The times-news., 1937-05-24
AFRAID. p! y: }. =; to 4! ,LGDc

CAST OF CHARACTERS
\ - M ~ -

JOHN HENDRY, mining invest.
ment head.
BOB ANDREWS, Hendry'. ju.
nior partner an dJoan's fiance.
SYBIL HENDRY, socialite, John
Hendry's niece and Joan's rival in
love. vf -.F.
PHILIP HENDRY, sybir. bro:
ther.
DOROTHY sTARKE, joan.
girlhood friend.
CHARLIE NORTON, California
mining promoter.
Yesterday: Dorothy, studying
old San Francisco papers, finds
elem to implicate Norton in mur.
der. Then Bob remembers he and
Norton went into New York the
night of the crime, on the same
train-a perfect alibi for Norton.
CHAPTER xxx
Waiting on the Green Hills sta
tion for the train to Manhattan,
Dorothy repeated to herself: 81
am afraid of being accesed of
murder. Where shall | go? Where
can l hide?"
She took the train to the city
because she thought that the like
ly place for a girl to hide. In the
small suburban towns, people
were quick to notice strangers.
But 10000 strangers arrive in
Manhattan every day. Joan could
lose herself for months there.
The thought which haunted her
above all else was that Joan, driv-
en- too far by this ghastly turn of
events, might do something des-
perate. She had fought down so
many fears: this worst shock Of
all might prove the last straw.
She must find her!
If she had to walk up and down
every street in Manhattan she
must fined her! A merciful Provi-
dence would lead the way, and
she clutched at that faith.
1t was close to three o'clock
when she arrived in Manhattan,
and for one dizzy moment, she
stood stock still in the station,
wondering where in the world TO
go next.
The first editions of the even
ing papers were already on the
streets, and the mysterious death
of John Ware Hendry headlined
every front page. Dorothy bought
a copy and went into the waiting
room to read it. So far only the
barest details had been made
public.
"Police are concerned" she
read, cover the simultaneous dis
appearance of Miss Joan Barrett,
secretary to the murdered man.
AS far as can be determined, Miss
Barrett was the last person to see
Mr.. Hendry alive"
That was all. No reference to
the background of Joan Barrett;
evidently the police had not been
sufficiently certain of that to give
the story out TO the press. They
did not take Sybil Hendry's word,
then. They were making their
own investigation.
She read on to the bottom of
the column, then followed the
story back to page %. Here was
complete biography of John
Ware Hendry, of his work in the
interests of mining, his erly life,
his charities. She did not stop to
read it through.
AS she folded the paper to-
gether, her eye fell upon the
classified advertisements on page
%. The words "Rooms to let"
struck her forcefully.
"Rooms to let," she repeated to
herself.
She opened the paper again to
page %.
"Suppose," she thought once
more, "that | am Joan Barrett. |
am trying to hide away, but |
have only a few dollars. ! have
no baggage. | dare not go to a
hotel; the police would check
there first. Yet | cannot roam the
streets forever There is only
one thing | can do. i will get a
quiet room somewhere.
Her eyes frightened at this new
possibility, and the more she con-
sidered it, the stronger became
her conviction that Joan would
have followed that course. Fran
tically she read down the columns
of advertisements. She took a
pencil out of her bag and checked
them off numerically in order of
location. She would start out and
make the rounds of every fur
nished room in the city -.
She stopped, abruptly, a sudden
idea occurring to her. This was
the afternoon paper; Joan, arriv-
ing town before dawn, would have
bought an early morning edition.
She left the paper on the seat and
| rushed to the newsstand.
"Have you a morning paper"
she demanded breathlessly.
The clerk looked under the
counter. Gust one left" he re-
piled. "It's little torn :"
"That's all right. I'll take it,"
The classified ads, she noticed,
were intact. That was enough.
She hurried back to the waiting
room and began to check off the
advertised rooms in order of To-
cation. She worked desperately ;
there were so many ads-so many
colums of ads-in the morning
paper. ~ -
those which gave the telephone
number. She could phone them;
that would save several hours