The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-03-23

4..-so LaCroix, shortly before he
was put out Of the way; Anne,
dressed in your bathing suit, sitting
in the place you often sat, was
killed. AS soon as / found you
couldn't have been the yellow-head
yourself, l knew you were meant to
be the victim. Especially since no
one had any motive to dispose of
Anne. She hadn't any enemies, she
hadn't any money, she hadn't even
boy friend. Practically everyone
in town knew everything there was
to know about her.
''But you were different. You
had background of mystery. And
Mr.. Edward Thorndyke admitted
to me you were to inherit old Mrs.
Thorndyke's money. He, of course,
was the logical suspect. But he had
an alibi for both times under ip.
quiry. l don't think it ever occurred
to him we'd really run down his
alibi for the day of Anne Delahay's
murder. He was Edward Thorrdyke,
the lord of the manor, so to speak.
His word should be enough. But we
did run it down, forgetting the
blonde girl for the moment, and
found it alright. Too many people
had seen and spoken to both him
and Miss Fay Thorndyke to admit
any possibility of collision. He
didn't know that though when he
lied so gibly about how she'd left
him in Monterey"
Dorinda shifted uneasily on her
hard wooden chair But Carol had
an alibi, too
Eyes, she had an alibi. The sta.
ton master had seen her leave on
the eleven-thirty train for Los
Angeles. And her friend in Los
Angeles claimed to have met her
when the train got in about two
o'clock According to her. they'd
spent the rest of the day together
They'd Shopped, taken in a picture
show. The manager of the Harvard
Apartments remembered thev'e
come in together that night. Blu
Carols whereabouts that after
noon was confirrned by only a sin
gle person and that one supposed
friend.
That didn't prove. much. but then
Harriet Thorndyke came down to
see me the morning after Carol
came home She said that one night
while she was watching for Lana to
come home, she saw Edward
Thorndyke and Carol come in to-
gether. OF course, as pointed
out to her, they might have both
been out and simply happened to
come home at the same time, es-
pecially since she admitted she
didn't see any love making or any
thing Of the sort But she insisted
she knew they'd been together,
that there was a sort of intimacy
impossible to describe between
them. And, after I'd talked to the
servants, it didn't take me long to
come around to her way Of think
ing.
Carrie and Greer were both Of
the opinion that Mr.. Edward, as
they called him, didn't like the
nurse. Their only reason for think
ing so was that he didn't pay any
attention to her. For them, know
ing the gentleman's weakness, that
was enough. They knew Mrs. Thorn
dyke, though she'd often alleged
she liked young and good-looking
people around her, had never hired
anyone but plain and middle-aged
women and they knew why.
And here was a young and ex-
tremely pretty woman, bound to be
agreeable to the master Of the
house and Mr.. Thorndyke ignored
her. There had to be a reason for
that. 1t was possible he didn't ig-
more her because he dislilxed her
it could have been that he liked
her too much and didn't want any
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