Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-05-13

AAS
raised, turned to resume her post,
but Vance stopped her.
"Were you upstairs, Miss Bee
ton?" he asked in a kindly tone.
She was standing very erect, her
face slightly flushed. She looked
Vance frankly and firmly in the
eye and slowly shook her head.
II haven't left my post, Mr..
Vance," she said quietly. ~ I'M
derstand my duty"
Vance returned her gaze for a
moment, and then bowed his head
slightly.
"Thank you, Miss Beeton," he
said.
He came back into the den, and
closing the door, addressed Garden
again.
Nov that we have disposed tenn
porarily of the theatrical queen"
he smiled acknowledgements we
continue with our little chat"
Garden chuckled mildly and be-
gan repacking his pipe.
"Queer girl, Madge; always act
ing like a tragedienne-but ! don't
think she's ever really been on the
STAGE"
"You heard her tell me she was
particularly fond of Swift" re-
marked Vance. "Just what did she
mean by that?"
Garden shrugged. Nothing at
all, if you ask me She didn't know
that Woody was on earth, so to
speak. But dead, Woody becomes a
dramatic possibility"
Eyes, yes - quite" murmured
Vance. (Which reminds me: what
was the tiff between Swift and Miss
Graem about? I noticed your little
peace-maker advances this after
noon"
Garden became serious.
II haven't been able to figure
that situation out myself. Woody
was pretty deep in the new-mown
hay as far as Zalia went. lowered
round her all the time, and took
all her good : natured bantering
without a murmur. Then, sudden
ly, the embryonic love affair-or
whatever it was-went sour. OBJ
viously something had happened,
but I never got the straight of it.
It may have been a new flame on
Woody's part-I rather imagine it
was something of the kind. AS for
Zalia, she was never serious about
it anyway. And I have an idea
that Woody wanted that extra twen-
ty thousand today for some reason
connected with Zalia :" Garden
stopped speaking abruptly and
slapped his thigh. "By Georgel I
wouldn't be surprised if that hard
bitten little gambler had turned
Woody down because he was COM
paratively hard up. You can't tell
about these girls today. They're as
practical as the devil himself"
Vance nodded thoughtfully.
"Your observations rather fit with
the remarks she made to me a little
while ago. She, too, wanted to
go upstairs to see Swift. Gave as
her excuse the fact that she felt
she was to blame for the whole
sordid business"
Garden grinned.
"Well, there you are" Then he
remarked judicially: "But you a
never tell about women"
II wonder" Vance smoked in ST.
lence for a moment. Then he went
on: "There's another matter in con
nection with Swift which you might
be able to clear up for me Could
you suggest any reason why, when
I placed the bet on Azure Star for
Miss Beeton this afternoon, Swift
should have looked at me as if he
would enjoy numbering me?"
IT saw that too," Garden nodded.
IT can't say it meant anything
much. Woody was always a weak
sister where any woman was con-
cerned. It took little to make him
think he'd fallen in love. He may
have become infatuated with the
nurse-he'd been seeing her around
here for the past few months. And
now that you mention it, he's been
somewhat poisonous toward me on
several occasions because she was
more o. less friendly with me and
ignored him entirely. But I'll say
this for Woody: if he did have ideas
about Miss B%eeton, his taste is inn
proving. She's an unusual girl
different . 4. :"
Vance nodded his head slowly
and gazed with peculiar concentra-
ton out the window.
eyes," he murmured. "Quite diff
ferent." Then, as if bringing HIM
self back from some alien train of
thought, he crushed out his ciga-
rette and leaned forward. "How-
ever, we'll drop speculation for the
moment Suppose you tell me
something about the vault upstairs"
Garden glanced up in evident sur
prise.
There's nothing to tell about that
old catch-all. It's neither mysteri-
GUS nor formidable. And it's really
not a vault at all. Several years
ago the pater found that he had &C
cumulated a lot of private papers
and experimental data that he didn't
want casual callers messing in. So
he had this fire-proof storeroom built
to house these scientific treasures
of his. The vault, as you call it,