The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-04-06
MAD NARRIA 3
bY LAURA LOU BR00kktAN Author Of 1fAPT ftn6RKieiG


message from police headquarters.
She thought it must have come
about $50.
She had been waiting for her
husband TO come home to dinner
when the telephone rang. Yes-she
was alone in the house except for
Bobbie. Bobbie was the 2-year- old
child the Fowlers had taken into
their home year before.
He was in his crib asleep and Mrs.
Fowler had had to run to the neigh
bors to get someone to stay with the
child before she could leave for the
hospital.
Had there ever been any trouble
between herself and her husband?
Mrs. Fowler said no. Did she know
any one who might wish to do him
harm? The woman's answer,
scarcely audible, was in the mega
tive.
Nov, Mrs. Fowler" the voice Of
the states attorney rose slightly,
have you ever seen this young
woman before?" He pointed toward
Nina Roberts.
Heads were craned forward. A
murmur Of excitement circled the
room. A womans voice cried out:
"She's fainted!"
Il as
TT was Mrs. Fowler who had
i dropped back, apparently lifeless
in her seat. There was a great buzz
Of excitement. Court attendants
rushed forward. From somewhere
a doctor appeared.
Presently the woman's eyes
opened and she raised her head. She
was able to rise with assistance and
the doctor and another man helped
her from the room.
The physician returned and an
nounced that Mrs. Fowler was I'M
der severe strain and could not be
questioned further.
She could not be questioned on
the following day, either. Bennett
tie states attorney, announced that
the health of his witness did not
permit her to er~ear.
At home that evening Jim Wal
lace said to Gypsy, What do you
think of that woman2 I wish ]
could be sure she doesn't know
something she's hiding"
He was standing by the living
room table filling his pipe with to-
bacco. Gypsy, looking childish In
a yellow crepe frock made with
short sleeves, sat with her fc1t
tucked under her at one end of the
davenport. The f. terriers nose
rested in the crook Of her elbow.
'Do you mean Mrs. Fowler?" the
girl asked.
Jim dropped into the heavy up
holstered chair that was his ia.
vorite. AS he held flame to the
pipe, he nodded.
"I couldn't understand why she
tainted" Gypsy admitted. NEAR
unless she wanted to get out Of an
swering any more questions. ISM
there some way you can insist or
getting her there again?"
Eyes, there is-if it viii lido any
goodI In the meantime Bennett;
reading those damned letters anc
bringing in witnesses who saw Nina
and Fowler having dinner together
"Say-did you notice the way he
read those letters? Made then
sound twice as discriminating a;
they are. I'd get Mrs. Fowler dowr
there in a minute if I thought
had the right bunch. I can't gel
over feeling that she knows some.
thing. But what?"
Gypsy leaned her head back and
studied the opposite wall between
narrowed lids.
Doesn't Nina have any sugges-
tions?" she asked.
Nina said she'd seen the woman
but twice before. Said Fowler didn't
like to have his wife come to the
Office. Shed heard him talk to hel
over the telephone, though, and say
sometimes they quarreled."
Where was Mrs. Fowler wher
the shooting took placer"
"You heard her say she was home
didn't you?"
"But, Jim-then she hasn't any
better alibi than Nina!"
Except that Nina was in TIT
same building and Mrs. Fowler wa
clear across town. Besides, there
no motive for the woman to kill he
husband"
How do you know that? Their,
might have been fifty reasonsl jim
how long would it take for a person
in car to get from Fowler'S offic'
out to his homer"
TIM considered. ooh, should sa.
j off-hand about twenty minutes.
But then she could have don
it! She could have-don't you see
Suppose Mrs. Fowler came to tn
Office after Nina left. May the,
had a quarrel or a struggle and sh
fired the gun.
She could have run down stair
the building has two stairways
you know-and got into car an