THE MARK OF THE THREE FISHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20893, 8 June 1931, Page 15

THE MARK OF THE THREE FISHES.

By MARLEY CAMERON.

SYNOPSIS. Motoring in a remote part of Dartmoor, Sam - Wrench, a solicitor, and Ge°« re y Stevenson, a young naval ofneer, hud i farmer named Western and his wife loekett out of their cottage. The strange thins about it is that they can get 110 reply to their knocking although a woman lodger, Susan Ogden, is known to be in the With the two motorists the farmer succeeds in forcing the door open, and on entering they discover a man apparently murdered by a gun shot fired at close range, lying on the floor of the kitchen. Upstairs the lodger is found trussed up in her ec - room. When the police arrive Susan Ogden tells them that the murdered man came to the house and said, that his car had broken down. She made him a cup of tea and then went up to get a clean apron. While t Bhe heard Mr. and Mrs. \\ ostein return; She Wftß positive that she heard them talk ins: to the murdered man, and as she listoned at the top of the stairs she was seized and bound from behind. Then she heard a shot downstairs. Tho farmer denies the truth of Susan s story, but is detained on the strength ot it. CHAPTER ll.—(Continued). The procession shuffled into the room -—the young woman with a constable gripping either arm and the police suigeon bringing up the rear. They steeicd her to a chair facing the superintendent and she subsided into it with the air of a woman who is being tried beyond her strength. " Is she fit to answer questions, doetor?" •' Perfectly." She was a slight woman 01" about thirty, with jet-black hair, well-marked features and thin, compressed lips with ill-tempered lines about them. Wiench was watching her keenly. She seemed collected, but frightened. '' Your name is Susan Ogden ?" asked the superintendent. " Yes. sir." " Your age ?" " Thirty-one." _ " You are a lodger with the Westerns ? * "Yes, sir." She still spoke in a voice scarcely above a whisper. " Tell mo what happened this evening when that gentleman came to the house." There was a sudden change in her. She was still speaking in a low voice, but she was fluent and even glib. " I was alone in the house when he knocked at the door. He said that his car had broken down in tho road outside—could I tell him where lie could iiavo it seen to? I said that I didn't know of any garage nearer than Tavistock, but I expected Mr. Western home presently—could I make him a cup of tea ? Ho said that he'd like a nice cup of tea, so I went into the kitchen to put the kettle on and then ran upstairs to put on a clean apron. While I was up there I heard them"—she pointed to the Westerns —" come in and begin talking to the gentleman, so I didn't hurry down." " That's a lie." shouted W T estern. His wife covered her face with her hands. " No interruptions, pleaso, or I'll have to ask you to step outside. Go on with your story, Miss Ogden." Tho interruption seemed to havo imparted strength to tho woman's voice. " Well, then I heard them begin arguing, and I came out to tho top of the stairs to listen. It was dark. All o\ a sudden I heard someone como running up, and I turned to run back into my room, but I was seized from behind nnd thrown down on my face 011 the floor. Whoever it was, he knelt 011 my back, twisted my arms behind mo and tied them tight. Then he tied my legs, too. I was too frightened to scream. I thought I was going to be murdered. Then bang when tho gun downstairs." " You are telling the truth 1" " Yes, sir, of course I am." " What happened after that ?" " Well, I was in a dead faint, as you may think. I don't know how long I lay like that, but when I came to I heard Mr. Western's voice. He said, ' We'd better slip out, wife—out at the back and come round to the front. We'll lock all tho doors and start knocking. Then they'll think that we've Jiever been in before.' Then the knocking began, and I fainted right off again." " And you were unconscious until these gentlemen came and cut you loose?" " Yes, sir, I suppose I was—leastways, I don't remember them doing it." The farmer's hands were working; he had turned very palo through his tan. Ho was a tall, well-built man, with grey hair and rugged, homely features, deeply lined with care. His wifo had assumed a patient, woe-begono expression, as if she felt that there was no defence against tho stroke of fate. She was a middle-aged woman who looked as if she had known better days. Her husband had taken her hand in his and was holding it. " Now," went 011 the superintendent, " we'll have to search tho body and find out, if we can, who the man is. Crocker, "you'd better get on with that at once. Go through tho pockets and bring everything here." " Very good, sir. But I think you ought to see this first. I found this gun leaning against tho wall outside." It was an ordinary double-barrelled twelve-bore gun. Tho superintendent took it and opened tho breech; an empty cartridgo case was still in tho right barrel: he extracted it. " Let me have a look," said Geoffery Stevenson. lie put his nose to the muzzle and sniffed it. Then he squinted down the barrels. " The right ono has been fired within tho last hour or so, but not the left." "Is this your gun, Western?" asked the superintendent. " Yes, it's mine. It was hanging up in the kitchen when I left tho house." " Where do you keep your cartridges?' " In the kitchen drawer." Crocker slipped out and returned with a handful of loaded cartridges. "The wads aro labelled No. 5. That means No. 5 shot. And excuse mo, sir, I want to show you this. I found it lying near the gun." Ho produced a key. " I've tried it in tho lock of the front door and it fits." " It's all lies, sir—what that woman said," shouted tho farmer. " Well, you'll have an opportunity of saying so when the time comes. You'd better get along with your wifo into the kitchen, and you, Susan Ogden, you can go back to your room." Tho farmer and Susan Ogden obeyed, but the wifo did not movo. " Now, Mrs. Western —" The woman rose and came forward to the table, leaning both hands upon it. She spoke in a hoarse whisper. " Listen, sir; I'm going to tell you tho truth. Part of what that woman said was true; tho rest all lies Wo did come into tho house—we let ourselves in with that key." She pointed to tho key produced by Constable Crocker. " Tho first thing we saw was that gentleman lying bleeding on the stones. We didn't know what to do—we were so frightened, and my husband said. ' Let'g go out again, wife, and pretend that we haven't been in before, or they'll be putting it on to us.' So wo locked the door again, and threw away the key. and started knocking. That's the truth, sir; I swear it. And as for my poor husband, he's the best man that ever stepped. You must believe me"—she clasped her hands imploringly—" I'm telling you the truth." " Have you got that down, Lucas?" " Yes, sir." " Then go and join your husband in the kitchen, Mrs Western." She turned in despair. Genffery Stevenson jumped up to open the door for her. CHAPTER in. THE MISSING CAMION. When Mrs. Western was gone they discussed the next steps to be taken. It was decided to move the body down to the inn at Postbridgo for the post mortem and tho inquest. Lucas was to bo left in [ charge of tho farm for the night.

(COPYIUGBT.)

A THRILLINGLY-TOLD STORY OF ABSORBING INTEREST.

" You'll have to keep the lodger awav from the others as well as you can," said his chief. "We don't want any more murders." Constable Crocker appeared at the door. "I've found this, sir," he said, tendering a pocket-book. The superintendent examined it. " llis money wasn't touched, anyway. Look at this!" He held up a bundle of five pound and Treasury notes. " There must he over fifty pounds hero. Hallo! What's this card ? It's the man's own. card, I should think, as there are several of them. 'Sir Charles Trernayne.' There'll be a fuss in the London papers about this and no mistake. We mustn't miss any of the evidence. What about the cord that wo man was tied up with ?" Geoffrey Stevenson turned his back upon the superintendent. Wrench saw him snatch tho cords from his pocket, whip out a pocket-knife, slice off one of the knots and put it back into his pocket. The whole manoeuvre, including the wink that ho bestowed upon his companion, took barely four seconds. " Here they are Superintendent. I forgot to hand them over to you." " Thank you. You've forgotten nothing else, I hope ?" said the superintendent shortly. , " Yes, I have. I havo never told you what the dying man said to me." "Ho was conscious, then?" " Yes, when wo first found him, but his voice was weak. _ He muttered something quite unintelligible, and then he said distinctly, ' Western knows everything,' and then some word that sounded like ' Walt.' I couldn't catch any more." "H'm," said the superintendent, sternly. ' You kept back tho most important part of your statement. " You're sure of those words— ' Western knows everything '?" " Quite. Ho mifttered a lot more, but I couldn't catch any of it." ' Now Superintendent," said Wrench. " You won't want us any more to-night. !think we'll run on to Tavistock and get something to eat." " Certainly I have to move the body into Postbridge and come back to tow that broken-down car into tho town. We may be some time, but if you could look into the station, Mr. Wrench, after you've had your supper, I'd like to have a talk to you." Ilis neglect in not including Geoffrey in tho invitation was pointed. " That superintendent doesn't seem to have taken a fancy to me," remarked the young man as they drove down the hill. " No! Why should he, when you keep back material evidence like that?" " Do you think he'll arrest that poor devil ?" " It's probable." " I'm sure he had nothing to d-3 with tho murder, or that poor wife of his." They relapsed into silence, each following his own train of thought until tho lights of Tavistock came into sight. " Tho ' Queen's' I suppose," said Geoffrey. " The cooking's fair and there's sure to be a good fire to thaw ourselves out by. By Jove! It's past nine." When their meal was finished, Sam remembered his promise to tho superintendent. " I suppose I ought to go round to tho police station." "You won't go without me, my boy. I moan to see this business through. You know, Sam, you're the most secretive devil I ever met. You've never given mo your opinion of all this. There that young woman sat, swearing away those poor old people's lives, and you've never sais what you thought of her." " I thought she was lying," said Wrench, " or, at any rate, that part of her story was false. But I can't say that I believed the Westerns either. When I was coming downstairs I overheard something that was not intended for me. Mrs. Western was standing at the bottom of tho stairs with a candle in her hand. She didn't see mo, and I heard her whisper to hor husband, ' So she was there all the time ! What does she know ?' " Geoffrey Stevenson stood lip with a frown on his keen face. The two young men were in curious contrast—the one bronzed and tall and muscular, not goodlooking if symmetry of feature is a measure of good looks, but alert and ardent; tho other a slip of a man below the average height, and so thin that he looked as if the wind would blow through him. His face was redeemed by his eyes, which were luminous and expressive: they attracted attention in whatever company ho found himself. They were magnetic eyes, and one forgot the puniness of tho body in the strong personality which it clothed. The two men seemed an ill-assorted pair to be intimate friends. " " I don't care what tho evidence is," said Geoffrey, with a wilful twist of his shoulders. " I don't 'care what you lawyers build upon it. I saw that man, and I saw that woman, and no one would persuade me that either of them was guilty of murder." " You forget their first pretence that they hadn't been into the house." " And you forget tho temptation that anyone would have to lie when you find a murdered man lying in your house, and know that you might be falsely suspected of doing him in. Besides, what motivo could they have had—a motorist who breaks down close to their door ? Robbery ? Why, his money was never touched." " What did you cut those cords for before you handed them over ? It's lucky for you the superintendent didn't spot you—interfering with the course of the law." " Nonsense T only cut off a knot. Ho was interested in tho cord. I happen to take a professional interest in knots." " Well, I'm going to keep an open mind until I hear what the superintendent lias up his sleeve. It's possible that ho wants me to make up his mind for him." " Do you know anything about the murdered man ?" " Only what everyono in Plymouth knows—that he's a baronet and the owner of Tremayno Towers, that big property on tho fringe of the moor. The house has been shut up ever since ho inherited the title, and I've heard that he's a bit of a waster." He looked at his watch. "If we're going to see that superintendent to-night and sleep in our own beds, we must got a move on. Come along." " Do you think ho'll throw me out if I como?'' " Not if I'm there .to protect yon," said Wrench with a twinkle, measuring tho height of his companion towering above him on tho hearth rug. They found tho superintendent in his office studying the pages of Burke. In front of the blotting-pad was a large and rather dirty handkerchief filled with the objects taken from the dead man's pockets, and beyond it the gun and cartridges, tho cords and a few maps aud papers found in the derelict car. " Ah, Mr Wrench, I'm glad to see you. Sit down." " I brought my friend, Mr. Stevenson, with me in case he may be useful." The superintendent forgot to oxpress any satisfaction, and Geoffrey sat down in a vacant chair. " I thought, Mr. Wrench, you might like to see the things we found on tho body and ir the car, as you will be an important witness and, being a solicitor, you are in a position to judge of the strength of the evidence." " Sam was right," said Geoffrey to himself, " that fat policeman wants him to make up his mind for him." (To be continued daily.)