Browning chief., 1946-12-20
CHAPTER XIV

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den he'd seed plenty!" she assured
him.
''We still are not quite sure about
that eight-foot-high ghost with the
glaring yellow eyes," Laurence told
Annie, "but Reynolds is talking to
Amos now, trying to see if he can't
get him to scale the ghost down
somewhat, so we can feel that it
was human!"
He turned to Megan as Annie pad
ded away. 1T was knife" he an
swered the look of questioning in
her eyes, and Megan caught her
breath and went white as the col
lar Of her trim morning frock. bob
feels sure it is-the knife"
She did not speak, but her eyes
pleaded with him and Laurence
went on quietly, "There's not much
possibility of fingerprints. The knife
was buried halfway up the hilt, and
1t rained later on that night, and Of
course, the dews are very heavy
this time of the year. 1t was just
an ordinary kitchen knife, such as
any hardware store sells by the
gross every year-probably every
kitchen in Pleasant Grove has one
or two exactly like it."
Megan was conscious that she was
breathing little more easily. She
said hurriedly, lest Laurence should
notice that, "Then-you aren't much
better off than you were before
so far as identification. Have you
any suspects?"
Laurence grinned. "You should
have heard Ma Stuart at the in
quest" he said dryly. According
to her, there wasn't man, woman
or child in Pleasant Grove who
didn't have a motive for wanting
the Stevenson woman out of the
way. She mentioned a few Of the
reasons. Some of the people men,
toned resented it quite bit, and
fisticuffs were barely avoided. The
search for alibis became quite inten-
sive, but except for two or three,
all were eliminated as suspects. And
the evidence against the two or
three is SLIM"
Megan touched dry lips with her
tongue and steadied her voice to
ask family, "Who-are the-ones
who couldn't manage an alibi?"
"Well, the Teasley boy and his
wife and baby seemed to have ex-
cellent reason for disliking Mrs.
Stevenson" said Laurence reluc-
tantly. "It seems, according to Ma
Stuart, that Mrs. Stevenson made
q remark that tended to discredit
the legitimacy of the Teasley baby,
and that Will Teasley publicly
slapped her face in front of the
Mercantile week ago."
II remember that" said Megan.
"Do you?" asked Laurence quick
ly. "Do you remember how Mrs.
Stevenson took it?"
"Well, it was pretty unpleasant,
OF course-but Will Teasley's a
Pleasant Grove boy, and his wife
has lived here all her life, except
for the year she worked in town, so
everybody sided with WILL" Megan
remembered aloud. "Alicia sort of
staggered, and her face got very
white, and then she laughed and
said, What is the old-fashioned
crack about a hit dog always howls
loudest?' And walked away"
Laurence nodded. "That checks
with Ma Stuart's testimony" he
admitted
"And finding the knife doesn't
help bit?" asked Megan.
afraid not," admitted Laurence
frankly. Though if we can get any
sort of description out of Amos,
about the so-called ghost it might
help"
He grinned at her and said, "No-
tice said we? I'm sort of unof-
fetal assistant to Bob-because
know the town and the people," he
explained.
A little later Bob came in, greet
ed Megan pleasantly, and lifted his
shoulders and spread his hands
palm upward in gesture of dis
couragement and futility.
II can't get anything out of that
old man to save my life," he ad-
mitted. HE goes on saying hit wuz
bout eight feet tall, boss-an' hit
wuz all white and jes' foated long
and had big glaring yaller eyes
like a cat-dat's all l knows"
II wonder what Amos had been
drinking" Laurence said lightly.
"Some of that white mule they
brew up over at Frogtown would
make fellow see pink cows and
green elephants"
That's the darndest thing of all
he swears he hadn't had a drink.
and Annie backs him up," exploded
Bob furiously. II could understand
his telling such tall tale if he'd
had few Shots
"But you did find the knife there