"You
sound exactly like Strawn when he laughed at my interpretation of this
message this afternoon. My late chief contends--and it is just possible,
of course, that he is right--that Nita was afraid she couldn't swing the
job of organizing and directing Lois' Little Theater, and wanted Sprague
here, both as lover and unofficial assistant. But that's a pretty thin
explanation, don't you think, 'my dear Watson'?... Oh, all right! Laugh,
damn you! But I'd feel better if Strawn had taken my advice and set a
dick to trail Sprague, to see that he keeps out of mischief.... All
this, however, gets us no nearer to answering that eternal
question--'Who?'"
With a deep sigh the troubled young special investigator reached for the
"Time Table" he had drafted from his notes made during the grisly
replaying of the "death hand at bridge," and scanned it again:
5:20--Flora Miles, dummy, Table No. 1, leaves living room to
telephone.
5:22--Clive Hammond arrives and goes directly into solarium.
5:23--End of rubber at Table No. 1. Players: Polly Beale, Janet
Raymond, Lois Dunlap, Flora Miles (dummy). Polly Beale leaves
living room to join Clive Hammond in solarium.
5:24--Janet Raymond leaves room; says she went straight to front
porch.
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