the mail come yet?”
“Not yet!” Nora called from the kitchen.
“Who, me?” said Pat feebly. ”Don’t?don’t be a goop, Jim.”
“All right,
Jim hurried out to the foyer to answer the postman’s ring. They heard him open the front door; they heard old Mr. Bailey’s cracked “Mornin’, Mr. Haight,” Jim’s joshing response, the little slam of the door, and Jim’s slow returning footsteps, as if he were shuffling through the mail as he came back.
Then he walked into the field of their vision and stopped, and they saw him staring at one of the several envelopes the postman had just delivered. His face was liverish.
And then he vaulted upstairs. They heard his feet pound on the carpeting and a moment later a door bang.
Pat was gaping at the spot Jim had just vacated.
“Eat your cereal,” said Ellery.
Pat flushed and bent quickly over her plate.
Ellery got up and walked without noise to the foot of the staircase. After a moment he returned to the breakfast table.
“He’s in his study, I think. Heard him
Pat choked over her Crackle-Crunch.
“Where’s Jim?” asked Nora as she set the eggs before her sister.
“Upstairs,” said Ellery, reaching for the toast.
“Jim?”
“Yes, Nora.” Jim reappeared on the stairs; he was still pale, but rigidly controlled. He had his coat on and carried several unopened letters of assorted sizes.
“Jim! Is anything wrong?”
“Wrong?” Jim laughed. ”I never saw such a suspicious woman! What the devil should be wrong?”
“I don’t know. But you look so pale?”
Jim kissed her. ”You ought to’ve been a nurse! Well, got to be going. Oh, by the way. Here’s the mail. The usual junk. Bye, Patty! Smith! See you soon.” Jim raced out.
After breakfast Ellery said something about “strolling in the woods” behind the house and excused himself.
A half hour later Pat joined him. She came hurrying through the underbrush with a Javanese scarf tied around her head, looking back over her shoulder as if someone were chasing her.
“I thought I’d never get away from Nora,” Pat panted. She dropped to a stump. ”Whoo!”
Ellery blew smoke thoughtfully. ”Pat, we’ve got to read that letter Jim just received.”
“Ellery . . . where’s this all going to end?”
“It stirred Jim up tremendously. Can’t be coincidence. Somehow this morning’s letter ties in with the rest of this puzzle. Can you lure Nora out of the house?”
“She’s going to High Village this morning with Alberta to do some shopping. There’s the station wagon! I’d recognize that putt-putt in Detroit.”
Mr. Queen ground out his cigarette carefully. ”All right, then,” he said.
Pat kicked a twig. Her hands were trembling. Then she sprang off the stump. ”I feel like a skunk,” she moaned. ”But what else can we do?”
* * *
“I doubt if we’ll find anything,” said Ellery as Pat let him into Nora’s house with her duplicate key. ”Jim locked the door when he ran upstairs. He didn’t want to be caught doing . . . whatever it was he did.”
“You think he destroyed the letter?”
“Afraid so. But we’ll have a look, anyway.”
In Jim’s study, Pat set her back against the door. She looked ill.
Ellery sniffed. And went directly to the fireplace. It was clean except for a small mound of ash.
“He burned it!” said Pat.
“But not thoroughly enough.”
“Ellery, you’ve found something!”
“A scrap that wasn’t consumed by the fire.”
Pat flew across the room. Ellery was examining a scrap of charred paper very carefully.
“Part of the envelope?”
“The flap. Return address. But the address has been burned off. Only thing left is the sender’s name.”
Pat read: “ ‘Rosemary Haight.’ Jim’s sister.” Her eyes widened. ”Jim’s sister, Rosemary! Ellery, the one he wrote those three letters to about Nora!”
“It’s possible that?” Ellery did not finish.
“You were going to say it’s possible there was a first letter we didn’t find, because he’d already sent it! And that this is the remains of his sister’s answer.”
“Yes.” Ellery tucked the burnt scrap away in his wallet. ”But on second thought I’m not so sure. Why should his sister’s reply bother him so much, if that’s what it is? No, Patty, this is something different, something new.”
“But what?”
“That,” said Mr. Queen, “is what we’ve got to find out.” He took her arm, looking about. ”Let’s get out of here.”
* * *
That night they were all sitting on the Wright porch watching the wind blow the leaves across the lawn. John F. and Jim were debating the presidential campaign with some heat, while Hermy anxiously appeased and Nora and Pat listened like mice. Ellery sat by himself in a corner, smoking.
“John, you know I don’t like these political arguments!” said Hermy. ”Goodness, you men get so hot under the collar?”
John F. grunted. ”Jim, there’s dictatorship coming in this country, you mark my words?”
Jim grinned. ”And you’ll eat ‘em . . . A// right, Mother!” Then he said casually: “Oh, by the way, darling, I got a letter from my sister, Rosemary, this morning. Forgot to tell you.”
“Yes?” Nora’s tone was bright. ”How nice. What does she write, dear?”
Pat drifted toward Ellery and in the darkness sat down at his feet. He put his hand on her neck; it was clammy.
“The usual stuff. She does say she’d like to meet you?all of you.”
“Well, I should think so!” said Hermy. ”I’m very anxious to meet your sister, Jim. Is she coming out for a visit?”
“Well . . . I
“Now, Jim,” said Nora. ”You know I’ve asked you dozens of times to invite Rosemary to Wrightsville.”
“Then it’s all right with you, Nor?” asked Jim quickly.
“All right!” Nora laughed. ”What’s the matter with you? Give me her address, and I’ll drop her a note tonight.”
“Don’t bother, darling. I’ll write her myself.”
When they were alone, a half hour later, Pat said to Ellery: “Nora was scared.”
“Yes. It’s a poser.” Ellery circled his knees with his arms. ”Of course, the letter that stirred Jim up this morning was the same letter he just said he got from his sister.”
“Ellery, Jim’s holding something back.”
“No question about it.”
“If his sister, Rosemary, just wrote about wanting to come out for a visit, or anything as trivial as that . . .
