where did any one stand to fire that shot? The bullet is going up, not down.” Craton nodded agreement. -“ That’s a question of course. Where did the person stand? Here’s another thing, a pencil and a pen top I found in the telephone booth. Showed them to Deston as we were going through the house, but he can’t say to whom they belong. And here,” laying the sik hand bag on the desk, “is what I found in James Sands’s car.” “What!” exploded the coroner. “ You mean some woman was here with young Sands and— Say, by gracious, that pearl handled revolver is a woman’s toy?” “ Then who shot Willet Sands?” cried Marsh. “This woman? The one who came with James Sands?” “Only one shot has been fired from that revolver,’ reminded Craton, “ and I am in- clined to think the bullet is in the wall there.” “And Deston says he heard only one shot,” exclaimed the sheriff. “So he says,” came Craton’s soy ad- mission. | TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK ZA com () books _ .- GOK