Chapter XXIII: Identified

“Where’s Blackberry?” Judy asked, the moment Peter came home.

She had been nodding in the big chair, waiting up for him. “You didn’t find him, did you?”

“No,” he replied, “but I did make peace with George Anderson so he won’t hurt Blackberry if he finds him.”

“That’s a relief,” Judy said. She yawned and stretched. “Those babies made a wreck out of me,” she declared. “I thought they’d never go to sleep. And they aren’t the only ones! There are two more babies with Mother. Let’s go sit in the kitchen, and we can talk over coffee.” Peter was always hungry so Judy cut him a piece of pie to go with the coffee. “I’m saving a piece for Horace,” she said. “He’ll be here early in the morning. Too early, probably,” she added with a yawn. “He wants to print that ghost picture in the paper before the man is identified, and make a mystery of it.”

“He’s too late. The mystery is solved,” announced Peter. “I have the separations with me. You won’t know the man—”

“But I do!” Judy exclaimed, seizing the pictures and staring at first one and then the other. The lady table leg was in the water just the way she had first seen it. The picture was almost too clear. It made her shiver just to look at it. The man’s face, in the other print, was equally clear.

“You know this man?” Peter inquired in a puzzled voice. “Where on earth—”

“Oh, I don’t really know him,” Judy interrupted. “His picture is in the Post Office, isn’t it? Horace and I were looking at it the other day, and I remember saying he didn’t look like a criminal. I’m so glad you found him!”

“He isn’t found, just identified,” Peter said. “He’s one of Joe Mott’s boys, of course. They’ve robbed everything from banks to flooded towns and set up all sorts of fronts for their illegal business.”

“Fronts?” Judy questioned. “Do you mean places like that sheared-off house? That hadn’t any front.”

Peter laughed. “I see what you mean, but it was a front just the same. Sammis will talk. He knew what was going on and wanted to frighten you away before you found out, but I’m afraid he overdid it. Actually that sheared-off house is still owned by Mr. Truitt. It’s one of a chain of second-hand stores. Our agent, Hank Lawson, found out that much from Donna Truitt herself. They had a good time on their date this evening.”

Judy wasn’t sure just what Peter meant. She had been too busy with the babies to think much about what was happening anywhere else. And now she was too tired to care.

“You must be tired, too,” she told him as she cleared away the coffee cups. “It’s been a long day. That orphanage fire alone was enough to make Meta Hanley collapse from exhaustion.”

“That wasn’t what did it. Don’t you remember?” asked Peter. “It was when she realized it was all a mistake and George Anderson still loved her.”

“Or was it when she thought he was a thief? I’m glad he isn’t, and I don’t blame him for being angry. You said you made peace with him. I’m glad of that, too,” Judy said with another yawn. “You can tell me all about the real thieves in the morning.”

“With Horace here? Not on your life,” declared Peter. “This is confidential. I wouldn’t have told you as much as I did if you hadn’t helped me uncover the man’s identity. We’re hoping he returns to the shop he set up in George Anderson’s house where our men will be waiting to nab him.”

“You say he set up the shop?” asked Judy, still puzzled. “Didn’t John Beer have anything to do with it?”

“Yes, but it looks as if he was only an employee of the Joe Mott syndicate. We’ll pick him up for questioning when he comes to work tomorrow.”

“But Peter, that’s what you said about Aldin Launt, and you never picked him up.”

“We will,” he predicted. “We were hoping he would help us trap the others, but now that house with the boarded-up windows is all the trap we need.”

“Does that mean we can’t go back there and look for Blackberry? Oh dear! I couldn’t go anyway with all these babies in the house,” Judy remembered. And suddenly, partly because she was overtired and partly because she felt she hadn’t been much of a help after all, she began to cry.

“Don’t worry, Angel, Blackberry will turn up.” Peter was trying to comfort her and only making matters worse with his sympathy.

Blackberry wasn’t the only reason for her tears, Judy insisted. And yet, somehow, her cat’s latest disappearance and the responsibility of three children all at once made her feel as if the sky had fallen on her shoulders.

Twice, during what was left of the night, the babies cried and Judy had to get up and attend to their needs. She was sound asleep, and the whole house was quiet and peaceful, when Holly arrived in the morning.

“I’m here!” she announced, ringing the doorbell and shattering the quiet. Still half asleep, Judy put on a housecoat and went downstairs to let her in.

“Ruth says you found my typewriter. I’m so grateful to you, Judy!” Holly exclaimed as she bounced into the living room. “I’m here to baby sit for those orphans when you drive over to get it. I may as well get in practice. Some day I intend to get married and raise a whole houseful of children.”

“You do? That’s a switch,” declared Judy, blinking in the sudden sunshine that streamed through the open door. “What’s happened to you? I thought you were going to be a grief-stricken old maid without even a cat for company. You said it was unlucky to love—”

“Oh, but that was before I met Roger! We had a fabulous time last night,” Holly declared. “I hardly knew the girl who gave the party. Ruth made me go, and am I ever thankful! Lois was there with some boy I’ve never seen before, and Donna Truitt had this handsome stranger off in a corner. They talked and talked.”

“So I heard.” Judy didn’t say the stranger was an FBI agent. She just listened as Holly went on and on about Roger.

“His family just moved here, and he’s going to high school in Roulsville. I can’t wait for school to begin. I told him all about the library exhibit, and he wants to see it. Naturally, I have to go with him to explain everything. Oh, by the way, you won’t forget to stop for those old Christmas cards the Jewell sisters promised us, will you?”

“The Jewell sisters!” Judy exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think of it before? Maybe Blackberry went over to call on the Jewell sisters! Violetta is fond of him. We’ll drive over and—”

She stopped there. The doorbell was ringing again.

“You answer it,” Judy told Holly, almost pushing her toward the door. “I’m still in my housecoat. If it’s Horace, tell him I’ll be ready in a minute.”