The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-09-05

m not feminine enough 10 make
him run out on s<andra. How did
he get away from Ter? Climb out
a Window"
He didn't get ANY, from her.
He didn't come home with her. It
seems TO be one of thoss fool mis-
understandings. We thought he
was with them, they thought he
was with us"
ooh. goody!" said Julia. ''Ee got
left"
Then where is he?" demanded
Gerald practically. "He wasn't G
the beach just now or he would
have seen our car lights and
That was break" commented
Julia.
He must have tried to walk
home" Adam sounded worried.
Il suppose he's lost out there
somewhere"
Julia burst into song.
Through the dark of night I got
to go tChere you are;
II it's tCTong or right. | got TO
go CneTe you are.
Amt no chains can bind you,
if you liUe I'll find you
"Shut up" said Gerald kindly.
"and climb in the rumble seat.
What you need is a little ride In
the night air to cool your beauti-
full head"
Adam said, THE girls better go
In and 60 to bed. This may take
some time. Probably have to turn
out a detail of men,"
"Bed?" asked Julia Indignantly.
With the night but a pup? Don't
be an old granny"
Supine Form
I WAS getting TO know every
L rut In that road. We did not
stop at the barge this time, but
drove on for a mile or two
through territory ! had never ex-
plored, stopping from time to
time to honk the horn and listen
for an answering call
I'm case he got turned around
and started walking the wrong
way -
But except for the purring of
the motor and the chirring Of
cicadas in the thick underground
beside the road. there was no
sound.
perhaps we'd better go back
to the barge" Gerald suggested.
Maybe he had a date there" l
said, fired with the idea. THAT
would explain why ne kept quiet
and stayed away from us" And
then | remembered about Minis
car and could have bitten my
tongue out.
by Jove-the person who came
to the barge" agreed Gerald en-
Enthusiastically. and told Adam
about it.
But whoever it was, he didn't
stay long," | added. streSsing the
pronoun. Julia was not saying
anything.
Maybe they went away to-
gether," Adam suggested.
Il don't think so" said Gerald.
Neither did I, but we could give
no reason except the obvious one
that there were no voices.
And so we went back, after all,
to the barge, Adam lighting our
way with his fiaShlight and, single
file, climbed the crude ladder and
walked the narrow deck. And in
the black. deep hold the light of
the fash found, not the mirrored
moon, but the Supine form of the
one who had been Ivan, with a
scum of black water across his
face.
According to the fiction | read,
the French have an infallible
method of solving crime. They
follow the essential clue. It sounds
very simple The only part / can't
understand is how they can dis
tinguish. in the confusion of clues
that attend murder, the essential
from the noneSSential. Once that
important distinction is made, it
seems to me that the puzzle is as
good as solved.
For instance, it is easy TO look
back now and see that Sandra
and Ivan between them practical
~ signed his death warrant that
night. But how could anyone not
gifted with second sight have de-
duced that from the events which
took place? Even Sandra. at that
time. must have had no suspicion
that she was playing with dyna-
mite. It is less easy to see why
she was not warned by Ivan's
death. But there was her obseS-
sion and her essential stupidity.
Stupidity may be too strong
word She was clever about get
ting what she wanted, about win
ming people. As she seemed to
nave won Colonel Pennant and
Mimi; as she must have won Jeff's
mother and father. Julia had told
me with some bitterness. only a
few days before, that Colonel
Tack had made Sandra benefi-
ciary of his ten-thousand-dollar
life insurance policy.
That's about all most army Of
ficerS leave" she explained. He
owned besides a house in Mem
phis. heavily mortgaged, and the
farm in the OZarkS. He left those
20 JEFF, who can't find anyone who
wants to buy either one. And
Sandra didn't need the money
she had ten thousand from her
own father that she got control of
when she was eighteen. Oh, ]
know she couldn't live in luxury
on the income of ten thousand.
but it would have kept her until
she got a job or husband"
Good husbands come high" ]
told her. Twenty gets you better
than ten"
I was sorry the instant said It
but I needn't have been. for she
seemed a little comforted.
fsTsI rather think he's u@arrvir6