The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-04-29
Chapter 20
Prepared To Daily

ECRdECu u " Dd1y
oppose" Asey explained to Kay,
~ Someone shot Mary Randall
with my gun here. We take the
bullet, an we know 1t come from q
forty-five. Now in our real case,
we weigh the deer ball, an we
know its q standard load for a
twelve gauge gun. But - an this
tsan important but. But in our case
OF the forty-five, we corral every
forty-five we can find, near or far.
Sooner or later, we find a forty
five that shoots bullet that's got
allthe ridges an markin's an
Awhatnot Of the bullet that killed
our person. Got that?"
T'm blowing along"
Then," Asey continued, "getto
our real case right here. The deer
balls g o t no markin's. It might
have been fired from any shotgun
In Christendom, providin' i s a
twelve gauge. Everyone with the
slightest connection with this case
might own a twelve gauge gun.
They might b ave collections of
twelve gauge guns. We couldn't do
thing. Not unless we find, or
found, the shells in a place-well,
like outside Mary's window some
where. Those shells would have
the mark Of the hammer. Then we
could begin to hunt shotguns. an
try to find the one that left the
same mark on the shells as these
did. See?"
"Sort of"
San mind you this. We'd have
TO prove the.shells had some con-
nection with this. That's a nj e
Joker"
'In brief, a shell you probably
viii never find is the only con-
Meeting link between shotgun. deer
ball and'murder?"
"Just so. For fun, say we find
the shell. Then we got to find the
shotgun, which any sane person
would have hove into the Atlantic
last night after Mary was killed.
Into somethin', anyway. Then we
got to prove the ownership of the
gun. Then, maybe, with the grace
of God, an the hand of fate an
such, maybe we might prove, that
the owner was the person who was
here last night an killed Mary
Randall. But you can see," Asey
added drily. there's some chance
involved"
TN other words, even IL Jane
Warren bought a shotgun, and a
twelve gauge, and even if she were
here and had motive, you still
haven't clue, don't expect t. find
any, and even If you did, they
probably wouldn't help?"
Asey beamed at her. THAT'S a
line summin' up of this whole case.
It's the works in a thimble. Now
ask me, what good can do? An
III tell you the honest truth,
don't see how in the world we can
do single thing"
Then why do you keep on?"
Guess"
Kay ssubbed out a cigarette
MOT for what you can get out of
1t. that's cinch. I-well, there are
probably two reasons. One is that
you've just stated the case from
the official copper's point of view.
and it's hopeless, but that you've
got some ideas on the subject lust
the same, and you intend to work
1t out yourself. And the other rea-
son-well, that you feel Mary RAN
dalPs murder is Incidental to some
thing else"
7Asey nodded. "An' { there's a
third thing. got a sort of banker
in notion to find out who this
clever Teller is. I'd sort of like TO
meet him"
Are you very sure" Kay asked.
that it's not a mailman or the
loose? There've been cases sort of
like this. I've read about them.s
ODDS And Ends And Corners
"yUHEN everything else fails"
w Asey sale, you lay 1t &c a
maniac. But Just the same, 1 tie
this up with the things Sara an
Weston worried about. There's a
plan somewhere. / can't tell where
or what Il Is, or lay my hands on
much Of it, bat it's there. We got
odds an ends ar corners, but moth
in to tell the shape OF the thing.
wish TO heaven this man'd make q
move. He'd be a fathead to, be-
cause all he's got 10 do is sit tight
an say nothin'. an he's all set. But
Mary Randall was killed for pur-
pose, prob,ly to keep her from tell
In somethin'. There is a plan here,
Pm sure. I been hopin' If we sat
back some more Of 1t would filter
out"
there's the Warren girl a n d
Mike Slade. Perhaps they're the
planners. He's connected with the
town, and she's connected wit b
Mary. Personally ] should daily
with those two"
They'll be dailied with, never
fear" Asey promised. San now,
lets get back to Sara's. I'm tired
~Oh, / see how you knew me.
You're staying therel Aunt Sara
told your
Swami Mayo" Asey observed.
Knows all. hears all, sees all. Let's
get back there b'fore anyone else
pops In. You know. ] took Slade