BEHIND DOUBLE DOORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22202, 31 August 1935, Page 7 (Supplement)

BEHIND DOUBLE DOORS

By MRS. A. M. WILLIAMSON Author of "This Woman to this Man," "The Lion's Moune," etc., etc.

(COPYMGUT)

CHAPTER Vlll.—(Continued) " Very well," Gina said. " I will get you the nun's costume. Are you in a hurry?" " I'm afraid I am," lie confessed. He felt ho was not being the success as a diplomatist that he ought to be, but slio had him at a disadvantage. Ho must just do the best ho could and leave it at that, until he could make up to her afterwards. He stood ailent while Gina went into her bedroom, and bo could hear her opening and shutting drawers. After four or five unhappy minutes she returned, looking martyred, with a parcel neatly wrapped in paper. " I thought you would not like to carry tho costume through tho hotel to bo stared at," she said, " so I have done it up as neatly as I know how." "A thousand thanks I" cried Morosini. " I hope to bo back in time for a late dinner. Will you dine with mo and go somewhere afterwards?" " I'm not sure," she said. " I feel a little sad. Jr may go out—to cheer myself up. But call my room—and we shall see." " I will, I will!" tho remorseful man exclaimed gratefully. " And meanwhile I will send you up tho best box of chocolates in London. We havo them! And a dozen orchids."

His haste to escape with tho parcel was pitiable or hateful. Miss Gennaro let him go without a word. But tho instant tho door closed behind his largo form sho put on her hat once more. " He will go to IIP," she said to herself. " Then he will order his car and start —somewhere—with that girl." Suro that her theory of what Morosini would do, was right, she stationed herself at the turn of a corridor where, from a comparatively safe distance sho could watch the doors of 118, 119 and 120. Sho arrived too late to see Morosini admitted into one of those rooms but that didn't matter. Ho was there, sho would have staked all the money sho had in tho world, consequently sho could not miss him when he came out. Minutes drifted on. At last tho door of 119 opened, and Morosini camo out. To Gina's surprise, he camo alone, but almost immediately after, the door o|>cncd again, and the black-clad figuro of a nun appeared. Gina guessed instantly that tho two had arranged a programme. They wero not to ho seen together. Morosini would wait for tho girl in his car, probably not at the entrance of the hotel, but in some quiet side street near by. Gina had only to follow one or tho other. It was more convenient to follow the girl. Morosini began to walk quickly. To keep up with him sho would be obliged to pass the nun, and gladly would she have dono this in order to turn, and take a long look at the face framed in those graceful folds of black veiling. As it was, Gina's ono glance at tho girl in brown standing just inside the door of 119 had given her only an impression of youth, slcnderness and a small, pale face, big-eyed, with a halo of copper hair against the light from a window.

Morosini ran quickly down tho one flight of stairs which would take him to the ground floor. Tho black-clad nun moved slowly, as though she timed herself. Evidently she had had instructions from Morosini, and knew exactly how to carry the in out. She, too, avoided the lift, and walked down. Miss Gennaro did tho same, as far behind as possible while still keeping the black figure in sight. Both the lifts and tho marble stairway descended into a large entrance hail, with the palm court and its musio on one side, tho restaurant on tho other. The nun walked neither to the left nor to the right, but held her head modestly bent down. Gina, at her discreet distance, saw that the incongruous form attracted attention, but not an undue amount, for Sisters of Charity were now and then known to visit luxurious hotels. Once out in the open, the slim, black figure flitted swiftly along tho street, weaving through the crowd. It turned a corner, went half the length of a sido street and turned again. There it paused, hesitated. A largo limousine drew up at the pavement. As it did so, tho door of the car opened; tho nun sprang in, and the car started. At the corner, a taxi had just let a passenger descend, and while the chauffeur was making change, Miss Gennaro had slipped into tho passenger's place. " Follow that djirk blue car," she said. " Not too close, but keep it in sight, no matter where or how far it goes. You shall have the best tip you've ever had in your life." " All right, miss," agreed tho man, evidently an ex-soldier.

CHAPTER IX. SCRAPS OP PAPER When Jack Garth was left alone with tho dead body in its crimson-stained kimono, ho realised with a new shock the liideousness of this job he had taken on. Even tho presence of the dog was a comfort to him. At least tho badtempered little wretch was something alive! Jack would have welcomed now tho sharp yapping that had rasped his nerves a short time ago. Jt was so still in these two rooms, with the open doors between. So horribly still! The dog was silent now, watching him from the resting place it had chosen in its own small, cushioned basket. Garth decided to leave it undisturbed, but later to make suro that it had transferred no traco of blood to its pink silk pillow. If it had done so, ho wouldn't scruple to remove the pillow, traces and all, lest embarrassing; questions be asked by tho police. Followed by tho gimlet gaze of the tiny animal, Garth began to examine tho room for cities, telling himself that some must certainly exist, unless destroyed by tho murderer. Morosini had promised to ask two questions of his employees. Dad Mrs. Thatcher received any telephone calls? Had a visitor gone up to her suite? Having given orders thatlio was not to bo awakened it seemed that Garth must wait for tho answers to thoso questions till Morosini should return. Meanwhile, however, his own explorations might make tho answer unnecessary. Ho thought of letters. Tho ladies had arrived from Paris last night, and Mrs. Thatcher had, ho knew, found at least one letter awaiting her. Sho had been upset by its contents. Miss Mills believed that it came from a person of whom Mrs. Thatcher was afraid, a person in tho habit of writing letters bearing tho postmarks and stamps of different countries. This one had had a French stamp. After reading it sho had, as usual, drunk a good deal of champagne, and taken a certain drug which had become a habit with her. " Probably cocaine or heroin," Garth said to himself. " But I may learn that within the next few minutes. Not that it will help much!" Ho walked into tho sitting room of tho suite to find that it still had a somewhat uninhabited air. Thero were flowers in vases on a table and on tho two wide window sills. Tho desk was open, but the stationary neatly arranged thore looked as if it had not yet been touched by the occupants of tho suito. Garth

A WELL - CONSTRUCTED STORY OF MYSTERY AND LOVE

went through tho form, however, of opening tho two drawers. They were empty, save for a sheaf of telegraph forms and a map of London. Tho blottint; pad on top of the desk, too, was virgin: Not a drop of ink had been spilled on it. He began with tho waste paper basket, but it was empty. Almost certainly a woman addicted to drugs and drink in order to drown her troubles would be a chain smoker. Garth deduced that the open gold cigarette case on the bedroom table was Mrs. Thatcher's property. How easy to burn a letter and envelope with a lighted match! Ho hadn't much hope of finding that particular letter, but there might bo others which would tell something about her acquaintances. Miss Mills said that Mrs. Thatcher had had no friends! Well, there had been those gigolos 1 And there had been Doctor Gabriel Goschen. 'Lhoso men, at least, might be counted as fairly important factors in the woman's life.

Jack ransacked drawers, not neglecting handkerchief cases, glove boxes and folded sachets. He fumbled in tho pockets of cloaks that hung in tho wardrobe. Ho even lifted the sofa cushions and rugs, thinking it possible that Mrs. Thatcher's abnormal mind might suspect the girl of spying upon her correspondence. Ho found nothing at all, and was on the point of giving up his quest, when an uglv suggestion seemed to put itself into words. " If Mrs. Thatcher wanted to hide something, wouldn't sho keep it on her own person?" Reluctantly ho crossed ilia floor to 118, to stare down at the dead woman. Her gorgeous dressing-gown was more or less of the kimono style, but it had one feature that did not belong to tho ordinary kimono. On each side was a pocket, made in the shape of a goldembroidered flower. Tho stiff figure had fallen into his room, 118, face upward, with arms slightly extended. Tho two pockets, though ho had not noticed them till now, were in plain sight when one looked for them. The pocket on the left sido lav very flat, but that on the right was just enough distended to tempt investigation. Garth knew that, technically, ho would bo offending against justice in touching the body. To rcmovo any bit of evidence would be hardly short of crime. But tho safety of Tanita Mills came first with him. With all liis heart and intelligence he believed in the girl's innocence. Therefore his conscience would exonerate him if he suppressed evidence that might fasten suspicion where it did not belong. If, on tho other hand, he should chance upon evidence incriminating a person more likely to have committed a crime, all he need do was to examine and then replace it. With repugnance ho thrust his hand into the bulging pocket, and as he did so, the little dog sprang from its basket to protect its mistress. For tho first time Garth felt an impulso of kindness for the animal. Even when it seized his sleevo and worried tho tweed with its needle-liko teeth ho respected its miniature courage.

" Bite away, you poor little boast," lie said. " You can't hurt me, any more than I can hurt your dead mistress." And in spite of the dog's vicious attack he persevered until he had extracted from the pocket a quantity of torn bits of paper. Something told him that he had possessed himself of an extremely important piece of evidence. Would it bo for, or against, Tanita Mills? Ho began matching the morsels of paper together on the smart brocade table-cover, as if they were parts of a jig-saw puzzle. Almost at once h© was able to deduce that this torn letter was not the one which had been received last night in an envelope with a foreign stamp. The paper was thick, of a showy primrose yellow, and the address, 101 a Kensington Court, stamped on it in thick, expensive gold, suggested that it had not come to the Mayfield Hotel via Paris. There had been, apparently, only one largo page, with a few lines of writing grouped closely in the centre. This fact simplified Garth's task, especially as the paper had been torn into no more than a dozen pieces. Soon lie had reconstructed tha letter, and, as ho read ho suffered a sensation of actual physical distress. This was not a document likely to exonerate Tanita Mills I On the contrary, it seemed to draw round her more tightly the web of suspicion. " My darling, beautiful adored one," it began. " 1 must see you. I must have you. I have come to tho state now when I'm ready to let the old harridan and her money go to hell. I thought I could shut my eyes and swallow tho medicine because of the thick gold coating on the pill, but even at the last minute my gorge closes against it. I have managed to save enough for us both to begin a new life, if you will go with me. Phono the minuto you get this. Ever and utterly yours, Dimitri."

For a moment Jack Garth was at a loss to comprehend the depth of his own black depression. Then lie was forced to realise tho truth about himself. Not only did he regret another link connecting Tanita Mills with the murder, but ho was experiencing a sudden sense of loss. The blow was personal. Ho'd been thinking of the girl as lonely. But now, if he were to on circumstantial evidence, sho was not lonely. She was somo man's "darling, beautiful adored one," and this man, who had avowedly been mercenary, would hardly have thrown over his chance of fortune "at tho last moment," if ho wero not sure that his lovo was returned. Garth remembered, too, what tho girl had said about her actions during that absence of hers from the Mavfield, after tho quarrel with Mrs. Thatcher and tho throwing of tho book—his book. Sho had walked and sat on a bench in Kensington Gardens. In tho light of tho address on this letter, a number in Kensington Court, directly opposite tho Gardens, could he believe that she had walked aimlessly, and sat on a bench in tho park, alone? Hadn't sho run away from Mrs. Thatcher's tyranny with tho direct intention of going to her lover? As this question flashed into Garth's head, ho saw, as if by a lightuing glare of revelation, a reason why Tanita had come back to tho hotel. What if she had not found tho man sho sought? What if they two had played at cross purposes, and ho—Dimitri—had called to "have it out" with Mrs. Thatcher? Tanita returning to find tho woman murdered would have jumped to that sanio conclusion now forming in his— Garth's—miiul. Sho would havo guessed the identity of tho killer, and while wishing to save her innocent self would havo boon equally keen to save her lover. Sho had lied about what sho had dono during lior several hours of absence! She had lied when she'd vowed that she could think of no one with a motive for murdering Mrs. Thatcher. " You fool!" ho scolded himself. "I believo you wero falling in love with the girl. Serves you right, to find out sho's got no moro truth in her than tho rest of her dashed sex!" There was one consolation, however. The torn letter in Mrs. Thatcher's pocket had supplied a suspect. (To be continued 011 Saturday next)