Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-11-04

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weird wall of the distant siren, but
no human sound intruded.
Coasts clear. Let's go. Hold
on!" Mark Trent frowned at her
bare arms and throat, ivory tinted
above the lace of her frock. "You
need wrap"
ITO go from one door to another!
Don't be foolish. If we don't hurry,
Henri may get there before u.s."
In the green-walled living-room at
Lookout House, Mark Trent threw
log on the smoldering fire and
poked it into flame.
Come here and get warm,
Brooke. You are still shivering."
eff am, it is from excitement,
not cold" She toasted her fingers
at the blaze. What do we do next?"
"Watchful waiting seems our
best bet"
"You would say that"
'I don't like the implication, but
we'll let that ride-for the present.
What move would you suggest?"
IT don't know, but let's do some
thing. I hate sitting on the side
lines. hate waiting. First we must
find out who took the key from the
storeroom door. If you hadn't held
me, I would have dashed at him
and found out"
II had bunch you would; that's
why I grabbed you. Afraid crushed
your gardenia."
Brooke put her hand to her shout.
der. They're gone! Where could ]
have lost them?"
Don't make a tragedy of it. I'll
get you another"
Mark Trent had never seen brown
eyes so flamingly gold, cheeks sc
| red as Brooke's.
"I'm not making a tragedy of it,
and don't want another gardenia.
For an amateur detective-amateur
is the word with capital A-you
are dense, Mark Trent. Suppose the
| person in the attic went back for
something and picked them up?
Wouldn't he know at once that he
was being watched?"
81 thought of that SOL brought
this along" He held flower in the
palm of his hand. The once waxen
petals were brown at the edges, but
they had the feel of velvet in his
fingers. "You don't want it now,
do your" He slipped it back into
his pocket. "I'll keep it as souve
mir of our late dive into the under.
world"
II do want it and the other too"
Because Field gave them to you?
I don't know where the other is;
didn't realize that there were two.
You dropped this as you came into
this house. Better let me keep it.
Would you want him to know that
it had been crushed out of shape
against my shoulder?"
'Just why should Jerry assume
that it was your shoulder against
which the gardenia was crushed?
You are not the only man in my
life, you KNOW" Brooke reminded
disdainfully.
81 intend-to keep the flower"
Mark Trent felt the color surge to
his hair and recede. He had caught
back ''to be" in time.
II haven't had a chance, Brooke,
to tell you how ridiculous Mrs.
Hunts suggestion was that-that
had any thought of trying to keep
Aunt Mary Amanda's money in the
family by
why stumble over it? Why tell
me again that you wouldn't marry
me? This is the second time. First
in Jed Stewards office and now
here. To save third attempt to
impress the fact on me, I'll tell you
that I wouldn't marry you if you
were the only man in the world.
Divorced men leave me cold. Some.
time perhaps I'll have the privilege
of refusing to marry YOU"
He knew now the sensation of q
knife being plunged into his heart.
He drew the gardenia from his
pocket and dropped it into her lap.
'Here it is. Water may revive
it."
She twirled the stem in her fin.
gers.
1T is past recovery" She flung
it into the wastebasket. "I don't
care for rejuvenated gardenias any
more than I care for warmed-ove1
love. That sounds like car. Car
they have come so soon?"
"Better not speak of what we
discovered" Mark suggested hasti
ly, as she started for the hall.
She left the room without answer.
ing. He salvaged the flower anc
thrust it into his pocket. He was
not keeping it for sentimental rea
sons, he assured himself, but as g
reminder of how near he had come
| to forgetting that all he had tt
offer a girl was "warmed-over'
| love.
Sam Reyburn entered the living
room and flung his blue covered
script to the table. He dropped into
the wing chair with groan. Voice.
in the hall thinned in the distance
Mark Trent could distinguish Jerry
Fields laugh, Lucette's rather high
pitched tone, Brooke's questioning
murmur, and Daphne's drawl. HI
looked at the detected figure in tn.
chair, at the long legs outstretched