The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-10-23

telling me?" he asked thoughtfully.
i confess he had me thinking him
guilty-until I saw this. Too plain
to miss
why" said Dirk, h~esitating,
The called me up this morning. He
really said very little. Said he had
tried to reach Mary, but the line
was busy and he couldn't wait.
80 he called me instead. 1 said,
Where are you?' and he said III
tell you when 1 see you Then he
told me to bring Mary and meet
him at the corner you took her to
at 4 o'clock sharp.
IF I'd been there on timel
But" he gulped down the fact
Of his mothers responsibility for
the tragedy-"but I was-detained."
How did he seem? Frightened?
Hurried? Anything queer about it,
1 mean?"
Well" Dirk considered, dis
liking the reversal of roles in
which he found himself He was
usually the interrogation himself.
On the other hand, he knew that
a refractory witness does himself
no good, SO he answered c%ourteously
enough.
Il got the impression he didn't
want to be overheard, perhaps. I
couldn't say there was anything
more than that in his manner.
Nothing very damning in that, 1
should say.
quite natural under less peculiar
circumstances than these. l was
just about to ask him for an expla-
nation when he seemed to-become
hurried, suddenly. He said I can't
talk now and added what sounded
like-'the fly's buzzing around
and hung up. Sounded rather silly.
l wonder what he meant?"
He broke off suddenly, remember
ing that he was talking to a reporter.
Some kid stuff, probably. Very
likely meant nothing at all"
Bowen masked the interest this
information had for him. "Oh, very
likely. Funny, though-he's been
talking about a fly in there" He
nodded toward the doorzof the hos
pital room. d.
"Mmm. Well, I'll be getting along.
I'll fix it with the hospital to call
me if he dies. Kane's coming over,
1 eXpect?"
Dirk nodded reluctantly. He's
on his way. Wants to talk to the
kid if there's any chance at all"
The door of the boys room opened
a crack, and q nurse beckoned. Mr..
Ruyther? Pleased" Dirk pushed
hurriedly inside, where there was
the sound of hushed sobbing. The
nurse closed the door, shutting her
self and Bowen out. Hes gone" she
said. Bowen said, where's the
nearest 'phone?" and bolted.
IN the weeks that followed Eddie's
L. death the one thing happened
that Mary never had dreamed could
happen. That was that nothing
happened at all. The days went by
as usual and there vas no news of
the sort she wanted to hear.
Day after day her hopes rose,
only TO crumble again. The big
black car had got away clean; no
n but Bowen and herself appar-
emily witnessed that lightning
swerve that had killed as neatly
and deliberately as a bullet, and
the speeding car had swung around
the corner before any n thought
to look at the number.
In no time at all, it had turned
into Fifth avenue, apparently, and
in the late Saturday afternoon
crush of traffic been effectively con-
cealed.
At first Mary was incredulous. It
wasn't right or possible that such a
thing could be. Complete i'm
munity for such a cold-blooded
murderer upset all her ideas of JUS
tice and led her to think not kindly
of a Providence that let such
things be.
The private Investigators hired
by Mr.. Jupiter to study his wife'S
murder-they were the two men
who had been hired to protect her
and had failed so dismally-were
Joined by two of their %confreres.
But the search led nowhere. There
were numerous Lorimers in town
even a few aluminum-fitted "spe-
cial jobs" but they were all in t.
possession of well-to-do citizens
with the most u~nassailable reputa-
tons, The cal that had dealt the
death blow had vanished off the
face of the earth.
Probably, they reckoned, locked
in a private garage somewhere.
where it would remain until the
affair should have been forgotten
whence it would emerge repainted