"The second mistake was when Fernandez told me about Paulette. He told me about this because by this time Granworth had got his face changed OK an' nobody woulda recognised him as bein' Granworth Aymes. Fernandez thought that he was safe in tellin' me because he didn't think that I would take the trouble to go down inta Mexico an' take a look around for myself.
"Fernandez has been a mug too. He has been pullin' an act on Henrietta that if he don't marry her he can make things plenty hot for her. When I come on the scene he alters this tale first because I smacked him down for gettin' fresh with her an' secondly because it plays their story along for him to say that he don't want to marry Henrietta now, because he suspects her over the counterfeitin'.
"I get wise to this guy. I get wise to the fact that Fernandez an' Periera an' Burdell are all playin' along together. So I decide to go to Mexico an' see this Paulette, but before I go I have Henrietta down at the Police Station an' I grill her so that Fernandez an' Periera will think that I am fallin' for their stuff an' that I am goin' to New York to seal up the evidence against her.
"Instead of which I scram down to Mexico an' when I get there Paulette starts makin' mistakes as well. She rings through to her pal Luis Daredo to bump me off when I am goin' down to Zoni to see her supposed husband Rudy who is dyin' there. She thinks that it will be a wise thing to get me outa the way.
"Anyhow the job don't come off. I was lucky enough to get outa that, but I am still not suspectin' the truth. When I was on my way to see Rudy Benito at Zoni I hadn't got one idea about this business that you couJda called an idea.
"An' I got the truth just because crooks are always careless an' because they always make one big mistake.
"When I get to Madrales' place at Zoni, an' I go upstairs an' see this poor dyin' mug, I feel sorry for him, I don't suspect a thing, an' he tells me a good story that matches up with what Paulette has told me. You bet he does because she has been on the telephone an' wised him up about me.
"But just when I am walkin' outa the sick room I see somethin' durn funny. Stuck behind a screen is a waste-paper basket an' at the bottom of this waste-paper basket is a big cigarette ash tray, an' in the bottom of the basket where they have fallen out are about sixty cigarette stubs.
"I get it. Somebody has cleaned up the cigarette ends an' made out to hide 'em before I was allowed up to see Rudy. They have done this because they know that I will be wise to the fact that a guy dyin' of consumption can't smoke about sixty cigarettes in one day.
"At last I was wise. Now I got it why Paulette tried to stop me goin' to Zoni. I get the big idea. I go downstairs an' tell Madrales that I have gotta have a statement from Benito. I type it out an' make him sign it, an' then I go back to Paulette's place an' I compare the signature on the statement with one of the real Rudy Benito's signatures on a duplicate stock transfer of about a year before.
"The signature was different an' that told me all I wanted to know.
"Tonight just before I come down here I went inta Henrietta's room at her rancho. I found an old letter from Granworth Aymes an' I compared the handwritin'. The signature on the statement signed by Rudy Benito an' the Granworth Aynies handwritin' are one an' the same. The guy I saw at Zoni - the guy supposed to be dyin', who was laughin' his head off all the time thinkin' what a mutt I was, wasn't Rudy Benito - it was Granworth Aymes!"
I look over at Paulette. She is lyin' back starin' at the ceilin'. She don't look so good to me. She looks like she is due for a fit.
I pick up one of the wires that Metts handed to me.
"Just so's it'll help you when you see your lawyer in the mornin', Paulette," I tell her, "you might like to hear about this wire. It is from New York this mornin'. Followin' an instruction that I sent through from Yuma while you was gettin' your hair done, Langdon Burdell an' Marie Dubuinet was arrested early this mornin'. They grilled Burdell an' he squealed the whole works. They gotta full confession from him, an' he has said enough about you to fix you plenty."
Paulette pulls herself together. She sits up an' she flashes a little smile across at me.
"You win," she croaks. "I was the mug - I thought you was just another copper. How could I know you had brains?"
I look over at Henrietta. She is sittin' lookin' scared. Her lips are tremblin'.
"Lemmy," she says. "Then Granworth isn't dead. He's alive - in Mexico. I...
"Justa minute, honey," I tell her. "I'm afraid I gotta bit of a shock for you."
I pick up the second wire an' I read it to 'em.
It is from the Mexican Police at Mexicali, an' it says:
Following request from Special Agent L. H. Caution of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirmed by the Federal Consular Officer at Yuma yesterday, for the arrest of US Citizen Granworth Aymes, otherwise known as Rudy Benito, and the Spanish Citizen Doctor Eugenio Madrales, both of Zoni, Police Lieutenant Juan Marsiesta sent with a Rurales Patrol to eflect the arrest reports that both men were shot dead whilst resisting arrest.
Henrietta starts cryin'. She puts her head in her hands an' she sobs like her heart would break.
"Take it easy, lady," I tell her."I reckon that the way this job has finished is the best for everybody. Maloney, I reckon you'd better put Henrietta in your car an' take her along back home."
Henrietta gets up. I'm tellin' you that with her eyes fulla tears she looks a real honey. There is a sorta light in her eyes when she looks at me that is aces. I reckon that if I was a guy who was given to gettin' sentimental about anything I shoulda been sorta pleased with the way she was lookin'.
"I think you're swell, Lemmy," she says.
She goes out with Maloney.
I go over to Metts' desk an' I open the drawer an' I take out a pair of steel bracelets. Then I go over to Paulette an' I slip 'em on her. She don't like it very much.
"You better get used to the feel of 'em, Paulette," I tell her. "An' if you get away with twenty years I reckon you'll be lucky, an' that ain't even takin' inta consideration them shots you had at me."
She gets up outa the chair.
"I wish I'd got you," she says. "I reckon I woulda saved myself a lotta trouble if I had. Still that's the way life goes...
She takes a sudden step back an' then she takes a big swipe at my face with her wrists. I reckon if them handcuffs had hit me my face woulda been more like the Rock of Gibraltar than it is.
I do a quick side step. She misses me. I get hold of her an' I am just goin' to give her a good smackin' on the place intended for it, when I stop myself.
"No," I tell her. "I ain't goin' to smack you any, it would be like smackin' a tarantula. Paulette Benito," I go on, "I'm arrestin' you on a charge of bein' accessory to first-degree murder of your husband Rudy Benito. I'm arrestin' you on a charge of being accessory to the makin' an' issuin' of counterfeit bills, bonds, and stock certificates. I'm holdin' you here at Palm Springs pending extradition an' trial by a Federal Court.
"An' also," I go on, "speakin' personally I'd like to tellya that I'm durn glad that I ain't your husband. It would be like sleepin' with a rattlesnake."
She looks at me an' her eyes are glitterin'.
"I wish you were my husband," she says, "just for one week. If you were my husband, I'd give you rat poison!"
"Swell," I tell her, "an' if I was your husband I'd take it an' be glad. Take her away, boys. Lock her up, an' if she wants to she can start a civil war in the can."
The cops who are waitin' outside grab her an' take her off. Metts brings out a bottle of bourbon an' we have a stiff one each. I am feelin' like I could go to bed an' sleep for twenty-four years without even turnin' over.