work out of the railway stations. You just wait. They’re out shopping. After all, they aren’t expecting you this early. Now when are you bringing Joanie back to visit us?”
He mumbled something and got off the wire. He turned to us and began to repeat it.
“We could hear,” Gibby said.
Bannerman swayed on his feet. He shut his eyes tight and breathed hard for a moment, getting a grip on himself.
“Oh, God,” he groaned. “Ellie and now Joanie, too. Three o’clock this morning.”
“Hold it,” Gibby said. “It’s bad enough as it is. Don’t build it. Does Miss Loomis know the train you were supposed to be coming in on?”
“Yes, but they weren’t going to go to meet me. Ellie said you can miss people so easy in stations. She said for me to come over here. They’d be here.”
“All right. Miss Loomis got here at three in the morning. Your sister had been dead for quite a while by then. She rang the bell and got no answer. She’s gone to a hotel and she’ll be back here in time to be here for when you were expected or else she’ll go to meet the train she’s expecting you on. We’ll cover both. We’ll have someone waiting here in case she comes. We’ll go with you to meet the train. One way or the other we’ll find her.”
It sounded all right to me but it wasn’t my sister who had been strangled and it wasn’t my fiancée who was missing. Bannerman took more convincing than that.
“You don’t know Joanie,” he said. “I do. She wouldn’t come turning up here at three in the morning to ring bells. It would have to be that she had a key and could come in without disturbing Ellie. She would have a key, staying here with Ellie, Ellie would certainly have given her one so she could come and go. She came in here and Ellie was dead but there was someone here. It’s the both of them. I know it’s the both of them.”
The point wasn’t too badly taken. I couldn’t see any such complete certainty of it as he was proclaiming, but it certainly had to rate as a disquieting possibility. Gibby, however, made a good stab at pulling him together.
“If we want to start imagining things,” he said, “we can imagine it any way at all. There’s nothing to go on. For one thing; how certain are you that she was staying here with your sister at all? Just look around. There’s only the one bed. It’s a double bed, but there’s only the one. If she stayed here, they shared the bed. There’s nothing else like a sofa or anything that could be made up into a bed. If you’re going to argue that she had to have a key because she would be too considerate to ring bells at three in the morning, can’t you argue on exactly the same basis that she wouldn’t come here at all at three in the morning when it would mean coming into this one room, getting into the one bed? Wouldn’t that be just as disturbing as ringing the bell?”
“I don’t know. Gosh, I don’t know. When Ellie said she should come and stay here, I thought sure Ellie had an extra bed. I don’t know what to think about anything now.”
It was an opening for Gibby. He suggested that Bannerman try not to think at all. There was still a great deal we were going to have to know. We were going to have to ask many questions. If he would try to keep his mind on that, it would help him with the waiting.
“Also,” Gibby said, “you’ll be helping us and the more you give us to go on the easier it’s going to be for us to help you. Let’s start with Joan Loomis. Do you have a picture of her on you?”
He had one and he fished it out of his billfold for us. It was a bathing-suit picture but don’t get ideas. It wasn’t any bikini. It wasn’t even one of those halter and bare midriff deals. It was a cover-up sort of bathing suit and by that I don’t mean one of the elasticized jobs that covers a gal but close like an extra skin. It had a skirt and it had a top with fairly broad straps going over the shoulders. If it wasn’t the sort
He mumbled something and got off the wire. He turned to us and began to repeat it.
“We could hear,” Gibby said.
Bannerman swayed on his feet. He shut his eyes tight and breathed hard for a moment, getting a grip on himself.
“Oh, God,” he groaned. “Ellie and now Joanie, too. Three o’clock this morning.”
“Hold it,” Gibby said. “It’s bad enough as it is. Don’t build it. Does Miss Loomis know the train you were supposed to be coming in on?”
“Yes, but they weren’t going to go to meet me. Ellie said you can miss people so easy in stations. She said for me to come over here. They’d be here.”
“All right. Miss Loomis got here at three in the morning. Your sister had been dead for quite a while by then. She rang the bell and got no answer. She’s gone to a hotel and she’ll be back here in time to be here for when you were expected or else she’ll go to meet the train she’s expecting you on. We’ll cover both. We’ll have someone waiting here in case she comes. We’ll go with you to meet the train. One way or the other we’ll find her.”
It sounded all right to me but it wasn’t my sister who had been strangled and it wasn’t my fiancée who was missing. Bannerman took more convincing than that.
“You don’t know Joanie,” he said. “I do. She wouldn’t come turning up here at three in the morning to ring bells. It would have to be that she had a key and could come in without disturbing Ellie. She would have a key, staying here with Ellie, Ellie would certainly have given her one so she could come and go. She came in here and Ellie was dead but there was someone here. It’s the both of them. I know it’s the both of them.”
The point wasn’t too badly taken. I couldn’t see any such complete certainty of it as he was proclaiming, but it certainly had to rate as a disquieting possibility. Gibby, however, made a good stab at pulling him together.
“If we want to start imagining things,” he said, “we can imagine it any way at all. There’s nothing to go on. For one thing; how certain are you that she was staying here with your sister at all? Just look around. There’s only the one bed. It’s a double bed, but there’s only the one. If she stayed here, they shared the bed. There’s nothing else like a sofa or anything that could be made up into a bed. If you’re going to argue that she had to have a key because she would be too considerate to ring bells at three in the morning, can’t you argue on exactly the same basis that she wouldn’t come here at all at three in the morning when it would mean coming into this one room, getting into the one bed? Wouldn’t that be just as disturbing as ringing the bell?”
“I don’t know. Gosh, I don’t know. When Ellie said she should come and stay here, I thought sure Ellie had an extra bed. I don’t know what to think about anything now.”
It was an opening for Gibby. He suggested that Bannerman try not to think at all. There was still a great deal we were going to have to know. We were going to have to ask many questions. If he would try to keep his mind on that, it would help him with the waiting.
“Also,” Gibby said, “you’ll be helping us and the more you give us to go on the easier it’s going to be for us to help you. Let’s start with Joan Loomis. Do you have a picture of her on you?”
He had one and he fished it out of his billfold for us. It was a bathing-suit picture but don’t get ideas. It wasn’t any bikini. It wasn’t even one of those halter and bare midriff deals. It was a cover-up sort of bathing suit and by that I don’t mean one of the elasticized jobs that covers a gal but close like an extra skin. It had a skirt and it had a top with fairly broad straps going over the shoulders. If it wasn’t the sort
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