The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-12-31

1 Ld4hGO 81 lille, nave 10 20 SdyluE
things at a time like this?
"What do you mean?" Lieu
tenant Gregory asked harshly.
I don't suppose In all her life
Claire had seen a man glarine
down at her like that and she
dropped her eyes, so that the long
lashes lay quivering on her
cheeks, and shrank back against
Bill. Nothing" she whispered
Why = why should I mean any
thing?"
Cant you see she's upset, Of
ficer?" Kirk demanded, as though
the fault lay entirely with Lieu
tenant Gregory. And Bill added
his oar by inquiring truculently
Why we were all standing there,
anyway.
As we trooped down the stairs,
| thought Mr.. Marshall looked de-
cidedly the worse for wear. But
ne said one thing that cheered me
a little and verified my own con-
illusions a bout the situation.
Well. anyway" he painted. Bill
couldn't have committed this one.
He hasn't been out Of my sight
since we left the dining room"
And" | chimed in. don't you
think this goes to show that he
could not have had anything to do
with the other one either?"
No AIiLi
WE had reached the bottom Of
w the steps and, as the others
went on into the library, Mr.. Mar
! shall beckoned Bill and me into
fhe privacy Of the drawing room.
Il would feel much better If Bill
had a good, watertight alibi," ne
confessed. But Allen will fix that
up. Sally. are you sure the doctor
is right about that colored boy?
I'm going to suggest TO Gregory
that we call him in for more COM
! plete questioning"
Call in DR.. Bates?" I repeated.
We'll. that's all right, of course.
But 1t would look more plausible,
l mean that Ephraim could be
! guilty, if the doctor had seen him
after ten o'clock instead of after
nine o'clock. DR.. Bates assured me
that he left Thomas's house at a
quarter after nine. If Aunt Mag
gle was killed around ten. that
would eliminate Ephraim, for he
had temperature of one hundred
and three, was delirious and the
doctor had given him a hypoder-
mic"
you think if the doctor had
found him in that state after ten
instead of after nine. that Eph-
rain would be more likely sus-
pect?"
'Dr. Bates didn't seem to think
it possible he could have got out
Of bed at the time he left him."
"Still. people do wander around
when they are out of their heads, +"
Mr.. Marshall insisted. MAYBE
his face brightened-"the doctor
could be mistaken about the time.
Maybe his watch was slow. Such
things do happen. Oh, well. Wade
Allen will go into all that. Well
be in capable hands"
isn't it just about as good as a
confession of guilt when you hire
Mr.. Allen?" Bill asked. and for
the first time l began to realize
what all this was going to mean
to my husband unless he could
promptly be cleared of suspicion.
If this case came to trial. no mat
ter If he were exonerated. there
would always be people who
would believe him guilty. Cues
tions would follow us all our lives.
There would be whispers behind
our backs. And the money. We
would never be able to use it as
Aunt Maggie intended as long as
there was anyone in the world
who might insinuate that it was
blood money.
Listen, my boy" Mr.. Marshall
was saying. "circumStantial evil
dence has convicted more inno-
cent people than all the guilty
ones Wade Allen had been able to
save. We are not going to take
any chances"
Thanks" said Bill. giving Mr..
Marshall one of his Straight-from-
the shoulder looks and bringing
a lump into my throat. Suppose
Id better be trying to find Ander-
SON."
"YeS. yes. by all means. Sally,
shall we join the others in the Ii
brary? We can all 90 to that back
room later. It is a little brighter
in here with the fire" Poor Mr..
Marshall. who so loved his COM
fort. was trying to make the best
Of things.
We found Alice weeping on
Bob's shoulder as they sat togeth-
er on the sofa. Bob was saying
helplesSly. There, there" and,
TRY not to think about it"
rs there anything I can do?" I
asked. "Alice. would you like a
little ammonia or some sherry or
something's"
mo, no" she sobbed. "I only
want to get away from this hor-
rible place"
What about you Claire?" /
asked. Are you all right?"
Claire, sunk in the big wing
chair on the right of the fireplace,
looked up absently and made a
valiant effort to smile. "T'm all
right" she said. "What about you,
Sally?"
"Oh. I'm all right" I answered
with a conviction that I was far
from feeling. and sat down in the
chair Kirk placed for me between
himself and Mr.. Dodson. AS Kinks
eyes strayed quickly from one to
another of the group, had an I'M
comfortable feeling that he was
trying to read our various express
sions for some secret purpose Of
his own and succeeding far bet