Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Duplicate Daughter

“It didn’t take Vera long to run down what had happened. That was where Vera Martel tried the double-cross which turned out to be her death trap. Hartley Elliott thought they were either going to blackmail Nancy or sell information to Roger Calhoun.

“But Vera learned that John Yerman Hassell had left a sizable bequest in his will to whatever offspring Nancy might have during the six-month period following her affair with him. She learned that Nancy had very quietly convinced the Hassell heirs that Glamis was really the daughter of Hassell and had received a settlement. This is a tricky legal point. She didn’t receive the inheritance; she received a settlement from the heirs.

“Also bear in mind that Maureen had never been formally adopted. The Monroes had simply palmed her off as their natural daughter.

“So Vera Martel began to wonder why it wouldn’t be better to tell her accomplice she was working only on the blackmail angle but cut herself in on the real gravy by telling Maureen she thought there was some property Maureen didn’t know about which Vera could recover. And so she paid Maureen ten thousand dollars for a half interest in all of this property.

“Maureen accepted the offer— Actually, her father, G. W. Monroe, didn’t know anything about the transaction. He had come to Redding that night for an entirely different purpose.

“It wasn’t until several days had passed that he learned what had happened from Maureen, then he told Maureen she was adopted.

“Suddenly Maureen found herself in an impossible situation. She was a foundling child who had been informally adopted into a wealthy family, but she was undoubtedly illegitimate. She knew that the Kimberlys would never consent to their socially prominent son marrying an illegitimate child, so Maureen started frantically hunting for Vera Martel.

“In order to find out just what Vera had in mind, Maureen trailed her. She trailed her to the Gilman residence where Vera had gone to have a showdown with Glamis. Glamis didn’t know anything at all about what was happening, but Carter Gilman did know that Vera, a private detective, had been making inquiries about his wife and had been quietly trying to find out something about her background. So Gilman decided to consult you and telephoned for an appointment.

“Maureen followed Vera to the Gilman residence; Vera hurried back to the garage, walked through the darkroom and into the workshop where she was to meet her accomplice and arrange to bring Glamis and Nancy in for a showdown.

“Maureen followed Vera right into the room, accused Vera of being a crook, threw the ten thousand dollars in her face, then ran out of the workshop and around the house, jumped in her car and drove away. Later on she got a passkey somehow, went to Vera’s Las Vegas office, let herself in and wrecked the place looking for the documentary evidence Vera had. She finally found it and then went to the casino and gambled for a while before she took a plane back to Redding.

“Hartley Elliott was meeting Vera in the garage. The run-down battery was all part of the plan. He gave her the result of what information he had been able to acquire and was to give her more last-minute instructions. When he heard Maureen coming he hid in the shadows of the darkroom. After Maureen had left, Hartley, of course, realized that Vera had sold him out. Regardless of the fact Maureen had tried to return the ten thousand, Vera Martel had her signature on a document of assignment. Elliott became enraged at the double-cross and started choking Vera. He says in his confession he never intended to kill her but only to discipline her and make her afraid of him, and that probably is true. However, he did choke her to death. When he saw she was dead he crammed her body into the trunk of Gilman’s automobile. Then he saw Gilman coming out of the house, so Elliott slipped into the darkroom and hid. Then, when Gilman passed through the darkroom and entered the workshop, Elliott dashed out of the darkroom, down the driveway, back in the front door and up to his room. Naturally, he had no opportunity to pick up the money that had been flung all over the floor of the workroom.”

Della Street said, “So Gilman must have seen Vera Martel as she entered the garage.”

“That’s right,” Drake said. “He was eating breakfast and reading the paper. He looked up just as Vera Martel went into the darkroom. That bothered him. Then, later on, he saw Maureen running out of the workshop and, of course, he thought it was Glamis.

“Gilman wanted to go out and investigate but he had to get rid of Muriell, so he asked her to cook some food which he didn’t really want. Muriell, however, knowing he had eaten enough, stalled around, hoping he would countermand the order.

“Gilman finally got out to the workshop, found the money all over the floor and the signs of struggle. He jumped in his car, drove around looking for Vera. He found where her car was parked but he couldn’t find her. It never occurred to him that her body was actually in the trunk of his car. When he couldn’t find Vera he drove his car to the place where he usually caught the bus, parked it and took the bus to town.

“Hartley Elliott had Vera’s car keys and her purse. He first wanted to move Vera’s car, then he could hardly believe his good luck when he found Gilman’s car parked at the bus stop.

“He short-circuited the switch, started the car, drove to the mountain road, concealed Vera’s body, then returned Gilman’s car to the place where it had been parked, got in Vera’s car, drove up to where he had left the body, put Vera’s body in the car, drove the car over the cliff, hitch-hiked back and went about his business. He felt certain that when the body was found it would either be considered accidental death or, if it was considered homicide, Carter Gilman would be the one who took the rap.

“In the meantime, Elliott now had information that would enable him to blackmail several people but he didn’t dare make a move until the hue and cry over Vera’s death had died down.”

“How did they get a confession out of Elliott?” Mason asked.

“You can thank Lieutenant Tragg for that,” Drake said. “Tragg began to put two and two together and that stay in the tank on the contempt charge had really taken the starch out of Elliott. He caved in once they began to pour the questions at him.”

“And Maureen?” Della Street asked sympathetically.

“Apparently,” Drake said, “the Kimberlys are real people. According to latest reports, Harvey Kimberly is standing by Maureen and the family is standing by both of them. The wedding is going ahead as planned.”

Perry Mason took a long breath. “Well,” he said, “it just goes to show that a lawyer should always keep fighting.”

Della Street looked at him with an admiration that was almost worshipful. “Did you,” she asked, “have any idea of this?”

“I began to consider it a definite possibility,” Mason said, “when I kept thinking about the peculiar chart run by Nancy Gilman when she took that lie-detector test and was asked about a daughter.

“There could be no question that Glamis Barlow was her daughter and yet, when she answered the question that she had had a daughter, the chart showed an emotional disturbance indicating she was lying.

“But I confess it wasn’t until after I had finished talking with Alan Hancock on the phone that the definite possibilities of the situation began to dawn on me. Even at that, I had to stake everything on a gamble.”

“That took nerve,” Drake said admiringly.

Mason shook his head. “There was only one way to go,” he said. “If I had stopped I’d have been engulfed, and if I’d gone any other way I’d have fallen over a precipice... In fact, that’s the only technique to use... when you get in a fight, keep moving.”