Brett Halliday - Stranger in Town

But why would a father lie about his identity under those circumstances? Because he knew his daughter had been engaged in some criminal activities and wanted to cover up for her? Could be. Also, could be a hundred other reasons.

Shayne poured a second cup of coffee and lit his third cigarette, and again carefully went over the information contained in the clipping found in the pocket of a gunman who had been waiting for him to appear at his Miami office that morning.

An assistant State’s Attorney from Orlando who had been burned to death in his wrecked car the same night Amy Buttrell (call her that for want of a better name) had been brought to the hospital by an unidentified motorist in a state of shock.

It was too much to think the possession of the clipping had been mere coincidence. It indicated a definite connection between the girl and Randolph Harris. Both injured near Brockton the same night. Her participation in the attack on Shayne last night, and the hood’s unexplained appearance at his office this morning.

That was at least one coincidence too many to swallow.

Orlando! Randolph Harris lived in Orlando, forty miles north of Brockton. And a Professor Henderson lived in Orlando also. Father of a girl who looked enough like Amy Buttrell that the professor had feared he recognized her from the newspaper picture. Professor Henderson had been greatly relieved, Dr. Philbrick had stated, when he learned that the girl could not possibly be his daughter because she had already been identified by a man who called himself Amos Buttrell and said he lived in Miami.

Obviously, the professor would not have pressed his inquiries beyond that point.

Shayne got up from the dining table hastily when he reached this point in his thinking. His waitress hurried to him with a luncheon check, and Shayne signed it and gave her a dollar bill.

Upstairs in his suite again, he got the long distance operator and told her, “I want to talk to a Professor Henderson in Orlando. I don’t know his name or initials, or his street address. He teaches at Rollins College in Winter Park. Will you try to locate him for me?”

The operator told him she would try, and that she would call him back as soon as she had the professor on the wire. Shayne hung up, and prowled restlessly up and down the length of his sitting room, tugging at his earlobe with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand while the knobby fingers of his right clawed through coarse red hair on his head.

There had to be a connection, he told himself. Suppose the girl was Professor Henderson’s daughter! That meant that the man who called himself Amos Buttrell was an imposter. That for reasons of his own he had come to the hospital and pretended to identify the girl as his daughter Amy and taken her away with him.

There would have been nothing to prevent it. Suffering from amnesia, the girl could not protest that he was not her father. In her state, she must have accepted him without question. Just as Dr. Philbrick and the authorities had accepted him without question.

And he hadn’t taken her back to Miami. That much was clear. Because she had still been in Brockton last night.

His telephone rang. Shayne reached it in two long strides. The operator said, “On your call to Orlando. We have Mr. Henderson on the wire. Go ahead, please.”

Shayne said, “Professor Henderson? My name is Michael Shayne and I’m calling you from Brockton.”

“Shayne? In what connection…?” The voice was precise and cultivated. A trifle thin and peevish.

Shayne said swiftly, “I’m a detective working on the case of the girl who had an accident here last Thursday night and suffered amnesia. I understand you telephoned from Orlando Friday after seeing her picture in the paper, thinking it might be your daughter.”

“Jean. Yes. It did give me a frightful turn when I saw the picture so like my Jean. But it wasn’t, you know. I was told she had been positively identified as someone else before I telephoned.”

“I know.” Shayne paused, then went on quickly. “It now appears there is a slight possibility that first identification of the girl may have been an error. Just to make certain… has your daughter turned up safe in the meantime?”

“Why, yes. That is… I have no reason to assume otherwise. You see, Mr… ah… what’s the name?”

“Shayne.”

“Of course. Stupid of me. You see, Mr. Shayne, I didn’t really see how it could possibly be Jean in Brockton even when I telephoned. She had no reason to be near Brockton that night, and I was morally certain she wasn’t, but when I saw that picture so like her and because of the… ah… coincidence of the previous accident to her younger sister which was naturally strongly in my mind, I allowed myself to jump to the conclusion that it might be Jean. You say, now, that there might be some mistake? Dear me. You don’t mean to imply that… that…” The professor’s voice faltered thinly into disbelieving silence.

“I don’t want to imply anything,” said Shayne soothingly. “Do you mean you still aren’t sure it wasn’t your daughter?”

“Why I… I… this is so very sudden. I made no further inquiries, Mr. Shayne. My apprehensions were put at rest and I saw no need to.”

“You mean you’re not actually certain where your daughter is?”

“I… of course assumed she was with her friends on their cruise. They had planned to sail from Apalachicola early Friday morning, you see, to be gone for a week. Since Brockton is not even on the bus route from here to Apalachicola, you can see how I did not consider it possible for Jean to have been injured in Brockton. Yet, with Jeanette’s recent accident so strongly in my thoughts, I could not refrain from wondering… ah… you see, do you not?”

“Not quite,” sighed Shayne. “You say your daughter Jean went by bus Thursday afternoon to Apalachicola to go on a cruise with friends?”

“Exactly. And I assume, of course, that she is on the cruise with them now. Certainly, they would have informed me before this had she not arrived safely.”

“But you’ve had no definite word from her since Thursday?”

“N-n-no. That’s quite true.”

“Do you know the names of her friends in Apalachicola?”

“Oh, yes. Certainly. Mr. and Mrs. Larch. Old family friends. I assure you, Mr. Shayne…”

“I think you’d better try to telephone them,” interrupted Shayne. “If we can just be certain your daughter is safely on a cruise, it will simplify our investigation here.”

“But they are somewhere in the Gulf on a sailboat,” protested Henderson. “Don’t you see? I did attempt to telephone Mr. Larch Friday after I had seen the picture I thought might be Jean. They had left early in the morning to be gone a week.”

“And there’s no possibility of contacting them now?”

“None, I’m afraid.”

“Do you know your daughter took the bus to Apalachicola?”

“If by that, you mean did I actually see her board the bus… the answer is no. She had planned to take the six o’clock bus, and so far as I know, she did so. For the love of heaven, Mr. Shayne, tell me what you do suspect. You say there may have been an error. Does this mean you suspect the amnesia victim may have been Jean after all?”

“We don’t want to worry you unduly,” said Shayne. “Probably not. But please answer a couple more questions. Was your daughter acquainted with Randolph Harris?”

“Harris? Randolph Harris?” The professor’s voice held no note of recognition. “Who may he be?”

“A young attorney who lives in Orlando. Previously connected with the State’s Attorney’s office there. I wondered if your daughter knew him.”

“I’m certain she doesn’t. Jean is only nineteen, and since her mother died three years ago we have been very close. I think I can say I have her complete confidence and know all of her friends. I have never heard her mention the name of Randolph Harris among them.”