Part 17 (1/2)

”Certainly, sir!... And since I am not so stupid as you imagine, I can tell you now that I understand the drift of your questions, and can forestall them: Yes, all of these people--_my friends_!--have had opportunity to take the gun and the silencer from the cupboard since it was placed there last Sunday, if it _was_ placed there by Mrs. Selim.

But may I remind you, sir, that opportunity alone is not sufficient; that _motive_--”

”Since Mrs. Selim is dead, murdered by the weapon which was stolen, we can a.s.sume, Judge Marshall, that someone had motive,” Dundee reminded him implacably, for in his mind there was no doubt that the ballistics expert would bear him out.

There was a heavy, throbbing silence. The group that, with the exception of Dexter Sprague, had been so united, so cemented with long-sustained friends.h.i.+p, again dissolved visibly before Dundee's eyes into eleven individuals, each shrinking into himself, mentally drawing away from any possible contamination with a murderer....

”You have said, Judge Marshall,” Dundee went on at last, ”that Miss Crain and Mr. Sprague were not at your home for target practice Sunday.

Has either of them been in your home during this past week?”

”Penny--Miss Crain--spent an evening with my wife when I was--er--away from home on business. That was last Tuesday, I believe--”

”Yes, it was Tuesday, Hugo,” Penny Crain interrupted firmly. ”And Karen can vouch for the fact that I did not go into the gun room.”

”Don't be silly, Penny!” Carolyn Drake scolded, as if she had long been bursting to speak. ”Giving an alibi! As if _any_ of us who were playing bridge while that woman was being shot _needs_ any alibi!... But I'll tell you what _I_ think, Mr. Detective! I think Nita herself stole the gun and the silencer, to kill Dexter Sprague with, and that _he_ stole it from her and murdered _her_! n.o.body else has the slightest sc.r.a.p of a motive, and that note he wrote her ought to be enough to hang him on!”

Dexter Sprague had struggled to his feet during the woman's hysterical attack, his face like chalk, his eyes blazing. But Dundee waved him aside peremptorily.

”One more question, Judge Marshall,” he said suavely, as if he had not heard a word that Carolyn Drake had said. ”You knew Mrs. Selim before her arrival in Hamilton with Mrs. Dunlap, I believe.... Just when and where did you meet her?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

”You are d.a.m.ned impertinent, sir!” Judge Marshall shouted, the ends of his waxed grey mustache trembling with anger.

”Then I take it that you do not wish to divulge the circ.u.mstances of your friends.h.i.+p with Mrs. Selim?” Dundee asked.

”Friends.h.i.+p!” the old man snorted. ”Your implications, sir, are dastardly! I met Mrs. Selim, or rather, Nita Leigh, as she was introduced to me, only once, several years ago when I was in New York.

Naturally--”

”Just a moment, Judge. You say she was introduced to you as Nita Leigh.

Then you knew her as an actress, I presume?”

”I refuse to submit to such a cowardly attack, sir!”

”_Attack_, Judge?” Dundee repeated with a.s.sumed astonishment. ”I merely thought you might be able to shed a little light on the past of the woman who has been murdered here today, with a weapon you admit to having owned.... However--”

The elderly ex-judge stared at his tormentor for a moment as if murder was in his heart. He gasped twice, then suddenly his whole manner changed.

”I apologize, Dundee. You must realize how--But that is beside the point. I met Nita Leigh at--er--at a social gathering, arranged by some New York friends of mine. She was young, attractive, more refined than--er--than the average young woman in musical comedy. Naturally I told her if she was ever in Hamilton to look me up. And she did.”

”And because she was 'more refined than the average young woman in musical comedy'--than the average chorus girl, to put it simply,” Dundee took him up, ”you co-operated with Mrs. Dunlap to introduce her to your most intimate friends--including your wife?”

”Oh, Hugo! Why didn't you tell me?” Karen Marshall wailed.

”You see, sir, what you are doing!” Judge Marshall stormed.

”I am truly sorry if I have distressed you, Mrs. Marshall,” Dundee protested sincerely. ”But--” He shrugged and turned again to the husband. ”I understand you were Mrs. Selim's landlord.... May I ask how much rent she paid?”