The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-09-02

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But AL Cunningham had respect
for the judgment of Anderson. ant
he went away to ruminate over his
advice as to finding Perry Heath.
1t ought not to be difficult. A mar
can't drop out of existence without
leaving some sign, some clew as tc
his Whereabouts.
Heath was not man of affairs
his business was simple-merely the
disposing of his pictures through
dealers or, occasionally to private
buyers.
A list of such buyers and dealers
must be easily obtainable, and il
could not be a very arduous task to
interview some of them. And some
of them must have knowledge OF
Hetah.
Yet Cunningham was by nc
means sure Of this. A business
mans associates would know about
him, but an artist is a different
proposition. If for any reason
Perry Heath chose to absent himself
for a time or forever, it did not
seem to Cunningham that he could
be easily found.
Why Heath wanted to disappear,
he did not know, but he felt sure
the disappearance was voluntary
and would be prolonged.
He tried to delve into the mystery
Of the identity Of the criminal.
There was that strange card to be
considered.
If the makeup was the work Of
an artist or a woman, surely the
card was the work OF a woman or
an imbecile. No man would do such
thing as that. But a woman would
be quite capable OF thinking the
placing Of that card would throw
suspicion on Heath.
Oh, pshaw, all clews seemed to
point to a woman. The lighted cans
dies, the crimson scarf-it was all
very we'll to say an artist, but to
Cunningham perturbed mind they
all seemed to scream, Bunny.
He felt little resentful. 1t was
all very we'll for those chaps 10
put him on the job Of detecting. He
was glad enough to be promised pay
for tiff he could put up the goods.
But he. didn't think it was fair to
pooh-pooh all his theories and dis.
coveries, because, with natural chiv-
airy, they hated to suspect a woman
"a girl.
SO did he. He was not enjoy
ing the prospect of seeing that
lovely morsel of femininity brought
to the bar Of justice.
But if he was doing sleuth work.
he must follow up the avenues that
opened to him. and see where they
led. And he couldn't help seeing
that they led, apparently, at least,
to Bunny Moore.
So the case of Bunny Moore must
be looked into. And old Anderson
could say what he chose, he had no
idea what little devils tiappers were.
Cunningham himself had a sister.
and he knew she was the despair of
his parents, and was almost incor.
rigible. He had tried, himself. TO
lecture her, but he found he might
as we'll talk TO a self.willed monkey
She snapped her fingers at him and
laughed in his face.
She pretended a sort of mock ODE
dience and then ran away and acted
up forty times worse. OF course. he
couldn't believe her capable of muir.
der, but he held that Bunny's kill
ing of Myra was unprecedented.
perhaps an accident.
But the evidence was, to his mind.
strong. He had counted up the
hours of the lights swapping on and
off, as Mrs. Prentiss had related
them.
And as he reconstructed things.
Bunny had left her vanity case down
in the studia and went down to get
1T. Maybe, he surmised, she knew
she would meet Heath there. Maybe
Myra heard them together. and
came down-angry. Maybe, Heath,
dreading a row, cleared out, and the
two women quarrelled.
Then, little Bunny losing her tenn.
per. grabbed up the bottle and
hurled it at Myra, with unexpected
effect.
Then, stunned at what she had
done, the girl may have been tenn
porarily out Of her senses, and might
have given way to the whim of
painting Myra's face, almost uncon.
sciously.
Oh, well. there was mouse in sur.
missing, but he felt that his recon
struction was right in the main, If
not in every detail.
But he set himself to work to
hunt up Perry Heath or to learn
something about him.
And this legitimate search was far
more to his taste than tracking
down a poor little defenseless girl.
For whatever he might think of