Part 21 (1/2)

”She's a clever one, all right,” pursued Greig. ”Went to Beard's house to get the letter that her brother had written! They were begging Whitmore for money. Don't you see the game? Whitmore turned them down.

So what was there to do except to kill him and get his estate?”

To the impressionable mind of Greig the evidence against Mrs. Collins was conclusive. The grave, complex problem that had baffled his superiors had suddenly simplified itself. A woman needed money; she could obtain it through another's death. What more reasonable than that she should go forth and slay him?

Britz's more penetrating mind, however, did not find the solution so easily. It discovered a mult.i.tude of contradictions which eluded the narrower vision of his subordinate. Nevertheless he was compelled to concede that the aspect of the entire case had changed, that Mrs.

Collins now loomed as a figure not to be disregarded.

”I understand that policemen were sent to clear the corridor outside of Ward's office?” inquired Britz.

”Yes,” responded Manning.

”Well, send a man down there to call off the police. Let him encourage the crowd to remain.”

The lines in Manning's forehead gathered in perplexity between his eyebrows.

”What are you going to do?” he asked.

”I'm going to put Mrs. Collins to the test.”

The chief and Greig watched Britz in a sort of dumb bewilderment while he lifted the telephone receiver off the hook and called up the Collins house. After five minutes of anxious waiting, a voice at the other end of the wire responded.

”Is Mrs. Collins at home?” asked Britz.

”Who wishes to speak with her?”

”This is Mr. Luckstone's office,” said the detective. ”Mr.

Luckstone--the attorney for Mr. Whitmore.”

Evidently a maid had answered the call, for a long silence ensued while the servant carried Britz's message to her mistress. Finally a voice at the other end of the wire said:

”This is Mrs. Collins!”

Britz pressed the receiver tightly to his ear, as if afraid that some word of hers might escape his hearing.

”Mr. Luckstone wishes me to say that Mr. Whitmore's will has been found,” said the detective.

If the woman realized the significance of the information, her voice did not betray it.

”Well?” she exclaimed, as if the subject held but a mild interest for her.

”Mr. Whitmore has named you as the chief beneficiary,” Britz continued in even tones. ”You have inherited practically his entire estate.”

The news provoked no cry of elation, no exclamation of surprise, no revealing remark of any kind. Simply a non-committal ”Yes!” It might have been the indifferent acceptance of information which she knew must eventually come to her; it might have been the meaningless affirmation of stunned surprise.

Britz decided he had accomplished his purpose, so he hung up the receiver without engaging in further parley.

”Setting one of your famous traps--eh?” beamed Manning.

”Yes--for the guilty one,” admitted Britz.