The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-05-05
OLD HOME WEEK MURDER
by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

Il hate corn meal mush. We used
to have 1t at school. I tell you. there
is no"
Don't say Justice" Asey told
her, "please. After hstenin' to Mrs.
Brinley an Comrade Slade on JUS
tice, ] don't want the word brought
up anywheres near me for some
time to come. There's too many
confiictin' ideas about It."
Kay laughed. "How did you
squelch Slade, anyway? He was
up at the station. dressed like a
filthy capitalist in white flannels
and blue coat. HI was being po-
lite to tourists and guiding old
ladies to front seats and generally
being the well-dressed man from
Cooks. Tremendously active man.
and he Sc e m d very efficient.
How'd you work it,"
1.-THE doc" Asey said, ais r'spon-
sible for SHADES comeback. He OUT
talked Slade. an finally Mike give
in an said he'd behave himself. ]
think he was itchin' to get to his
committees, really. An he was get
tin sleepy, too, an it was the cas-
lest way out. BY the way. amt you
playin' hockey from all the gov
errors? Think Of e m. speechin'
away"
81 did" Kay shuddered. "Of the
three here today. two always sta
ton men around to make sure you
don't get away with less than six
copies Of any speech they make.
and the other one never says any,
thing anyway. jeff promised to tell
me the general trends. In fact, he
said if ! were really anxious about
it, he'd tell me before they spoke.
! like JEFF. Asey, he seems to know
all bout the murder, but he
doesn't say anything about it."
"Jeff knows" A sey said. ''he
knew last night. While I'm sure
Aunt Sara told him most every
thing, I give JET credit for havin'
guessed it mostly beforehand. He's
safe as a bank. That's how he spent
all them years in Congress, you
know. Preservin' a righteous ex-
terror no matter h o W much he
knew. / wish Slade took after him.
SHADES theory seemed to be you
ought to tell all you know-which
is righteous enough, but not very
wise. What are your plans for the
day."
The Last Billings
Tim free for a while. l sent up
i stuff about Philbrick and the
golden-voiced Trip what an
empty pot he is! Anyway, TbaLged
out the celebrity stuff yesterday.
and Shorty'll take it up. The gov
errors aren't really my job. I'm
supposed to be local coloring-oh,
you haven't heard about Win
Billings. You know him, the last
Billings of Billingsgate?"
81 know the old duffer. They
washed him an dressed him up
an stuck him on display--did he
get loose?"
"Well, he got a flock of drinks
somewhere, and he stole the show
at the station when the governors
came. He kept yelling Murray for
Grant, and fussing about the lack
of decoration. He said when Grant
came the time before, they had the
station covered with all the best
turkey red carpets in town, and
urns with trailing plants, and the
General. he thought it was fine.
He said so. They finally got Wiz
under control, bu. he escaped in
the furry of the special train COM
ing in, and wher Brinley got to
presenting This distinguished
scion of our founders family Win
was gone. Brinley nearly had to
be taken away in stretcher, he
was so upset, and your cousin
Weston took command"
"Did they find VIM"
"Oh, it was just a temporary
loss. He was in the cab of the
engine, pumping the engineers
hand. The engineer had a black
beard, and he did look little
Grantish. Anyway. Win refused to
get off the train. so they let him
90 along with it. He was an aw-
fully pleasant engineer and he
seemed to appreciate the situation.
/ had Shorty get picture OF Win
earlier, and he's going to label ii.
Last Billings Of Billingsgate Who
Remembers Grants Trip, Well
coming Governors. ] thought il
might please the old gent, il he
ever sobers up"
Asey grinned. "That was a
thoughtful an charitable gesture
of yours, the picture takin'. but
from what I hear tell Of Win, he
won't see the picture for some
time. Kay. is Brinley a fool or a
fiend?"
"Fool, OF course. I knew you'd
been finding things out. It's writ
ten all over you. What? Tell me"
ooh, been ramblin'." He told
her his ideas about the fire. and
the notepaper.
'That's something, Of course,
but-oh, it couldn't be Brinley,"
Kay said. "What silly ideai
Think of J. Arthur as Macbeth,
with Mrs. B. squirting him onl It's
absurd"
She lighted a cigarette. took q
few puffs, then stubbed 1t out and
walked over to the window.
Looks like rain. Too bad for
Old Home Week. How do you feel
about the weather problems?"
Thunder storm. maybe a little
tempest. It won't last. At least ]
don't think so"
There's a clambake up at the
shore. Did you know?"