The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-12-24
Murder Al BRIDGE
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and liquor bottles-wl1ich contrasted
sharply with the neatly-ceiled and
-fioored space devoted to fur
mace. laundry and maids room.
Dundee himself had given those
regions only cursory inspection
with his hashlight, for it was highly
improbable that Nita Selim would
have made use Of secret hiding
place for her iewelry and valuable
papers. if that hiding place were
located in such dark, awesome sur
roundings.
No. The hiding place, if it really
existed-and it must exist-had been
within easy reach of Nita dressing
and bedecking herself for party.
or Lydia Carr could not have been
kept in complete ignoranceof its 10
cation.
With that conviction in mind,
Dundee returned to Nita's bedroom,
to which he already had devoted at
least half an hour
Nothing in the big clothes closet,
where Flora Miles had been hiding
while Mia was being murdered. No
secret drawers in desk or dressing
tableor bedside table. No false bot
tom in boudoir chair or chaise
logue.
He had even taken ever book out
Of the four-shelf bookcase which
stood against the west wall near the
north corner of the room, and had
satisfied himself that no book was a
leafless fake.
HIS close inspection Of the bath
u Il room and back hall, upon
which Nita's bedroom opened, had
proved as fruitless, although he had
removed every drawer from the big
linen press which stood in the hall,
and measured spaces to a fraction
Of an inch. AS for the walls, they
were, except for the doors, unbro-
ken expanses Of tinted plaster.
And yet
He stepped into the clothes closet
again, hammer in hand for a fresh
tapping of the cedar-board walls.
Nothing here. And then he
tapped again, his ear against the
end wall of the closet-the wall
farthest from the side porch.
Yesl There was family hollow
echo Of the hammer strokes!
Excitement blazing high again,
he took the tape measure with
which he had provided himself on
his way out, and calculated the
length of the closet from end to end.
Six feet.
Emerging from the closet he
closed his eyes in an effort to re-
call in exact detail the architects
blueprint Of the lower floor, which
Coroner Price had submitted to his
jury at the inquest that morning.
Yes, that was right The inner
end wall of Nita's clothes closet was
also the back of the guest closet
in the little foyer that lay between
Nita'S bedroom and the main hall.
Within ten minutes, much laying
on of the tape measure had pro-
duced q, startling result. Instead
of having a wall in common, the
guest closet and Nita's clothes
closet were separated by exactly
eleven inches.
Why the waste space? The blue
print, bearing the imprint of the
architects, Hammond e. Hammond,
showed no such walled-up cubby-
holel
Exultantly, Dundee again en-
tered Nita's closet and went over
every inch of the narrow, hori-
zontal cedar boards, which formed
the end wall. But he met with no
reward. Not through this work
nlanlike, solidly constructed wall
had an opening been made.
But in the foyer closet he read
different story. Its back wall had
an amateurish look. This closet
was not cedar-lined, as was Nita's,
but was painted throughout in soft
ivory.
But it was the back wall of the
closet in which Dundee was inter
ested. Unlike the other walls,
which were of plaster. the back was
constructed of six-inch-wide boards
the cheapness of the lumber not
concealed by its coat of ivory paint
No self-respecting builder had put
in that wall of broad, horizontal
boards
And then, directly beneath the
shelf, which was set regulation
height, just above the poleon which
swung a dozen coat hangers, Dun
dee found what he was looking for.
n a
A SHORT length Of the board,
IA cheap board. a queer scrap to
have been used even in so Shoddy
a job as that wall was. &. Eight
inches long. And set square in the
center of the wall, just below the
shelf and pole.
If he had not been looking
for something odd, however, he
acknowledged to himself, he would
not have noticed it. Did any one
ever notice the back walls of
closets?
Sire of the result he nressed