The Key West citizen., 1940-12-11

I
How come they any trash N
them stairs?" Bessie demanded.
instantly on the defensive. An
drew say he clean 'em up good"
"But look at this" said. ""And
these funny little feathery wIsps
sticking to it.
Bessie wiped her hands on a
kitchen towel and took the scrap
between her fingers judiciously.
Miss Sally, don't you know what
this is?"
Something about Bessie's tone
warned me that | vas not going
to like knowing what it was
What is it?" l asked reluctantly.
IT'S a piece tore out of that
new comforter we brought out for
Miss Maggie's room. How come
somebody tearing uD Miss Mag
gie's comforter"
How come. indeed?
And yet. of course. an elder
down puff might have a piece torn
out and the explanation still be
simple and logical.
Andrew took if up to Miss
Maggie'S room still wrapped up
and put it on her bed" Bessie re-
called.
| remembered seeing if there,
on the foot of the big four poster,
when we made our search of the
house after Aunt Maggie'S death.
| went up to the third floor to
take another look. But the down
puff WaS.nOt there now. Ncl could
find it in any of the other rooms
on that floor. l could not fn3 it
anywhere.
No AlibiS
ON THE way down from Aunt
~ Maggie's room, | stopped on
the second floor for a moment
and. in passing. noticed that the
doors of he rooms occupied by
Bob and Kirk were seth open !
decided to look in and see if by
any chance one of them might
have gone foraging for additional
cover in the night.
There was no sign of il in
either room. but in the bathroom
| got quite a start at the sight of
piece of green wrapping paper
lying on the floor. But the paper
mad no torn edges and from the
creaseS | gathered that it was still
the original size required for
wrapping whatever it had in
closed.
No great amount of detecting
was required to decide that it had
been dropped there by Bob, for
his room was in more or less of
a state. while Kinks reflected the
military neatnesS he had learned
in boarding school.
In the downstairs hall again |
could hear Bob and Kirk talking
IN the dining room. AS | came
nearer the door. Kirk aid. Il am
afraid this is much more serious
than any of us has admitted"
| frankly stopped to listen, for
| knew thai y entrance would
put an end to the conversation
and | was curious to know their
actual views.
Why do you say that?" Bob
inquired.
We'll, for one thing" Kirk con-
tinued, there were no witnesses
TO the murder And for another.
not one of us has an alibi. Murder
IS bad enough in any case. but
think what a mares nest this is
going to be when the police start
trying to prove each one of IS
guilty. That is no doubt The line
they will take"
i don't see why they should
assume any CT us guilty" argued
Bob. THE thing that seems most
likely to me is that-that il was
done by somebody on the outside.
Maybe somebody who broke in
for the purpose of holding up the
place. Aunt Maggie threatened to
scream ard he choked her to
death. Then, overcome with the
fact that ne has committed Inur-
der, ne gives up any thought of
robbery and makes his escape.
first seeing TO it that there is no
possibility of pursuit"
That seems logical enough"
Kirk admitted. But the police
are going to want to hang it onto
somebody. And after all. you'll
have TO admit your theory IS a
little far-fetched. Almost nobody
knew we were TO be here, and
even if anybody had. what would
some family silver that has been
unmoleSted for a hundred years
or so? OF course. the girls have
/ some jewelry, but I III don't be-
lieve it would have inspired a
planned holdup."
Aunt Maggie'S pearls are rather
nice. but to save my life / could
not remember whether she had
/ worn them at dinner or not. Ger
/ tainly there mad been NO trace of
them when we found her in the
passage, and l had not thought to
raise the question.
1T seems to me-" Bob was say
ing, "that one of the first require
ments in proving guilt is to estab-
llSh a motive. / still can't see
what motive could be aScribed to
any one of us. Love and money
are supposed to be two favorite
motives in such cases. Can you
make either of them fit?"
Going on to the kitchen
through the breakfast room,
which incidentally we were not
using for breakfast, / asked Bes-
sic if she knew where Bill hal
disappeared 20. He out with
| Thomas" she told me, 'helping
him lay planks on the road. so the
cars can come through"
We'll, ell him I'm in the study
on the third floor when he comes
in. please"