I went to the apartment house where Marian was staying and scouted around for fifteen minutes before I went in. By that time I was pretty well satisfied the place wasn’t being watched.
Marian answered my knock. When she saw who it was, she flung her arms around me and squealed, “Oh, Donald, I’m so glad to see you!”
I patted her shoulder, kicked the door shut behind me, and said, “How are things coming?”
“Swell,” she said. “Everybody’s being wonderful to me. Sometimes I feel like an awful heel not telling them — you know, the—”
I said, “Forget it. You want the murderer to be brought to justice, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you told them the truth, some smart shyster attorney would tie you up into knots and make a jury, think you were the one who had committed the murder.”
“But they couldn’t. I didn’t have any motive for murdering her.”
“I know,” I said. “They might not convict you of murder, but the guilty party would get away. Sit down. I want to talk with you.”
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I’ve missed you so much, and Mrs. Cool has been just frantic. You know, she depends on you a lot. I think she’d be lost without you.”
I said, “How about it, Marian? Have they showed you any photographs yet that you can identify?”
“No. They’ve been trying to find out who her friends were. Mr. Ellis, the deputy district attorney, says that he thinks he’ll break the case wide open within another twenty-four hours.”
“That’s nice. Just where was this man when you saw him, Marian? In the hall, coming towards you?”
“No, no, not in the hall. He was just coming out of the apartment. He was pulling the door shut behind him.”
“You mean some apartment down at that end of the hall?”
“No, I mean apartment 309, the one where the body was found. There can’t be any doubt about it. I’ve gone over and over the thing in my mind.”
“Have you,” I asked, “given the district attorney’s office a written statement yet?”
“They’re preparing one. I’m to sign it late this afternoon.”
I said, “Come over here, Marian. I want to talk with you.” I patted the arm of my chair, and she came over and sat down. I slipped an arm around her waist and held her hand. “Want to do something for me?” I asked.
She said, “I’d do anything for you.”
I said, “This isn’t going to be easy.”
She said, “If it helps you, it’ll be easy.”
I said, “You’ll have to be darned clever to put this across and make it stick. You’ll have to keep your wits about you.”
“What is it?”
I said, “When you see the deputy district attorney this afternoon, tell him you’ve thought of something else.”
“What?”
“When you approached the apartment house the first time, before you’d gone in to see the manager and just as you were parking your car, you saw a man come out. He was six feet tall with broad shoulders. He had thick, black eyebrows and grey eyes that were close together. Because his face was so beefy, it made the close-set eyes more noticeable. It’s rather a flat face. There was a mole on the right cheek. He had a cleft chin, long arms and big hands, and he was walking very, very rapidly.”
“But, Donald, I can’t say that now after—”
“Yes, you can,” I interrupted. “You’ve been thinking this thing over. You’ve been trying to reconstruct it in your mind. You noticed this man at the time because he seemed to be in such a hurry, seemed to be almost running, and it was unusual to see a big man walking so rapidly. Then, of course, the mental shock of finding Evaline Harris chased a lot of things out of your memory. You had to go back and put events together bit by bit so they made a logical sequence.”
She said, “Why, that’s almost exactly what the deputy district attorney told me I’d have to do.”
I said, “Sure it is. They see lots of witnesses who have suffered mental shock, and they understand what has to be done.”
She said, “I don’t want to do that. It seems unfair. They’ve been so nice to me in the district attorney’s office — I’d have to change the story afterwards when I got on the witness stand. You wouldn’t want me to commit perjury, would you?”
I said, “Don’t you see, Marian? If you tell them this, it will give me more time. They don’t want you to sign that written statement until you have everything in it. If you sign it and then something else comes up, a smart criminal lawyer might trap you. He’d ask whether you’d signed a statement and ask you what was in it — demand that it be produced in court. For that reason the district attorney’s office doesn’t want to break the case until they’re sure you’ve thought of everything.”
“Then they’d incorporate this in that statement, and I’d have to sign it?”
“No. You wouldn’t have to sign it,” I said. “I need the time that can be gained while they’re making out a new statement, that’s all. If you sign that statement this afternoon, they’ll break the case tonight, but if you tell them this, they’ll dictate some more stuff to go in the statement and ask you to come back tomorrow to sign it.”
She hesitated.
I heaved an audible sigh and said, “Forget it, if it bothers you. I’m in a jam. I thought perhaps you could help me out. I didn’t realize how it would seem looking at it from your angle. I’ll work out something else.”
I got up and started for the door. I’d made two steps when I heard the sound of quick motion behind me, and her arms were around my neck. “No, no, don’t go away! Don’t be like that! Of course I’ll do it for you. I told you I would.”
I said, “I’m afraid you aren’t the type who could make it stick. You would get trapped somewhere.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “I can do it so naturally and easily that no one will ever suspect. Mr. Ellis likes me. I think he likes me a lot.”
“Do you like him?” I asked.
“He’s nice.”
I said, “If you could do it, Marian, it would be a big help to me.”
“When do I do it?”
“Right now,” I said. “Put on your things, get in a taxi, and go up to the district attorney’s office. Tell this deputy you’ve thought of something else, and tell him about this man. Tell him you thought he might want to put it in the statement.”
She said, “I’ll go right away. Will you come with me?”
“No. I want to keep out of the picture. Don’t say anything about me.”
She ran over to the dresser, patted her hair into place, touched up her lips with lipstick, patted a powder puff over her cheeks, and said, “I’ll go right now. Will you wait here until I get back?”
“Yes.”
“There are some magazines over there and—”
“Never mind the magazines,” I said. “I want to sleep.”
“All right. Donald, what’s happened to your nose? It’s bleeding.
I pulled a fresh handkerchief out of my pocket and said, “It got hurt. It’s been bleeding every hour or two since.”
“It looks all swollen and red — and sore.”
“It is swollen and red,” I said, “and the reason it looks sore is because it is sore.”
She laughed and said, “You must be hard to get along with. First it was a black eye, and now it’s a swollen nose.”
She perched a hat that looked like an inverted flower pot on one side of her head and slipped into a coat.
I said, “How about a taxi? Do you have a phone?”
“Oh, yes, but I can pick one up at the boulevard.”
“Better phone,” I said. “Then the cab will be here by the time you get downstairs.”
She phoned for a taxi, and I pulled up a chair to nut my feet on, and slid down into the cushions of the big chair in which I was sitting.
“Now let’s get this straight,” I said. “Just what are you going to do?”
“Why, tell them exactly what you told me to.”
“And you won’t break down in the middle of it, and get confused, and then when they start questioning you, tell them that you’re doing something someone told you to do, and then start bawling and tell them about me?”
“No, of course not.”
“How do you know you won’t?”
“Because I can lie when I have to.”
“Ever had any experience?” I asked.
“Lots.”
“Those were little fibs,” I said. “This is going to be different. You’ll be lying to a lawyer.”
She said, “No. Mr. Ellis will believe me. That’s what’s going to make it so hard, but he’ll have confidence in me. He’ll take anything I say as gospel truth. He’s awfully nice. I think he likes me, Donald.”
I said, “He may be nice, but he’s a lawyer. Once you arouse his suspicions, he’ll pounce on you like a terrier pouncing on a rat. Now what are you going to tell him?”
“That when I went to the apartment house the first time, I saw this other man coming out, that I hadn’t thought it was important before, but now I’ve been trying to think of everything, and there was something about this man — about the way he acted that aroused my suspicions.”
“What did he look like?”
“He was a big man with broad shoulders and thick bushy, black eyebrows. His eyes were sort of close together, and there was a cleft in his chin. There was a mole on one of his cheeks. I think it was the right.”
“What aroused your suspicions?”
“Well, you can’t exactly call it that. I noticed him at the time just because I thought there was something unusual about him. Then the shock of finding the body gave me such a mental jolt that it’s taken me some time to put things together again. I think this man just slipped my mind.”
“You had no idea that a murder had been committed?”
“No, of course not.”
“What made you notice him then?”
“Well, it was something about the way he was walking. He was a big man, and he was walking awfully fast, almost running. And he may have looked back over his shoulder. Anyway, there was something that made me think he was afraid, or something and he looked at me in the most peculiar way. It gave me the creeps.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
Her eyes, big, wide, and innocent, looked into mine. “Why, I’ve already told you, Mr. Ellis, because it was such a shock finding the body.”
“You might add something,” I said, “about the strain of being questioned.”
Her eyes smiled at me. “No.” she said. “He knows it’s not a strain.”
“Are you vamping him?”
She considered the coral tips of her fingers. “Well,” she said slowly, “he’s throwing a mantle of masculine protection about my shoulders, and I’m depending on him. He likes me, and I think he’s nice.”
I said, “All right. Your cab should be downstairs now. Wake me up as soon as you get back, and, no matter what happens, come straight back here. Make that interview just as short as you can.”
“I will,” she promised.
I closed my eyes and relaxed. I heard her moving around quietly so as not to disturb me. After a while I heard the door open and close.
I woke up a couple of times just enough to shift my position, and then dozed off again. After a while the chair cramped my limbs, but I was too numbed with sleep to care.
I didn’t hear the key click in the door when she came back. The first I knew was when she was on the arm of my chair saying, “You poor darling! I’ll bet you’re tired out.”
I opened my eyes, closed them again to shut out the light, and took my feet down off the chair. I felt her finger tips, soft and cool, on my forehead, caressing back my hair, stroking my eyelids. Gradually I came back to reality. I opened my eyes and said, somewhat thickly, “Did you do it?”
“Yes.”
I found her hand and took it in mine. “How about it?” I asked. “Did it go across?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did they believe it?”
“Why, of course they believed it. I told them just what you told me to. You didn’t think I could put it across, but I did. I was very convincing.”
“What happened?” I asked. Did you get any more on the Santa Carlotta angle?”
“Yes,” she said. “Mr. Ellis telephoned Santa Carlotta right away. He said that they’d been waiting to see my written statement. When this new angle turned up, he knew they’d want to be advised.”
“You don’t know what was said at the Santa Carlotta end of the wire?”
“Apparently nothing,” she said. “Mr. Ellis was just reporting. He told me Santa Carlotta thought the case might have a local angle.”
“He didn’t say what the local angle was, did he?”
“No.”
“Do you think he knew?”
“Yes, I think so. It was something he’d evidently discussed with the police there.”
I said, “That’s fine. Now, what’s Mr. Ellis doing to protect you?”
“To protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Why, what do you mean?”
“Don’t you see?” I said. “Someone murdered Evaline Harris. It was cruel, ruthless, premeditated murder. The police are virtually without clues, except those you’ve been able to give. When the murderer feels the net tightening about him, the logical thing for him to do is to—” I broke off as I saw the expression on her face. I said, “I was wondering what Mr. Ellis is doing about that.”
“Why,” she said, with a dismayed look, “I don’t think it’s even occurred to him.”
I looked at my watch, and said, “Well, it’s going to occur to him now. I’m going to get in touch with him. You stay right here.”
“I could telephone him,” she said.
“No,” I said. “That’s exactly what I don’t want you to do. You sit right here and don’t say anything. I’m going up to see Mr. Ellis and have a talk with him. I don’t care how nice he is, but he has a crust not arranging for your protection — after all the help you’ve given him, too.”
She said, “I just can’t believe that I’m in any danger, but I see your point.”
I said, “You sit tight. Don’t do a thing. Promise me you won’t leave this apartment until I get back.”
“I promise,” she said.
I went over to the mirror, straightened my hair with a pocket comb, picked up my hat, and said, “Remember, don’t go out until I get back.”
I went down as far as the corner, went into a drugstore, telephoned police headquarters, and asked for Homicide. After a while, a voice said, in a bored monotone, “Yeah, this is Homicide.”
I said, in a rapid voice, “This is a tip-off. I’d be in a jam if anyone knew I was giving it. Don’t ask my name, and don’t try to trace the call.”
The voice at the other end of the line said, “Just a minute, I’ll get a pencil and paper.”
I said, “Nix on that stuff. I told you not to try to trace the call. Get a load of this right now if you want it. If you don’t, hang up. When your dicks were making that investigation down at the Blue Cave, they learned everything except about the big beefy guy with the close-set, grey eyes and the mole on his right cheek. Orders have been passed around to lay off of him. No one talked about him. If you want to solve that case, you’d better give the girls at the Blue Cave a real shakedown. Ask some specific questions and find out why they were instructed not to say anything about this egg to your investigators.”
I slammed up the telephone and walked out. I waited another half-hour, hanging around where I could watch the entrance of the apartment house, smoking cigarettes and thinking. It began to get dark and the street lights were turned on.
I went back to Marian Dunton’s apartment and knocked excitedly on the door.
She opened it and said, “Gee, I’m glad you’re back! I felt — sort of frightened sitting here alone.”
“You should,” I said. “The D.A.’s office pulled a boner.”
“What do you mean?”
“Letting it out about that man whom you described. He’s suddenly become the important figure in the case. They’ve traced him back to the Blue Cave and found that he was friendly with the girl that was killed.”
She said, “But I didn’t really see him. You made that up.”
“Perhaps you did see him,” I said, “but just didn’t think of it at the time.”
“No. I didn’t see him. Anyway, I don’t remember having seen him.”
“Well, he was there all right, and he’s the important figure in the case. If you ask me, I don’t think that other man you saw had anything to do with it. He didn’t look like a murderer, did he?”
“No. He most certainly didn’t. I told Mr. Ellis about that. He looked very grave and dignified and respectable, but the more I think of it, the more I think he acted frightened.”
“You probably acted frightened yourself,” I said. “Suppose someone had seen you coming out of that apartment?”
“I know,” she said. “I’ve thought of that a lot.”
“All right,” I said. “I’ve seen Mr. Ellis. I put the cards on the table. I told him exactly who I was and what I was doing and what my interest in the case was, and I told him that I was interested in you. He gave me the job of putting you in a safe place.”
“In a safe place?”
“Yes. They don’t think this place is safe. Too many people know of it. They don’t want to put a guard here because that will attract attention. They d prefer to have you go someplace under another name. I told him I’d take care of it.”
“When?” she asked.
“Right away,” I said.
“I’ll put some things in a bag, and—”
“No, you won’t either,” I said. “I’ll come back and get the things. This case is breaking fast. There isn’t a minute to lose.”
“But Donald, surely nothing could happen while you’re here, and—”
“Don’t ever kid yourself it couldn’t,” I said. “Every minute you stay here you’re in danger. I broke a dozen speed laws getting here. Come on. We can pick up stuff later on.” I took her elbow and eased her gently towards the door.
“But, Donald, I don’t see why I can’t get some things together.”
I said, “Please, Marian, have confidence in me. Don’t ask questions and don’t argue. This means a lot to me.”
She said, “All right. Let’s go.”
We went down the stairs, out the back way through the alley, and around to where I had the agency heap parked. It took me a little while to get it started. I drove directly around to my rooming-house.
“You sit here,” I said. “Don’t get out of the car. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I ran in and found Mrs. Eldridge.
“We’re going to need that room again, Mrs. Eldridge,” I said. “My cousin’s boy friend didn’t show up. His boat has been delayed. It won’t be in for two or three days yet.”
“How about the young man’s mother?”
“She’s been staying there for the last day or two, but some relatives came in, and the beds are all taken.”
She said, “All right. She can move back in the same room. How long will you want it?”
“Four or five days.”
“Give me three dollars now,” she said.
I gave it to her and took a receipt. Then I went out and got Marian. I said, “You’re going to stay here again for a while, Marian. I want to be where I can watch you.”
“I feel safe here, Donald. It gets pretty lonely being around a big city where you don’t know anyone.”
“I know,” I said.
She said, “I was hoping that when you got back, I’d see more of you. I was lonely — I missed you lots.”
I said, “I have a little work to do, then we’ll go out and take in a movie, and get some dinner. Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Swell,” I said. “Give me about an hour, and I’ll be back. We’ll go out and get something to eat and see a show.”
“How about my things?” she asked.
I said, “I’ll go up and put your things in a suitcase.”
She said, “No, no. Don’t do that, Donald. I’ll do that later on, but there’s some silk pyjamas, and a dressing-gown, and a toothbrush, and a little overnight case with some creams and lotions in it — don’t try to bring anything else, just that. Please, Donald.”
I said, “That’s swell. Give me your key.”
“I want to go with you. I want to pack my things myself.”
“It isn’t safe, Marian. Can’t you understand? I promised Mr. Ellis. He’s holding me responsible. If anything happens, it would get me in Dutch with him.”
“Well, all right,” she said reluctantly.
She gave me the key to her apartment. I said, “In about an hour. So long.”
“So long,” she said.
I said, “Better check up on the towels, and make sure everything is all right.”
She said, “Oh, but it is. I know. I enjoyed being here before. I didn’t want to move out, but Mrs. Cool insisted—”
I said, “Okay. Check up on the towels just the same.”
She went over to the bureau drawer to look for towels, and I slipped her purse under my coat.
“Well, I’ll be seeing you,” I said.
I went back to the agency car, climbed in it, and drove to Marian’s apartment. I let myself in, switched on the lights, and went through her purse. There was a compact, lipstick, thirty-seven dollars in currency, some cards printed in the rough-and-ready style of the country newspaper with pale greyish ink in an old English type: Miss Marian Jean Dunton. There was a lead pencil, a notebook, a handkerchief, and a key ring with some keys on it that I figured opened doors in Oakview.
I opened the purse and dropped it on the floor. I upset one of the chairs, twisted a rug into a ball, and threw it into a corner. Over near the door, I tapped myself on my sore nose with the side of my hand.
The damn thing wouldn’t bleed. It had been bleeding at intervals all afternoon. Now that I wanted it to, I couldn’t get it started. Tears smarted my eyes, but my sore nose was as dry as a wildcat oil well.
I screwed up my nerve and tried it again. This time I got results, Blood spilled out, and I walked around the apartment, making certain that a few drops would be where they’d do the most good. Then I had a job stopping it. After a while I got it stopped and started for the door.
The telephone bell shattered the silence.
I walked out and pulled the door shut behind me, leaving the telephone ringing mechanically at regular intervals.
I drove to a drugstore that I knew had a telephone booth. I bought a dozen fresh handkerchiefs, went into the telephone booth, and placed a station-to-station call for the Santa Carlotta police station. When I had them on the line, I said, “Let me talk to Sergeant Harbet, please.”
“Who is this talking?”
“Detective Smith, Homicide, Los Angeles,” I said.
“Just a minute.”
I waited about a minute, and then the operator said, “Sergeant Harbet should be in your office now, Smith. He got a call from the district attorney late this afternoon, and left at once for Los Angeles.”
I said, “Thanks. Guess he stopped to get a bite to eat. I want to see him,” and hung up.
Things were breaking swell for me.
I called Bertha Cool and said, “Everything’s under control. Sit tight. Don’t get stampeded, and don’t know anything about me.”
“Donald, what the hell are you doing now?” she asked.
“Scrambling eggs,” I said.
“Well, keep your nose clean. You’re clever, but you sure as hell do take chances.”
“I’m on my own now,” I said. “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”
She said, “I know so much now I hurt all over.”
I hung up, went back to my rooming-house, and knocked on Marian’s door. She opened it, and I said, “Hi, beautiful. I’ve just had a break. Bertha’s given me a night off. I won’t even have to worry about reporting. We can go out and do things.
“I’ll have to wait to get your things. I drove to your apartment house, but a couple of men were out front watching the place. I’ll have to wait until the coast is clear and try again.”
She said, “Donald, I’ve lost my purse.”
I walked in and propped the door open with a chair. “How come?” I asked.
She said, very determinedly, “Someone took it out of this room.”
“Nonsense.”
“But someone did! ”
“This is a respectable rooming-house. Mrs. Eldridge wouldn’t have anyone in here who—”
“I can’t help that. I had it when I left the apartment. I’m quite certain that I brought it up here with me.”
I pursed my lips into a whistle and said, “That’s bad. I bet you left it in the agency car, and I’ve had the car parked around in a dozen different places on the street. What was in it?”
“Every cent I had in the world.”
“How much?”
“All that I had.”
I said, “Well, the D.A.’s office told me to take care of your expenses, and I can let you have an advance.”
She walked very determinedly over to the chair, jerked it out from under the knob of the door, and slammed the door shut.
I said, “Wait a minute. Your good name will be ruined. Mrs. Eldridge will kick you out for that. She’s the kind who puts her offspring out in snowstorms and—”
Marian Dunton came walking over to me. “Now, you look here, Donald Lam,” she said. “I’d do almost anything for you. You’ve been treating me like an unsophisticated little country girl. I suppose I am, but at least I have some human intelligence. You’ve been nice to me, and I like you, and I have confidence in you, but you can’t steal my purse and get away with it.”
“Steal your purse!” I said.
“Yes, steal my purse. I know you’re a detective. I know you’re doing things that you don’t want me to know anything about. I know that you’ve been using me to have the case break the way you want it to break. I figure you’re entitled to that much. You gave me the right steer from the start, but you’ve been lying to me all afternoon, and I don’t like it.”
I raised my eyebrows, and said, “Lying to you?”
“Yes, lying to me,” she said. “I don’t think you even went to the district attorney’s office. I think you just hung around the apartment house.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You told me about how you’d been breaking speed laws,” she said, “but your car was stone cold when you tried to start it. You had to use the choke, and nurse it along. I know you never even went near Mr. Ellis. If you want to know how I know, he called me up not more than five minutes before you came back and asked me if I could meet him at his office at ten-thirty tonight. He said some officers from Santa Carlotta were going to be there, and he wanted me to look at a photograph. He didn’t say a single thing about you being there or about all that hocus-pocus that you dished out.
“That’s okay by me. I have enough confidence in you so that if you don’t want to take me into your confidence, I’ll play the game the way you want. But when you steal my purse, that’s just too much. I had it here in this room when you were here. You walked out, and now it’s gone.”
I dropped into a chair and began to laugh.
There was indignation in her eyes.
“It’s no laughing matter,” she said.
I said, “Listen, Marian. I want you to do one more thing for me.”
“I’ve done a lot for you already,” she said.
“I know you have. This is going to be hard for you to do, but I want you to do it.”
“What?” she asked.
“Believe every word that I’ve told you.”
She said. “You’re a city detective and are supposed to know all the answers, but you must think the country is a backwoods. I’d certainly have to be dumb to believe all you’ve told me.”
“If you believe it,” I said, “and there’s any jam, I’m the one who’s responsible. If you conspire with me, then you’ve stuck your neck out. Don’t you see?”
The indignation faded from her eyes. There was apprehension. “What are you getting into?” she asked.
I met her eyes and said, “I m darned if I know.”
She thought for a while, then said, “Okay. But it makes me look awfully dumb. Under those circumstances, we go to dinner and a movie. What do I do for money?”
I took a wallet from my pocket and handed her some of Bertha Cool’s expense money.
“And how about clothes?” she asked.
I said, “You buy a new wardrobe — such as you have to have for the next day or two. And one more thing, Miss Dunton. When I was talking with Mr. Ellis, he said that he thought it would be a bad plan for you to read the newspapers for the next few days.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Well, be said that there would be things in it about this case, and that he didn’t want you to get a lot of erroneous ideas fixed in your mind from reading the stuff the newspapers would be publishing.”
She looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes and said, “Well, I certainly will do exactly as Mr. Ellis suggested. If he doesn’t want me to read the papers, then I won’t read them.”
“That’s fine. I know he’ll appreciate it.”
“Was there anything else Mr. Ellis asked you to tell me?” she asked.
“If there was, I can’t think of it now. I—”
I was interrupted by an indignant pounding on the door. I walked over and opened it. Mrs. Eldridge was glaring at me from the threshold. She didn’t say a word, but pushed the door open, took a chair, slammed it down so that it held the door open, turned, and pounded down the corridor.
Marian Dunton looked at me and burst out laughing.