The Case Of The Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend. Mabel Maney

I’ve got some styling lotion and bobby pins in my purse if you’d like to step into the ladies’ lounge with me and try something new.”

      Lauren scowled and tucked her long auburn braid under her baseball cap.

      Cherry vowed to do whatever she could to guide the young girl along the perilous path to womanhood. “We’ll fix her hair and get her some nice clothes,” Cherry planned to herself. “I’ll bet we’d find a really cute girl under all that dirt.” Then she said to Velma, “Don’t you think Lauren should do something with her hair? Something besides hide it?”

      Velma cocked her head and took a good, long look at Lauren.

      Cherry smiled when she saw Lauren turn bright red under Velma’s penetrating gaze. “Why, Lauren really does care about her appearance!” Cherry thought. “She just doesn’t let on.”

      “I don’t know, Cherry,” Velma replied. “I’m really not the best judge. While I like to do my hair in many different styles, what I really like on a girl is short hair.” She lightly brushed the nape of Midge’s neck with her hand. Midge smiled happily.

      “Let’s all go to town for an ice cream soda while the car is being repaired,” Cherry suggested. “And then we’ll be on our way.”

      The mechanic shook her head. “I’m afraid you gals are stuck here for the night,” she said ruefully. “It’ll take us all that time to fix what’s broken under the hood, and, besides, the front right wheel-rim is pretty dented and I’ll have to pound it out.

      “It will cost approximately forty dollars,” she added.

      Cherry groaned. “Nancy will be frantic when she learns we’re delayed yet another day,” she said. “How are we going to get forty dollars for the car repair and money for a motel, not to mention other important things like snacks?” she cried aloud. She flung up her arms in despair and wailed, “Oh, we are never going to get to River Depths!”

      “You’re going to River Depths?” A smartly-coifed, middle-aged woman outfitted in a trim, cherry red, worsted boxy jacket and matching straight skirt, poked her head around the side of the garage and smiled at Cherry.

      “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but did you say you were going to River Depths? River Depths, Illinois?” the woman asked. She put down the orange soda she was holding in one neatly gloved hand and slipped off her jacket to reveal a white nylon shell top that, despite the heat, looked band-box fresh.

      She noticed Cherry staring wide-eyed at her. “You’re wondering how it is I’ve been sitting in the car all day and I’m still perky as a daisy, aren’t you? It’s the miracle of synthetic fabrics,” the woman announced grandly. Actually, Cherry had noticed how wrinkle-free the woman’s blouse was.

      “Now, didn’t you say you were going to River Depths?” the woman queried.

      Without thinking, Cherry nodded her head.

      Midge groaned. No one was supposed to know that they were speeding to River Depths with Nancy Clue!

      “Marty, they’re going to River Depths, too,” the woman called to her friend sitting in the front seat of a white, four-door Buick. Her friend, a handsome brunette with a smart, short hairdo tinged with silver at the temples, smiled and waved at the girls before going back to studying her map.

      “We’re from the Wyoming Buffalo Bulletin, sent to cover the story of housekeeper Hannah Gruel, charged in the murder of attorney Carson Clue,” the smartly dressed woman announced importantly. “Marty—that’s my friend over there; her real name is Miss Martha Mannish, but everyone calls her Marty for short. Well, Marty and I decided to do some sightseeing on the way; that’s why we’re driving. By the way, my name is Gladys Gertz. Miss Gladys Gertz. I’m the newspaper’s society editor and Marty’s our wedding photographer. I usually never get to cover exciting crime stories such as this, but because it’s a housekeeper that did the deed, they gave it to me,” she confided with a sunny smile. “It’s my big chance to really dig up some dirt!” She took a starched white handkerchief from her black alligator handbag—which Cherry noticed perfectly matched her low-heeled pumps—and wiped her brow.