THE DIVORCE
COURT MURDER
FOURTEENTH INSTALLMENT
"Well, there was the fact that
Ellen and Garrett had only a small
fraction of the stolen goods," said
the nurse who had attended the for
mer Mfs. Keith. "After she was
here six months, Ellen realized I
sympathized with her, and once per
mitted herself to confide in me.
When I asked how she got into this
trouble, She didn't try to justify her
self, but only Garrett. He wasn't
naturally bad, she claimed, and she
did her best to stop him from going
wrong. But he admired his friend's
smartness and his influence, and
the temptation of easy money
was too much for him. I could tell
she clearly feared and despised the
felldw."
Rankin spoke eagerly. "Did she
tell you anything about who he was
and what became of him?"
"She could hardly know what
happened to him after her arrest."
The matron shook her head. "But
she mentioned the name by which
she knew him; more than likely it
was an alias. If I'm not mistaken,
he traveled as- Fred Dennis." .
But the matron had no idea of
her charge's history, once she passed
beyond th^walls of the penitentiary.
She had never heard from her. Nor
could she supply any further details
about Fred Dennis, or his descrip
tion, which Rankin particularly de
sired. And she was ignorant of how
Ellen Trent met her lover or where.
In court, she had been repre
sented by a Mr. Nathan Lewis, a
Fort Wayne lawyer, in all probabil
ity appointed by the judge to de
fend her, because she had no money.
Late that afternoon, Tommy Ran
kin presented himself, by appoint
ment made over the telephone, at
the law offiee of Mr. Nathan Lewis.
Evidently the lawyer had prospered
since the day, six years before,
when he was appointed by the court,
an impecunious young lawyer, to
defend Ellen Trent.
Mr. Lewis studied Rankin's card
and motioned him to a deep arm
choir.
"Yes, Mr. Rankin?" he inquired
politely, but with quiet reserve.
"You're from the Philadelphia Po
lice Bureau, I see. How can I be
of service to you?"
"I called you to make sure you
wouldn't leave the office before I
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arrived," the detective replied. "It's
about a young woman whose mys
terious murder I am investigating in
the East. Her name is Barbara
Keith and she wag once your
client, charged with concealing and
disposing of stolen goods. You knew
her as Ellen Trent."
The lawyer looked genuinely
shocked, and shook his head sol
emnly.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he mur-.
mured. "Of course, I recall the case
quite well. Exactly what happened 1
to her?"
Briefly Rankin related enough of
the tragedy to enlist Mr. Lewis' co
operation. The latter listened atten
tively.
"I have reason to believe," Rankin
concluded, "that this affair in Fort
Wayne—her arrest and imprison
ment—has a bearing on her death.
She was being blackmailed by some
one familiar with her past. And you
can probably tell me more about it,
from her angle, than anyone else."
Mr. Lewis pondered. "Under
these circumstances. I suppose I am
jusHfied in revealing whatever I can
to help you. To me, it has always
seemed a most distressing situation,
for which the girl was not to blame
at all. Her misfortune was to love
a ne'er-do-well. Yet there were the
goods, the evidence that she knew
of the robberies, and her obvious re
lations with one of the men. I con
sidered it most wise that she plead
guilty and trusted to the court's
leniency for a minimum sentence."
"That's one of the details I want,"
the detective cut in quickly. "It's
been suggested to me, from other
sources, that she was really quite
innocent."
"I'm firmly convinced of that,"
Mr. Lewis declared. "At our first
interview in the city jail, she as
sured me she was ignorant of Gar
rett's dishonesty until after they had
lived here for six months. At times
she wondered why he stayed out so
late at night. She found out about
him eventually when he returned at
dawn, after a narrow escape during
an attempted robbery. He had been
separated from Dennis and brought
back some of the loot; then she re
alized his occupation and taxed him
with it."
"And what's your opinion of Gar
rett? Did you gather he was vicious
or just weak?"
The lawyer spread his hands.
"Miss Trent insisted it was entirely
Dennis' fault; without his persua
sion and the enticement of easy
money, Garrett would never have
gone wrong. She loved him so, it
was almost pitiful how she deluded
herself about his worthiness."
"Have you any idea, Mr. Lewis,"
he asked, "how and where she met
Garrett in the first place?"
After some coitation, the attor
ney recalled that the girl had men
tioned that they become ecquainted
in Akron, Ohio, late in 1925. She
worked as a wrapper in a large de
partment store there and met the
young man at a dance hall. Mr.
Lewis was not better informed than
Mortimer Keith had been. She had
no relatives left, he believed.
The lawyer told how her sweet
heart became acquainted with Fred
Dennis. It was at the Indianapolis
race track, where Garrett began to
hang about when h'e failed to obtain
work, in hope of acquiring some
loose change. But the girl could
not name, Mr. Lewis explained as
Rankin probed more thoroughly,
any of Dennis' other associates.
"No wonder she detested Dennis
so!" Rankin exclaimed. "He threat
ened her happiness, endangered the
man she loved and brought her end
less worry and anxiety for his wel
fare." %
"Exactly," Mr. Lewis agreed.
"That's the reason, when Garrett
was killed, she considered him his
murderer. I have a vivid picture of
her in prison, crushed and numbed
by his death; she didn't care what
happened to her without him. But
she had one interest—a grim deter
mination that Fred Dennis should
suffer for It."
The detective nodded. "I suppose
he realized her opposition and en
mity."
"He could hardly help it, the way
she always tried to, persuade Garrett
to break away. It was a continual
struggle for ascendency over him;
she told me that when she's almost
win him away, Dennis could bring
him back to heel with a word."
"But the police didn't catch him,
even with her information?" Rankin
vouchsafed.
Mr. Lewis toyed with a pen on
his desk and pushed baok his chair
as he replied.
•"No, he escaped again," he related,
"by the skin of his teeth. Just before
i they broke in."
"And nothing was heard of him
aYterward? No trace of his where
abouts?"
The lawyer shook his head. "No,
he dropped completely out of the
picture."
"But at least you have Miss
TTTW KT.KTN TRIBUNE. ELKIN. NORTH CAROLINA
Trent's description of him," the de
tective put in.
"The police could give you that,"
Mr. Lewis replied. "It was their job
to hunt him. And I believe they
still hold such of Dennis' possessions
as didn't have other rightful own
ers."
"In that case, I'll want to see
them at once." Abruptly, Rankin
rose and extended his hand.
But instead of shaking hands, Mr.
Lewis glanced at his watch and also
rose.
"If you don't mind, Mr. Rankin,'.'
he said, "I'd like to go along with
you to Headquarters. Recalling how
favorably the girl impressed me, I'm
interested in the case and wish to
learn what develops. In fact, if
Dennis is responsible for her mur
der, I feel almost involved In it my
self."
"Why, certainly, Mr. Lewis," the
detective returned pleasantly,
"You're quite welcome to Join me
and follow it up."
The lawyer had put into words
the possibility to which his investi
gations and all the information he
obtained on this journey pointed.
Certainly, Fred Dennis had ample
reason for harboring malice against
Ellen Trent and desiring her death.
From the beginning, her opposition
to his control over her sweetheart,
Garrett, constantly threatened to
disrupt his plans and endanger his
criminal enterprises. Then, with
Dave Garrett's death, her more ac
tive hostility resulted calamitously
for him. She made him a fugitive
from justice. It was hardly likely
that a man of his character, vicious
and revengeful, yet astute and dar
ing, would hesitate to commit mur
der in retaliation.
He was familiar with Barbara
Keith's past and in a position to
disclose it; and as part of his re
venge, he could blackmail her by
anonymously calling her husband's
attention to them, he would estab
lish her relations with Garrett and
her prison sentence as a thief. He
might even have been aware of the
expected baby. To silence him, Mrs.
Keith would undoubtedly have been
willing to pay dearly.
Why, then, had he chosen to
chloroform her during the divorce
hearing? And how had he reached
her there. To these obstacles to his
theory of Dennis' guilt, Rankin had
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to produce a solution. So long as
Mrs. Keith continued to pay him he
would hesitate to kill the goose that
laid such golden eggs; and she had
given him a check as recently as
June first. But there was a limit to
the bleeding process. If driven to
the wall by his demands, she might
have turned on him finally, threat
ening both to betray him to the
authorities and to admit the truth
to her husband. The fact that the
day before she died she had broached
a subject, the delicateness and im
portance of which her nervousness
and alarm attested, supported this
supposition. Instead of wishing to
speak of a divorce, as Mr. Keith sup
posed, she may have intended to
conffess. Though she lost her nerve
in the crisis, yet desperate and
hounded, she constituted a fresh
menace to Dennis.
And always, so long as she lived,
her knowledge of his criminal ca
reer, which she could pass on to
the authorities, endangered his free
dom.
■ Mr. Lewis drove the detective di
rect to Headquarters. It was his
presence rather than Rankin's offi
cial card that gained them a prompt
audience with Lieutenant Becker.
He was the officer who had ar
rested Ellen Trent six years before,
and led the subsequent raid on Den
nis' flat. Even now he was sensi
tive about that fiasco and mention
of it brought a wry frown to his
features. Rankin briefly related the
story of Barbara Keith's murder
and the trail that led to Fort Wayne.
When he explained its connection
with Fred Dennis and his desire to
obtain information about him, Lieu
tenant Becker nodded.
"Of course, we still have all the
things from his apartment," he de
clared, "that is, his personal things.
I'll have them here in a jiffy."
He summoned a policeman from
the record room. Within ten min
utes the officer returned with pa
pers, reports and several suitcases.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
Mattie Mae Powell
NOTARY PUBLIC
Building & Loan Office
Main Street
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