Three to Conquer Read Online Free PDF

He almost succeeded."
     
                  "So I followed Alderson into a lane, stopped behind him, swapped backchat. One word led to another. Being cracked, I shot him twice, threw the gun into a pond and called you to come take a look." Harper pulled a wry face. "Time I had my head examined."
     
                  "I can't afford to overlook any possibilities," Ledsom gave back. "I've just asked you a lot of questions. Are you willing to take them again with a li e-detector?"
     
                  "Positively not !"
     
                  Ledsom breathed deeply and said, "You realize that we must attach a certain significance to your refusal?"
     
                  "You can tie a couple of tin cans onto it for all I care. The polygraph is an outrageous piece of pseudo-scientific bunkum and its needle-wagglings aren't admissible as legal evidence."
     
                  "It has helped extract a few confessions."
     
                  "Yes, from the babes and sucklings. I am a maker of top-grade scientific instruments myself. You drag a polygraph into court and I'll tear it to pieces for all time."
     
                  That worried Ledsom. His thoughts revealed that he believed Harper perfectly capable of it.
     
                  "How about scopolamine?" suggested Harper, for good measure. "I'll talk that right out of usage if you'll give me half a chance." He leaned forward, knowing that their respective positions were reversed, even if but momentarily. "From the criminal viewpoint, what have I got that those punks in the Thunderbug haven't got? Do you regard them as figments of my imagination and think I've bribed witnesses to support my story?"
     
                  "They were real enough. We have proof of that."
     
                  "Well, then?"
     
                  "Two hours ago we picked up the girl. Her story doesn't jibe with yours; somebody's a liar."
     
                  Leaning back in his seat, Harper eyed him meditatively. "So you've got the girl. Is her version a trade secret?"
     
                  Ledsom thought it over and decided that there was nothing to lose. "She missed her bus, thumbed a lift. Three fellows picked her up in that green Thunderbug. They were in a humorous mood, took her a long, roundabout way and kidded her she was being kidnaped. At the filling station she really was scared; but after a bit more fooling around, they dumped her where she wanted to go. It was all a rib."
     
                  "And what about Alderson?"
     
                  "She saw nothing of him, knows nothing about him. "
     
                  " But he chased that car."
     
                  "I know. The girl says the blond fellow drove like a maniac, for no reason other than the hell of it, so maybe Alderson never caught up with them."
     
                  "You believe that yarn?"
     
                  "I don't believe any story without satisfactory evidence in support. But hers casts grave doubt upon yours."
     
                  "All right. I know you're going to check on mine. Check on hers, too, and see if it stands up."
     
                  "We've already made a partial check on both of you, and we're going to finish the job as soon as possible. The girl doesn't know the names of the three fellows or anything else about them that we hadn't already found out. She didn't notice the number of the car. Having suffered nothing, she had no reason to grab the number."
     
                  "That's a big help."
     
                  "But the rest looks convincing," said Ledsom. "She is a girl of excellent reputation, coming from a highly respected family. She left home when she says she did, missed the bus she says she missed and was seen by two witnesses being offered a lift.