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
“Nope. I don't know he threw anything, but I saw him throw his hand
out as if he did throw something away. I think he had something in it.
And then he went down round the wall, and I did not see him any more.”
I quickly ran through in my mind what the boy had said. Though he
might have been mistaken in thinking the man he saw climb over the
wall had thrown something away, yet there was no doubt it was a
valuable piece of information. It seemed to prove that some one
besides the Chinaman had been on Warren's grounds about the time he
must have been killed. And then I wondered if this could have been the
person in the boat—that person whom no one had seen.
The boy had nothing else to tell. I gave him a dollar after impressing
upon him that he must go at once to the chief of police and tell him
the same story he had told me. He went away promising to do this, and
I sat back to figure out his story. There was not anything suspicious,
in a sense, in seeing a man climb a stone wall. But when I remembered
that it took place around the time Warren had been killed, it began to
look important. So far, from all the evidence we had, there did not
seem to be any person who could have killed him. The secretary had
come to the house at four, and Warren had not been killed until two
hours later. I began to wonder who the man the boy had seen climbing
the wall could have been.
It was still light, though the sun was low. As my eyes glanced lazily
around, they fell upon the open door of Carter's boat house. The
thought came to me, it might be worth while to take one of the boats
and row along the shore until I reached Warren's land. There would be
time before dark to at least have a look at the place where the boy
said he had seen the man on the wall.
I went down to the boat house and went within. There were two row
boats lying in the water, and upon the concrete floor was a red canoe.
As the lake was very calm, I decided the canoe would be the easiest to
manage. I carried it to the water and launched it. Climbing in rather
carefully, I paddled out of the spillway, and then turned up the lake.
The lake was perfectly calm, without even a ripple upon its surface.
Keeping close to the shore, I paddled rather slowly, enjoying the
sight of the estates which I passed. All of them had fine lawns which
ran to the water's edge, with little boat houses concealed among the
trees. A little way from shore several people were fishing, and as I
passed a little sandy beach, I saw some children bathing.
For a short distance the shore ran in a straight line, then curved
around in a half circle to the right. As I struck across to the point
of land which ran out into the lake, I saw from the stone wall which
came down to the water's edge that I was opposite the Warren estate. I
could see above the trees the library, its red roof being the highest
in sight. But there were no signs of life, and as I paddled to the
shore I saw no one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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