HONEYMOON MURDER

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 48, Issue 2864, 17 November 1939, Page 3

HONEYMOON MURDER

(BY

CAROLYN WELLS.)

[Copyright.]

“Oh, Mr Stone!" exclaimed Perilla ‘‘Do you mean that?”

“Yes, hut don’t ask me questions about it over the telephone. You’ll know all this evening. And, Mrs Malden, you must make all the people come. If anyone seems unwilling or unable to be there, use your cajolery, your persuasion, your wiles, but make them come. See?”

“Yes,” said Perilla. ‘Will it be a shock?”

“I’m afraid it will, but you’ll be glad to know the truth at last, I feel sure.”

“Oh. yes, I do want to know the truth; it will save me further worry about my own danger.” “Mind now, you make everybody come. Don’t forget!” “She hasn’t the least idea,” Stone ruminated as he left the telephone booth. “I hope it won’t break her heart.”

He put in a busy afternoon, more or less assisted by Plum, and five o’clock saw them both back at Dr. Simpson’s.

The interview was not long, but was entirely satisfactory. Dr. Simpson told them, as clearly as he could explain to a layman, how the two deaths were accomplished. “As soon as I heard the story,” he said, “I was certain that one man was responsible for both crimes. It was the cleverest piece of work I have ever known of. I don’t know the murderer, but I suppose you do. Come and see me .tomorrow and tell me all about it. I am too weary to talk further now. You have all the points, you can prove everything, from those notes I have given you, but more now I cannot undertake. I am a feeble old man, Stone, and I trust I have given you all the data you want, for I cannot give any more time to this subject. Drop in here tomorrow morning, or send Mr Plum, so I can know what happens tonight. I wish I could be there with you—no, not that I should enjoy it —far that. But I’d like to be there to check up on you, if you make any mistakes in your explanation. However, Mr Plum has a good strong grasp of the facts; you can help each other out. And remember, boy, you did it. Had you not spied that bit of glass, we would be back where we were at first.”

They said good-bye to the old doctor, and promising to see him the next morning, they went away.

“Wonderful man?” was Plum’s comment, and Stone said, “Yes,” which comprised all the conversation they indulged i non the way home. The two and Tony Gaskell met at dinner. “Going to the party?” asked Tony as they sat down. “Oh, yes,” said Stone, blithely. “And Plum is going, too.” “Are you a bridge player, Mr Plum? I understand it’s a bridge game.” “I play a fair game,” returned Plum, who Avas a skilled player. “But I seldom get an invitation to a real party.” “I hope we can get away early,” said Stone. “I’m up to my ears in work and I planned to get some of it done tonight. Plum, you must come home when 1 do.”

Plum agreed to this, and the talk turned to other topics. Stone’s car came a few minutes before nine and the three men went off in it. They greeted Perilla, and then drifted toward various magnets.

Tony st down by Jane Latimer, for seeing he couldn’t monopolise the hostess he chose her pretty secretary. “She’s looking wonderful tonight,” he murmured, needing no mention of a name, for his glance at Perilla was indication enough.

“Yes,” agreed Jane. “I made her put a speck of colour on her cheeks, she was so very white.”

“Why? Isn’t she well?” “Oh, yes, only horribly bothered by the persistent annoyance of Madame Malden.”

And then, a, sudden hush fell on the room, for Fleming Stone had risen and stood in a position of dignified importance, as of one who had something to say.

“As you doubtless all know,” he began, “I have been employed by Mrs Corey Malden to investigate the mystery of two recent deaths and to attempt to reach a solution. I have done so, and the real purpose of our coming here tonight is to let me tell you the truth of this matter, and explain the method and motive of the two tragedies. “I will begin with the death of Mr Corey Malden. This, as you all know, occurred something more than a month ago. while on his wedding trip. He and his bride were in a Washington hotel, when Mr Malden died suddenly, and for no known reason. The circumstances are known to you all, so 1 will only say that the doctors attributed his death to heart failure, which is a term sometimes rather loosely used, but which seemed the only one possible in this case. “There was no autopsy, as ndne was deemed necessary. After Mrs Corey Maiden’s return to this, her New York home, she sent 'for me and told me she had a vague idea that there might have been foul play in connection with her husband’s death, and asked me to take up the matter and prove her suspicions either right or wrong. I did so, and since working

for a few weeks, I have proved her fears were well founded, and the death of Corey Malden was a diabolically clever murder, a remarkable piece of work by a remarkable criminal.” . “Is it -permitted that one interrupt you with questions, Mr Stone?”

This came from Gaskell, and Stone answered calmly, “Yes, if the questions are of general interest to the audience, and asked for an intelligent purpose.”

“Then I ask if you know the fdenity of the murderer, and if he is the same one who killed young Mr Coles?” “I cannot reply to those inquiries at the present moment,” Stone said, frowning a little. “As the solver of this double murder mystery, I feel that I have earned the right to tell my tale in my own way. I assure you all that I shall not drag out the story to any unnecessary length, but it is only fair that the facts I have learned be presented in right and appropriate sequence.” “Certainly,” said John Lovell, who was paying the deepest attention. “I want to insist that Mr Stone give us the story, and then we can' make our comments or ask our questions afterward,”

“Do you remember, Mr Lovell,” said Stone, “the night before vhe wedding, at your seaside home?” “Oh, yes, in every detail.” “Then you recollect that several of you took tablets of a simple and harmless nature to induce sleep and rest against the busy day on the morrow?”

“I do,” exclaimed Gaskell, smiling. “We called it a tablet party. In fact, I provided the tablets. They were proved later to be harmless.” “Of course they were,” said Lovell, “Who’s doubting that?” “Well, then,” Stone went on, “all in the house went to bed and slept soundly and well, and no ill effects were felt next day from the tablets. That right?” “Perfectly right,” Lovell agreed. “I’ve kept tablets of that prescription in the house ever since. They’re fine.”

“Then came the wedding,” Stone proceeded, “and the honeymoon trip by motor-car. The newly married couple went their peaceful way, until in Washington the tragedy occurred. Mr Corey Malden came by his sudden death, and no one could , say, could even guess what brought it about.” “I. could say,” said Madame Malden, in a loud voice. “I could tell you what brought it about.” “Be quiet,” said Farman, who sitting next her, laid his hand on her arm. “Be quiet, or I shall send for your nurse and you will be taken from the room.”

The old lady stopped talking, and looking a little frightened, glanced at Perilla, who was on her other side. Reassured by the girl’s slight smile, she said no more, and Stone proceeded.

“At the time no post mortem was held on Corey Maiden’s remains. Since then an autopsy has taken place, and we are no longer in doubt as to the manner of his taking-off.”

“What happened to him?” cried Garth, unable to restrain his curiosity. Stone ignored the question, determined to tell his story, in his own way. INSTALMENT 30 “I now have to remind you of the death of young Robert Coles,” Fleming Stone said slowly. “I ask your patience, for the two deaths are so closely related that the method used must be discussed regarding both. You have often heard it said, I have no doubt, that if a criminal commits two crimes they are done in the same way.” . “Is that invariably true?” inquired Malcolm, who was quivering with curiosity as to details, but unwilling to annoy Stone with questions.

“I can’t tell you for certain,” the detective replied, “but it is my own experience that every murderer has his own method and sticks to it. At any rate, the tw’o murders we are speaking o f —for Coles was murdered —were done by the same method, and in furtherance of the same end. The end, which is to say, the motive, I will now state.

“The murderer wanted two things' be wanted the girl that Corey Malden r-arried, and he wanted the fortune v'bich would come to that girl on the death of her husband. These two things, then, were the reasons for the murder of Corey Malden. The criminal knew that the fortune would automatically become Mrs Maiden’s at the death of her husband, and the criminal thought or hoped to win Mrs Malden for his wife.” A hush fell on the assembly. Try as they would it was impossible for some of those present to keep their glances from falling on certain persons. Gaskell stared openly at Garth with a look that said, “There’s your man!” while Farman looked steadily at Perilla with accusation in his small unpleasant eyes. “And what about Bob?” cried Malcolm. “Who killed him?” “Bob Coles knew too much about the murderer,” was Stone's reply to part of the question. “Wherefore the murderer put him out of the way also.”