Mrs. Throop was less sympathetic. "She certainly has made a mess of it.
I can't make out which of these raiders she ran away with."
"She's going to defend them both," said Throop; "and she's going to deny
everything. I'd like to work the third degree on her. I'd bet I'd find
out what she was doing down at Watson's."
Helen, who knew the value which her defenders placed on the
correspondence between Rita's shoes and the footprint, was very grave as
she said: "I hope she had no part in the murder. Mrs. Throop says she is
hardly more than a child."
"Well," warned the sheriff, "we're not the court. It's up to Carmody and
his jury."
They said no more about the trial, and Hanscom soon left the room with
intent to find a lawyer who would be willing for a small fee to
represent the Kauffmans--a quest in which he was unsuccessful.
The sheriff followed him out. "Reckon I'd better take you up to
Carmody's office in my car," he said. "Kitsong may succeed in clapping a
warrant on your head."