Show acil CHILD OF EVIL a 0 OCTAVUS OCTAVOS SERVICE ROY COHEN RY by of OCTAVUS ROY COHEN SYNOPSIS beautiful young kay forrest has b been e e employed by christine maynard gh photographer 0 to grapher to pose for or a series ol of pictures the ba background wb g round of 0 which will be exquisite cathedral gardens amoni famous southern resort unknown to them one jeff butler mean unscrupulous swamp angel has led a friend to ap pp spy on the two women kay of 0 necessity Is scantily clad while posing fo lor r the camera studies kay frequently stays with mrs ruth hamilton her a son on barney of whom kay Is very fond ond and her daughter margaret mrs ham hamilton U ton a remarkable woman conceived the idea ot of tile the gardens following the d death eath ot of her husband one night alter after a local dance kirk Rew Rep a neer do well gambler of beverly a resort town and kay go tor for a ride kirks car collides collide with that of ot Harvey jackson and during the ensuing argument kirk whips out iu er a tragedy gun gedy n 8 and d kills the young popular engineer kay la 13 completely stunned by the tha CHAPTER continued 4 keys hands were clasped in her lap her figure racked by dry abbs albs oh kirk it was so awful 11 lay 7 off that im trying to be kind but you wont let me k she said will you go away f no be a dumb play then know I 1 did it but if 11 you stay in beverly ive got to and youve got to play along with me his hand fell ell on her wrist youve got to see his voice frightened her the kindliness had gone from it it had become co m e the sort of voice he had used with harvey jackson cold bitter inviting no argument she said 1 I dont understand murder is murder he explained flatly A man can only be hanged once does that tell you anything no then listen you saw something tonight you know I 1 dont bluff if you open your mouth to anyone get the same dose jackson got calmly quietly just like that it if you say a word to anybody ill kill you too she was like one hypnotized but the recent tragedy had been too vividly seared on her young brain to admit 0 of 1 I 1 doubt im scaring you beca because u se you need to be scared ills his tone w was Is conversational 1 I want you to realize ize just what youre up against B but kirk you Ill no he laughed mirthlessly A man will do a heap of things to save his own hide youre just a kid youre all shot to hell by what you just saw youre figuring youve got to talk to someone right she said caid nothing made no gesture he continued be likely to tell your father or this hamilton guy ll 11 im m warning Y you au dentt still she he did not answer heres why he went on and I 1 dont want to make it any tougher on you than I 1 can help only youve got to understand for your own sake his hands were tight on the wheel it wont be safe for anybody to know what happened tonight if you tell your old man or barney hamilton try to do something about it that wont be healthy tor for them but they had nothing to do with it be in it the minute you spill a word and remember what I 1 said before they cant kill me any deader for killing three men than for tor killing one that damnable logic again cold statement of cold fact lid do it you saw enough tonight to know I 1 would so for their sakes bakes you keep em out of it A pause and then and one more thing maybe figure that if you squealed id be thrown in jail and everybody would be safe well that dont go either my dice deal er dan ive enough on him to hang bang him twice over if I 1 wanted to get someone and on account of being in jail hed do it for me and be glad of the chance they passed a big white house set far back from the road A plantation kay saw people on the broad high veranda heard snatches of laughter and the syncopation of a jazz orchestra playing in some gay new york night spot and intruding kt into this southern tragedy I 1 through the loud speaker of 0 a radio put yourself in my place said kirk then know im not bluffing 1 she could put herself in his place that was the staggering thing she knew that he was telling no less than the truth she of all persons in the world had reason to know that ire he was deadly and cold blooded she felt terribly young and alone this kirk said is between you and me there are liable to be questions and youre not to know the ans answers vers Is that perfectly clear she said 1 I cant think have tim time e enough tor for that his words were close clipped but whatever you think always remember this anyone else who k knows about this is going to find F himself in a lot of trouble beverly is bisected by state highway no 11 which runs due east and west and digresses only briefly a at t monument square to circle the venerable two story brick courthouse i which stands solidly and solemnly under benevolent old oak trees at either end of the town on this highway are new and impress impressive ive arch rc Ways ways designed deslin edby by leading carpenters and flaunting tourist world sentiments collaborated on an by prominent members of the local chamber of commerce who daily view the fruit of their literary activities tivi ties with pride entering the town from east or west you are confronted by this WELCOME TO BEVERLY pop departing the tourist glimpses the reverse side of the same archway and is edified by another literary confection PLEASED TO pave MET YOU COME AGAIN TO BEVERLY pop artistically and perhaps est esthell heti cally the signs are intriguing however little they might seem to blend with the sleepy tranquillity of the little southern town they are wrong however in one important respect the optimistic chamber of commerce being inclined to ignore cold facts some few persons resent an exaggeration which defies the federal census ot of 1930 government figures proclaim to the world that the municipality nici of beverly has residents members of the chamber of commerce declare frequently officially bially and vehemently that this count Is untrue and that there has been deliberate and unforgivable discrimination they appear to believe that such an undercount Is a cataclysmic thing affecting the well being of the entire world and their assertion that sixty five hundred persons reside to in the little town is merely a method of answering this libel all right is the effect of their statement well tell the world how many people we think we have these sign boards are a direct and prod proximate mate result of the successful launching of cathedral gardens with the gardens completed the gravel road leading to them freshly scraped the white star hotel newly papered in spots leading citizens and business men conceived the idea that tourists might come to visit awhile the signs were therefore erected and casual arrangements made to entertain a few strangers but for some reason which beverly never could quite understand the fame of the gardens spread overnight there were other beautiful gardens in the south many of them whose fame had been broadcast for decades but there was something a bout about this new place of mrs hamiltons which intrigued the fancy of tourists they came not singly but in battalions they descended upon the somnolent little town and swarmed about its streets and since beverly was a considerable distance from any large city being therefore a metropolis of sorts the tourists usually remained for two three or tour four days they visited cathedral gardens in the early morning they flocked there during all the daylight hours and almost invariably they remained in anticipation of moonlight nights when the gardens reached the zenith of enchantment visitors wrote to their friends of course cathedral gardens are beyond description you must mus tsee see them but when you do come plan to stay a few days this is a queer little town but lots of fun the hotel half bad and theres inge night inight one good picture house and several places along the roads serve barbecue sandwiches which are worth driving a few miles to get there are other things too the proprietor will tip you off if he thinks youre safe believe it or not to a dice same game on the second floor regular crap table and its fun provided you dont mind losing a little we have stayed five days and were coming back when the azaleas asaleas are over and the lotus season begins they say going to be breathtaking and on more than one occasion letters were from gentlemen tourists to other gentlemen who might become tourists these letters touched on another point and in addition to all that jim old man theres plenty of hot cha here if youre lonely meet miss henkel the beauty operator in the hotel ashes easy on the eyes and boyl boy how tropics thi the rest is up to you As a matte tact fact the whole thing is a miracle I 1 cant help wondering what the old timers in this burg think of the jazz invasion ap P S this henkel dame answer ri s to the name of 0 babe what she answers Is something else again A word to the wise is foolish it had taken beverly no time at all to become tourist conscious nor to exploit its visitors robbie morse raised the price tor for his best rooms to two dollars a day and never quite oriented himself to the tact fact that it was paid without question pleasant homes on at streets beets jutting off from monument square placed signs in their front yards tourists accommodated and some of them assumed names the gray house meals beds for tourists welcome to ye olde inne chicken i dinners and comfortable rooms booms rooms meals free parking make this your headquarters while visiting cathedral gardens and all of this had happened suddenly and bewilderingly to a town which for more than two hundred years had dozed placidly under southern skies a town which was bordered on the east by big moccasin swamp and on all other sides by tradition a town where business had been depression proof and boom proof a town unaware of the outside world except on those ul infrequent occasions when the nation naion t had indulged in warfare beverly was startled business men applauded plau ded A little roadster hav having ing as passengers kay forrest and barney hamilton approached beverly from the east bumped across the roll railroad tracks and moved slowly up palmetto avenue toward monument square the square was crowded outside the white star hotel was a fleet of cars most of them wearing the license plates of other states the general trend of passenger traffic was eastward toward cathedral A man can only be hanged once gardens farmers in from the country in rattletrap rattle trap flivvers searched despairingly for parking space and cursed Be verlys new popularity ul the constable on duty at the square made large and frantic gestures in an entirely futile effort to regulate traffic barney asked a question home yes right bight away yes he said youre funny Y you ou even been to town in two weeks and now you have to run home why PI 1 I must really before you get out he started what well I 1 suppose its none of my business and I 1 swore I 1 going to butt in go ahead barney all right he drew a deep breath wrong wrong with what with you the smile died from her eyes she said nothing tell that to somebody else I 1 know there is what makes you think so lots of things it started the day after you went to the dance with kirk reynolds t two wo weeks ago youve been different and you even wanted to come to town until this morning its almost as though you were afraid of something she said maybe I 1 am then spill it you know how I 1 feel about you how she tried to relieve the tension lets put it that im a sap which might explain why I 1 love you 11 her face flushed and she touched his hand ever so gently but darn ill dont you see where that puts me I 1 want to help and you wont let me youre stalling she said earnestly im not really theres nothing wrong he shrugged you win IT ill check out barnebl Bar neyl please he turned on her then his blond boyish face serious lets talk turkey kay something happe happened qed when you came into town two weeks ago cheni drove you in you were bright and happy the next day iou you came back to the gardens all shot to hell mother and margaret have both noticed it ive seen it in houi your eyes youre scared ond and donosa dont say im wrong either she shook hi her head you may not bei wrong barney but I 1 still cant explain kirk reynolds Is mixed up in it he she was startled what makes you think so ive got to think it wh whatever bever the trouble Is it started the night you went to the dance with him lit yes ll 11 her eyes were a somber am er zes As 3 a ma matter t ter of tact fact barney why im in town today why to see kirk but why the big idea of wasting your time on a louse like him she said ive got to talk to him all I 1 can tell you the boys eyes ayes fi narrowed that telephone call you got last night was that from him yes he told you to come in this morning he asked me to and you wont explain eating on you barnea barnebl Bar neyl I 1 canal it that I 1 dont want wani to 1 I see sec he spoke gently listen honey theres a lot of nasty talk going around regarding kirk reynolds you heard beard it because you been in town in the last two weeks and I 1 told you but ill tell you this much 1 I dont like the idea of your playing around with him she said 1 I dont either barney but this morning ive got to see hirn him checkl I 1 wish tell me what 1 I would if I 1 abul d I 1 he lighted a cigarette with fingers which were none too steady going back to the gardens tonight yes with me 1 11 I hope so ill pick you up here at five oke right so now she put a warm hand over his in brief caress then she jumped out of the car and moved up the walkway toward the veranda of her home he looked after her with troubled eyes Some things awful wrong he told himself and im going to find out what it is CHAPTER IV mrs emma forrest was a fine woman her friends agreed that she was fine that she had an of those sterling and pious qualities which make for social success and domestic happiness in a town like beverly no one or at least very few persons ever criticized emma forrest she ran her home immaculately dressed well and plainly did ardent church work belonged to a reading circle and was inordinately fond of helping neighbors when there was illness in the house though it was not unknown that after these neighborly excursions she invariably had something to talk about something i personal a and nd intimate like the dearth of bed linen or the co condition of 0 kitchen plumbing or the shocking failure of the ill III woman to have stocked her pantry shelves with preserves mrs forrest was forty eight years of age she was not fat but she definitely was heavy solid not comfortable for table at all but solid folks asserted that her face showed strength ol of c character har acter her manner was positive so positive that andrew forrest her rather smallish husband had acquired a chronic submissiveness he never or very seldom argued with emma and on such rare occasions as he did he never won at least emma never acknowledged that he had bad she was aas that sort of a woman a thing was as right because she said it was right the good upper middle class housewives of the town admired emma forrest they admired her sterling qualities her goodness of heart her efficient management of her household her success in having molded her twenty two year old son andy into a stalwart masculine edition of herself and they wondered why a thoughtless providence had inflicted upon her such a daughter as kay ashes wild what she is in spite of everything her mother has tried to do for her they said shell come to no good end mark my words they said its a pity kay have turned out to be a fine girl emma deserve to have that sort of 0 daughter by that beverly did not mean to inter infer that kay forrest was immoral although there were some few who without particular conviction hinted that they be so terribly surprised to learn that she was this morning the family had finished breakfast they were waiting mrs |