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
His remark caused the chief to make a vain attempt to wring from the
man the reason why he had been looking in the window, and also why he
had run away. But the gardener refused to make any explanations. He
would simply shrug his shoulders, or else growl out that he had done
nothing. In the end the chief, by this time a very angry man,
announced he would lock him up in the jail for the night.
“Maybe by morning you will feel like talking,” was the statement he
hurled at the gardener.
We waited until after the chief had called the police station and
asked them to send a car for his prisoner. Then bidding him good
night, we left the library and started for our car. As we walked down
the path, Ranville told us that though we had said we would walk back
to the house, yet it had taken so little time to reach the secretary's
home that he had come back to pick us up. He had just started up the
path to the library when he heard running footsteps and the next
second the man had plunged against him. The two men had rolled over
and over and as the man seemed determined to get away, Ranville had
decided that he had better discover who he might be.
All the way back to the house we discussed the matter, reaching no
conclusion. How long the gardener had been watching us or for what
reason we could not say. Ranville was more interested in endeavoring
to find out why the man had attempted to get away without being seen.
To him that was the suspicious thing. Otherwise he would have seen no
reason to become excited over the fact the man had looked in the
window. Curiosity could explain that action. It would not, however,
explain his effort to escape without being seen. We were still talking
about it when we drove into the yard.
Telling Bartley that I would place the car in the garage, I let the
two men out by the drive, noticing as I did so that the lights were
turned on in the house. The dog leaped with a bark to greet me as I
opened the garage door and followed me when I went into the house.
Hearing the sound of voices in the living room, I entered to find
Bartley talking with Carter's neighbor, the minister.
Seating myself in a chair, I listened to the conversation. I could
tell the clergyman did not have the slightest idea who Bartley might
be. I judged also that he was a little surprised at not finding Carter
at home. There was a great contrast between the two men. The minister
was very tall and thin and extremely nervous. His eyes looked tired,
and there was a certain condescension in his voice which I have
noticed in other men of his profession. Bartley, on the other hand,
leaned back in his chair with the restful air which he always wore.
His keen, intellectual face had not a single line, and though I judged
the two men were about the same age, Bartley looked at least ten years
younger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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