Identified
“Where’s Blackberry?” Judy asked, the moment Peter came home.
She had been nodding in the big chair, waiting up for him. “You didn’t
find him, did you?”
“No,” he replied, “but I did make peace with George Anderson so he won’t
hurt Blackberry if he finds him.”
“That’s a relief,” Judy said. She yawned and stretched. “Those babies
made a wreck out of me,” she declared. “I thought they’d never go to
sleep. And they aren’t the only ones! There are two more babies with
Mother. Let’s go sit in the kitchen, and we can talk over coffee.” Peter
was always hungry so Judy cut him a piece of pie to go with the coffee.
“I’m saving a piece for Horace,” she said. “He’ll be here early in the
morning. Too early, probably,” she added with a yawn. “He wants to print
that ghost picture in the paper before the man is identified, and make a
mystery of it.”
[Illustration: _Judy stared at first one and then the other._]
“He’s too late. The mystery is solved,” announced Peter. “I have the
separations with me. You won’t know the man—”
“But I do!” Judy exclaimed, seizing the pictures and staring at first
one and then the other. The lady table leg was in the water just the way
she had first seen it. The picture was almost too clear. It made her
shiver just to look at it. The man’s face, in the other print, was
equally clear.
“You know this man?” Peter inquired in a puzzled voice. “Where on
earth—”
“Oh, I don’t really know him,” Judy interrupted. “His picture is in the
Post Office, isn’t it? Horace and I were looking at it the other day,
and I remember saying he didn’t look like a criminal. I’m so glad you
found him!”
“He isn’t found, just identified,” Peter said. “He’s one of Joe Mott’s
boys, of course. They’ve robbed everything from banks to flooded towns
and set up all sorts of fronts for their illegal business.”
“Fronts?” Judy questioned. “Do you mean places like that sheared-off
house? That hadn’t any front.”
Peter laughed. “I see what you mean, but it was a front just the same.
Sammis will talk. He knew what was going on and wanted to frighten you
away before you found out, but I’m afraid he overdid it. Actually that
sheared-off house is still owned by Mr. Truitt. It’s one of a chain of
second-hand stores. Our agent, Hank Lawson, found out that much from
Donna Truitt herself. They had a good time on their date this evening.”
Judy wasn’t sure just what Peter meant. She had been too busy with the
babies to think much about what was happening anywhere else. And now she
was too tired to care.
“You must be tired, too,” she told him as she cleared away the coffee
cups. “It’s been a long day. That orphanage fire alone was enough to
make Meta Hanley collapse from exhaustion.”
“That wasn’t what did it. Don’t you remember?” asked Peter. “It was when
she realized it was all a mistake and George Anderson still loved her.”
“Or was it when she thought he was a thief? I’m glad he isn’t, and I
don’t blame him for being angry. You said you made peace with him. I’m
glad of that, too,” Judy said with another yawn. “You can tell me all
about the real thieves in the morning.”
“With Horace here? Not on your life,” declared Peter. “This is
confidential. I wouldn’t have told you as much as I did if you hadn’t
helped me uncover the man’s identity. We’re hoping he returns to the
shop he set up in George Anderson’s house where our men will be waiting
to nab him.”
“You say he set up the shop?” asked Judy, still puzzled. “Didn’t John
Beer have anything to do with it?”
“Yes, but it looks as if he was only an employee of the Joe Mott
syndicate. We’ll pick him up for questioning when he comes to work
tomorrow.”
“But Peter, that’s what you said about Aldin Launt, and you never picked
him up.”
“We will,” he predicted. “We were hoping he would help us trap the
others, but now that house with the boarded-up windows is all the trap
we need.”
“Does that mean we can’t go back there and look for Blackberry? Oh dear!
I couldn’t go anyway with all these babies in the house,” Judy
remembered. And suddenly, partly because she was overtired and partly
because she felt she hadn’t been much of a help after all, she began to
cry.
“Don’t worry, Angel, Blackberry will turn up.” Peter was trying to
comfort her and only making matters worse with his sympathy.
Blackberry wasn’t the only reason for her tears, Judy insisted. And yet,
somehow, her cat’s latest disappearance and the responsibility of three
children all at once made her feel as if the sky had fallen on her
shoulders.
Twice, during what was left of the night, the babies cried and Judy had
to get up and attend to their needs. She was sound asleep, and the whole
house was quiet and peaceful, when Holly arrived in the morning.
“I’m here!” she announced, ringing the doorbell and shattering the
quiet. Still half asleep, Judy put on a housecoat and went downstairs to
let her in.
“Ruth says you found my typewriter. I’m so grateful to you, Judy!” Holly
exclaimed as she bounced into the living room. “I’m here to baby sit for
those orphans when you drive over to get it. I may as well get in
practice. Some day I intend to get married and raise a whole houseful of
children.”
“You do? That’s a switch,” declared Judy, blinking in the sudden
sunshine that streamed through the open door. “What’s happened to you? I
thought you were going to be a grief-stricken old maid without even a
cat for company. You said it was unlucky to love—”
“Oh, but that was before I met Roger! We had a fabulous time last
night,” Holly declared. “I hardly knew the girl who gave the party. Ruth
made me go, and am I ever thankful! Lois was there with some boy I’ve
never seen before, and Donna Truitt had this handsome stranger off in a
corner. They talked and talked.”
“So I heard.” Judy didn’t say the stranger was an FBI agent. She just
listened as Holly went on and on about Roger.
“His family just moved here, and he’s going to high school in
Roulsville. I can’t wait for school to begin. I told him all about the
library exhibit, and he wants to see it. Naturally, I have to go with
him to explain everything. Oh, by the way, you won’t forget to stop for
those old Christmas cards the Jewell sisters promised us, will you?”
“The Jewell sisters!” Judy exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of it before?
Maybe Blackberry went over to call on the Jewell sisters! Violetta is
fond of him. We’ll drive over and—”
She stopped there. The doorbell was ringing again.
“You answer it,” Judy told Holly, almost pushing her toward the door.
“I’m still in my housecoat. If it’s Horace, tell him I’ll be ready in a
minute.”