| Show d 0 y m G ERAL A D BROWN anu FEATURES fe dike Afe mccale Cali detective li Is P guarding the lie wedding presents preen ts at the te bigelow Ille clow mansion ue lie denies senses that old miss bliss adelaide li Is afraid of 0 some 1 I ming more thin than theft lie ile meets meet UK the brids bride and broom room to be veronica and fa cart and aind veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas moth or sybil and her brother and sister r T stephen and victoria mccale learns leann that thai VAllain court is I 1 a free spender and kam gam tiler bler I 1 tie ile also fads out there was a 4 curious episode in the lie lives of stephen t i bigelow and hit hij wite wile there la Is a strange ange p tension sit at the man ma madilon ilon nilon chr christopher copher yi storm who had once been rejected d by iii Veron veronica len seems particularly III at ease ay stephen is also notably lumpy jumpy karen fj toes goes ou out t andre and returns turps in an hour VIT VII q comes in au all decked put tor for the night life soup and fish gave me W y the once over aver and had a few quick straight ones without walthou more than a glance at me sitting there with my tongue hanging out when the butter ler stuck his snoot in the door he ha spat out tell fellmy my mother im going 41 out this evening not his wife mind you louhis ahls mother mamas big boy oh joure sure ile he and his wife dont get along I 1 take it your surmise Js Is a good one I 1 think T api well while fie ho was having his ly snort tho wife cornea comes in d been wondering been playing chop sticks nil all night until she sh stood there I 1 in the ahe doorway looking daggers at him bam going out steve she says and lie he walks by her without a glance sho she put her hand out but I 1 he ha brit brushed shed her off 01 then mien king the major domo a calls her t to the be phone and she goes out she had a phone call x yep after which she banged bange heck out of the piano fors tor another nother al halt half hour she went out you say any i je tes fib did she he gone 7 long about an hour when the aha 0 came cam home she messed around the ivories until hubby rolled in about twelve then tho the place quieted down tor for the tha night Step stephen fien came home late yes ile he must have heard her go going ing la in 1 cause a door opened up v i stilli tt alra the he plino stopped he t shouted something or other at her that chati 11 get then a couple all more doors slammed 10 that the story AU all but rr maemae lamma silo she stopped bingin Xi king ngin in tho the hall and asked for foi stephen 11 11 sho she almost dropped when he told her sonny boy was doing the town then she yelled paled for or karen A t while xing king went looking for or her a pho she w went ent through a gamut of facial impressions worthy werthy of any one of the old allent movie gals when the butler reported that karen had gone I 1 bout I 1 out toof she imade abeel a beeline lne for or the in about twenty minutes she ehe came down looking uka like the mer ry widow and just as worn out she called i a cob cab and made her i exit i when did sho she get git home bome v just bear Stevey boy she A came in hl or floated in would bi be more li alka keit it she ha had d just got the shock istock dofher of her life no flo act Us this time I 1 actually had to help her upstairs though ril ill fat bet she wont ont v ic member it r V macala nodded thoughtfully and they ell fell silent fora or a few minutes tg the cament of his imagination was jumping about wildly lie ha was vas surer W y than ever that tragedy stalked th the finally Ei nally with a gesture halt half disdain half despair he launched into a description of tho u events witnessed by ann and hm him 1 self at the abbey rocky listened avidly mcca macala e never bieve r kept any information from his assistants when they were working i Zip theion abase a case he lle felt feit that to withhold developments maderil ma made deail an opi op aerator less interested in the but iome come made him feel less like an integral part of the investigation s besides that opinion was vilu valuable able A word here an tv idea there it miss aliss adelaide Adel aides quits tho the pretense i when he ha had finished hi he cocked an eyebrow looking interrogatively at his friend and employee ij i rocky said at last slowly the thing that sticks out fart farthest bist chief at least as n I 1 see it Is what I 1 Is wit what M mr curt VallaIn court 11 bridegroom to bp seems to ao bo be as busy as a bee painting hl himself nis ell right into a corner I 1 I 1 at four thirty that afternoon oon fil f duke mccale stood before the nrc fire I 1 place in tho the upstairs drawing room oom f of the bapton bepton street hou house se ile he was facing adelaide bigelow gelow Bl who was jf huddled in the corner of EI a victorian I 1 sofa there was something held I 1 back in her a st studied udlea remoteness mccal had been talking quietly in a vat voice co which surp surprised him himself seir at its own compassion IY aull have to pardon me tf if I 1 say you have been shall 1 I sa say ya extremely british about this totua tion you have made a concession here an n appeasement there until it Is quite futile to take any action you have called me ii id months too late V sf 1 1 mr mccale there was a light touch toua of hauteur in her tone lit in herself you fire ing na I 1 i I 1 rall o anit in to look after tho the house during the week of the wedding im sorry but that Is not the truth never once have I 1 believed you came to my office with that in mind I 1 know knew you were in trouble even though you withheld your con fi dence even now you will not ad mit it even to yourself I 1 have gone on that premise from the first that you wanted mo me to find fand out things without even the responsibility on your part of telling me what 1 I wish to withdraw from the C case ase miss bigelow Dl gelow theres nothing I 1 can do for you oh not no the words half auf fled in the heavy atmosphere magnified themselves in the vastness of the room the fire crackled fiercely for a long minute while the essence of tear fear hung in the air like a strong accent it Is necessary for or me since you will not confide in me to tell you exactly what it Is that Is bothering you what it la Is that you fear you tee see I 1 know what la Is 10 it miss bigelow turned once more avae room and mccale saw into her mind quite easily the house was quiet and the room seemed just as it should bea be a chamber of solid victorian fastness cozy warm intimate her fingers caressed the sheen of old wood tho the back of a chair she looked at him so many things are not as we I 1 t I 1 lie iio stood beland behind her looking over her shoulder he talked want them to be ba nor as we be deved them to bo 11 she said ile he nodded there was for instance ho he answered drawing a parallel the case of france with its vigor its impregnable nabla defenses its immortal end and imperturbable morale but the enemy bored from within sabotaging that morale and when tho the battle come the heart was as aa rotten as aa an overripe cheese her eyes clouded what do you know astrande will p complicates 1 I know that a certain yo young ung man of undeniable physical attraction li Is marrying thirty million dollars next week I 1 know that in your subconscious mind you believe 1 him to be on an adventurer 1 L know that you should have investigated him months agothar ago that you are also bothered by the tact fact that your entire family seems jealous of Us his marriage to your niece not noi jealous mind of hla his perhaps having the tha benefits of a great fortune but J jealous eal in a move mova personal way as it secretly they were all in love with him and wanted him tor for themselves 11 you ou abeso areso are so right she faltered iler her eyes lit up in admiration how flow in the world 1 I am a trained observer it Is my job to seo see what others miss then the n too I 1 have sources of information she crossed to the windows again searching the outside hastily what in the world Is she looking lookin 9 for the rehe retho pondered Is she anxious to 0 have ahls over with before the others gets get back the tha fai family nily was having another of the hi terminable wedding rehearsals or was it somo some other thing she sought in the dark ening afternoon she had chad glanced at the clock more t than once he not id d lie ile crushed his cigarette in on an ashtray i going over to her again lie he stood behind her looking over her sli while he talked there seo see the sailor still slumped against the gateway trying to read a paper in the unsteady glow at p A a street light A woman passed in a shiny silk raincoat a red scarf whipping out from her kiln a sudden gust of wind far af near the bandstand hoboes hobles had started to burn rubbish in an iron basket as was their custom on these cold evenings the red glow of it flickered fitfully in the tog log 1 I know hi he went on his voice low and impatient now that you must have hava another reason tor for surely you are not caught in the trap this follow fellow sets seta tor for the unwary are veronica will lavish took too much of the bigelow money on him forgetting te others you see I 1 hnyp heard thih that silo shi inherit i tr tta bull buhrn rn r i wah 1 fl nl 1 she sought his eyes again and tho the queer secret duel that they had all the while been fighting underneath the smooth surface was ended suddenly and completely adelaide bigelow was giving in mccale could tell it was in her eyes all the pent up gnawing worry of something horrible and unclean sho she going to hold out on him any more and now maybe he ha could help 1 I will tell you she said simply veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas father my brother she began motioning him to sit was a hard man I 1 suppose but nc not t unusual for his time I 1 think ile he believed that women have no heads for business cannot handlo handle money lie ile was heir to my fathers r business and fortune of about twel twelve le million dollars with real estate and clever investing ho he more than doubled that fortune there mere wis was no male heir to whom he could leave it you see there was his adopted son stephen mccale put to in quickly yes she hesitated but nathis own flesh and blood but there wa was certainly stephen she edged over to the window again sho she faced him from the recess of tho the windows pay bay the high red velour draperies dwarfing dwar fing her in the elongated shadows her eyes for a moment seemed to play ade and seek with a memory at one tune I 1 think he intended for stephen to inherit but stephen in his eyes at least proved himself unworthy sybil always spoiled him he grew up precocious extravagant trava gant lie he ran awa away onca and joined the navy A bitter experience for him the more xo 0 o when he found that J joel could no doubt have procured an appointment to annapolis for foi him ile ha did manage MIT by the skin of his teeth marriage to karen has straightened him blin out somewhat so the bigelow fortune is held in trust yes and no miss adelaide rushed on now as though pressed tor for time my brother did not belleve believe in having money standing idle for always he wrote a most peculiar will she i steadied herself as it if giving information on so private a matter required a supreme effort cibort 1 I think he believed we would all benefit beneat eventually I 1 I 1 believed he counted on veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas marrying someone whose background we oil all knew you see sybil and I 1 have to agree on veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas choice rather hard on veronica I 1 should say 1 oh yes she was trying hard to explain it as she saw it but he thought the old voice rose now an hysterical note in IL it he wished a man to jo have control of it veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas husband gains control of it to do with as he will godl mccale exploded the spool of his brain turned swiftly in a convulsive unreeling the brought to mind left him numb iby by its malevolence etwas it was his turn to go to the win dow he stood looking into the blanket of tog fog seeing nothing for a moment ile he felt lost in the stunned silence of his own thoughts behind him he be heard miss bigelow sigh why you come to me before was all ho he say and his voice sounded so loud in the still stillness less that it seemed almost to penetrate the outside As it if he had h heard d the loitering sailor across the way actually looked up once at the windows macala laughed harshly now you are caught in a r really eally diabolical web too late to extricate yourselves alth without 0 ut a scandal light fled from froah her er old eyes as inwardly she contemplated such auch a thing jle lie felt cruel and vicious and hard but at least ratio was not quite able to comprehend her attitude tragedy strikes suddenly ertly we can still expose this fellow ime melad me lad its quite possible that I 1 can dig up something in a few days she sha joined him in the bay window shaking her head in a quick gesture of distaste impossible she murmured then why in all justice to yourself did you call me in at all ho he wanted to know 1 I think I 1 wanted to be sure lie ho left her staring out into the rain and went back to the fire who introduced curt vallain court into this house hp he asked raising his eyes to the woman at the window but his query went unanswered d foron par on the instant of bringing his glance to focus on her he saw her way as if sOl something outside h had a d struck terror to her heart he thought tot tor a moment she would fall through the window A shot split the tha silence forcing a cry from her ups lips lie he believed tor for one awful moment that someone outside had shot adelaide halt half expected to hear the shattered glass of a windowpane fall all to ahe floor door in one leap he was at her side she huddled against him film pointing out and down one quick glance and the scene icene below was forever photographed on the falm of his mind ile he saw jaw a woman in green green running hi bypath by path of ft the c c e d ahe lf hit 1 S all 1 I 1 I |
