The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-01-05
THE ARMY POST MURDERS
Nv VIRGINIA Hansen

He held me very gently while
Sobbed that ] couldn't stand any
more, until presently I could look
at him without tears drowning my
vision and perceived that he was
suffering.
My tears dried instantly in a
flash of indecent triumph. So he
was not insusceptible; / had found
the chink in the armor, the crack
in the glass house.
And then I remembered.
ooh, your ribs!" rEuttered
unsympathetically and, turning
my back on him, snatched from
the top OF the tumbled suitcase
the first thing that came to hand
to mop my drenched countenance.
It happened to be a pair of silk
scanties, but l was not immedi-
ately aware Of that fact.
When / faced Adam again he
was no longer SO white and grim,
bat he was looking strangely at
my left hand.
"What have you done with your
ring?" he asked sternly.
81 th-threw it at Charlie" told
him. For a minute I wasn't sure
whether / was crying o. laughing.
Adam suddenly looked very
tired.
you'd better get some Sleep"
he said gently and turned toward
the door. Never mind about the
notes - I'll puzzle them out.
There's no hurry anyway. It was
just an absurd idea of mine to get
things--rnore orderly before Colo
mel Wright gets back. :"
"Pm not going to Sleep" / said
childishly. "As soon as I've washed
and changed I'm coming down
again. don't want to be alone"
He said, "If you really feel that
way :" let brief smile warm
his face, and vanished.
A Martinez
WHILE I washed and combed
w and powdered and got into
linen dress that was not too
crumpled I thought about his wish
to get things more orderly before
Colonel Wright's arrival and de-
cided that what he really wanted
was a confession, signed, sealed
and delivered. He wanted to avoid
the light of day for much that
would have to be told.
had met and liked Colonel
Wright on my previous visit. but
I had not been blind to his tenden-
cies as a martinez. Like Elizabeth,
he would not understand about
Charlie, nor about Barney's note
book. And he would certainly not
approve of the episode of Anne
and young Wheeler. Those things,
and others similar to them. would
assume in his eyes an unjustified
importance.
What action, if any, would fol-
low his disapproval l wa; in no
position to predict. did know that
there was a dreaded annual docu-
ment known as an efficiency report
made out by every commandant
on each officer in his contingent,
whereby the junior officer could
be either openly black-listed or
damned with faint praise. And
even woman, | had heard, could
be sent off an army post for cause
And while ! did not believe
Colonel Wright was a vindictive
man. nevertheless there was about
him the same rigid, unfaltering
devotion to principle that marked
his daughter.
Forgetting my own problems in
a sudden desire to help Adam at
tain his almost impossible wish, l
turned out my light and tiptoed
down to the library.
don't know how long we pored
over my anonymous notes, check
ing, listing, discarding. theorizing.
Finally Adam sat back and
summed up.
at amounts to this then: we
have three murders - or their
equivalent, for while Anne and
the sentry may live, they were
intended to die. Taking them in
order, the first could have been
committed by any one of the group
except Barney and you and me
and probably Mrs. Flower and Doc
Moore, with whom she was dane
ing.
Number two-Ethel Curtis
could have been committed by
anyone but Mrs. Flower and me,
Charlie and probably the Shaws,
Barney and Elizabeth, whose
alibis are interdependent.
Number three. the sentry,
could have been committed by
anyone but you and me and prob
ably Charlie and Barney.
"That leaves us with no alibi Of
any kind for Lou Orpington, Cap
tain Flower, Annie"
"And poor ones for Charlie,
the Shaws. Doc Moore and Eliza
beth.
Adam groaned. sand that seems
to eliminate practically no one"
How about motive?"
"The motive has something to
do with Ethel Curtis. of that r n
certain. Though how that links up
with Anne"
"You believe the same person
was responsible for both?"
Eyes. I don't know why think
so, but do"
(Copyri0ht. 1888. Viroinia Hanson)