Tragedy Trail | Page 8

Trimble said, walking into it and
beckoning the detective to follow. "Sit down, Darter, and make
yourself comfortable. Two girls have died of poison, have they? Then
we may safely assume that the case is either suicide, accident, or foul
play."
"Naturally," said Darter.
Trimble glared at him.
"The workings of a nimble mind," he said, as if to nobody in particular.
"I have stated the case, however. No doubt that the girls are dead?"
"Not the slightest. I'll call the doctor."
"One moment. I want to hear your story first," Terry Trimble told him.
"Let us consider the suicide theory. Did these girls die at the same
time?"
"No. The body of the first had been removed before the second died."
"We'll talk about the first."
"Her name was Alice Patton. She didn't commit suicide. Mrs. Burke
and the girls here say that would be the last thing she would do."
"You seem to be certain of it, so we'll pass the suicide theory for the
time being. How about accident?"
"Exactly what I think it was," Darter declared.
"I think I'll let you talk."
Detective Darter talked. He told Terry Trimble what Mabel Higgins

had said before she died, how Alice Patton had gone to the bathroom,
had taken a drink of water and remarked that it tasted queerly, and then
had stepped back into the other room and dropped dead.
"Analyzing the water and having the glass examined?" Terry Trimble
asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Let us consider the second girl, then. Miss Higgins, I believe you said
her name was. Did she drink of the water?"
"That is the funny part of it--she didn't."
"So she couldn't have obtained the poison by drinking water, as you
think her chum did. Have you considered a suicide pact?"
"I thought of it," Darter admitted. "But the landlady and the rest of the
girls declare Alice Patton and Mabel Higgins were not that sort. They
seemed glad to be alive--both healthy and happy and working. A
suicide pact doesn't seem possible."
"Anything is possible," Trimble said. "Suppose we assume that Alice
Patton had some secret trouble and Mabel Higgins knew of it. Alice
had threatened to take her life, and her chum coaxed her out of the
notion and told nobody. Finally Miss Patton does the deed. Her chum
thinks a lot of her, the horror of her death grips her, and she takes
poison herself. That might be the case without the world being aware of
the girls' trouble, you know."
"By Jove, I believe you've hit it already!" Darter exclaimed, with
enthusiasm.
"Ass!" Trimble commented. "Where would the second girl get the
poison? If it is a poison difficult to obtain, she wouldn't have some of it
around, would she, awaiting the day she might decide to take her own
life? And you told me that the landlady was with her all the time after
her chum's death. Don't jump to conclusions, Darter. Some day you'll

land wrong and snap an ankle."
Darter expressed his chagrin, but managed to smile at the same time.
"Well?" he asked.
"It may have been an accident, but I doubt it when I remember that
there were two victims and that they died almost a couple of hours
apart, and especially do I doubt it when I remember that Miss Higgins
did not take a drink of water. When we get the report of the analysis of
the water and glass, we may know more about that. And now let us
consider the idea of foul play."
"Everybody says neither of the girls had an enemy."
"Everybody doesn't know everything," Trimble commented. "They
may have had an enemy without knowing it themselves."
"How could that be?" Darter asked.
"Great heavens! Suppose some foolish fellow saw the girls day after
day and grew infatuated with one or both of them. Suppose they
repulsed him, laughed at him, forgot him. But if he was a man who
didn't forget a thing like that, a man with mind perverted enough to
plan murder----"
"I see," said Darter.
"You're as blind as an owl in daytime," Trimble told him. "That's just a
supposition. I suppose I shall have to look into this matter, confound it!
And I was reading an excellent book of poetry. Get me right--rotten
poetry, but an excellent book!"
"I am yours to command, Mr, Trimble," Darter said.
"How soon shall we know about that water and glass?"
"Very soon, sir. I told headquarters to telephone to me as soon as the
chemist got through."

"Then, while we are waiting for the report of the chemist, I'll have an
interview with Mrs. Burke," Trimble said.
The doctor came into the room as Trimble spoke. His face was white,
his breath seemed to come in gasps, he acted