The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-04
Calamity Town

"Oh, he had q sister," said Ellery
YEARLY. Otherwise, why should he
have written those letters to one!
When he originally penned them, in
planning the murder Of his then
wife-the murder he didn't pull OF
he expected those letters to give
him an appearance Of innocence. He
expected to send them to his real
sister, Rosemary Haight 1t would
have to be a genuine sister to stand
the searchlight of murder investi-
CATION, or he'd really be in a mess.
So Jim had sister, all right"
"But the papers!" said Pat.
Carts right, Ellery! The papers
were full of news about Rosemary
Haight, sister of James Haight, and
how she died here in Wrightsville.
II Jim had a real sister Rosemary,
surely she'd have come to Wrights-
vile to expose the mistake"
"Not necessarily. But the fact il
-Jim's sister did come to Wrights-
vile, Patty. Whether she came to
expose the mistake can't say; but
certainly, after she'd had a talk
with her brother Jim, she decided
to say nothing about her true iden-
tity. I suppose Jim made her prom
Use to keep quiet. And she's kept
that promise"
81 don't follow" said Cart irri-
tably. "You mean the real Rosemary
Haight's been in Wrightsville all
these months, calling herself by
some other name?"
Mr.. Queen shrugged. "Who helped
Jim in his trouble? The Wright
family, a small group of old friends,
myself, and l.. one other person."
Roberta" gasped Pat. Roberto
Roberts, the newspaper tDoman"
"The only outsider of the sex that
fits," nodded Ellery. ayes, Roberta
Roberts. Who else! She believed
in Jim's innocence from the start,
she fought for him, she sacrificed
her job for him, and at the end-in
desperation-she provided the car
by which Jim escaped his guards at
the cemetery. Yes, Roberta's the
only one who could be Jim's sister,
from the facts; it explains all the
peculiarities of her conduct. I sup
pose Roberta Roberts has been her
professional name for years. But
her real name is Rosemary Haight!"
$50 that's why she cried 50 at
Jim's funeral" said Pat softly.
at gets clearer" admitted Cart
at last. "But what I don't under
stand is why Jim's first wife came
to Wrightsville calling herself Jim's
sister,"
"And Why" added Pat, "Jim per-
mitted the deception"
"Well, let's think Il out" sug-
gested Ellery. Consider these
points: Jim left almost four years
ago on the eve Of his wedding TO
Nora, as . result Of their quarrel
about the house. He went to New
York, I should suppose, desperately
unhappy. But remember Jim's char
acter. An iron streak Of independ-
ence-that's usually from the same
lode as stubbornness and pride. That
kept him from writing to Nora,
from coming back to Wrightsville.
Back in New York, Jim ran into
this woman. We all saw something
Of her-a sultry, seductive siren
; especially attractive TO a man lick.
ing the wounds of an unhappy love
: affair. On the rebound, this woman
hooked Jim. They must have beer
D miserable together. Jim was q goot
solid boy, and the woman was capa.
BILE Of driving man quite mad with
evaporation. She must have mad,
his life intolerable, because jim
wasn't the killer type and still h,
did finally plan 10 kill her. The fac
that he planned each detail of hel
murder so carefully, even TO writing
: those letters TO his sister in adpanc,
j "A silly thing to do!--shows how
:. obsessed he became with the neces
d sity of being rid Of her"
i ITO be continued)
cspJrish, 81 Luis. srv-r q osi