The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-09-25
BY MARION WHITE
CAST OF CHARACTERS

and muTocTcT NiCtiH1.
4 jim KERRlGAN-Cilly's fiancc.
+, HARRY HUTCHINS - Amy's
strange visitor.
SERGEANT DOLAN-offieer
assigned to solve the murder of
Amy Kerr.
Yesterday: The web of circum-
.tantial evidence tightens around
Kerrigan when Dolan points out
that he might have been on the
roof and hidden afterward in
Cilly's apartment until the con-
fusion died down
CHAPTER X
"We're not holding anybody
vet" Sergeant Dolan told Cilly
as he and Martin were leaving.
Ppm telling you, and Pm telling
everybody else in the house, to
be on hand for a call down to
headquarters. I'll be honest with
YOU, Miss Pierce. the one Pm
most interested in is your friend
Kerrigan. I'd like to know the
reason he asked that girl up on
the roof with him. When | find
that out well, we'll be seeing
YOU"
I Cilly went back into the living
room and looked into the Cloi-
some vase for the newspaper
Clipping. She took it into the
kitchen and held it over the flame
on the gas stove until it disap-
peared into fragment of black
ash. Then she took Jim's postcard
from underneath her pillow and
did the same thing with that. The
words on the card danced before
her ewes as the flames spread
around them. Taking the first
plane | can make. Love. jim"
The hot gas flame scorched her
fingers, but she held on until the
card was nothing more than a
mystifying memory.
She breathed a great deal cas-
Ter when both tasks had been
done. :,
II was 1870 by the banjo
clock in the living room when
Cilly was ready to leave the
apartment. Only ~ hours since
the four of them had stood in
this very room, laughing and hap
py. Only ~ hours, yet one OF
them was dead and another had
vanished in a cloud Of mystery.
What was behind it all?
If Amy and Jim had known
each other previously, as Jim's
note would seem to indicate, why
hadn't Amy mentioned it to Cilly
before? Certainly she had heard
Cilly mention his name enough.
I For that matter, she had spoken
frequently to Jim about the
friend who shared her apartment
Amy Kerr. If he knew, why
hadn't he said so?
She suddenly remembered
something she had quite over
looked. 1t wasn't altogether her
idea that the four of them get to-
gether last evening in order that
they might become better ac-
uuainted. 1t had been equally
Jim's idea. He had, she recalled
now, often asked her how she was
getting on with the new friend
who was sharing her apartment.
What was she like? Where did
she come from? Casual questions,
to be sure. They became impor-
tant now only in the light of what
had happened. Did Amy, as Cilly
discussed her, seem familiar to
Jim? Was her name familiar? If
so, why hadn't he said: 81 knew
a girl once named Amy Kerr"
And if Jim knew Amy. how did
it happen that Amy had not rec.
organized Jim Kerrigan's name?
! Cilly had mentioned it often
enough at home. 80.
Ciiiy tried to figure it out as
she walked to the subway. Some
how it was easier to think clearly
once she was out Of the house.
Perhaps there was something Amy
had wanted hidden prison,
perhaps. That was why she tried
TO wipe out the past four years
why she still spoke of an
Aunt Harriet who had passed
away. Because she feared to
speak of where she had been aft
err she left Aunt Harriet, lest her
secret slip out.
Then the one all important
uestion returned. What did Amy's
past life have to do with Jim
Kerrigan?
No matter what new track
Cilly's thoughts started out on,
they invariably came back to that
one vital problem. What was the
secret which linked Jim and Amy?
What had happened in Utah? In
Bluefields, Utah.
Jim had never mentioned Utah.
He spoke of Chicago, for that was
where he came from. He spoke of
his father, whom Cilly understood
to be in Chicago. He spoke of Mr..
Maddox, the publisher of the Mid
west Review, and friend of his
fathers, who had given him a job
as eastern representative because
of that friendship. He spoke of
his mother, who died when he
was only II. He spoke of sum-
mer vacations on a ranch with
his father, and Cilly could sense
the deep bond between these two.
you'd love my dad, Cilly," he
had said one time. Gee, how I'd
like you to meet him :" and
then his voice had grown sud-
denly wistful.
There was no mystery to Jim.
Cilly was certain of that. He'd
only been in New York at few
months, whereas Cilly had lived
here always, as had her parents,
and her grandparents before
them. But that was unusual. Nine