The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-01-03
Chapter 90
Missing Persons

missing Persons
DELIBERATELY. to rid myself
of those hellish, hooking
faces, I forced myself to consider
something plain, unalarming-the
little brown notebook. Adam had
said there was motive there; and
motive, in the abstract, was some
thing to puzzle over. Motive and
the brown notebook.
Tentatively I tried to get some
order out of chaos. Did Someone
know of that notebook and what
1t contained? Had that someone
stolen into Barney's rooms for it?
Had Barney heard a betraying
sound, surprised the intruder had
been attacked? In the struggle the
notebook might have eluded them
both, lain almost concealed under
the bookcase where found it. Did
Barney believe his attacker had
succeeded in escaping with it?
But why his silence? Was he
deliberately shielding someone2
And how could anyone have
counted on reaching those rooms
undetected? Except for the short
interval Of time while both Adam
and were with Charlie. there had
been constant going and coming
Adam to the bar. the Flowers
departing, Adam tc the telephone.
But wait-the porch roof was
under that front window of
Barney's, and below it there were
trellises and vines. Any active per-
son could have reached that win
dow. Barney had said it was
closed, but suppose he had been
lying?
Escaping, afte:ward, that some
one would have heard, through the
open front door, the voices of
Adam and the sentry. There were
flower beds around the building,
each outlined with Whitewashed
stones. How sinplI to pick one up,
to throw it at the man silhouetted
against the light-the man who
was saying something about a
balloon.
at was just a silly thing. There
was a balloon"
puzzled it over. in my mind
and could make nothing of it. He
couldn't have meant the balloons
tied to the women who were
dancing. He might have seen that
from the street, but he wouldn't
have mentioned it. Or would he?
Perhaps he had never seen a bal
loon dance; perhaps it had struck
him as Silly thing. Could it have
been nothing more important than
that? 49,. ....
I brought up short. The killer
had known it was important. g. :.
The telephone was pealing
shrilly inside the building. It
ceased abruptly and my specula-
tions with it. Again was waiting
for notwithstanding I could
not name. What next? What new
abomination?
Sick with that sense Of fore
boding, watched Adam leap
down the front steps. / opened the
car door for him, waited until we
were under way before I voiced
my question.
THAT was Mary Shaw" said
Adam grimly. SHAW let her and
Lou out at their door and went to
put the car away. That was nearly
an hour ago, and he hasn't come
in yet"
Lou, Too
IBID she say why she waited so
~ long to call you?"
Adam negotiated a sharp turn
before he answered.
There aren't any driveways be-
tween these quarters; they were
built before the days Of automo-
biles. You have to 60 the length
of the row and take this back road
the garages all open on that. The
Shaws are about in the middle Of
the row. He let them cut in front.
II would take him a few minutes
to 90 around, put the ear away and
let himself in the back door. Mary
said she and Lou made a tour Of
the house looking for intruders.
Then Lou got to thinking about
her dog that was shut in the house.
and she couldn't be sure that the
door between the kitchen and the
front part of the house was closed,
and there were her new Chinese
rugs that they got on foreign
service last year.
He paused for breath.
"You mean to say they went
out again?"
Lou did--al, me-" he resumed
grimly. MARY refused point
blank. Then when Shaw didn't
come in Mary thought he'd en-
countered Lou and gone with her.
She waited quite a while before
she decided to call Louis quarters.
and when she didn't get any an
swer there she called me. ="
$50 Lou is missing too?"
UNLESS her telephone Is out Of
order"
The car was travelling slowly.
We could see the identical back
porches, each with its neat gar
bage can set out for the morning
collection. As in 'front.' each door
was identified by signhoards