_Suspects_
"Let's sit down again while you tell me every single thing that happened
here yesterday," suggested Mary Louise.
Elsie took off the white coat and folded it carefully. Then she removed
her hat.
"But I can't sit down in this silk dress," she objected. "I might get it
dirty, and I don't want to take it off till I see myself in a mirror. I
might not have another chance to put it on all day long!"
"You can sit on the paper," advised Jane. "That will protect it. Besides,
the ground is dry, and these needles are a covering."
Very cautiously Elsie seated herself, and turned to Mary Louise, who had
dropped down beside her on the ground.
"Begin when you got up in the morning," she said.
"That was about seven o'clock," replied Elsie. "But really, that doesn't
matter, because I'm sure Aunt Mattie counted her money after you girls
brought the kitten back. I heard her. And she stayed in her room until
after lunch."
"Does this safe have a combination lock?" inquired Mary Louise.
"No, it doesn't. Just a key. John Grant suggested to Aunt Mattie that she
have one put on, and she refused. She said people can guess at
combinations of figures by twisting the handle around, but if she kept
the key with her day and night, nobody could open the safe.... But she
got fooled!"
"The lock was broken?"
"Yes. But the door of the safe was closed, so she hadn't noticed it until
she went to count her money this morning."
"Do you know how much was taken?"
"No, I don't. Plenty, I guess. Only, there was one queer thing about it:
the thief didn't take the bonds she kept in a special drawer."
"Overlooked them, probably," remarked Mary Louise.
"Maybe. I don't know. Well, as I said, Aunt Mattie was in her room until
lunch time, and then she went out on the front porch. About two o'clock
in the afternoon Aunt Grace and her son John drove over."
"John--Grant," repeated Mary Louise, consulting the list in her notebook.
"He's your aunt Grace's oldest son?"
"Yes. He's about forty, as I said. Fat and a little bit bald. An old
bachelor. Probably you'd recognize him if you saw him, because he's on
the School Board. Aunt Mattie likes him because he does little repair
jobs for her around the house that save her spending money for a
carpenter.
"Yesterday he went upstairs and fixed a window sash in her bedroom."
Elsie paused thoughtfully. "So you see John had a good chance to open the
safe and steal the money."
"Why, he's the guilty one, of course!" cried Jane instantly. "It's just
too plain. I should think your aunt would see that."
Elsie shook her head.
"No, it would never occur to Aunt Mattie to accuse John. He's the one
person in the family she trusts. She always says she is leaving him all
her money in her will--so why would he bother to steal it?"
"He might need it now, for some particular purpose," replied Jane. "He is
handy with tools, you say--and had such a good opportunity."
"We better get on with the story," urged Mary Louise. "Any minute Elsie
may be called in."
The girl shuddered, as if she dreaded the ordeal of meeting her aunt
again.
"Was your aunt Grace in the bedroom at all during the afternoon?"
questioned Mary Louise. "By herself, I mean?"
"I don't know. She and Aunt Mattie went up together to look at the window
after John finished fixing it, but whether or not Aunt Grace was there
alone, I couldn't say. Anyhow, there's no use worrying about that. Aunt
Grace just _couldn't_ steal anything."
"According to the detective stories," put in Jane, "it's the person who
just _couldn't_ commit the crime who always is the guilty one. The one
you suspect least."
"But this isn't a story," said Elsie. "I wish it were. If you knew how
dreadful it is for me, living here and having everybody think I'm a
thief!"
"Why don't you run away, now that you have some decent clothes?"
suggested Jane. "I just wouldn't stand for anything like that!"
"But I have nowhere to go. Besides, running away would make me look
guiltier than ever."
"Elsie's right," approved Mary Louise. "She can't run away now. But we'll
prove she's innocent!" she added, with determination.
"There's something else that happened during that visit," continued
Elsie. "I mean, while Aunt Grace and John were here. Part of a
conversation I overhead that may give you a clue. Aunt Grace said her
youngest son--Harry, you remember--had gotten into debt and needed some
money very badly. She didn't actually ask Aunt Mattie to help him out:
she only hinted. But she didn't get any encouragement from Aunt Mattie.
She told Aunt Grace just to shut Harry out of the house till he learned
to behave himself!"
"So this Harry Grant is in debt!" muttered Mary Louise, making a note of
this fact in her little book. "Could he have stolen the money?"
"Yes, it's possible. After Aunt Grace and John went home, Harry came over
to Dark Cedars."
"What time was that?"
"Around four o'clock, I think. I was out in the kitchen, helping Hannah
shell some peas for supper. We heard his car--it's a terribly noisy old
thing--and then his voice."
"What's he like?" asked Mary Louise.
"I told you he was the youngest of Aunt Grace's children, you know, and
he's rather handsome. He treats me much better than any of the other
relations, except Aunt Grace, but still I don't like him. He always
insists on kissing me and teasing me about imaginary boy-friends. I
usually run out into the kitchen when I hear him coming."
"Is he here often?"
"Only when he wants something. He tries to flatter Aunt Mattie and tease
her money away from her. But, as far as I know, he never gets any."
"What did he want yesterday?"
"He said he wanted a loan. He didn't bother to talk quietly: I could hear
every word he said from the kitchen."
"And your aunt refused?"
"Yes. She told him to sell his car if he needed money. As if he could
sell that old bus!" Elsie laughed. "You'd have to pay somebody to take
that away," she explained.
Mary Louise tapped her pencil again. She hated to get away from the
all-important subject.
"But how do you think Harry could have stolen the money if your aunt
Mattie was with him all the time?" she asked.
"Aunt Mattie wasn't. He had a fine chance. Something had gone wrong with
his car, and he had to fix it on the way over. So his hands were all
dirty, and he went upstairs to wash them."
"Oh!" exclaimed Jane significantly.
"Looks bad for Harry Grant," commented Mary Louise, "because he had a
motive. Daddy always looks for two things when he's solving a crime: the
motive, and the chance to get away with it. And it seems that this young
man had both."
Elsie nodded.
"Yes, he had. And he was upstairs a good while, too. But then, he's an
awful dandy about everything. You never see grease in Harry Grant's
finger nails!"
"Did he go right out when he came downstairs?" inquired Mary Louise.
"No. He laughed and joked a lot. I heard him ask Aunt Mattie to lend him
her finger-nail rouge because he had forgotten his. Then he said he'd
like some cookies, and I had to make lemonade."
"So, if he took the money, he must have had it in his pocket all this
time? He didn't go upstairs again?"
"No, he didn't. And I know Aunt Mattie had a good deal of it in gold, so
it must have been terribly heavy. Still, men have a lot of pockets."
Mary Louise nodded. "Yes, that's true. But you'd think if he really had
taken it he'd have been anxious to get away. That story about asking for
cookies and lemonade almost proves an alibi for him."
She sighed; it was all getting rather complicated. "Did anything else
happen yesterday?" she asked wearily. "I mean, after Harry went home?"
"Not till after supper. Then Mrs. Pearson and her daughter walked over to
see Aunt Mattie. They used to be rich, but Mr. Pearson lost his job, and
they had to sell their car. So now they have to walk wherever they go."
Jane let out a groan.
"So every one of those five relations of Miss Grant was here yesterday
and had a chance to steal that money!" she exclaimed.
"Yes," agreed Elsie. "Every one of them!"
"What are the Pearsons like?" asked Mary Louise.
"Well, Mrs. Pearson looks like Aunt Grace--she's her daughter, you
remember--but she isn't a bit like her. She isn't religious; in fact, she
doesn't seem to care for anything in the world but that nasty daughter of
hers. Corinne, you know. Have you ever seen Corinne Pearson?"
"I think I have," replied Mary Louise. "Though she never went to our
school. I believe she attended that little private school, and now she
goes around with the Country Club set, doesn't she?"
"Yes. Her one ambition, and her mother's ambition for her, is to marry a
rich man. I hate both of them. They're so rude to me--never speak to me
at all unless they give me a command as if I were a servant. Last night
Corinne told me to bring her a certain chair from the parlor, because she
thought our porch rockers were dirty. And the tone she used! As if I
ought to keep them clean just for her!"
"I always imagined she was like that," said Jane. "I was introduced to
her once, and when I passed her on the street the next day she cut me
dead."
"Once she told me to untie her shoe and see if there was a stone in it,"
continued Elsie. "In the haughtiest tone!"
"I'd have slapped her foot!" exclaimed Jane. "You didn't obey her, did
you?"
"I had to. Aunt Mattie would have punished me if I hadn't. She dislikes
Corinne Pearson and her mother, but she hates me worst of all.... So you
can easily see why I run off when I see the Pearsons coming. I went back
into the kitchen with Hannah, but Aunt Mattie soon called me to bring
some ice water. And the conversation I heard may be another clue for you,
Mary Louise."
"Oh, dear!" sighed Jane. "We've got too many clues already."
A voice sounded from the house, making the girls pause for a moment in
silence.
"Elsie! Oh, Elsie!"
"It's Hannah. I'll have to go in a minute," said the girl, carefully
getting to her feet, not forgetting her new dress. "But first I must tell
you about this conversation, because it's important. It seems Corinne was
invited to a very swell dance by one of those rich Mason boys, and she
came over to ask Aunt Mattie for a new dress. Aunt Mattie laughed at
her--that nasty cackle that she has. And then she said, 'Certainly I'll
give you a dress, Corinne. Go up to my closet and pick out anything you
want. You'll find some old party dresses there!'
"Well, I could see that Corinne was furious, but she got up and went
upstairs. And she did pick out an old lace gown--I thought maybe she was
going to make it over. Perhaps she was just using it to hide the money,
if she did steal it.... Anyhow, she and her mother went home in a few
minutes, carrying the dress with them."
Mary Louise closed her notebook in confusion. "You better run along now,
Elsie, or you'll get punished," she advised.
"All right, I will," agreed the younger girl as she gathered up her
things. "You know all the suspects now."
"All but the servants," replied Mary Louise. "And if I can, I'm going to
interview Hannah immediately."