Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-11-03
CHAPTER VIII


triumphant chortle.
"Zorie!" Steve said in a shocked
voice. He was looking at her as if
he didn't believe it.
II never thought you'd let me
down." he said softly. Then he
grinned, very slowly. "Oh, we'll
It's only book"
Il can't think any MORE" the ad-
miral said. "You might as well
60, Zorie."
With a half-hour to spare, Zorie
went up to A Deck. She hoped she
might see Steve. All she wanted
was to tell him why she hadn't
backed him up in his argument with
the admiral. She wanted to explain
that she considered it family mat
ter in which she had no voice.
She walked aft. The bar door was
open. A smart-looking gray-haired
woman was at the bar alone having
a cocktail.
Zorie hesitated If it was Gus
tomary for unescorted women to
drink at the bar, why shouldn't she?
A drink might steady her.
She walked to the bar. sat down on
a stool and ordered a Martini. She
told herself she really needed it.
She needed courage. No matter
what happened this evening, she
would need courage. Alcohol gave
you false courage, but false courage
was better than none.
Zorie had done very little drink
ing. The Martini the bartender
stirred and placed before her was
different from any cocktail she had
ever tasted. 1t was delicious. The
icy spicy liquid was soothing to her
aching throat.
1t was almost siX-thirty. She paid
for her drinks, walked once around
the deck to enjoy her glowing feel
ing, then went down to the ad-
miraPs suite.
When she opened the door, her
stateroom was dark She switched
on the light The room was filled
with pale fog of smoke, but it
wasn't cigarette smoke. 1t was ci-
gar smoke. She supposed that Win
throp Lanning had been here with
Amber, and had smoked cigar.
She sat down on Amber's bed and
waited for the phone to ring She
was facing her own bed under which
her trunk was visible. She looked
at it for some time without actually
seeing it, thinking of Steve and hop
ing he would phone. Zorie was
suddenly aware that something was
wrong. When she had come in here
after work this afternoon, she had
pulled out the trunk, put her note
book in it, locked it, and pushed it
back under the bed. But she had
pushed it under the bed with the
lock facing out. The lock was now
facing the wall and the hinged side
was facing out.
She got up. Amber no doubt had
been up to more of her diabolical
tricks.
Zorie pulled the trunk out and un-
locked and opened it.
The stenographer' book was not
where she had placed it..
She searched the trunk hurriedly,
but she could not find the notebook.
The notebook was gone!
1t now occurred to Zorie, as she
kneeled there with chills prancing
over her, that something else was
missing. 1t was the young Bavarian
engineering students treatisc-'A
Critical Survey of the Re-tooling of
the Waffenfabrik Krupp Plant for
Increased Wartime Production.
She was trying to think calmly.
Her first assumption had been that
Amber had stolen the notebook and
treatise in final effort to force her
to move out of this stateroom. Then
she recalled the cigar smoke she
had smelled when she first came in.
Amber would not be likely to have a
key that would fit this lock or the
skill necessary to pick it.
She must do something. but she
did not know what to do. When the
admiral learned that his days die
tation was lost, he would be furious.
He would blame her. If she went
to Paul, he might spoil everything
by doing the wrong thing. The logi-
cal person to consult was Steve But
she did not trust Steve Whatever
was happening, Steve was in it.
Her earlier suspicious returned
Steve had lived in Germany and
turned Nazi. The Lannings, in spite
of his defense of them, were doubt
less Nazis, too. And the powerful
looking man with scrubby red hair
who had several times stared at
her so searchingly-he was obvious
ly in with them, and that made him
Nazi, too.
She recalled how he, Amber, and
ner uncle had each, in turn, stared
ut her. Why? 1t had been obvious
that Amber had mistaken her for
someone else.
One of them had stolen the note
book and the engineering treatise.