The crooked crossDutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
General
The crooked cross
Dutton, Charles J. (Charles Judson)
Bartley, John (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction
Silently we went down the length of the room and came to a pause by
the body. It was lying on its face, with the feet toward the desk; one
hand was reaching forth in a pathetic position as if in the last
moment of life it had tried to stretch toward the safety of the open
door a few feet away. As I looked at the figure, I was impressed with
the fact that the man was wearing a suit very similar to Patton's—of
some indescribable dark stuff. Not only that, save for the difference
in years, the figure was about the same build and hair almost the same
color.
This thought lasted only a moment. Bartley dropped silently to his
knees and gently lifted the still head. We bent forward to observe the
man's face, and then there passed a glance between Ranville and
myself, for the cold face with the staring eyes was that of the man
who worked around Warren's place. I started to say something, only to
have Bartley speak first.
“He was shot through the heart, from behind. I think he must have been
leaving the room when the shot was fired.”
He rose to his feet and cast a reflective look back to the desk, then
hurried across the floor. Silently we followed him, and when we
reached the desk, we received another surprise. It was a very large
desk, with a great deal of room underneath. By its side stood a
wastebasket, but the wastebasket was filled to overflowing with small
pieces of paper—paper torn into hundreds of small pieces, which
spilled over the side of the basket and over the floor—typewritten
sheets torn into hundreds of tiny bits.
Bartley picked up a handful of paper and tried to fit some of the
pieces together. He found this rather difficult, and then stood
looking thoughtfully at the basket. I took several pieces of the paper
in my hands and discovered that they once had been part of some
typewritten manuscript. Ranville gave one look at the basket, glimpsed
the typewritten letters, then glanced hurriedly at the desk.
“It looks as though some one went to considerable effort to destroy a
manuscript.”
Patton's voice came sharp and quick. “They did; I found that mess of
papers on the floor. When I left the room there lay on my desk several
hundred pages of Warren's notes. And now—now they are torn to a
thousand pieces. And”—he paused—“for the life of me I cannot
understand it.”
Patton's face, as he looked at the destroyed manuscript, showed that
he was facing a situation which was beyond him. Not only was he very
much disturbed, but also rather frightened at what had taken place. It
was with a great deal of eagerness that he started to answer the
request Bartley made—to tell us just what had happened.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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