White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1937-11-25
CHAPTER VIII
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The dusk about Mark in the ga
rage went black. A bloody foot
print! Had the crime horror spread
to this small point of land? Brooke!
Had anything happened to her? The
possibility stopped his heart. He
had been so intent upon finding Jed,
upon identifying the prowler that
he had not thought of danger to the
occupants of Lookout House. Sam
was there. Nothing could happen
to his sister with that boy near.
Why was he letting his imagination
loose? Would man who stopped
for a shave and a bath in the midst
of house-entering be guilty of a
bloodv crime? But-the footprint?
He dropped to his knees and
touched it. Sticky! He flashed his
light on it. Shifted. Turpentine?
He sank down on his heels and
choked back a shout of laughter.
He had been fooled by red paint.
How had it come here? What was
that dark heap beyond it? Over
ais! Blue denim overalls still warm
from the wearer's body. The driver
of the car he had heard a few mo-
ments ago must have shed them
before he left the garage. Why had
he worn them?
Mark projected and rejected ex-
plantations with lightning speed.
The man who had shinnied from the
balcony had come from the room
where the scenery was being paint
ed. Wasn't the roof of the cottage on
the backdrop red? Why the shower?
Why the shave? Was it he who had
removed the key from the door of
the storeroom tonight? But that
man had disappeared via the con-
Meeting door, presumably into Look
out House.
He flashed = dim light over the
white cover. More red! A clumsy K.
''Make x on cover when"
The wordsson the scrap Of paper
in the storeroom were explained.
''X marks the spot where the body
was found"
The sentence flashed into Marks
mind as if set in electric lights.
Body! Jed was missing! Perhaps his
body had been dumped inside the
limousine!
He set his heel on the thought. He
would imagine horror like that.
That Internal cross probably meant
nothing, but he'd take a look-see so
that he wouldn't ask himself later,
"Why didn't r."
Soundlessly he reached the other
side of the limousine. The dis
arranged cover which left the door
exposed revealed also license
plate. All set to go! He flashed his
light inside. Something long, some
thing rounded on the rear seat was
covered with an automobile robe.
Dread paralyzed Marks hand for
what seemed to him hours; then
with muttered innprecation he
thrust it under the robe. The silver!
Nothing but the silver! That x
on the white cover was sign
that it had been moved from
his house Who had moved it? That
was easy. 1t had been removed
while he and Jed had been at the
Reyburns by the man who had
driven away. Sure of plenty of time
he had stopped for a shower and
shave. Moving the loot to the ga
rage had been his share of the job.
Would a pal appear to drive the
stuff off?
"He will, and here he isl" Mark
muttered, as the frosty gravel out
side the garage crunched family.
A key in the lock! Not a minute
to waste. Where should he go? In
side Brooke's town car! The breaks
were with him. 1t wasn't locked.
The garage door was sliding back.
Mark saw a patch Of sky. He
banged his forehead as he plunged
headfirst into the sedan, and saw
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