THE VEIL IS LIFTED
Charlie turned to Tarneverro. In the deep-set eyes of the fortune-teller he saw a reluctant admiration. He smiled.
"I have been plenty dense," he said. "This woman is on the scene by no coincidence. When you set up as lifter of the veil in Hollywood, you needed - what? Spies - spies to scatter about the place, and bring you morsels of gossip regarding film people. Your brother's wife had suffered accident, she was no longer able to work at profession, she was penniless and alone. You sent for her. What more natural than that action? You helped her to position, that she might help you."
Tarneverro shrugged. "You have a remarkable imagination, Mr. Chan."
"No, no - you flatter me," Charlie cried. "It has just been proved I have not imagination enough. Only one claim I make for myself - when light at last begins to stream in, I do not close the shutters. Light is streaming in now. Anna's task was not alone to bring you trivial information - she was also to assist you in solving matter of Denny Mayo's murder. Was that why you placed her with Shelah Fane? Had you already some suspicion of Miss Fane? I think so. Yesterday morning in your apartment, actress confessed her misdeed to you. At once you inform Anna that victory has come. You are in high spirits. Your own intention is honest one, you plan to hand Miss Fane to police. Otherwise you would not say to me what you did in Grand Hotel lounge last night. Then - what happened?"
"You tell me, Inspector."
"Such is my purpose. You learn that Shelah Fane is murdered. Without being told, you know who did the deed. The position is hard one for you, but mind works fast as usual. You invent false story about your seance with Shelah Fane, and boost me off on wrong trail at once. You talk about mythical letter Miss Fane was to write for you. Then, to your surprise and dismay, you find real letter was written. It may wreck plans at once, so you strike me down and obtain epistle. Needless act, as it turns out. You rage about, destroying photographs of Mayo to conceal relationship with him. You seek to befuddle me by involving innocent parties. Oh, you have been busy man, Mr. Tarneverro. I might forgive you, but I find it difficult to forgive myself. Why have I been so stupid?"
"Who says you've been stupid, Charlie?" the Chief asked.
"I do, and I remark same with bitter force," Chan answered. "My little duel with this fortune-teller should have been finished long hours ago. Matter was clear enough. I knew he employed spies. I gathered - though I paid not enough attention to fact - that some one had been spying on Miss Fane in Tahiti and on returning boat. I learned that Anna here bought bonds - matter which might indicate more income than simple wage as maid. I listen to Tarneverro's alibi and feel certain he did not do murder himself. What, then, explains his actions? Natural inference for good detective would have been that he protects some one else. Who? I read in newspaper that Denny Mayo had wife. I discover Mayo was Tarneverro's brother, and I hear that Mayo was slain by hand of Shelah Fane. Later - crowning touch - I am told Mayo's wife encountered accident and can no longer follow profession. Do I put two and two together? Do I add up simple sum and get result? No - I fumble around - I flounder like decrepit fish - finally I slide into happy harbor of success." He turned suddenly on Anna, standing pale and silent before him. "For I am in that harbor. It is true, is it not, madam? You killed Shelah Fane!"
"I did," the woman answered.
"Don't be a fool, Anna," Tarneverro cried. "Fight it out."
She gestured hopelessly. "What's the use? I don't care. I've nothing to live for - it doesn't matter what becomes of me. Yes, I killed her. Why not? She -"
"Just a moment," the Chief broke in. "Anything you say, you know, may be used against you."
"You're a little late with that, Chief," Tarneverro said. "She should have a lawyer -"
"I don't want one," Anna went on sullenly. "I don't want any help. I killed her - she robbed me of my husband - she wasn't content to take his love - she ended by taking his life. I've had my revenge, and I'm willing to pay for it. I intend to plead guilty, and get it over with at once."
"Fine," approved the Chief. He saw the territory saved the expense of a long trial.
"You're mad, Anna," cried the fortune-teller.
She shrugged. "Don't mind me. I wrecked all your plans, I fancy. I spoiled everything for you. Forget me and go your way alone."
Her tone was bitter and cold, and Tarneverro, rebuffed, turned away from her. Charlie offered her a chair. "Sit down, madam. I desire to make brief interrogation. It is true that Tarneverro brought you to Hollywood?"
"Yes." She accepted the chair. "I'll take it from the beginning, if you like. While Denny was acting in the pictures, I continued to dance in London music-halls. I was doing well, when I had that accident - I broke my ankle - I couldn't dance any more. I wrote to Denny about it, and asked if I could come to him. I didn't receive any answer - and then I heard he had been killed.
"Arthur - Denny's brother here - was also playing in London at that time. He was kind to me - loaned me money - and then he told me he was going out to the States to learn who had killed poor Denny, if he could. After a time he wrote that he had set up in Hollywood as a fortune-teller, calling himself Tarneverro. He said he needed - help - that he could use me if I was willing to go into service. I had taken a position as wardrobe mistress with a manager for whom I used to dance. It was hard work - and the memories - I longed to get away from it all."
"So you went to Hollywood," prompted the Chief.
"I did, and I met Tarneverro secretly. He said he would place me with Miss Fane. He advised her to get rid of the maid she had, and sent me round the same day to apply for the position. He had discovered that Miss Fane and Denny were once - very close friends - and he thought I might be able to get on the trail of something in her house. He suggested that I change my appearance as much as possible - my way of doing my hair - he feared that Denny might have shown her pictures of me. I followed his instructions, but it was an unnecessary precaution. Denny - he must have lost my pictures - lost them or thrown them away. Miss Fane engaged me, and I was successful in the post. You see - I'd had maids myself. For a year and a half I was with her - helping Tarneverro. But I could discover nothing. Nothing about Denny, I mean.
"Yesterday afternoon Tarneverro and I met on the beach. He told me Shelah Fane had confessed to killing Denny - confessed it in his apartment that morning. He wanted to get a repetition of that confession with a witness to overhear - he planned it for last night in the pavilion. He would talk with her there alone, and I was to be hiding somewhere about. Then he proposed to send for an officer.
"I returned to this house, almost beside myself with hatred for the woman who had wrecked Denny's life - and mine. I got to thinking - sitting alone in my room. Tarneverro's plan began to look so very foolish to me. The police? I knew what one of your American juries would do with a woman like Shelah Fane - a beautiful, famous woman. They would never convict her - never. There were better ways than the police. I - I kept on thinking. I'm rather sorry I did."
Her eyes flashed. "No - I'm not. I'm glad. I planned it all out. Last night - during the party - that was the time. Plenty of people about - plenty of people who might have done it. I planned the alibi of the watch - I remembered it from a play in which Denny once acted. I was in the kitchen from twenty minutes before eight until ten after the hour. Jessop and the cook were there too. At eight-fifteen I located Shelah Fane in the pavilion - she was waiting there - waiting to make a good entrance on her party - as she always did. She was like that.
"I went to her room and got a knife - one she had bought in Tahiti. I wanted something to wrap it in - a handkerchief - a big one. The door of the blue room was open - I saw a man's clothes. I went in and took the handkerchief from the pocket of the coat - Mr. Bradshaw's coat, I think."
"Ah, yes," remarked Jimmy Bradshaw grimly. "Thanks for the ad."
"I went to the pavilion," Anna continued. "She didn't suspect. I came close to her -" The woman buried her face in her hands. "You won't make me tell
that part. Afterward I broke the watch in the handkerchief, put it back on her wrist. But there was no other evidence of a struggle, so I tore off the orchids and trampled them under foot. I went out and buried the knife deep in the sand - I heard voices on the beach - I was frightened. I ran to the house, and went up to my room by way of the back stairs."
"And the handkerchief?" Charlie inquired. "You gave that to Mr. Tarneverro when he arrived?"
"Just a moment," said the fortune-teller. "Anna - when did you and I last talk together alone?"
"On the beach, yesterday afternoon."
"Have we communicated with each other since that moment?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Have I heard you say before that you killed Shelah Fane?"
"No, you have not."
The fortune-teller looked at the Chief. "A little matter," he remarked, "that I am rather keen to bring out."
"But the handkerchief?" The Chief turned to Anna.
"I dropped it on the lawn. I - I wanted it to be found there." She glanced at Bradshaw. "It wasn't mine, you know."
"Very thoughtful of you," bowed the boy.
"On the lawn, precisely," said Tarneverro, "where I picked it up."
"And put it in my pocket," remarked Martino. "By the way, I haven't thanked you for that."
"Do not trouble," Chan advised him. "You were not the only one Mr. Tarneverro honored with his attentions."
The Chief went over to the woman's side. "Go upstairs," he said sternly. "And get ready. You'll have to go down-town with us. You can tell that story again - at the station." He nodded to Spencer to accompany her.
The woman rose, her manner sullen and defiant, and went from the room, with the policeman at her side.
"Well," said Ballou, "I guess we can all go now."
The Chief gave a sign of acquiescence. Wilkie and Rita left first, followed by Martino, Van Horn and Jaynes. The latter stopped to shake Charlie's hand.
"Thanks," he remarked in a low voice. "I shall make my boat. And on this boat - and all others in the future - I shall try to keep my head."
Diana went quietly up to her room. Chan turned to Julie.
"Go back to beach," he said gently. "Look up at stars, breathe clean fresh air and think of future happiness."
The girl gazed at him, wide-eyed. "Poor Shelah," she whispered.
"Shelah Fane's troubles over now," Chan reminded her. "Do poor lady great kindness, and forget. Jimmy here will help you."
Bradshaw nodded. "I certainly will." He put his arm about the girl. "Come on, Julie. One more look at the coco-palms, and then we're off for the coast, where trees are trees." They moved toward the French window. Bradshaw smiled at Chan over his shoulder. "So long, Charlie. I've got to go now and tone down my adjectives so they'll fit California."
They went out, and Chan turned back into the room to find his Chief staring speculatively at Tarneverro. "Well, Charlie," he remarked. "What are we going to do with our friend here?"
Chan did not answer, but thoughtfully rubbed his cheek. Tarneverro, seeing the gesture, smiled.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I've made you a lot of trouble, Inspector. But I was in a horrible position - you can realize that. Should I have handed Anna over to you at once? Perhaps, but as I told you last night, I saw immediately that I was responsible for the whole affair. Innocently so, of course, but none the less responsible. I ought never to have told her - but I wanted a witness. If only I had kept my discovery to myself."
"The man who looks back sees his mistakes piled up behind," Chan nodded.
"But I never dreamed Anna would lose her head like that. These women, Inspector."
"They are primitive creatures, these women."
"So it would seem. Anna has always been a strange, silent, unfriendly person. But there was one bond between us - we both loved Denny. When she proved last night how desperately she loved him - well, I couldn't betray her. Instead I fought my duel with you. Fought to the limit of my ability - and lost." He held out his hand.
Chan took it. "Only the churlish are mean-spirited in victory," he remarked.
The policeman in uniform looked through the curtains.
"Right with you, Spencer," said the Chief. "Mr. Tarneverro, you'd better come along. I'll talk to the Prosecutor about you. But you needn't be alarmed. We're not inclined to spend much money over here on chance visitors from the mainland."
Tarneverro bowed. "You're very encouraging."
"You got your car, Charlie?" the Chief asked.
"I have it," Chan told him.
The Chief and Tarneverro went into the hall, and presently Charlie heard the front door slam.
He stood for a moment looking about him at the bright room where his work was pau at last. Then, sighing ponderously, he stepped through the curtains and picked up his hat from a table in the hallway. Wu Kno-ching appeared suddenly from the dining-room.
Charlie gazed into the beady eyes, the withered yellow face of his compatriot.
"Tell me something, Wu," he said. "How was it I came upon this road? Why should one of our race concern himself with the hatreds and the misdeeds of the haoles?"
"Wha's mallah you?" Wu inquired.
"I am weary," sighed Chan. "I want peace now. A very trying case, good Wu Kno-ching. But" - he nodded, and a smile spread over his fat face - "as you know, my friend, a gem is not polished without rubbing nor a man perfected without trials."
The door closed gently behind him.
THE END
The Black Camel Page 26