Show M i a r l Ti fl y BLACK SOMBRERO t CLIFFORD KNIGHT Se v ca CHAPTER I Ire re agreed that warm Oc evening as we sat gaz ng m the hills upon the twin of Los Angeles tha that t the thet t f Elsa Cha Chatfield Weld should be Elsa v we e thOl typified led g eternal in 10 the spirit of an youth so fas to tD us older individuals that d be set do as a part of anent record of the Amen Ameni ne was a d difference of wever as to where the story beg n Dw Nichols was tag all ment on of Aunt d starting in 10 boldly with es are all ala allays ays good to open ew life he you know Every are them The world and iL 11 Of course I m not a Barry as you are I manly m only an anoon anDon Don oon Rogers has since denied foresaw even tile the smallest the story whIch begal that the hills overlooking the area of Los An And And d had bad Its end far down tile the roil of MeXIco And of Dw NIchols and I were talking in the aIr when we at the story of Elsa Chat old be written for the story only about to begin know mow Barry DWIght said off over tile the vast meadow of g lights below us I Iq q once ilia that t I 1 understood But ilia that t v was as v when hen I 1 was wasI I could have done Justice then ret NIchols at thIs moment and joined us s tt ng on step with her cigarette e smoked lazily It was those rare nights m in Cali hen one could SIt out of and her bare bared d throat seemEd to smolder in the ball bal light whIch am the living room win WID ere was a ty Iy of ex ess about Margaret that ex DwIght he be had hada a pass on sIte and Margaret devotedly Margaret now our company t lIke tile the piano plana and the Not now anyhow she can SlOg sing these hor horem ern em songs If they really called songs D d I inter ForgIve me and andon andon on talking were lust Just talkIng dear about woman sa d 1 Ii a fresh cIgarette Elsa Chatfield and andt ande t e to rest upon Aunt Kitty old cat cat saId Margaret know her Hunt ed Rogers p sleek tabby who ant at ante eons e on lk cushions over In then at al the end sank sankIn In n Elsa and dIed She have had a love affair affair- by t I blew a cloud of ghostly to the shadows and said saida a I a aunt had been m in love argaret was incredulous d dot t know Sam Chatfield father father- lather did hd you Hunt rgaret turn ng to Rogers Rogers saId that he be had hadWal was Wal rIght in thinking that e into our cIrcle after Sam was a small round red reda II a who quite remarkably egotism DWIght I think e taller than Sam Any bounced like a rubber ball walked and he was some bank in Pasadena Chatfield sat behind a huge saIdI desk all day and saId t I oft I a an a i awfully hard sort of t I YOU she saId se seFor seFor For Just imagine men menth menth th ambition and hopes or orate orate ate straIts about their and needing money and say lay no to them Any de deon on would feel it dread of course Sam did be Was a decent sort you y amply clutched decency WIth all the passion of a maket love alove Of course to make t Sam A had to say yes Was away from the bank never said no to ng treed Elsa or himself was beyond his yes and ande e she was wealthy one day he fled and they that he d saId yes and d too often Aunt ted the loss at tile the bank OWn money because there prIde you know But what that meant Her mother was dead deada I a didn t like Mexico or beshe beahe lit ht it best hest for tor her ber to be she ahe did sit v him though Uy Anyway Elsa had to Ih Aunt Kitty and go on Aunt Kitty talk ng talk g Poor Elsa 1 She was n 4 wasn and managed lD in a year thed escape to school in n the d after well that there aby She was seventeen e o is there who could pos pas want to make away with Aunt K tty tty-lf that is what really hap happened happened I 1 asked moved somewhat by what hat Huntoon Rogers had saId before Margaret came out Nobody could think ot a reply at once then DWIght s cha r stirred and he cleared his rus throat reluctant reluctantly ly 11 Well he began th it of course is why hy there are detectives like bhe Hunt Rogers Rogers- Not detective DWIght Rogers Interrupted qu I Ill II admIt that I ye ve been drawn Into more than my share of affairs of that k nd I pre prefer fer to be known however for what I namely am-namely an humble professor son sor of Engl sh I 1 Sorry Hunt I 1 didn t mean any thing No apologies D It its s not Important What were you going to say though Again Agam I thought I detected a re reluctance reluctance m in DWIght NIchols manner Oh-I Oh ye ve thought at t mes since Kitty Chatfield s death what embar embarrassment embarrassment I an unimaginative sleuth could cause me You see I 1 have a motive motive- A motive darling Margaret s vOIce held a startled note Yes You see that Cabazon property KItty Chatfield and I 1 owned It m In joint tenancy with rIght of survIvorshIp It doesn t matter now how the arrangement came about But when KItty Chatfield l a aa a an n Lovely old cat said Margaret dIed It meant about two hundred thousand dollars to me Ian Isn t that tilata thata a motive It s a reasonable one to be sure saId Rogers Oh I had a motive mauve then too exclaimed Margaret Of course dear saId Dwight What s mme mine IS yours That s not what I meant dar bag What s your motive Margaret Inquired Rogers Jealousy echoed DWight You Youdon Youdon don t mean mean- I 1 mean just that Margaret s vOice was firm I was so jealous of KItty Chatfield I 1 could have kIlled her A disturbance from tile the drIveway interrupted our conversation We went around to see what It meant but before we reached the front of the house a flivver bleated weakly as If Impatient at our slow coming And there was Elsa climbing out of ofa ofa a most amazing contraption It looked as If it had been stolen from froma a junk yard A Jagged rent was m in the top a piece of which waved grotesquely In the light stir of aIr The engine had dIed WIth a hollow cough as we rounded the corner of the house and the villain had climbed from under tile the wheel and was tWisting the crank and grunt grunt- grunting mg ing profanely as if to torture it into another try at We life Pay the gentleman for tor me saId Elsa to Dwight It s two dollars and I haven t It When tile the man had gone roaring indecently oft of down the hill she explained He was such an intense man I 1 rode WIth rum him instead of in the shiny car the other taXI man had I 1 like intense people It was bumpy but there was moonlight and I didn t mind She shook me warmly by bythe bythe the hand murmured Huntoon Rog Rogers Rogera ers era name when Margaret intro introduced introduced him and then tilen with her arms 1 In mine and DWIght s most we vent v ent toward tile the house But where s your car Elsa asked D eight 1 sent It thIs morning to Jimmy the Cheese She stopped short with a burst of laughter conceIVed m in a sudden little ecstasy of humor Fancy I never thought of calling rum him that before I And I ye ve known rum hum for tor years too To Mr James Chesebro Dw trustee she saId pompously Freeing her arms she drew in the all air before her own beau t ful figure a great stomach and strutted In the grass He and I 1 are through with each other now We don t have to hate each other any longer We re both glad of course Aunt Aunt h tty cuts me loose today I m on my own There was an exuberance an elat on In her vOIce The fact was as thrill ng to her I D already had ned the arrangement There had been no money she could count on from her father after he went to MeXIco Aunt Kitty had assumed her ex expenses expenses But at her death Elsa had been disinherited She gave her the income from the estate for tor a year from the date of her death DWIght had said knowing that Elsa ought to save something out of it but darn well confident she wouldn t Sounds of laughter came from the house as we mounted the steps and burst in upon the others I lost of course the soft touch of Elsa s shand shand hand Upon my arm ann and the comfort of her ber nearness to me for she flew to embrace one of the gIrls among the crowd of merry in the living r room om But not not however before she had tossed to tome tome me over her ber shoulder the urgent command Barry don t go away tOnight without me meI meI I have no doubt that JImmy the Cheese as Elsa called mm him that night was relieved that the depart departed departed ed Aunt KItty finally had cut loose her niece mece An old ladles ladies home even though It were filled top and bottom with tea and toast old ladies was a much easIer task for a fled fied administrator almost middle aged than Just Elsa She had sent rum horn her expensive motor car that morning and a letter explaining You re aware that Aunt KItty didn t expect me to have a cent left today So I m not d her I Ican Ican can t think ot of keeping anything my dear aunts s money has paId for forAnd forAnd And I haven t saId Elsa from her chair besIde the piano plana that eve evening ning she JOined us at DWIght and Margaret s Not a penny penny-or any anything thing her money has bas gIven me- me meShe meShe She stopped in 10 vague alarm She had hadnot not spoken tile the truth The proc process I ess of her thought was visible In her face Except the clothes on my I back D was m in her eyes And And- She stood up and tugged first at her cuffs then at the shoulder shoulder der of her dres s I 11 not keep these any longer Do them all up In a nice package DWIght and send them tomorrow to Mr Chesebro with love from Elsa ElsaBe ElsaBe Be sure to put in tile the love She smiled down upon DWIght as he be gathered the small bundle one tawny beautifully tanned arm point lag ing to where the ring had rolled And Margaret dear please get me one of your old SUIts for tor a work working lag ing girl Margaret arrived Instantly with a heavy apricot negligee and tile the work working lug ing girl suit was searched out WIthin tile the seclusion of Margaret shed s bed bedroom room Huntoon Rogers is a large man probably six feet teet tall taIl and with a aframe aframe frame in 10 proportion He has mild blue eyes such as I have never seen elsewhere hIs ears are prominent as IS his nose the latter not to his dIsadvantage The blond hair is be beg beg g nning to thin on top He looked up at me after a few moments and spoke so quietly that nobody else m in the room could hear him She hated her Aunt Kitty didn t she Bitterly There s no doubt of It ItHe itHe He went on playing He displayed a remarkable skIll U it I 1 had hadnot not stood watching tile the dexterIty of his left hand I d have thought he was playing a two handed composition What did Aunt Kitty dIe of be asked glancing up again An overdose of morphine HIS flying fingers executed a long longrun longrun run Was she an addict Yes Self administered he inquired finishing the piece with a restful chord The police said yes tile the dIstrIct attorney s office as you are aware has doubts It s a stone rolled away from the tomb said Elsa full tull of classical allusIons her qUIet voice devoid however of the theatrical It s Tantalus fed at last and SIsyphus at the top of the hill The dead hand has let go Its terrIble grIp She drew her head back and breathed immensely of the moonlit nIght Barry oh you can t imag me even with that trIck author s imagination of yours what It means to be tree free Free of Aunt KItty and the centuries of No and Cannot I It a 8 freedom Barry when I thought freedom had forsaken me meTO meTO I TO BE D |