The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-07-12
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was supposed to be a smile, and
Eve saw his following and broken
teeth.
Nov wait a minute, boys
he began.
Find that letter." Brett threw
over his shoulder at Eve, ignor-
ing the caretaker.
] ; Eve approached reluctantly. The
mans dirty vest was buttoned
only at his waist, and a roll Of
blue shirt showed between his
trousers and the vest.
open the vest" Neil suggested
"He might have stuck it in there"
Eve, trying not to look at the
leering face above her, unfastened
the greasy button. The white en-
velope fell to the floor and she
picked it up. Brett and Neil re
leased the man then, and Bret
looked at the envelope curiouslV
1t was a plain, ordinary envel
ope, but thiekly padded with what
it contained. Across the front was
the single word; Jackson. Brett
looked at the caretaker, standing
sullenly now beside the table, re
fashlg even to lift his eyes from
the floor. There was subdue3
hail, and Gina and Ham, muff1eC
in bathrohes, appeared at tn
door
"Wnat goes on" Ham Missed
We heard voices and found that
Brett and Neil hadn't been to
bed"
There's no need to whisper,
Neil, said I'VE found this guy
talking TO Someone at the side
! door and whoever the visitor was
gave him this envelope. Jackson
i isn't feeling too laxative right
now, so we thought we'd have
little get-together and see if we
couldn't persuade him to change
his mind
Gina's eyes were shining. Her
hand nipped Ewes arm and she
said, happily:
Isn't this exciting? Just like
a real murder mystery or some
thing"
1T had better be or some
1 thing" Brett said grhnly, ripping
the envelope. The sound of the
tearing paper was loud in the sud-
denly quiet room.
/ The Pay-Off
THE caretaker's eyes unwilling
ly followed Brett's movements
as he took out the contents of the
envelope. They all stared in as
tonishment at a thick pack of
bills; the topmost one a ten-do1lar
bill. They had all been folded once
and stuck into the envelope with
no note of explanation.
Here" Brett said, handing the
/ money to Eve, count it.
Eve started to, but her fingers
! trembled so that she had to ask
Gina's help. Meanwhile Brett was
saying to the caretaker:
Il hope you realize that you're
\ in a spot. You are supposed to be
\ the caretaker here and keep the
place in some sort of shape. In
stead, / find you've neglected it.
Then when the estate sends Gus
| toner down to look the place
over, the party is held captive
/ you've practically kidnapped us
and subjected to every type of
worry and lot of real danger
! You're not only going to lose your
! job, Jackson. You're going to land
in Jail. But if you speak up now
maybe we'll go little easy on
you. Why did someone hand you
two hundred dollars? What kind
of a racket are you running?"
who says Pm runnin' rack
et?" Jackson snarled. " l guess if
/ got friends that want to make
me loan now and then, you
needn't stick your nose in.
Don't be childish" Neil said.
Nobody lends anyone two hun
dred dollars nowadays. That's a
payroll if / ever saw one"
But Jackson refused sullenly to
say another word, and even
threats of physical violence, and
Hams suggestion that they call in
Jim Droissard to turn on the third
degree, did not bring any results.
Brett finally decided that it was
too late and they were all too tired
to continue the questioning fur
Their. He determined, however, to
lock jackson in the storeroom so.
that he would be available when
they wanted him. He turned the
money over to Ham for safekeep-
ing.
When that was done and they
were all gathered in the great cir
cular front hallway, Eve found
that she was very tired. They
trailed slowly up the stairs, won
dering that Julie and Mrs. Mar
bury, Robert Howe and Jim
Droissard had not been awakened.
They're on the other side of
the house." Gina whispered. 81
only got up because Ham called
me before he came down"
As they reached the top landing
Eve was startled when Neil mat
ter-of-factly put his arm around
her and again kissed her good
night in front of her door.
She looked up at him like
troubled child, seeking again the
feeling of rightness she had felt
when their engagement was an
nounced. And once more she
caught a curious. fieeting express
sion on Brett's face that seemed
to mirror her own surprise.
Ham looked at Gina so longing
ly that she gave a little gurgle of
amusement and said pertly:
DO you want goodnight kiss,
frxr, t1o41J - - 4 ~ -