“No; Boothy’s.”
The doctor said, surprised: “I didn’t know he had a brother.”
“Neither did anybody else. But for that matter Boothy was a tight-lipped man who told his business to no one. After the neighbors reported him missing we searched the house. Found a will and a note written the day before the quarrel outside the post office. The note said if anything happened to him——. See that, Doctor? He was afraid that something would happen.”
“He wrote that note the day before Jud threatened to kill him,” the blind man said slowly.
Joe thought that Captain Tucker had the look of a man stumbling over a rock he had not seen. “Well——.” The captain coughed awkwardly. “Why couldn’t Jud have gone to the house several times before that meeting outside the post office? Certainly he didn’t come here planning to loiter in the streets until Boothy appeared. Anyway, the note said if anything happened to him to notify his brother, Otis Wilkes, at once.”
“Any witnesses to the will?”
“No. Oh, it’s in his handwriting. We proved that.”
“Who gets his property?”
“This brother, Otis Wilkes.”
Dr. Stone said, “I’d like to meet Otis.” Joe, sitting taut on the rear seat, had the feeling that his uncle had touched something hidden in the dark. The car halted outside the village lock-up.