Show or over ar ut the bichara Ri chara ard powell powe shoot inq AN INNER SANCTUM HYSTER MYSTERY Y ING ARAB A i ANDY BLAKE faa tune TIIE THE THUS fant lt andy I 1 flake blake ot of operations was wa joined ty by his wife arab who started to work with ordnance on a bus bin looking lor or living quarters quarter arab started to write flown down the loose talk alii the she overheard she was wai soon loon spotted and try ery of 0 spy went up arab and andy jumped off the tha bus but andy soon oon tripped tell fell striking his bli head and nd woke up in bed after telling th the FBI what arab was up op to he be left the hospital and went with her to the tha rooming house lie got into a fight with ione one ot of the tb guests t beitt and met the landlady thom lie be had known in parts paris arab and andy were convinced that something WAS waa wrong la in that home andy then started to drive home CHAPTER iv walt a minute arab said 1 I want to write down my phone rl number tor for you k arab came back and handed me la a slip of paper see you tomorrow night she said I 1 got in the car and drove away and forgot to look at arabs slip ot of paper for several blocks when I 1 did I 1 stopped the car so fast that I 1 almost scraped the tires down to the rims I 1 had almost forgotten that there was something terribly wrong with the house bouse on Q street arab had given me a page torn from the notebook she had used on the bus there were the absurd chicken tracks of the arabella blake shorthand system above them she had written the translation it was the section she had skipped when the had read her notes to me it was the section which had brought her to the house on Q street and had bad made her a candidate for the lead story in the obituary columns A man on the bus had said softly to a companion there is a room vacant at Q street northwest it could not be helped the girl taw saw too much I 1 swung the car around and started back and then changed my mind arguing with arab would get me nothing but a sore throat this calf called ifor tor action instead of argument for one thing I 1 could help her find and out what was wrong with the house on Q street I 1 stopped at a drugstore and coaxed a clerk to let me look through oil all the washington papers he had I 1 went through the preceding day dayt s editions without finding anything I 1 double checked on that days washington post then in the star stars Is rooms for berit section I 1 spotted it burled buried treasure could nit have made rne me happier the ad announced ROOM FOR RENT BENT furnished room and dinner optional in fine old house Q st NW goat girls only must be cultured college or bus sen sch grad call or write giving full details mrs R fielding apparently renee fielding be V cleved cleved in picking and choosing and of course in wartime washington she could get away with it I 1 went to the phone dialed the wisconsin number given inthe in the ad and asked tor for miss arabella reynolds when I 1 heard her voice I 1 growled hope I 1 break up a date with joey she giggled were you worried goody not about him listen how did you explain that you knew a room was vacant why why I 1 just said I 1 saw an ad in the post and you said tonight there its 0 K onedas in the star anybody would have thought you lust just got the papers mixed up I 1 read it to her and added you must have been born with a silver horseshoe in your mouth suppose there been any ad she said softly you take awfully good care of me thank you andy better thank me taking care of you Is a tough job its like being night watchman ot of a TNT plant take it easy try to stay alive until lunch tomorrow and ill buy you one I 1 have much hope of getting time off the next day to hunt apartments and it turned out that I 1 was right my middle eastern theater was getting hot what with the british eighth army getting ready to tangle with rommel at el Al ameln amein it was nearly seven when I 1 got laway hway I 1 grabbed a sandwich and milk at one of the beverage bars in the pentagon I 1 took a bus into washington remembered that I 1 was supposed to be starting a courtship and bought some candy and flowers it was silly of course if a guy really wanted to make a hit with kab rab hed bring land mines 4 three other men were waiting in the room a big marine in dress blues a navy lieutenant jg and a civilian we wa exchanged nods and 1 I sat eat down we waited we smoked cigarettes and tried not to let our glances glanca meet and studied our fingernails nails there might be eight girls to ivery man in washington but we were being treated the way women have always treated men the daygee lieutenant was claimed A brunette trick came in and ve ie navy jumped up almost wag ging hg himself the marine and civil tan an went off on leashes next an and d finally arab appeared and looked around and decided id do I 1 babbled about how bow nice she sha looked a and nd how I 1 been waiting long at all and gave lier her the candy and dow flowers flowen as hopefully as a puppy bringing it rubber bell ball I 1 guess I 1 have no pride arab took the flowers and candy and murmured for me how lovelys but of course you have done it it if you feel eel that way I 1 said maybe I 1 could get a refund 10 try to get them back come on upstairs and ill lot let you eat all the marshmallow centers and you can tell me wrong with the way im fixing the room rm we went upstairs at the head of the ithe steps a painted sign hung down from an old fashioned ceiling fixture it announced VISITOR the totem pole who acted as colored maid was planted beside the d door 0 or of 0 a lighted room sadie arab said do you think I 1 could get a vase tor for these lovely flowers yeam sadie admitted she followed us into the room and announced noun ced old did mis r fielding teu tell you bout leaving the do open part way mis reynolds yes she did sadie i the maid nodded and went out leaving the door ajar eight inches A moment later her head he ad popped back in the opening she stared at me opened the door tour four inches wider and vanished arab looked at me and her face wrinkled in crying lines and she rung flung herself into my arms her breath beath came in warm little gasps against my lips her slim legs rk 1 4 I 1 1 I think that you yon will uhe like each ther other 0 11 trembled against mine I 1 could feel my heart rattling around like a cocktail shaker and my vertebrae playing leapfrog up and down my back this any easier tor for me than it Is tor for you she sobbed then lets stop this nonsense and andy weve got to find out wrong herel I 1 groaned just for once I 1 said we find fand out right lets find that the body in the bathtub is only a guy who coul ant find any other place to sleep in washington and that the plot concerns a pound of un rationed sugar and that the missing heiress eloped with 4 F freddie arab drew back and looked at me queerly how did you know know what about the girl who had this room she eloped three nights ago swe swell 11 then theres nothing wrong I 1 like that girl I 1 never met her but I 1 like her count me in on the monogrammed linen A good sensible girl goes off and gets married instead of murdered I 1 like that girl shell need more than monogrammed linen arab said she eloped from here without taking even a toothbrush or nightie my stomach dropped out of formation with the rest of my insides v went into a half loop and then fell off in a spin I 1 said feebly lots of girls j please listen andy I 1 want you to hear the whole story go ahead I 1 said gloomily but if this is one of those stories that ends by the teller shouting boo well save time it if I 1 pass out right now well arab said her name was paula thompson stop itt her name Is paula thompson all right paula came here last spring from indiana ashes twenty shed been brought up by an aunt who died last winter paula worked tor for five months tor for the office of censorship sor ship off and on she had dates with a man named bill mcadams nobody thought he was really interested te in her 1 I get the picture I 1 said a id A quiet little girl not too attractive everybody we watched ached and said what can he see in her and made eyes at bill you have a mean nature andy now mow listen three nights ago had a date according to the official story atory bill told her he had a swell job offered him in a war pl plant ant near new orleans and wanted her to marry him and go along paula c ulan t quite m make a ke u up p her in mind ind she came back here decided she would telephoned bill met him out side and drove away all in a few hours chos authority tor for the story stor YV paula she telephoned here from west virginia the next morning good old paula I 1 knew shed come through I 1 like that girl so now we can forget it huh arab glared at me A fine detective you make she sha snapped always taking things at face ace value 1 I dont want to be a fine detective im not the detective type I 1 t got a hunch im more the victim type cant you see she might have been forced to make that phone can call she give any information that would make mahe her easy to trace just that been married in a west virginia town and to please send her things thing to new orleans to railway express and to address any mall mail to general delivery the girls who talked with her admit she sounded very queer and strained I 1 joined her at the window and peered out our game was a lot of nonsense of course but I 1 found my pulse shifting from second into high I 1 dont know what I 1 expected to see something startling probably I 1 was in the spirit of the ganie game and ready for anything anything that Is except what was there because nothing was there you looked out and saw a tree A common ordinary pin oak oaks dont shed their leaves early and this one we was well equipped the leaves and branches blotted out any possible view what do you make of it arab asked I 1 growled she looked out and saw a nazi parachutist on the lower branch on the next one a gorilla was practicing nip alp ups and just above that big crotch was a raven quoting edgar allen allan poe to beat the devil ravens she murmured but that birdhouse big enough tor for ravens who what t birdhouse in that crotch its odd how you can miss things there was a birdhouse in the crotch enough filtered down through the leaves to show it rather plainly most people would have been satisfied now but not arab she got a flashlight from a bureau drawer and flicked it over the tree tre e the beam centered for a moment on the birdhouse then went out did you see what I 1 saw arab asked quietly yeah its new the paint spotted I 1 saw a couple of bright nall nail heads but listen arab that mean anything darling do people put up bird houses around here in october sure all the tha best people and furthermore do they put thern them up facing north I 1 always understood that birds liked a southern exposure these birds are different they dont like the sun shining in and fading the wallpaper they andy blakel blake I 1 sighed yes what do you see over the top of that birdhouse nothing now listen arab you do so see something some lhing you see the roof of the house down the street what would happen if that birdhouse there the birds would have to get out and look for p a place like the rest of us they andy blake it wont do you any good to act me like this if that new birdhouse there you would be looking at the second floor windows of the house down the s treet street and ill bet that crotch of the tree lines up a window like a gun sight somebody put up that birdhouse within the past two days he put it up to hide the window of the next house so that it anyone re enacted paulas paulaau going to bed routine they look out of the window and get suspicious of the place next door the next house Is fifty yards away I 1 objected what could you see that would make you dangerous to in the e neighbors it matter what I 1 saw it e could have been a murder or a man in a jap uniform or and why you call the cops because darling id have to tell the whole story over the downstairs phone because what id seen in evolved somebody who lives here because the wrong person might hear w what h a t I 1 said so I 1 called good old BUI bill and just asked him to drive around for me and said it was awful urgent I 1 was going to get him to take me to a drugstore phone or to a police station and and bill BID was the wrong person 1 I dont think I 1 like tills this game please andy try to think it all fit fits it 1 I got outside without seeing any body although I 1 could feel stares warming the back of my neck and hear twittering laughs I 1 walked hallway halfway to the bus stop and then something made me turn back TO BE CONTINUED |