The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-12-30
Murder At BRIDGE
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Tracey knew good and well that she
had only been playing up to Sprague
before Eita's death, in the hope Of
getting the lead in the Hamilton
movie, if Sprague got the job Of di-
recting it, and Tracey said. so you
call it playing-up, do you? 1t looked
like high-powered flirting to me-or
maybe it was more than f1irta-
tionP
Then Flora told him he hadn't
acted jealous at the time, and that
he knew he'd have been glad if
she'd got the lead. Well, just
then along came Janet"
Janet Raymond" Dundee ejacu-
lated. Il thought you said she had
refused the invitation when Mrs
Miles phoned her"
80 she had, but she said she
changed her mind, had been blue all
evening and needed cheering up"
How did she get in?"
g he walked over from her house
~ which isn't very far from the
AIileses', and simply came up the
path to the porch" Penny ex-
planned. Tracey asked her if she
had seen Sprague on the road-it's
the same road Dexter would have
had to take going down the hill to
the main road-and she acted aw-
fully queer"
"How?" Dundee demanded.
Exactly as she would act, since
she was in love with him" Penny
retorts1. She turned very red, and
asked if Sprague had inquired for
her, and Flora quite sharply told
her he hadn't.
Then Janet said she was very
much surprised that Sprague had
been there, and that she couldn't
understand why he had behaved so
strangely.
"Then Lois said she might as we'll
go fetch Peter from the library,
since Sprague was no longer there
to contaminate the atmosphere. She
came back
after how long a timer"
"Oh, about five minutes, / sup
pose" Penny answered YEARLY.
"She came in, her arm linked with
Peters, and laughing. Said she had
found him reading Deadwood
Dicks thriller. One of Tracey's
hobbies" SHE broke up to explain
lis collecting old-fashioned thrill
ers, like the Nick Carter, Buffalo
Bill and Deadwood Dick paper
bound books.
"Of course he didn't take up that
hobby until lot Of other rich men
had done it first. There was never
anybody less original than poor
Tracey. d. Well, Flora gave up
her place to Janet, and again played
anagrams with Johnny, Peter TAX
ing his original place at our table.
Suddenly Polly threw down her
cards-She'd been having rotten
luck and seemed out of sorts-and
said she didn't want to play bridge
any more. So poor Flora had to
be the perfect hostess, and switch
from anagrams to bridge"
And Polly played anagrams with
Drake?" Dundee prompted.
mo. She said she thought ana
grams were silly, and wandered off
the porch and down the path. call
ing over her shoulder that she was
going to take a walk.
Tracey asked Johnny if he'd
mind mixing the highballs and
bringing out the sandwiches. Said
Whitson had left a thermoS bucket
Of ice cubes on the sideboard, some
bottles of ginger ale and a tray OF
glasses and sandwiches.
''Told him he'd find decanters of
Scotch and rye, and to bring out
both"
$50 Drake left the room. too"
Dundee unused. "Oh, Lord! I
knew I'd find that every last one
of the six had a chance to kill
Sprague, as well as Nital .. How
long was Polly Beale gone on this
walk of hers?"
"She came in with q pink water
lily-said she'd been down to the
lily ponds, and that Flora had
enough to spare her one," Penny
answered. "She couldn't have been
away more than ten minutes, be-
cause Johnny just was mixing the
highballs, according to our prefer
ence for Scotch or rye-or plain
ginger ale, which both Ralph and l
chose.
after we'd had our drinks and
the sandwiches, we went on with
bridge. Polly and Johnny just
wandered about the porch or
watched the game at the two tables.
And about five minutes after II
Give Hammond arrived, coming up
the path to the porch, just as Janet
had.
"After he came, there was no
more bridge, but we sat around on
the porch and talked until mid
night. Give said he was too tired
to play bridge-that he'd been
struggling all evening with a knot
ty problem.
81 can syrnpathize with him!"
Dundee said grimly, as he rose.
i've got my own knotty problem
awaiting me When that call
comes through from Chicago, tell
Sanderson the bad news, and say
I'll telephone him later"