by Anne Austin
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
With the thrill of his discovery singing blithely along his nerves,Bonnie Dundee, Special Investigator for the District Attorney, had atfirst hugged the intention of following the new trail alone. Hadn'tCaptain Strawn taunted him not too good-naturedly about his ability toget along without the younger man's help?
But he was glad, both selfishly and unselfishly, when, half an hourlater, he threw open the front door of dead Nita's house to the chief ofthe Homicide Squad, Carraway, the fingerprint expert, and the twoplainclothesmen who had searched the top floor for the missing weapon orthe murderer himself soon after the murder had been committed. For ifStrawn needed his help, Dundee needed the expert machinery which Strawncaptained. And it was good to feel the grip of gratitude in the oldchief's handclasp and to see the almost shy twinkle of apology in hishard old grey eyes....
Dundee led the way up the front stairs to the upper floor, glad to hearthe heavy tread of official feet behind him.
"I guess you've got it all doped out who the Selim woman's gentlemanfriend was," Strawn commented genially, as he followed Dundee into thepleasant, big bedroom.
"I believe I have, but I need Carraway to prove my hunch," Dundeeacknowledged.
Eagerly, swiftly, he displayed his first tangible finds--the openwindows, the drapes smelling of cigarette smoke, the evening paper ofthe day before, the faint odor and greasiness of barber's pomade uponthe pillow case of the bed which had clearly been slept in since thelinen was changed.
"Now, Collins--Harmon--" Dundee whirled upon the two silentplainclothesmen, "I want to know what you saw in these rooms when yousearched them early this evening that you don't see now. You looked intothe closets and drawers, of course?"
"Yes, sir," Collins answered. "And they was all empty, Dundee. Me andHarmon didn't waste time smelling pillow cases, and I admit we didn'tpay no attention to that there newspaper--"
"_Empty!_" Dundee echoed. "Are you sure?... You, too, Harmon?"
"What are you driving at, boy?" Captain Strawn asked indulgently.
Briefly, with disappointment flattening his voice, Dundee told of hisfinding the kitchen door ajar, after he had made sure it was locked onhis first rounds of the house.
"I worked it out this way," he continued, despite Strawn's grin. "DexterSprague was Nita's lover, as I had thought all along. He was in thehabit of spending the night here whenever Nita would give him an eveningof her company. He was here last night, according to the maid, LydiaCarr. Nita sent her into Hamilton to a picture show. Nita and Spraguequarreled last night, but I am positive he spent the night here anyway.Certainly there was no actual rupture, since Sprague worded his note toher as he did. I have another strong reason for thinking his belongingswere here at least until noon today, but that can wait for the moment.Furthermore, I am positive that Sprague descended by the backstairs andwent around the house to join the cocktail party which was to follow thehen bridge party."
"How do you make that out, Bonnie?" Strawn asked, his grin wiped away.
"Try to remember how Sprague looked when you first got here," Dundeesuggested. "I saw him twenty minutes after you did, but--_he was wearingan immaculate stiff collar, and there were still traces of talcum powderover a close shave_! And you will remember that he said he had made ahalf hour's trip by bus, and had walked the quarter of a mile from thebus stop on Sheridan Road to this house. It was a mighty hot afternoon,chief!"
"Not conclusive," Strawn growled.
"Then here's another straw to add to the weight of my conclusion,"Dundee went on unshaken. "You remember that Janet Raymond was on thefront porch _watching for Sprague_, while the 'death hand of bridge' wasbeing played?... Oh, she tried to protect him.... Wait, I'll read youthe notes I made when I was questioning her. I looked them up while Iwas waiting for you.... Here! I had said to Miss Raymond: 'You observedMr. Sprague toiling down the rutty road, hot and weary, but romantic inthe sunset?' And she answered, stammering: 'I--I wasn't looking thatway....' And I knew she was lying, knew that she had been takencompletely by surprise when Sprague suddenly appeared _from the rear ofthe house_! What's more, she betrayed herself and him by admitting thatshe was surprised. Then--because the girl is undoubtedly in love withSprague and was mortally afraid he had killed Nita Selim, she triedfrantically to throw suspicion on Lydia Carr, by telling how Lydia hadfailed to answer Mrs. Dunlap's first ring--Good Lord! Wait a minute! Iwant to think!" he interrupted himself to exclaim.
After a full minute, while he had stood very still, with his fingerspressed against his closed eyes, Dundee began slowly:
"I believe that's it.... Listen, boys!" He turned to the twoplainclothesmen, urgent pleading in his voice. "Would you both take youroath that there was no bag--say a small Gladstone overnightbag--anywhere in these rooms when you searched them this evening?"
The two detectives glanced at each other, their faces reddening. It wasHarmon, the older of the pair, who swallowed hard before answering:
"We'd been told to look for a man hiding, and for a gun--" Then hesquared his shoulders as if to receive the blame like a man. "Yes, sir!There was a little black grip on the closet shelf. I went through itmyself, but there wasn't no gun in it. Just a pair of pajamas and acouple of shirts, one of 'em dirty, some socks and collars and ashaving-kit--"
Dundee drew a deep breath, and clapped the red-faced detective on theback in high good humor.
"There simply _had_ to be a bag somewhere!" he laughed.
"This is the way of it, Strawn.... Nita and Sprague rowed last night.Sprague tried to make it up, but Nita must have been through with him.Probably told him last night to clear his things out and not come back.She thought he had done so; probably he did leave before she got up. Atany rate she was so sure he was gone and his things with him that sheand Lydia went to town this morning and left Ralph Hammond here to gothrough the place as freely as he liked, making his estimates on the jobof finishing up the other half of this floor. And Ralph--but let thatwait for the moment."
"Got any real proof that it was Sprague who stayed here and not theHammond boy?" Strawn interrupted shrewdly.
"I'm coming to the proof," Dundee assured him, "or rather, the rest ofthe proof that I haven't already given you. You're damned hard toconvince, chief! But let me go on with my theory, which I think coversthe facts.... At luncheon, when Nita received that note from Sprague, Iimagine she got a hunch that he hadn't taken her seriously, that he hadnot removed his belongings. You remember Penny Crain said Nita had Lydiafollow her into her bedroom, as soon as Nita got home from theluncheon?... Well, it's my hunch that Nita asked Lydia if Sprague'sthings were gone when she cleaned these rooms this morning, and thatLydia said no. Nita then probably told Lydia to pack them herself, and Ifeel positive that Lydia did so, for she must have felt safe when sheprotested to me that Sprague was not Nita's lover. I also feel sure thatSprague arrived at least half an hour before he said he did, by someback path across the meadow; that he came up to these rooms that heconsidered his, found his things packed, but went about shaving andchanging his shirt and collar, regardless. I also feel sure that Lydiafollowed him upstairs to explain and impress upon him that Nita hadmeant what she said. And it is quite likely that she was not throughpicking up after him when he descended by the back stairs and surprisedJanet Raymond on the front porch. That accounts, of course, for Lydia'snot hearing the kitchen bell the first time Mrs. Dunlap rang."
"Umm," Strawn grunted. "What about the proofs you're holding back?"
"Come along, chief--you, too, Carraway!" Dundee answered, and led theway into the bathroom. "I felt sure these rooms would yield a verydefinite clue, even though Sprague, when he sneaked back tonight to gethis tell-tale bag, apparently made every effort to wipe his fingerprintsoff the furniture and bathroom fixtures.... Now, Carraway, if you'llstep upon this little stool and look along the top of this medicinecabinet, you'll find what I found--and didn't touch."
The fingerprint expert did as he was told. When he stepped down he washoldi
ng, between the very tips of his fingers, a safety razor blade.
"No dust on it, you see," Dundee pointed out. "Now if you don't findDexter Sprague's fingerprints on it, my whole theory topples."
"How am I going to know whose fingerprints they are till we get hold ofSprague?" Carraway asked reasonably.
"We don't need him--for that purpose, at least," Dundee assured him."Downstairs in the living room, on a little table in the southeastcorner of the room, you'll find a red glass ashtray which no one butDexter Sprague used all evening. It was clean and empty when I saw himuse it first. I think you'll find on it all the prints you need."
"So you think Sprague killed her because she was through with him?"Strawn asked.
Dundee shook his head. "Since I don't like Dexter Sprague a little bit,chief, I'd like to think so, but--"