The Washington times., 1933-03-04
CHAPTER VI


somehow the thing began to
look phoney to me. Yes, and
smell phoney. Those tracks,
now: There were too many Of
them in one place and not
enough of them in another.
What I mean, the floor inside
was all Uttered up with unnec-
essary footprints, but coming up
on the porch there was only one
set and they came on practi-
cally a dead straight line from
the top step to the window at
the far end. Unless the party
that wore those overshoes knew
beforehand which window was
unlocked, why didn't he stop
first and give the other win
dow-the one that was closer to
him-a try? Another thing.
there was too much mud
stopped around - entirely too
much. And it wasn't the right
color for swamp mud. Swamp
mud is liable to be blackish,
mucky stuff, and this mud was
mostly yellow-clay subsoil with
maybe q little loan mixed In
with it. Remember my messing
with the hydrant in the back
yard? Well, right there was
where those overshoes got their
muddying up.
But even before I ever mon
keyed with that hydrant / was
already as good as convinced
that / had the rights Of 1t.
know what the convincer was?
why, Trixie. Did you ever know
O terrier that wouldn't start
snarling and growing and yap-
ping-especially yapping-f she
smelled a stranger in the house
at night? Don't you know-if
YOU know anything about dogs
that, no matter how well trained
Trixie might have been ord1'
narily, the instant she got a
whiff of somebody prowling
downstairs, she'd have broken
out of her boSS'S control and
started in raising the roof? And
Mrs. Holt didn't hear a sound
from Trixie before the shot.
And MCGEE didn't hear a sound
from Trixie. There's only one
answer-there wasn't anybody
In that house for Trixie to
bark at.
Those OvershOes
"Still and even so, you want
to absolutely cinch a thing Ike
this. That was why craved
those overshoes. They had to
be close by somewhere. There
wasn't time to carry them Oft
very far, so they had to be
close by. And when that kid
brought 'em to me awhile ago
I was ready. for him. Remember
when I went back inside the
house that last time to do
some 'phoning? Well, l 'phoned
all right but I did something
else. I knelt down by Holt and
/ took my penknife and ]
scraped some of the blacking
off the toes of his shoes-he
wore black low quarters, if you
remember, and they'd been
shined not later than yester.
day, I figured. He was the
dressy kind that would likely
get his shoes shined every day,
rain or shine. I didn't scrape
off much-just a little Of the
top-dressing, and I put those
scrapings in an envelope and
stuck 'em away in my pocket.
So that's why I say I was
ready for the kid. I took those
overshoes in that garage-man's
office and screwed in that
trouble lamp and then by turn
ing the overshoes part way in
side out and lighting 'em up in
side with the trouble lamp, I
could see little black smears
on the white Innings over the
toes where the backing had
rubbed off. They were full
size too big for Holt, so nat
urally they'd slosh up and down
on his feet and there'd be some
rubbing. And then when I
dipped my finger in the scrap
ings in the envelope and
smeared some of that on the
toe lining, why it matched
right in with the dirtied spots
that were already there. I
didn't need any chemical analy-
sis to prove the point I was
trying to make.
IF only could have found
the gloves, the case would have
been perfect. While I was up
stairs and you were downstairs
waiting for MCGEE to show up.
I looked for 'em, thinking the
poor deviled lad might have
forgotten and left 'em in his
coat pocket. / didn't find 'em-
but T found something else.
And I found out something on
the side. I got that from the
nurse. I talked with her a min
ute while I was upstairs there.
wishing Aloud
"It was what I found out my.
self that made me wish out
loud-you heard me, I guess
made me wish I could be two
three places at once, the same
as one Of these here East In
dian praying guys. But I didn't
need to worry because, as 1t
turned out. got hold Of my
Sidekick at the bureau, Cal
Smiley, and got him to get busy
downtown and he handled those
two loose ends in jig time
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