The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-01-07
Chapter 80
Hint From Kirk

Hint From Kirk
before anything further could
ID be said, Kirk came through the
drawing room door and Bob, ex-
cusing himself, stepped into the
telephone closet. Instead of re-
turning to the drawing room as
had intended, / turned into the
dining room, for no other reason
than to see if Kirk would follow.
And / couldn't help wondering if
Bob had faxed that telephone err
rand.
The lights had been turned out
In the dining room and it was al
most dark, with cavernous re-
cesses Of shadow on all sides. AS /
CROPPED my way nervously across
the room toward the light switch,
which for some strange reason
had been placed at the library
door, / was startled out of all pro-
portion when I heard Kinks voice
and realized that he was just be-
hind me.
Look, Sally" he asked, may
speak to you moment?"
turned; the room was a little
lighter now that / was accustomed
TO the change, and it seemed fool
ish to insist upon turning the light
up before pausing to listen.
'What is it, Kirk?"I asked,
striving to make my voice sound
natural.
Nothing much" he answered.
81 just wanted to say that if /
were you / wouldn't 60 around
talking about that conversation
with Eve. Might not be safe to let
everybody know if she told you
anything"
| said again, .''But she didn't.
thought I made that plain"
"No," said Kirk, mo, you didn't.
Anyway. just thought I'd mention
IT,"
/ looked up into Kinks eyes and
II seemed to me they had that
same strange CLEAN which had
made me uneasy in the library
the night before. That CLEAN that
could make me think of a were
wolf. 1t was odd, because there
were no lights in the room now,
except that pale shaft from the
hall. Powerless to move, I slut
tered. I'll was-going to turn on
the lights"
where's the switch?" he asked,
and the sound of his voice made
everything normal again. With
light flooding the room, knew
had been letting my imagination
run wild.
"You were pretty mysterious
about your own conversation with
Eve" reminded him.
"Oh," Kirk laughed, a little
self-consciously, you see, was
meddling. II wasn't what that po-
liceman tried to intimate, because
I never did like Eve a little bit. I
was fool, suppose, but my mis-
sion seems to have been similar to
Claire's and Ahce's and maybe
Bob's too" Kinks face got red
and he looked embarrassed. you
see. had an idea that perhaps If
I used little of that herman stuff
you recommended that / could
persuade her to lay off Bob and
Claire. Does that Sound too fool
ish, Sally?"
looked at him with my mouth
open. Kirk" said, 81 think you
are fool, but a fool who has
nice instincts"
He took both my hands in his.
looked deep into my eyes for a
long moment, and ] was sure he
was on the verge of telling me
something. Then the door from
the kitchen opened and Andrew
came in. Kirk let my hands fall.
Thanks, Sally" he said.
Callers
a LTHOUGH I sometimes sus-
4 \ pect il requires a bit of con-
niving on Andrews part not to
miss anything that goes on, such
was not actually the case when he
interrupted my interview with
Kirk. He was legitimately on his
way to answer the front doorbell.
AS l followed him, intending to re-
turn to the drawing room, I saw
that Bill was already at the door
and heard what might be de-
scribed as the overtones of a COM
motion.
Curiosity drew me farther and
there on the porch were. of all
people, Judge and Mrs. Warren.
The judge was Indignantly ex-
pressing his opinion to a carload
OF photographers and reporters
who had arrived simultaneously.
Apparently, Just rs whole bat
terry or cameras was trained on
the stretcher which bore Eve to
the ambulance, the Judge and Mrs.
Warren had unwittingly come be-
tween and were now a part Of
the picture.
What a time for callers, and es-
pecially such callers. Instantly my
mind had flown TO Kinks suggeS-
ton OF that morning. Could IL be
possible that the Warrens were
trying TO smoke VS. out in order
10 buy the place as a bargain?
put the thought resolutely
from my mind and stepped for
ward 70 greet them. These were
old friends OF my grandparents.
so solid and respectable that II
was impossible 10 associate them
with anything un6erhand.
The judge. looking all the more
squat in morning coat and striped
trousers Is very much the old
style Southern gentleman. even