Show vla I 1 in A r H E A D B I 1 ISABEL S A B E L WAITT I 1 W N UP RE E L LEASE EA S 6 THE STORY SO 60 aart judy JA jason who Is I 1 telling the be story receives nn an anonym anonymous 0 oui us lett letter e r en and asking her to b bid id for or ao an abandoned church to be auctioned the next day the body ot of a man identified as roddy noddy lane Is aund found to in a chest in the he basement ol of the church but disappears a few ew hours later victor quade indi finds blugh norcross golf coll club near the chesta fish shed burns apparently killing an old man named blown uncle aylies wylies pipe to ti found near the shed suspicion hovers hoven around uncle aylies wylies head bead as he tells of his only meeting with old man brown wylie is speaking peaking now continue with audys story CHAPTER IX told me he had permission to stay in that shack long as he liked ask him who from none of my business old shed aint been used since bootlegging boot leggin days when the police rounded up a cache of liquor hush wylie that aint got noth in to do with this you only saw the poor old feller once alter after that you time he was bishin oil off the rocks you mean funny thing about that my uncle ruminated rumina ted cloudy day and he was over near the pirates mouth I 1 was afraid he might fall in theres a path but its mighty dangerous I 1 yelled at him and by thunder maybe tas a coincidence but he looked around and saw me then he disappeared I 1 tore after him but ho he in the pirates mouth climbed up the other side I 1 guess anyway I 1 saw his light time I 1 got back do you mean that old rhan man got back to his shack before you did beat you to it victor asked incredulously not exactly it was cloudy and dark the way it suddenly does when its flain up to thunder but I 1 could see he in the pirates mouth nor sloshing slashing shing around in the waters below I 1 wanted to take a look at the church knowing about the au auction and all nella mrs gedrys always hankered after that location I 1 was wonderlin won derin if atwould pay to turn the building into a bungalow and sell the inn nella aint so spry as 1 I dont see bessie norcross got no farther the police will see plenty victor said mr gerry certainly give them much to think about thank you for telling us about this mysterious mr brown chos neither short nor tall wears thick glasses uses an earphone but turns when hes unexpectedly yelled at comes from nowhere just before things begin to occur on the head is old and apparently feeble yet could climb into and out of that pirates mouth so rapidly that he hed d disappeared by the time you reached the spot though you tore after him Hm hamm mm very interesting dont you think mr quincy beats the way I 1 manage without my chair I 1 was having a conniption over what uncle wylie had said about buying the church it t was ridiculous to suppose hed sent me the money I 1 leaned over and whispered into uncle wylies ear did you send me that mazuma ma zurna huh I 1 repeated the question only substituting sti the word money lie he acted dumb as anything and started fish ing in his pocket and drew out some change how much you want only got 73 cents I 1 excused myself and ran into the house it was high time I 1 told victor about that letter he could do stunts with it make them all write their names and compare the penmanship or something the rooms were a mess wed have to quit this business and clean up the inn im and start lunch pretty soon some of the beds had been tossed together in my hasty search for raddys diamond ring but that was all my own room even have the clothes airing I 1 hung flung them back in a heap and ran to the bureau the letter was gonel I 1 believe it maybe it the top drawer where I 1 stuck it under the paper lining I 1 tried the others knowing the futility then I 1 went back to the top oni one again tossing my belongings helter there was no doubt about it I 1 got down on an my hands and knees and looked under the bureau I 1 elii even n moved it from the wall no dlce dice what a sap id been to leave it in my room well anyway I 1 could repeat the contents but now be no way to get a slant on the writing I 1 recalled how sprawling it had been backhanded and every which way in the attempt to disguise it there could no longer be doubt about that anat I 1 began suddenly to be terribly afraid did the person who tried to use me have any connection with the foul deeds which followed was I 1 dealing with a kalb r A murderer who knew I 1 still had half a thousand dollars of his in my possession why the old harry should a perfect stranger wish to present me with a tearoom anyway not aunt nella shed never let anybody do her bidding nor pass on a sum like that uncle wylie I 1 discarded roddy lane lana but why should he want the old church ile ho did I 1 knew because hed said so hed also said he be was planning to bid at the auction prepare for some lively bidding hed said that night at supper would he mail me cash and then bid too not likely not unless could he be that subtle could he have chosen this method for reasons of his own and be hiding around the head in which case hold hed blown up the uridge bridge and killed brown the fire might have been an accident but the hand id seen in in the sea chest theres something about a dead hand uehl I 1 could feel little chills creeping up and down my spine any minute I 1 expected to hear a voice demand back its I 1 ran into the hall and as the old stairs creaked behind me I 1 paced down nearly losing my balance and screaming as I 1 went the whole piazza rose in in a mass and came running to meet me judy judal I 1 aunt nella cried the matter judy hugh met me at the stairs and caught me to him are you all right sure ashes all right bessie got between her brother and me 1 I im nervous I 1 guess 11 1 I faltered sitting down on th the stairs its nothing really go go on with your see anyone upstairs lily wanted to know of course not goodness I 1 give way like that 1 I dont know why I 1 screamed got to thinking of of what I 1 saw in the chest were all pretty much keyed up auntie said judy you come out to the kitchen and he help p me start the chowder but I 1 I 1 signaled to victor quade and when he came over to my side I 1 whispered just you come I 1 went on into my little office domce and he scattered the rest fr aj 1 1 p qs told me lie he had permission to stay in that shack they all want a breathing space why not go in a body down to look at the pirates mouth and also at the golf club to see if someone had borrowed mr norcross would they wait for him meet at the steps in ten minutes they would unanimously well miss judy bothering you victor sat down in the old morris chair where uncle wylie often retreated with his pipe when things got too warm for him in t the he kitchen I 1 closed the door when I 1 turned and saw victor buades glowing eyes boring darkly into mine I 1 was struck again by his odd resemblance to roddy lane if lane had had a brother I 1 but I 1 knew better and when he smiled at me how different from the lane leer such magnificent teeth I 1 I 1 sighed faintly thinking for a moment how handsome the man was then I 1 plunged into the strange incident of the letter an anonymous letter you say it was merely signed A friend were forty twenty dollar bills may I 1 see this epistle 11 I 1 felt full of confusion what an idiot id been to leave it in a bureau drawer the first place anyone would look I 1 had to admit id been a chump that the letter was vas gone victor began to rock backward and forward in a gawky old chair sitting up on the edge of it now as it if the swaying movement helped him think he shook his head slowly and smiled at me you kanom of course but im afraid you did pull a boner but he said dont tell a soul oh im not excusing myself I 1 know it was vas stupid the sentimental reasons got me and another thing before the auction when we the guests I 1 mean were all discussing bidding in the rev jonas do witt used those very words what words sentimental reasons hed like he said to own the old quaker church for sentimental reasons used to hold services there he said so not since my time though he had the rockville Rock vule con grega victor stopped me with a gesture 1 I know we want to get going with the rest of the crew we can investigate the minister and his prison record later think you could remember most of that letter where was it postmarked notice the date three questions the postmark had been boston the date was blurred but id found it in the let kerbox the day before the auction which was as he knew july 3 good heavens heaven st was it only yesterday victor nodded prompting so the letter came in the regular mail july 2 who has come to the inn since then nobody but you I 1 said roddy came at suppertime that night H m m m victor considered his strong white hands patting noisily together quite a coincidence you get the wherewithal to buy the church from an unknown roddy lane arrives theres rumor hes hidden bank funds somewhere on the head lane disappears though his car is still here an Z old recluse is burned to death who may have discovered lanes secret horde or seen him uncovering it but but youre forgetting the diamond ring I 1 cried Rodd yd never leave that mr quincy noticed it that night and said it was a very valuable stone remember judy before you do anything else jot down the letter ill go 11 long along out now you might tear out the page of signatures in your inn register copy that you maybe the writing of one of them would give you a clue I 1 began to shake you think one of our guests did it a double murder dont go jumping to conclusions like li e that weve only one corpus delicti there may be another in the sea it if ever we get into communication muni cation with the mainland we may find out if we had some mush wed have some mush and milk if we had some milk exactly meanwhile whether lane killed brown and swam the gut or vice versa or whether one of the inn crowd did them both in and is still with us the fact remains your letter is probably connected with it the police will tear the church to pieces dig up the basement blast the cliff you get that letter down and suppose he checked himself staring at me in a frowning way that made me won der where id failed until he said the rest of that money five hundred judy he may want it back that keep the change stuff might not go for so large a sum my very thought have you a safe here I 1 laughed at the idea were poor I 1 reminded him taking boarders boarder sl well dont keep it on your person were they new bills in sequence in sequence the numbers I 1 think to look at them very closely they new old id say not in order as you might get them from a bank they be whoever sent them is far too clever put them back in your drawer might be a good idea to tell everybody about the letter you received its loss and that whoever took it would find the cash in the some same place I 1 dont want you to go away by yourself after this keep with somebody you can trust all the time like your aunt or your uncle it was then I 1 confessed aunt nella was really no relative of mine nor her husband either I 1 could trust him victor said and the way ho he glanced at me mac made I 1 e me blush till I 1 was afraid hed see it I 1 reached for the register to hide my confusion and opened it at the blotter mr quade look all the signatures have been torn out we examined the torn ledger hunting fruitlessly in the waste bas ket victors eyes gleamed where he made a boner did did lane register that night flight no I 1 put his name down though see back here he was only a mealer one supper 75 cents there it is and I 1 suppose been in here to telephone uh huh even you when you found the wires were cut he inquired then when id missed the letter und I 1 had to admit id only just discovered it there when I 1 went up to get it to show to him I 1 looked at it since I 1 hid it under the paper lining in my bureau drawer somebody taking any chances of having his or her signature compared with the letter writ ing maybe he was afraid ot of not disguising some peculiarity enough experts can tell every time but now theres only the contents as you remember them to go by then how did he make a boner just this it if old man brown came in here hed have been seen by one olie of the guests mr quincy is s usually on the piazza that kendall woman is ubiquitous no brown get in I 1 doubt if lane did his handwriting there you r say ay but was somebody who was sparring for time till he found fod and destroyed the letter held hed sent you TO BE CONTINUED |