The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 2 — page 154: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

336 THE “Now, Mr. Finch,” he began, ‘“ we have pretty nearly sifted through the gist of affairs associated with this crime, but find several loose ends that have to be connected up before we can say we"have got very far.” “T shall be very glad to help you, Mr. Prosecutor,” replied Finch, “ but I wish to say that I object to the fact that we appear to have been under surveillance all day. Wherever I have gone, or wherever Preston has gone, there we have found. some one behind us or in front of us, or near us. Now, I, for one, would like to know what this means?” “Well, I'll tell you what it means,” re- plied Griffith. ‘“ I want to get to the bot- tom of this case. You are two witnesses after the fact, and as usual with witnesses they do not always see as clearly the im- -portance of various matters as does the man who is saddled with the responsi- bility for ferreting out things. As a con- sequence, you might take the whim to run down to the city, putting us under the necessity of awaiting your pleasure be- fore getting your testimony—” “Testimony!” snapped Finch. “TI think you are putting it erroneously. I am not giving testimony—am not in a po- . sition where I have to give it.” ‘““T know that,” was the the response, “but we might have you,arrested as a witness. Of course I don’t wish to do that, but I did wish to keep in touch with you, so that when I raised my hand I could have you. “You will perhaps understand,” he went on, “that we work pretty much upon schedule. So, asking your pardon if my men have occasioned you any an- noyance—which [ instructed them not to do—I’'ll proceed to question you.” Finch frowned. ‘““ Now, look here, Mr. Griffith, man to man; I’m from New York, and have a pretty definite idea as to my rights in these matters. I am perfectly willing to answer every question you put to me, but I'll be hanged if I answer under duress. If I am to occupy that position, why I’ll ARGOSY. refuse to answer any of your questions until you have gone through every legal form of arresting me and—”’ ‘““T see,” whistled Girffith, “ you wish to be arrested, wish to put yourself into as much trouble as can be dug up, just because of a fit of irritation.” ‘No, I don’t,” ejaculated Finch. “ But I don’t,wish to be dogged about by a lot of flatfoots, as though I were a crook, a suspect—”’ “Suppose I should tell you that you were suspected?” Finch glanced at the man and then grinned. He was game enough. “In that event,” he said, “I should at least know where I stand. If that’s the way you feel, call in your men and arrest me, and then some weeks or months later in the police court you may get what facts I know.” Griffith was eying the fellow keenly. ‘“ Well,” he said, ‘‘ I’m not going to ar- rest you, and after you leave this room you will not be dogged. Now let’s go ahead and see where we are. You say you came up to Larchmont in a motor- car. Why?” | Finch explained the business transac- tion and the mistake that Redmond & Redmond had made in enclosing the let- ter with the papers. “Of course,” Finch added, “‘ we want- ed that letter back before Swandorf could see it—” ‘““And so,” smiled the detective, ‘“ you killed him in order to prevent his reading the letter. You see I have technical grounds for making it a little uncomfort- able for you if I wished.” “Oh, yes,” laughed Finch. ‘“ In other words, we killed the goose that we hoped would lay us a golden egg. Pardon me. Mr. Prosecutor, but I’m afraid the case wouldn’t hold very much water.” ‘“'None the less,” persisted Griffith, ‘“ I tell you what the fact is; I could make trouble for you. But I’m not going to. So go on and play decently with me.” “That isn’t the point, Mr. Griffith; you please play decently with me. I S COMMICLOO® (C@