TRAVELERS’ HOTEL THOMAS RICKSON, Proprietor Licensed Premises WESTVIEW, B.C. him. Evidently he’d depended upon some disguise to avoid being identified. “Think hard,” McKay turned to Wagner. “You say the man you saw spying before the murder was the bandit. Suppose now it was someone in disguise. Is there anyone you know that’s about the same height as the bandit, had the same kind of eyes for instance, or resembled him in any way. Has anyone been hanging around here lately?” “No,” Wagner hesitated, “but come to think of it, about three weeks ago Jack Krefchenko remarked that if the bank was ever robbed it would be in the daytime and not at night. Said the time lock on the safe would make it too long a job.” McKay’s eyes narrowed. “Didn't hap- pen to say anything else, did he?” “Well, yes,’ Wagner admitted. “He asked how much money I kept in the teller’s cage. “And you told him?” Wagner laughed confusedly. “I just joked. I told him about one hundred thou- sand dollars, laughed and changed the subject.” McKay strode over to the telegraph offce. There he scribbled a hurried wire to the chief of police at Sioux Lookout in North- ern Ontario and handed it to Ole Lee. While he waited for a reply he puzzled over the case. A few minutes chat with Lloyd Wagner had presented a new angle. What in blazes was Krefchenko doing in Plum Coulee when his family was up at Sioux Lookout, five hundred miles away in the Ontario bush? And why had he quizzed Wagner about the amount of money carried in the teller’s cage? His mind ran swiftly over the reports he’d heard of Jack Kref- chenko. Ten years before he’d held-up a party of land buyers, relieved them of a large sum of money, gone on a joy-ride to Europe and subsequently served three years in Stony Mountain Pentitentiary when picked up on his return to Canada. Later he’d been em- ployed by police to secure evidence against a gang of safeblowers. Double-crossing the police, he’d been missing till picked up in a resort of illicit love on another charge of robbery. An audacious and resolute crim- inal, he’d constantly been connected with daring hold-ups but had invariably managed to give police the slip largely through friendly contacts with ladies of the under- world. As he listened to the metallic stuttering of the telegraph key, McKay glanced around Here the killer posed as a doctor till Police caught up with him. the yellow-painted room until his eyes lighted on a case of arms. Examining the label he found that the case came from the Hingston-Smith Arms Company of Winni- peg, and bore the address of Ludwig Yack- man, Plum Coulee. “Funny thing about that shipment,” broke in the voice of Ole Lee. “It arrived here the day before the murder, and the Plum Coulee hardware refused to take de- livery. Said they never ordered it. Opened it by mistake and found it was short a Browning rifle and a Luger .30 automatic, according to the invoice. A wave of intuition swept through McKay’s brain. In a second he had grabbed a telegraph pad and was scribbling a hur- ried wire to Chief Elliott at Winnipeg to interview the Hingston-‘Smith Arms Com- pany, and trace the party who placed the order and taken out the .30 Luger pistol. An hour later McKay received an answer to his first wire: “Jack Krefchenko quit job in Grand Trunk roundhouse here three weeks ago after quarrel with foreman stop. Thought to be in neighbourhood Fort William at present time.” Upon receipt of McKay’s wire Chief Elliott leapt into his car, halted before the Hingston-Smith Arms Company and inter- viewed the manager. In a few moments he’d traced the order to the morning of Novem- ber 18th. “Why, I remember that order,” one of the salesmen recalled without a second’s hesitation. “A pleasant chap about twenty- five called, gave his name as Ludwig Yack- Malaspina Hotel Licensed Premises LUND, BRITISH COLUMBIA * E. DINI Powell River With Compliments to the B. C. Police Hotel Rodmay Building P. O. Box 850 British Columbia THE POWELL STORES LTD. Complete Department Store Powell River, British Columbia 8 Ce TWELFTH EDITION Page Thirty-one