The Key West citizen., 1940-12-12
Chapter 18
Gloomy Search

III AAD-s-@ N~-&S ~ S-&(AA q W 90 ~
L ginning to feel rather appre-
hensive about the law, for the
conversation between Bob and
Kirk had given me an idea of
what we were in for. It seemed
to me- that my only hope lay in
finding what Bob called a motive.
Once we had a motive. maybe, we
could find clue.
So l went back to the third
floor again, this time to look
through the papers Aunt Maggie
had left in the study. ! felt rea-
sonably certain she had not con-
Sidered the secret room of inter-
est except as a family curiosity.
This being the case, she probably
would not have hidden the clue.
If the directions it gave were COM
plicated, she might have had the
paper with her when she went
downstairs. But If the directions
were easy to understand, she had
probably left the clue among the
other papers or had stuck it some
where in her room.
But there were no papers in her
bureau or desk drawers and moth
ing of interest in her purse. The
collection of papers in the study
was formidable. An old family
Bible. several volumes of family
records, half a dozen packets of
letters and a number of loose pa
pers and Aunt Maggie's brief case
which incloSed her usual working
materials.
/ sat down in the chair she had
occupied and got busy. A lot of
reading of old-faShioned, spidery
writing was necessary, for / had
no idea what the clue she had
spoken of might be like.
It was slow work and I had
begun to feel pretty hopeless
when / heard a step outside.
Here / am, Bill" called.
But nobody answered an5 no.
body appeared. waited minute,
for knew that had heard some
one, then got up and looked out in
the hall. But I saw no one. Ordi-
narily if I had thought I heard a
1OOSlCP OOIS40S IOOIll dIlO
found myself mistaken / would
have dismissed the matter with
out further thought.
But too much had happened
lately for me to maintain any such
casual attitude now. l looked first
in Aunt Maggie's room, then in
all the other rooms on the floor.
As usual, / saw no one at all.
But in Aunt Maggie's room il
seemed to me that the books and
other things on the desk had been
moved about. / felt sure of it, for
the blotter was askew and surely
would have Strengthened it auto
matically when I looked in ear
Her.
I went back to the study, feel
ing a little too remote from the
rest of the household for absolute
comfort. yet anxious to go on with
my search. I would make Bill help
if he ever got through with his
road mending.
/ worked on and on and to my
ears, tuned now to hear the slight
est sound, it seemed that the house
was very still. ! knew that it was
only because one whole floor sepa-
rated me from everyone else; but
/ found myself listening for noises
and, when l finally heard footsteps
again, jumped from my chair
and rushed to the door breath
lessly. ,
f.t New Helper
TIRK, looking very fortnight
IN and dependable, was coming
down the hall. Bessie said you
were UP here" he explained. "I
came to ask if l could be of any
assistance"
Il was just going through Aunt
Maggie's papers to see If they
would throw any light on the sit
uation."
mot a bad idea" he agreed.
MAY / help? And by the way.
Sally. I've been thinking this over.
and while there doesn't seem to
be any rhyme or reason for it,
there's got to be one somewhere.
You remember Aunt Maggie told
us about finding clue to the Sc
cret room? Do you suppose there
could be-any connection"
I felt my face flush. Here was
Kirk suggesting the very thing I
had been trying to keep quiet
about / must confess that for a
moment wondered if il were not
just the thing the murderer him.
self might do. But, after all may
be il was a more obvious conclu-
sion than / had thought.
'T had wondered about II my
self" I admitted. That's why
am looking through these papers" "
'Ah, / see. Well. let me help
you Have you any idea what we
should be looking for? I mean,
did you gather from Aunt Maggie
any suggestion as to what sort Of
clue she had found?"
There was nothing for Il but
to accept this offer, so I said, NO.
No idea at all. Suppose you check
through these. I may have missed
something"
We worked quietly for a while,
then Kirk asked, "You-you don't
suppose there's some crazy person