Calamity Town

(Patricia Wright compresses her lips. Her “best friend” has not telephoned since January first.)

There was an aqueous triumph about Carter Bradford this morning.

His own brow was slick with perspiration, and he and J.C. kept up a duet of handkerchiefs.

Q.?l hand you this canceled check, Mr. Pettigrew. Do you recognize it?

A.-Yep.

Q.?Read what it says.

A.?The date?December thirty-first, nineteen-forty. Then it says: Pay to the order of cash, one hundred dollars. Signed J. C. Pettigrew.

Q.?Did you make out this check, Mr. Pettigrew?

A.?I did.

Q.?On the date specified?the last day of last year, the day of New Year’s Eve?

A.?Yes, sir.

Q.?To whom did you give this check, Mr. Pettigrew?

A.?To Lola Wright.

Q.?Tell us the circumstances of your giving Miss Lola Wright this check for a hundred dollars, please.

A.?I sort of feel funny about . . . I mean, I can’t help if . . . Well, last day of the year, I was just cleaning up at my office in High Village when Lola come in. Said she was in a bad spot, and she’d known me all her life, and could I let her have a hundred dollars. I saw she was worried?

Q.?Just tell us what she said and you said.

A.?Well, that’s all, I guess. I gave it to her. Oh, yes. She asked for cash. I said 1 didn’t have any cash to spare, and it was past banking hours, so I’d give her a check. She said: “Well, if it can’t be helped, it can’t be helped.” So I made out a check, she said thanks, and that’s all. Can I go now?

Q.?Did Miss Wright tell you what she wanted the money for?

A.?No, sir, and I didn’t ask her.

The check was placed in evidence, and when Judge Martin, who had been about to demand the deletion of all J.C.’s remarks, turned the check over and saw what was written on the other side, he blanched and bit his lip. Then he waved his hand magnanimously and declined to cross-examine.

J.C. stumbled and almost fell, he was so anxious to get off the stand. He sent Hermy a sickly smile. His face was steaming, and he kept swabbing it.

* * *

Lola Wright was nervous as she took the oath; but her gaze was defiant, and it made Carter Bradford flush.

He showed her the check in evidence.

“Miss Wright, what did you do with this check when you received it from J. C. Pettigrew on December thirty- first last?”

“I put it in my purse,” said Lola. There were titters. But Judge Martin frowned, so Lola sat up straighten

“Yes, I know,” said Carter, “but to whom did you give it?”

“I don’t remember.”

Foolish girl, thought Ellery. He’s got you. Don’t make things worse by being difficult.

Bradford held the check up before her. ”Miss Wright, perhaps this will refresh your memory. Read the endorsement on the back, please.”

Lola swallowed. Then she said in a low voice: “ ‘James Haight.’ “

At the defense table James Haight unaccountably seized that instant to smile. It was the weariest smile imaginable. Then he sank into apathy again.

“Can you explain how James Haight’s endorsement appears on a check you borrowed from J. C. Pettigrew?”

“I gave it to Jim.”

“When?”

“That same night.”

“Where?”

“At the house of my sister Nora.”

“At the house of your sister Nora. Have you heard the testimony here to the effect that you were not present at the house of your sister Nora during the New Year’s Eve party?”

“Yes.”

“Well, were you or weren’t you?”

There was something in Bradford’s voice that was a little cruel, and Pat writhed in her seat in front of the rail, her lips saying: “I hate you!” almost aloud.

“I did stop at the house for a few minutes, but I wasn’t at the party.”

“I see. Were you invited to the party?”

“Yes.”

“But you didn’t go?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Judge Martin objected, and Judge Newbold sustained him. Bradford smiled.

“Did anyone see you but your brother-in-law, the defendant?”

“No. I went around to the back door of the kitchen.”

“Then did you know Jim Haight was in the kitchen?” asked Carter Bradford quickly.

Lola grew pink. ”Yes. I hung around outside in the backyard till I saw, through the kitchen window, that Jim came in. He disappeared in the butler’s pantry, and I thought there might be someone with him. But after a few minutes I decided he was alone, and knocked. Jim came out of the pantry to the kitchen door, and we talked.”

“About what, Miss Wright?”

Lola glanced at Judge Martin in a confused way. He made as if to rise, then sank back.

“I gave Jim the check.”

Ellery was leaning far forward. So that had been Lola’s mission! He had not been able to overhear, or see, what had passed between Jim and Lola at the back door of Nora’s kitchen that night.

“You gave him the check,” said Bradford courteously. ”Miss Wright, did the defendant ask you to give him money?”

“No!”

Ellery smiled grimly. Liar?of the genus white.

“But didn’t you borrow the hundred dollars from Mr. Pettigrew for the purpose of giving it to the defendant?”

“Yes,” said Lola coolly. ”Only it was in repayment of a debt I owed Jim. I owe everybody, you see?chronic borrower. I’d borrowed from Jim some time before, so I paid him back, that’s all.”

And Ellery recalled that night when he had trailed Jim to Lola’s apartment in Low Village, and how Jim had drunkenly demanded money and Lola had said she didn’t have any . . . Only it wasn’t true that on New Year’s Eve, Lola had repaid a “debt.” Lola had made a donation to Nora’s happiness.

“You borrowed from Pettigrew to pay Haight?” asked Carter, raising his eyebrows. {Laughter.)

“The witness has answered,” said Judge Eli.

Bradford waved. ”Miss Wright, did Haight ask you for the money you say you owed him?”

Lola said, too quickly: “No, he didn’t.”

“You just decided suddenly, on the last day of the year, that you’d better pay him back?without any suggestion from him?”

Objection. Argument. At it again.

“Miss Wright, you have only a small income, have you not?” Objection. Argument. Heat now. Judge Newbold