"What was on the bureau besides?”
"Oh, dear," said Kingman, and thought. "I'll try to recall-you understand, I wasn't noticing things to be noticing, as it were-I'll do my best. Let's see, there was a bottle of Scotch, I think it was-I don't know if it was empty or full-and his wrist watch, and a folded necktie-and, oh, yes, his hat, a gray felt hat-and a clean handkerchief-and a couple of little medicine bottles, I think. Well, to go on, as I say I took that photostat, and we had a look for the money but it wasn't there, not unless it was in one of the locked suitcases. He must have had it on him, though you haven't said-" He looked at them doubtfully.
Mendoza shook his head. "You find crooks everywhere, true, but we do pride ourselves on higher standards these days."
"Oh, I never meant to imply-! But, odd as it seemed, you know-the place standing empty that way, as if he'd just dropped everything and walked out-we weren't much interested in what was behind it. Not then. There wasn't any reason to wait about. I wrote a note to him, on a page torn out of my address book-I don't know what happened to that, perhaps that's how you know about us being there-telling him, you know, not to try any tricks, and so on-and we came away." He got out his handkerchief again. "I hope to God you believe all this, all I can do is tell you everything. I don't know if it means anything, if it'll be a help in clearing us, but we got a traffic ticket on the way home-maybe that would confirm the time, but I don't suppose-"
"Where and what for?" asked Mendoza.
"The officer was perfectly right," said Madame Cara. "I do find it one of the most awkward things in traffic, changing lanes. But it's like everything else in life-one must seize the opportunity. And while the road was quite clear (I never take chances, for one must think of other people, you know, if not oneself) it seems it wasn't allowed right there. The officer was really very nice about it, and it was a small fine. I went right down to the traffic court next morning. It was six dollars, Five for the ticket and one for education-this new system you know and a splendid idea, we can't grudge anything for the children."
"My dear, the place-I don't recall-"
"Oh, of course, it was on Avalon Boulevard, Lieutenant, not very long after we'd left the apartment, I don't know exactly where."
"We'll find it," said Mendoza. He looked at them in exasperation, in doubt. "I've got a warrant in my pocket for your arrest on a charge of murder-"
"Oh, dear God," said Kingman, "I swear to you-"
"But I'm not going to use it, until we've checked that ticket anyway. I'll be frank to say that it looks to me as if you had the best motive to do away with him, and I thought I had it worked out how you'd done it. But there are just a couple of little things… I'll go along with this awhile, and take you at your word. But I'd like to know why you didn't leave matters there. What took you to the bank on Monday morning?"
"Don't think we're not grateful," said Kingman almost tearfully. "Thanks very much, sir, for listening with an open mind… It's a sobering thought that if I hadn't-I should have left the whole thing go, I know that now. But the more I thought about it, the odder it seemed-his being gone, like that-and I thought quite possibly he might not have found my note. Even if he came back. Well, of course I expected he had come back, for all his things. But in the event that he didn't see the note-I felt I'd been a coward in a way, I should have seen him and made sure. I tried to locate him that Saturday morning, but nobody had seen him, and there was no answer at his apartment. In one way that relieved my mind, I thought he'd come back, finished packing and left-but we didn't know, you see. I was still worrying that he might try to get something out of the bank-"
"He had absolutely no scruples,” said the woman. Her large plaintive eyes swerved unblinking to Mendoza. "We are grateful, Lieutenant, for your kindness… After so much trouble and upset and worry, it didn't seem fair. Such an unpleasant young man. But, you know, it really is very strange, they say there is some good in everyone, and there was, I daresay, a very little, in him… I was so surprised-do you know, he liked flowers. He liked to grow things. Perhaps he came of a long line of farmers, or something. He was quite enthusiastic over the landscaping around the Temple, just that little bit of fern or whatever it is, in built-up boxes, I expect you noticed it-he even brought a little garden fork one day and poked around at them because the earth was too dry, he said. Really very odd. But then people are."
"-And," said Kingman, "more especially I worried about it, because he'd have discovered by then that I had been at his place and taken the photostat-he might try to clear out the bank account in revenge, you see. Well, we worried around it all that weekend, and on Monday morning when I knew there'd be someone at the bank-before opening time, that is-I called. All I meant to do was to ask them not to let him make any withdrawals, because he had-um-severed connections with us. I was very stupid about the whole thing, Heaven knows I should have known better, but what with worrying and not being able to sleep-you see, I got hold of the assistant manager, and I had to give some reason for calling to warn them-after all, just because a man resigns or is fired from his job, it isn't any reason to suspect him of larceny-and before I knew it, he'd got out of me that Trask had gone off with that cash. And as soon as he heard that-Mr. Rowell, I mean-he got excited and said of course I'd be seeing the police to lay an official charge, and perhaps he'd better go with me because it would save time if he could give the police the man's official signature and the recent records and so on-"
"I see," Mendoza said amusedly. "You couldn't get out of it?"
"It was like a nightmare from start to finish. I never intended to do such a thing, but of course it would have looked queer after that if I hadn't. What I was afraid of, you know, was that Trask would be lp caught up with-or even if he'd seen it in the papers, that I'd accused him-why, he might have told all he knew about us just to get even. It was a terrible position. I had to seem as if I was giving the police all the help I could, and at the same time I held back what I felt was possible to, because, my God, I wasn't anxious for them to find him, wherever he'd gone and why. I said I wasn't sure where he lived because, you know, he might have mentioned to someone there where he was going-and no one could prove we did know, I tore that page out of my address-book-and I was sure no one had seen us there on Friday night. And then, as soon as we'd-er-got that on record, so to speak, I wondered if the police would somehow find out anyway, and look for fingerprints there-and whether we'd left any-"
“I was wearing gloves. I always do when I drive and it was cold that night, I didn't take them off at all. And as I told you at the time, Martin, I don't believe you would have left any either, because we just looked mostly, didn't we?-not touching anything. You see, there wasn't any need to open drawers and so on, Lieutenant, there was this photo-thing right on the bed-we burned that as soon as we got home-and when it came to looking for the money, well, all the drawers were wide open and empty, because he'd been taking things out to pack, you know. We just felt all through the things in the open suitcase, and they were clothes, they wouldn't take prints, would they? Martin did try the other cases to see if they were locked, and they were. So-"