The chief operator says OK.
I then go back to my hotel an' give myself a swell cigar. First of all it is quite plain to me that this second story of Burdell's is not so hot either. I'll tell you why.
Supposin' he did know that Henrietta had taken the letters outa the desk drawer because they proved she'd seen Granworth on the night he died. Well, wouldn't it have been sensible for Burdell to think that she took 'em to destroy 'em, not to carry 'em about with her? How did be know they was at Palm Springs? There's only one way he coulda been certain of that an' that was if somebody dovin at Palm Springs had told him that she still had 'em an' had 'em in the rancho where she was stayin'.
So I reckon that after I have got out of his office he is goin' to telephone through to this guy an' say that I have blown in an' tell him that I have fallen for this story an' that everything is OK, an' that the job has been played the way this Burdell bird wants it played.
An' this brings me to another little thing. What about that picture of me cut out of the Chicago Times an' sent down to somebody at the Hacienda Altmira at Palm Springs? Don't it look like Burdell sent that too? An' the reason he sends it is easy. When he has sent me the anonymous letter he knows I will scram out to Palm Springs so he gets 'em good an' ready for me. He searches around until he finds a newspaper that has gotta picture of me in it an' he cuts it out, writes 'this is the guy' on it, an' sends it down to the Hacienda.
An' this Burdell bird is goin' to slip up plenty in a minute. Mind you, the guy has got brains - plenty brains. He knows that I can figure out that it was him that wrote the anonymous letter to me, an' St he has a swell story all ready for me when I blow in; but what he don't know is that I am wise to that picture business, an' that is just where he is goin' to slip up.
I reckon that you will agree that this bezusus is gettin' good an' interestin'. It is beginnin' to get me interested-almost!
I stick around till it is six o'clock, an' then I get another idea. I think that I will ring through to the New York 'G' Office an' ask 'em if they have despatched them pictures of the Aymes' servants, the butler, the chauffeur an' the maid, that they was goin' to send to me at Palm Springs. I am lucky. They tell me that they have sent off one lot but they have got a duplicate set an' they fix to send these around to me at the hotel. I also ask 'em to send somebody around to the main exchange office an' see if they have gotta transcript of the shorthand notes of any telephone conversation that Burdell has had since I went outa the office, an' they say they will do this.
After which I give myself another shower to pass the time an' change into a tuxedo just so's I can feel civilised for one night anyhow.
At seven o'clock things begin to happen. An agent comes round from the 'G' Office with a note of a conversation that Burdell has had with Palm Springs. He leaves this an' he leaves the packet of duplicate pictures an' after he has had a little rye with me he goes. I read the note of the Burdell conversation, and do I get one big kick outa it. Here it is:
New York Central Exchange Time: 5.24 pm
Report of long-distance telephone conversation from office of Langdon Burdell Central 174325 and Hacienda Altmira, Palm Springs, Calif.
Call from Burdell Office 5.24
Burdell Office: - Hello. Long-distance call please. This is Central 174325, office of Langdon Burdell, calling Palm Springs 674356.
Operator: - You are Central 174325 Langdon Burdell calling Palm Springs, California. Palm Springs 674356. Hang up please I will call you.
Time: 5.32
Operator: - Hello, Central 174325. Here is your Palm Springs number. Take your call please.
Burdell Office: - Hello, hello, Hacienda Altmira?
Hacienda: - Yes, who are you? What do you want?
Burdell Office: -This is Langdon Burdell. Is Ferdie there?
Hacienda: - Sure. I'll get him. How you makin' out, Lang-don? Hang on, I'll get Ferdie.
Hacienda: - Hello, Langdon?
Burdell Office: - Is this you, Ferdie?
Hacienda: - You betcha. What do you know?
Burdell Office: - Listen kid. Get an earful of this an' don't make any mistakes. Are you listenin'? OK. Well, this afternoon this goddam Caution comes bustin' around here askin' plenty questions. He has fell for this business an' he is on to me for writin' the anonymous letter to him an' startin' him off after the letters at Palm Springs. I tell him the works. I tell him how I tried to cover up for the Aymes dame until this counterfeitin' business starts an' then I get a screwy idea that after all she has probably bumped Granworth an' that I do not want to be a party to a murder rap so I am cashin' in with the truth. The big mug listens with his ears flappin' an' then shakes me by the hand an' scrams. I have also wised him up to the fact that the original bonds that was given to Henrietta was OK an' that she musta got the phoney ones herself. Now listen, Ferdie, I reckon that he is comm' back to Palm Springs plenty quick an' that he is lyin' to pinch Henrietta just as soon as he can get his hooks on her. Because if he can pin the murder thing on her an' she gets the chair, the Feds are goin' to take it for granted that she pulled the counterfeitin' too because that will be the easiest way to close the case down. You got all that?
Hacienda: - Swell, Lan gdon. Okie doke. An' 1 play it the way we said.
Burdell Office:-You bet your life. What you gotta do is to get hitched up to the dame. You gotta make her marry you. You can do it easy. When that big mug Caution conies back an' starts gumshoein' around she's goin' to get good an' scared. Then pull your stuff. You tell her that the only way she can beat this murder rap is if we say that our original evidence was right - that she wasn't in New York the night Granworth did the high divin' act. After that everything's easy. You got all that, Ferdie?
Hacidenda: - You said it. I got it OK.
Burdell Office: - Give Periera a lovin' kick in the pants for me an' tell him I'll be seem' him directly this job's finished an' we get where we wanta. So long, Ferdie. Keep your nose clean baby an' no gun play if you can keep oft it.
Hacienda: - 'Bye, Langdon. An' don't you get your nose dirty either. I'll be seem' you.
Call ends.
Operator: - G. O. Tarnet.
Shorthand notes by V. L. O'Leary.
Is this sweet readin' or is it? It looks like I am dead right in my ideas about this Burdell guy, an' I reckon that before I am through with him I am goin' to hand him something for callin' me that big mug Caution. It is an extraordinary thing how all these guys who are up to funny business always think that any kinda policeman is a mug. It's a sorta rule with them, but now an' again they find out that the drinks are on them.
But believe me I ain't said nothin' yet. When I have read through the notes I undo the package of pictures. There are three of 'em - Dubuinet the maid, Palantza the butler an' Termiglo the chauffeur, an' when I look at this last mug do I get a kick? Because Termiglo the chauffeur is nobody else but Fernandez, the big guy at the Hacienda AItnura, the guy I smacked down, an' threw down the stairs! Boy, is this beginnin' to look good or is it?
So Fernandez was the chauffeur in the Aymes family under the name of Juan Teriniglo, an' now he is Fernandez the big gambler out at the Hacienda. Now I am beginning to understand about the picture of me that was sent down there. Burdell sent it all right an' he sent it to Fernandez so's he would know who I was, an' it was Fernandez who let Burdell know where Henrietta's three letters was.
But wait just one little minute! Let's get this straight. How did Fernandez know where Henrietta had got them letters hidden?
I reckon that he knew where they was hidden because he was the guy who planted them there. Didn't I tell you that I found them letters a durn sight too easy? The way they was stuck in that cut out book of poetry looked to me as if they was just shriekin' to be found by anybody who had enough sense to look in the right sorta places.