The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-03-26

talk. His eyes sought the Ser
geant's miserably.
Unexpectedly the girl leaned
forward. "We were quarreling
because he'd promised to take me
out the evening before and never
showed up. And when / caught
him hanging around Joan Kent's
apartment I told him what !
thought of him." She jumped to
her feet. her face distorted with
rage:
"If you want to know what /
think, I'll tell you" she went on
in a shrill voice. 81 think he killed
Joan Kent. He couldn't have her
for himself and he didn't want
anyone else to get her."
She dropped back into the chair
and burst into tears.
Slowly Sergeant Long rose to
his feet. No one moved or spoke.
eff everyone had told the truth in
the beginning" he said in con-
trolled voice. sit would have saved
all of this confusion"
He turned to the girl suddenly.
what was Whitefield doing while
you were with Mr.. Kincaid in the
hall?"
She raised her head and with
her small lace handkerchief dried
her eyes. Working"
"And he heard none of this?"
She shrugged her shoulders. i
guess not"
"Do you remember telling me
you were going to the movies late
this afternoon?" he said harshly.
Instead of that you went to
Tenth Street to someone's apart
ment." ~.
She took a compact from her
purse and powdered her nose in
a remarkably self-possessed man.
ner. "Is there law against that?"
The officer stared at her.
There's a law against lot OF
things you don't seem to know
about. Go upstairs now. I'll speak
to you later"
BE Careful
THE girl rose, picked up her
L coat and sauntered out of the
room. Then the Sergeant whis-
pered a few words to Kincaid.
Apparently he wasn't going to jail
him on Miss Wells accusation.
because the young man left the
shop. And just then Ishi appeared
in the doorway from the back of
the house.
"Oh, there you are" the Ser
geant said to him. "How long have
you been away from the shop?"
"One week." the Jap told him.
when did you find out that
Miss Kent was dead?"
Tonight, Sergeant, when ]
made my return to the shop"
Then the Sergeant questioned
him as to the details of his trip
home and his fathers illness, but
the boy didn't say anything of i'm
portance. | watched him careful
ly while he talked, exploding the
theory that all Orientals look
alike, He wasn't as short as /
| imagined most Japs to be, topping
me by a good three inches, and
I'm pretty tall. While the Ser
geant questioned him, his intelli-
gent dark eyes darted back and
forth between the Sergeant and
me, and he smiled continually.
Even when he talked the corners
of his mouth turned upward in
more of a leer than a smile.
After short conversation the
Sergeant dismissed him. and Ishi,
before returning to the back of
the house. bowed deliberately, first
to me. then to Dirck and Richard,
and then to the Sergeant. We all
smiled except Richard. He was
leaning back in the chair. smok-
ing, a moody expression on his
face and the thin hand holding
his cigarette tWitched nervouSly.
There was something wrong, /
thought. Of course, he must feel
pretty awful about his sister, but
there seemed to be more than
that. | wondered if perhaps he
knew something about the MUIR
der even though he had been
! away from the house at the time.
1t seemed almost peaceful in
the shop after the days excite
ment, yet when the telephone
rang on Mr.. Kimball's desk we
all jumped nerVously.
'For you, Sergeant" Mr.. Kim
ball said after a moment.
No one even pretended not to
listen, but the Sergeant held a
thoroughly unsatisfactory CONVEX
Sation as far as we were con-
cerned for the first minute or two.
His answers consisted of mono
SyllableS and series of short ex-
carnations.
Then his voice arose. "Dead!"
he shouted. "Pll be right down."
He hung up the receiver. ''Now
we're getting somewhere" he said
with such obvious satisfaction
that I was shocked. ''We've got
Lathrop at last. He's in the hos
pital. suffering from shock and
exposure. He was taken there
sometime after midnight last
night. Guess you were right about
the drain pipe, Kolff. He must
have fallen down the side of the
house from Miss Kent'S window"
''Who died?" I asked. sudden
~ remembering his telephone
conversation.
mo one. His wife is dangerous
ly i'll. She was found half drowned
in the East River. Lathrop must
have tried to kill her too" He
paused. Thought she knew too
much. ! guess. This seems to be a
| wholesale Slauohter"
"Pd like to come along If you
don't mind, Sergeant" Dirck
picked up his overcoat and hat.
"Sure; come along" the Ser
geant said in a surprisingly agree
able voice. "Good night. Kimball."
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