Show th I 1 I 1 ia jamilie loring LORING arnu service mom SYNOPSIS brooke reaburn visits the office of jed stewart a lawyer to discuss the terms ol of an estate she has inherited aiom mrs mary amanda dane unwittingly she overhears jet jee talking to mark trent nephew of mrs dane who has been disinherited mrs dane had lived at lookout rouse house a huge structure by the sea built by hir hinr father and divided tot two for her and marks father brooke had been a fas fashion lilon expert and mrs iane dane a shut in hearing her on the radio cadio had invited her to call and developed a deep deen for or her mark discloses that ai mrs rs oan dan had threatened to disinherit him if he married lola from whom h he is now divorced he fie says he doaa not trust uearl genrl and clotilde jacques mrs danes servants he fie says he Is not interested in an offer of brookes to share the estate with him leaving her department store job brooke refuse an offer to go stepping with jerry field a carefree young man who wants to 10 marry her at a family conference she learns she must live at lookout house bouse none since lucette her younger sister who is taking her job her brother sam a young playwright and her mother plan to tay in the alt jed and mark are astounded they hear from mrs gregory a family friend that she had witnessed r P hitherto unknown will with henri ono ana clotilde two weeks before mrs dane died brooke had arrived lust just as she was leaving jed suggests that mark open his part of lookout house get friendly with brooke an ant to find out about the will jed agrees to stay with him mark accepts brookes Ero okes invitation for a family thanksgiving dinner at lookout mrs reyburn announces on thanksgiving eve that she has cas been invited to england sam and lucette decide to move in with brooke and sam plans to produce a new play locally oc ally after the thanksgiving dinner brooke tells mark that tittle little of mrs danes silver collection Is left jerry field and his sister daphne drop in and announce they will be neighbors for the winter later inspector harrison of the local ponce visits mark and is wormed informed about the missing will and silver As harrison leaves lola arrives S slie ae announces that she and her husband bert hunt have started a neighborhood filling station mark almost makes a break about the missing will and brooke Is suspicious returning home she sees lola talking covertly to henri mr micawber Mie MiC awber mrs danes pet parrot is missing henri L ugly and warns brooke she had better like ake him and clotilde that night while hile the cast of sams play ts is rehearsing and the jacques are away mark shows brooke the missing silver which he had fo found und cached in an unused upper floor store room in his house A lack gloved band puns pulls the key frim the storeroom door CHAPTER VI continued 12 jed stopped at your house for a minute hell be here pronto the other actors so called have gone home ill say im here early after walked through the first act it was a choice between dismissing the cast or shooting them I 1 had a sane interval and decided not to shoot im giving them tomorrow night off then ill throw a party for the Rey burns and fields at that new supper club just opened in town give them a letup let up from the play what say maestro okay with me its darned good of you perhaps I 1 have overworked them but there is so little time before the performance sam sat up and ran his fingers through his hair with that so near you think those dumbbells dumb bells would know their parts I 1 ask you besides that the leading man has walked out on us its tough can I 1 help sam dacan can you help ill say you can now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party take the le lead aa he caught trents arents arm be a good scout help a poor distracted playwright prodoc er will you with you and the crane woman in the leads well make lake a two star offering of it that girls good sams despair had changed to exultation ul uka tation tion mark trent temporized how do you know im good how do those bozos out in hollywood know an actor will be a wo wow on the screen sometimes before they give him a tryout try out something here inlaid tn lad something here sam tapped his MS broad brow tells me be es stopping topping the show that same something tell you where im to got get the time for i a theatrical career could it all pent ight all right mark conceded ul in response to sams groan ill take ke the part give me the sides and ill try to know the lines at the next rehearsal sam am caught brooke as she entered the e room he hugged her as he exulted what ayou think gal trent has signed up for islands arise 1 will he ro pack p ack em in as the lead I 1 ask you 11 heating jerry 12 field M appeared at the door ng a huge ga spoon against a tin pan v 1 first 1 call for the dining carl car arst call sam held up his hand just a minute were all invited to dine and dance tomorrow by the new male lead in islands arise mark trenal sam reyburn announcing noun cing you in the play mark how exciting dinner and dance in the big city I 1 what a break jerry field interrupted the excited comments where are your gardenias brooke his tone set mark trents arents lips twitching under cover of lighting a cigarette he caught the girls furtive glance at the wastebasket she put her hand to her shoulder why why I 1 must have dropped them wherever reve you been hi there bladl sams tone and manner were those of a stern parent guarding his offspring that a topic for group discussion we dont make people punch the time clock in this family jerry fields face turned a bright and lively crimson his voice and eyes were furious 1 I asking brooke to punch T P w aa 11 1 A s V N 01 T q 54 Star started tei tor the sote sole purpose ot chiseling Chi money aloney off of me I 1 suspect the time clock I 1 thought I 1 might find the gardenias for her I 1 he stopped as jed stewart appeared on the threshold he was tapping a gardenia against his lips run to earth mark chos the ch charmer a who leaves a flower outside your door CHAPTER VII an hour later jed stewart slumped deeper into a crimson cushioned chair in mark trent arents s library and demanded how was I 1 to know that field had brought brooke the gardenias he look like a meat axe though when I 1 barged into lookout house waving that flower and giving the whole show away by telling where I 1 picked it up im the original village cutup cut up I 1 am he lighted his pipe it all my fault I 1 know did 1 I mark that you and she had been cruising round this house you I 1 told you then that I 1 had discovered aunt mary amandas silver parked in a storeroom decided to wait till I 1 had the goods on someone but I 1 resist the temptation to show it to brooke you should have seen her eyes when she saw it piled on that table he poked the fire fare till orange and scarlet flames shot with pale green roared up the chimney and sen sent t a tangy pull puff of wood smoke I 1 into the room the sharp ring ol 01 0 0 the phone broke the silence trent speaking lola what do you want not interested if you like selling gas sell it only remember that the allowance stops Is she mrs gregorys gregoras Gre gorys word goes here you should have made sure ot of that before you set sel up shop what what sort of paper mark tient looked at jed stewart stuwart who had come close and was moving his lips without making a sound he 1 haven t nodded understanding I rung off yes I 1 heard what you said I 1 cant imagine how n paper will interest me have I 1 you may but bring it here tomorrow at five sure IU ill be alone yes goodby mark trent cradled the telephone he looked vp up at his friend lola has a paper to sell me she suggested that I 1 have my checkbook in hand tomorrow what do you make of it if it is the paper mrs gregory witnessed how could she get hold of it henri she said he had written to her she ashes bringing it tomorrow afternoon theres a catch in it somewhere it sounds too easy you dont think shell back out at the last minute do you mark not ot if there thare is money in n it she said also that mrs gregory was putting the filling station out of business it was started without a license started for the sole purpose of chiseling chi money off me I 1 suspect right as usual what say we call this an evening im due in court in the morning in my best gentlemen of the jury style furthermore ther more well need our brains running nin g w wide id a open when lola comes at div five e S she he has a paper to sell I 1 wont we feel cheap about our suspicions of brooke if it proves to be the paper were after 1 I stopped suspecting her some time ago shall we go up we are getting provincial if we were in town wed be just beginning to go places toddle along ill put out the lights mark crossed his dark room to the window what a night the sky was powdered with stars the sparks of gold were like the lights in brooke Rey burns eyes when she was happy or thrilled and she had been thrilled when she had heard of his plan to dine and dance in town he drew the gardenia from his pocket nothing beautiful about it now but the leaves he need a paper which lola hunt might produce to clear his mind of suspicion that brooke had influenced his aunt in any way he drew the flash light from his coat pocket lucky he had thought of it when he had taken brooke to see the silver mark mark beds voice he laid the flower on the dresser before he opened the door with the electric torch still in his hand he crossed the hall and knocked at jed stewarts door he knocked again why he answer he flung open the door A coat had been hung over the back 0 of f a chair A ahoe lay on the floor cold air was stirring the chintz hangings hannings hang ings where did it come from the bathroom bath room mark sprinted to the door and stopped in amazement the window was wide open but the air was strongly scented with perfume the shower was dripping shaving materials were flung about as if hastily dropped he thrust his head out of the window there were two ways to escape from the little balcony under it drop to the terrece or through lookout house had jed and an intruder crashed in there brooke would be frightened hed follow them he swung his leg over the sill stop I 1 he went rigid in obedience to the hoarse warning but only fir an instant why was he perching like a dummy with the light from the room behind making him a perfect r target for the person who had g grunted runt he moved his leg no response to that from the balcony quickly he flashed his powerful light in the direction from which the sound had come that loulu blind the person watching his eyes followed the light in his amazement he lost his balance and pitched forward at one corner of the railing blinking and shivering in the glare huddled the runaway run away green parrot held up by a bird he slid to the balcony reached for mr macaw ber grabbed him flung him into the room behind him he could hear the parrot squawking with fury as he closed the window that seems to be that now wheres jed he peered over the railing no uprights on this balcony to slide down the next one had iron trellises which connected it with the stone terrace had jed entered lookout house by the window who occupied the room of the next house which opened on it he would investigate vesti gate he tiptoed to the window reduced the light in his torch before he flashed it over the glass the shade was closely drawn and the sash locked no one could have gone in there cracks of light were visible in the two rooms beyond where french windows opened on another balcony had jed entered that lighted room how could he get there he was too stout to swing across could he himself do it he appraised the distance stepped over and swung cautiously he stepped over the rail and ripped his hands from the frosty iron with his heart drumming like an airplane motor he concentrated his attention on the window A crack of light showed between the hang ings whose room was it should he take a chance that it was sams or brookes and tap lightly A window was being opened cautiously tiou sly where he flattened himself against the house must be the end balcony outside the stud studio ia he visualized the interior as he had seen it the day he had helped jerry field sketch in the tree trunks on the backdrop someone was crawling in out A man he was sliding down an iron trellis like a monkey now he was running across the lawn bent double he was entering the garage mark trent crammed the electric torch into his pocket and swung a leg over the railing he hitched along till his feet found an upright went down hand over hand his palms sticking painfully to the iron as he moved them from purple tree shadow to purple tree shadow he skulked near the garage he hid behind shrubs the click of a lock he held his breath as he listened who had been in the lookout house garage at this time of night whoever it was was leaving he could hear cautious footsteps an automobile starting he strained his ears it w was as speeding down the street toward the causeway that prove anything it would be easy enough to turn into a side road and cut back was the man who had sneaked from the house driving had he be stolen the car even so he follow it he must fir find id out why he had entered the garage TO BE CONTINUED |