A married couple, with an Iowa licence plate on the car, were having a quarrel in one of the middle cottages. I didn’t get all the words. It was something about the way the man was treating his stepdaughter. The woman was talking in a high-pitched, rapid monotone, apparently afraid that something would happen before she had a chance to say all that she wanted to say. In the few seconds that it took me to walk past the place, I heard enough to gather that the man had never appreciated Rose, that he had been unkind to her from the first and made her feel that she wasn’t wanted; that Rose was sensitive and shy; and that it was only natural for any girl to resent that kind of treatment; that he owed Rose an apology and that he didn’t amount to much anyway; that he was all wrapped up in himself and was inclined to nag and wasn’t at all like her first husband; Rose had always loved her father so much and respected him because he had been so much of a gentleman and so courteous and considerate; whereas, under the present circumstances, you couldn’t blame her for being disillusioned and...
I moved on out of earshot.
There was no sign of Lucille Hart anywhere around the auto court. In one of the cabins a portable radio was turned up loud.
I tried the car. The doors were locked.
I walked around the back part of the houses but I couldn’t see anything of Lucille. She might have been lying down somewhere on the ground, perhaps putting on the second scene in her act of being drunk. I made a wide circle through the vacant lots.
No Lucille.
When I was starting back, I heard a sound that could have been the backfire of a motor.
I waited and listened. There were two more sounds that could have been caused by a truck back-firing; but I couldn’t see any truck at the moment.
I went back to the cabin I had rented and looked it over. Lucille had left a package of cigarettes and a book of matches. The match book carried the ad of the CABANITA NIGHT CLUB. I put it in my pocket. I picked up the package of cigarettes. It was two-thirds full. The cellophane wrapper had been torn off the top of the package and a folded piece of heavy white paper thrust down between the cellophane and the package.
I unfolded the paper.