Art had been working for her uncle, and rode often to the Lazy A.

He had not been friendly with Johnny Croft,--but then, nobody had been very friendly with Johnny Croft.

Still, Art Osgood was less friendly with Johnny than most of the men in the country, and just after the murder he had left the country.

Jean laid a good deal of stress upon the circumstance of Art Osgood's leaving on that particular afternoon, and she seemed to resent it because no one had tried to find Art.

No one had seemed to think his going at that time had any significance, or any bearing upon the murder, because he had been planning to leave, and had announced that he would go that day.
Jean's mind, as her bank account grew steadily to something approaching dignity, worked back and forth incessantly over the circumstances surrounding the murder, in spite of Lite's peculiar attitude toward the subject, which Jean felt but could not understand, since he invariably assured her that he believed her dad was innocent, when she asked him outright.
Sometimes, in the throes of literary composition, she could not think of the word that she wanted.