Free Where Is Janice Gantry? by John D. MacDonald Page A

her not to tell her people who had phoned. If it was Haywood, she wouldn’t have told them the name.”
    It impressed me, that quickness and logic.
    “So she took her car and picked him up. Then what, Cal?”
    “This is the last place in the world Haywood should have come to. So he had some good reason. He had someone he wanted to see. She went with him, perhaps. And if harm came to him, it would not be safe to let her go. But who would he want to see?”
    “He tried to rob a man named Maurice Weber, Cal. Weberlives out near the south end of Horseshoe Key. Now this is only idle gossip I happened to hear, but at the time Charlie was sent up, there was a rumor around town that he was seeing Charity Weber. That’s Mrs. Maurice Weber. There’s a rumor the whole story never came out.”
    He thought for a few moments, then said, “Let’s see what Millhaus has done. I’ll put the call on the room mike so you can hear it.”
    He told his secretary to get the sheriff on the line. When the call came through it came out of a box like an intercom on McAllen’s desk. Cal leaned back in his chair and answered in a normal tone of voice.
    “Sorry to bother you again, Sheriff.”
    “Perfectly okay any time, Mr. McAllen. You know that.”
    “What I’m wondering now is if you’ve considered the possibility of Janice voluntarily helping this Haywood person?”
    “Yes, I have. It wouldn’t be a smart thing to do, but it would be the kind of thing Sis Gantry would do. He was a friend of some of her younger brothers and I guess she knew Charlie pretty well from him hanging around the house when they were all kids.”
    “In that case, have you thought of the possibility of Miss Gantry driving Haywood to the Weber house?”
    “I thought of that, Mr. McAllen, and I was out there on the Key this morning to see the Webers. I figured that on account of Mr. Weber capturing Charlie, Charlie might have come back to settle the grudge. Me and two of my deputies, we went all through the house and grounds. They got a good burglar alarm system and they went to bed early last night and they didn’t hear a thing. In fact, Mr. Weber told me his wife had been a little nervous ever since they heard about Charlie escaping, and he wanted to know if I could spare a man to patrol around the house nights until Charlie is pickedup. I said I could do that for him, so I’m putting Deputy Luxey out there beginning tonight.”
    “Well … thank you, Sheriff. It was just an idea.”
    I heard Pat’s damp friendly chuckle. “You get any more of those ideas, Mr. Cal, you just let me know, hear?”
    McAllen, after he pushed the button to break the connection, turned to me with a slight look of distaste. “Is that man any good?”
    “He’s average. There’s better ones and worse ones, Cal.”
    “Who is this Maurice Weber?”
    “Nobody knows much about him. He doesn’t what you call mingle. Or his wife either. I think it was about four years ago a man whose name I can’t remember came down and bought that piece of Gulf to bay land, four hundred feet of Gulf beach and bay frontage, about eight hundred feet deep. The land went for a hundred and ten thousand, I believe. That man had working drawings with him, and he put the job out on bid, and it went for a hundred and twenty-five thousand I think. He stayed right down and supervised the job, and let a contract for all the plantings and the boat basin and dock on the bay side. Just as everything was finished, a couple arrived in a big green Continental full of luggage and moved in. When a few neighbors tried to pay the usual call they got neatly brushed off. Mr. and Mrs. Weber had not arrived yet. The couple in residence were the servants who were getting the house ready. And when the Webers did arrive, it would perhaps be best not to pay any social calls, due to Mr. Weber’s health.”
    “They apparently don’t have to scrimp.”
    “You haven’t heard it all. The agent furnished the house with the