Standing in the closet where he had concealed the bits of wood, he became conscious of the sounds of motion. Puzzled, apprehensive, he opened the closet door and made a cautious appraisal of his apartment. It seemed to be just as he had left it, and he could no longer hear the sounds of motion. He returned to the closet, and this time was able to locate the source of the sounds. Juanita was moving about in her apartment, and the back wall of Terry’s closet was as a sounding board, transmitting noises from the adjoining apartment. Evidently it backed up to a closet in Juanita’s apartment, and either the door of that closet was open, or else she was moving about in the closet itself.
Terry was wishing he had discovered this listening post during Inspector Malloy’s visit, when he heard the sound of quick, pounding steps in the corridor. That would be Inspector Malloy coming back. Was he, perhaps, coming to Terry’s apartment? Terry listened in an agony of suspense. The steps passed his door, knuckles rapped on Juanita’s door.
Terry heard the door open, heard Juanita Mandra say, “What is it?” and then heard the close-clipped accents of Doctor Sedler’s voice saying, “You’re the widow of Jacob Mandra?”
“Yes. Who are you?”
“My name’s Grigsby. I was a business associate of your husband. We had some joint investments that I wanted to discuss with you.”
“I don’t want to talk about money.”
“This is important.”
“No. I do no talking. Not now.”
“You don’t want some other woman to take what is rightfully yours, do you?” Dr. Sedler asked.
That question proved the key to the situation. Juanita said, “Come in.”
Terry heard the sound of the door closing, and returned at once to the vantage point of his closet. He found that he could hear the conversation almost as easily as though he had been in the room with the speakers.
“Jake and I were partners,” Dr. Sedler was explaining. “His unfortunate death has left matters in confusion. I can understand your grief. I, too, cared for Jake. He was a strong character, peculiar, but likeable, once you got to know him. He had many good points...”
“Your business?” Juanita interrupted.
“We had an interest in an automobile insurance company. Not in the insurance itself, but in settling accidental losses which were incurred. It’s too complicated for me to explain the details. But there were several cases pending at the time of Jake’s death. There’s a chance to make some adjustments which will bring money into the estate. But, before I can make those adjustments, I’ll have to know just what Jake had done. I’d been out of town for a couple of weeks. I flew back as soon as I read of his death... Now if you’ll get his books we can look up... well, for instance, there’s a Cynthia Renton who’s paid twenty thousand dollars. I can’t get the proper releases until I can prove that payment and...”
“Renton?” Juanita interrupted. “Cynthia Renton?”
“Yes.”
“She is the one who killed Jake.”
Dr. Sedler said in a crisp voice of a professional man, “That is a startling statement. But I’m not interested in who killed him. I want to...”
“But I,” Juanita cried, “am interested in that!”
“I’m sorry. This is a business matter...”
“A business of murder. She killed him! She shot him with that sleeve gun, and then she lied to the police! She claimed that she was the woman who left Jake’s apartment at two o’clock, carrying the portrait. I’ll find her and choke the words down her throat. I’ll twist her lies into a rope to braid around her neck. I’ll...”
“Now listen,” Sedler interrupted, “I’ve got to know about what settlements Jake had made. This other stuff of yours is for the police. This of mine is business. It’s something we’re both interested in. Where are his books?”
Juanita’s laugh was scornful.
“Where are his books? You come here and ask me that. You say your name is Grigsby and you and my husband were partners. My husband had no partners. Grigsby! And you want to see his books! Do you think I am a fool?”
Sedler’s voice was so low that Terry Clane, his ear pressed against the paper-thin wall, could barely hear what was said. “Shut up. Don’t blab it to the whole apartment house. You’ve heard your husband speak of Dr. Sedler.”
“What if I have.”
“I’m Sedler.”
Her laugh was scornful. Terry heard the rustle of motion, the sound of whispers, and then Sedler saying, “I guess that proves it, doesn’t it?”
Juanita’s voice was surly and defiant. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want. Jake double-crossed me.”
“You lie!”
“I’m not lying. I tell you I can prove it. He collected twenty thousand dollars...”
Juanita drowned out his voice. “I know nothing of his business affairs. I know that he had some arrangement with a Dr. Sedler. You seem to be that one. I know nothing about the business which you had with my husband. But I do know that Jake said you were a crook and he distrusted you...”
“Shut up, you little fool!” Sedler exclaimed, his voice booming through the thin partition of the closet. “Lower your voice and come down to earth. We’re in this thing together. You can’t double-cross me. I know too much. I know all about the sleeve gun that killed Jake. I got that gun for him. I know it was in his apartment the night of the murder. And I know how that sleeve gun was returned! Now would you rather get Jake’s books for me, and play fair for a change, or...”
Terry’s straining ears heard that unmistakable smacking sound which comes when flesh strikes flesh. He heard Juanita give a choking cry, heard her panting fiercely, and was able to hear the little exclamations with which she interspersed her efforts.
“That’s my answer... damn you... get out!... I’ll claw out your eyes... You dragged Jake into... You devil — let me go... Let me go...”
Terry heard the sound of bodies bumping against furniture, heard Sedler’s gasping voice calling out the names which men of a certain type invariably use as words of abuse to women. Then he heard Sedler exclaim, “So, you’re going to try that, eh? Get a load of this!”
There was the solid sound of a blow, and then the thud of something falling. Steps across the room, and Inspector Malloy’s voice, “Well, well, what’s happening here? No you don’t, Buddy! If it’s a fight you want...”
Inspector Malloy’s voice was swallowed into the grunting preliminary of physical effort. Terry heard a terrific blow, a crash and Malloy’s voice saying, “Get the bracelets on him, Dave, and take a look at the woman. Then we’ll just have a look around...”
Juanita, Malloy, the man called Dave, and Dr. Sedler were all closeted in that apartment. If Terry was going to reach Cynthia before it was too late, he must take advantage of that opportunity. It might be hours before another presented itself. He wanted to know what was going to happen next in that apartment, but he also wanted to get to Cynthia.
He left his point of vantage in the closet, tiptoed silently out into the hallway, down the stairs and out into the fog-filled darkness of the wet street.
11
Man is prone to attach too much importance to the spectacular, and not enough to the cumulative effect of the little things. Terry, having won his way to the street, having ascertained that Inspector Malloy’s trap had clamped down upon Dr. Sedler, was filled with elation. He had removed the original portrait from Juanita’s apartment. Cynthia’s alibi remained as good as gold save as it had been impeached by the testimony of the manager of the apartment house who had seen the portrait in Juanita’s apartment as late as seven o’clock that evening. But Cynthia had been able to back up her claims by the physical production of an actual portrait. Juanita had not. Until Malloy could establish the existence of that other portrait by indisputable evidence, he would move very cautiously. And, by sowing the seeds of suspicion in the minds of the conspirators who had been a part of Mandra’s blackmail ring, Terry had opened the door for Inspector Malloy to unearth and expose Mandra’s sinister activities. Moreover, since everyone connected with those activities believed that the others had been guilty of deceit, the stage was all set for confessions, accusations, and recriminations which would be of far-reaching importance.