Эрл Гарднер - The Case of the Lonely Heiress

“Those diamonds you’ve got on,” another voice said, “where did they come from?”

“I’ve told you where they came from. My mother was a nurse. She nursed George P. Endicott for months before he died. He knew he was going, along toward the last, and he gave her the family jewelry. He said there was no one to take over after he was gone.”

“Except two brothers and a sister.”

“He cared nothing about them. They never came to see him while he was in the sanitarium. It was only after he died that they became affectionate. Then they moved into his house and took charge of everything they could get their hands on.”

“Rather vindictive, aren’t you?” Sergeant Holcomb said.

“I’m simply trying to tell you the truth.”

“Okay,” a voice from the shadows said, “what about the diamonds?”

“These were some of the jewels. He gave them to my mother and I inherited them from my mother when she... when she passed away.”

A voice that was rasping and taunting, a voice which seemed only to make sneering, sarcastic, nasty remarks, came from far back in the shadows, hurtling another accusation at Marilyn Marlow. “Your mother was a nurse. She was nursing Endicott. She made a lot of dough when he kicked the bucket. How do you know she didn’t help ease him out of the picture?”

Marilyn Marlow started to get up out of the chair. “Are you accusing my mother of murder?” she blazed. “Why, you...”

A big hand clapped down on her shoulder and pushed her down. “Sit down, sister. Just answer questions. Never mind pouring on the abuse. Now, when did you see Rose Keeling last?”

“I... I can’t remember just when it was.”

“Saw her today, didn’t you?”

“I... I can’t remember just when... I saw her...”

“Oh, quit stalling. Bring that other dame in, Joe.”

A door opened. A woman came in who stood as a vague, indistinct object back in the very dim shadows beyond the brilliant light.

“Take a look at her,” a voice said. “Ever seen her before?”

Marilyn Marlow said, “I can’t see who it is.”

The sneering voice said, “ You ain’t the one we’re talking to. We’re talking to the witness. Ever seen this dame in the chair before? The one under the light?”

“Why, yes,” a woman’s well-modulated voice said.

“Okay, okay. Where did you see her?”

“She’s the woman I was telling you about, the one I described to you, the one I saw coming out of Rose Keeling’s flat, the one...”

“Hold it, hold it!” the voice cautioned. “Never mind spilling everything in front of the suspect here. But this is the jane you saw, the one you were telling us about previously?”

“Why, yes. That’s right.”

“Okay. That’s all. Take her out, Joe.”

The feminine figure was whisked out of the door.

“Okay, baby,” the voice said, “come on, let’s come clean. Let’s have it and get it over with.”

Marilyn Marlow, confused, said, “I tried to see Rose Keeling.”

“Sure you did. You went to her flat today. Okay, now, tell us what happened. And if you try to lie, that’ll put your pretty neck right in the middle of a hemp loop.”

“I... I just went there.”

“Don’t kid us like that. You went inside. This witness saw you coming down the stairs and leaving the place. She’s described the whole business. She just had an idea something might be wrong, and she was keeping an eye on everybody that came and went. We’ve got the whole timetable. Now, you try holding out on us and you’ll be inside looking out. You come clean and explain things satisfactorily and we’ll give you a break. We have to know that you’re on the up-and-up. Now, why didn’t you tell us you went to Rose Keeling’s flat?”

“I... well, I really didn’t see her.”

“What do you mean, you didn’t see her?”

“She...”

“Yes, go on.”

Sergeant Holcomb said irritably, “I tell you, we’re not going to get anywhere with the dame! She’s giving us the runaround. We’ve got everything we need on her, everything that happened. We know everybody who came and went, and the time they came and went, thanks to this witness.”

Marilyn Marlow said desperately, “I tell you, she was dead when I got there!”

The room suddenly became tense with a sudden silence. No one moved. No one spoke. It was for the moment as though no one breathed.

Marilyn Marlow plunged on desperately. “I went there to see her, I went up, and — well, she was dead.”

“How did you get in the door?”

“I had a key, but I didn’t have to use it. The door was open when I got back.”

“Who gave the key to you?”

“Rose. She wanted me to come up and go play tennis with her. She gave me a key so I could walk right in and go up the stairs.”

“What did you do with the key?”

“I left it on the table.”

“Then what happened to it?”

“I don’t know. I guess... someone could have taken it — anyone."

“Sure, sure!”

“I tell you, anyone could!”

“Okay. Let’s forget the key for the moment. What happened after you got in?”

“She was dead.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

“I... I didn’t want to get mixed up in it.”

“Well, you’re mixed up in it now. You’d better come clean What happened?”

“She was lying there on the floor just as... just as you found her.”

“Come on, come on,” the sneering voice said. “Don’t forget that we’ve got a tab on everyone that came and went. We want to know the truth with no more runaround. You’d better explain while the explaining is good!”

She said desperately, “Well, Mr. Mason came there at my suggestion.”

Once more there was one of those sudden tense silences.

“Go on,” the sneering voice said.

That silence had been too abrupt, too exultant. It suddenly occurred to Marilyn Marlow that she had given them information they had not had before, that in some way this thing was a plant. She said, “I don’t think I care to tell you anything else.”

“Now, ain’t that something!” the sneering voice said. “She traps herself. She admits she’s in the room with the murdered person. She admits she was there when the crime was committed and now she goes hotsy-totsy and says she doesn’t care to discuss it with us. Wouldn’t that jar you?”

“I wasn’t there when the crime was committed!”

“Oh, yes, you were, sister. Don’t try to lie out of it now. It’s too late.”

“I tell you I wasn’t!”

“Yeah, you claim you came in there afterwards. What did you do with the knife?”

“I tell you I didn’t have any knife. I didn’t have anything to do with it. I...”

“So you go call up Perry Mason,” Sergeant Holcomb interrupted. “And what did Mason do?”

“I tell you I’m not going to talk about things any more. If you want to get any statements out of me, I insist that I see my lawyer before I say anything.”

“No use locking the stable door after the horse’s been stolen,” Holcomb said. “You’ve admitted you were there. You’ve admitted you called Perry Mason and got him to come. Now then, what did you two hatch up? How did it happen that Mason slipped you out of there?”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“You said you called Mason up. How does it happen your fingerprints weren’t on the telephone receiver?”

She clamped her lips shut in a tight line.

Questions were coming at her now, thick and fast. Her eyes were weary from the pitiless glare of the brilliant light. Her ears ached with the words that were being bounced off her eardrums. Her nervous system was raw and quivering from the beating it had taken, and these incessant sneering questions pounding in on her consciousness made her cringe as though from a series of actual blows.