“Since police have fixed Mandra’s death as having taken place some time after two-thirty and before three-five in the morning, it is apparent that the young woman Winton met on the stairs at two o’clock must, obviously, have left Mandra’s apartment at least half an hour before the murder was committed.
“Miss Cynthia Renton, when first interrogated by Parker Dixon, the district attorney, insisted that she was this woman, and produced a portrait of Mandra to prove her contention. Winton, after inspecting Miss Renton’s neatly turned ankles, and examining the portrait, stated he was convinced she was the young woman whom he had met. Miss Renton was thereupon released from custody.
“Subsequently, Juanita Mandra, the widow of the dead broker, claimed she was the woman Winton had seen on the stairs. While she has so far been unable to produce a portrait to corroborate her story, police have located a cab driver who drove her from Mandra’s apartment to the address where she lives, and who remembers the occasion very clearly, and distinctly remembers the portrait the young woman was carrying. Police have found one other witness who swears she saw this portrait in Juanita’s apartment as late as seven o’clock last night. Since the portrait produced by Cynthia Renton was in the hands of the police at that hour, it is apparent that this witness either must be mistaken, which the police think unlikely, or that there were two identical portraits of Mandra. The portrait which Juanita Mandra insists was in her apartment as late as seven o’clock in the evening had disappeared by the time Inspector Malloy arrived, shortly after midnight. Juanita Mandra claims it had been stolen.
“Juanita Mandra, herself a colorful personality, an exotic dancer in one of the downtown night clubs, was secretly married to Mandra more than two years ago. She insists that the ceremony, despite its secrecy, was perfectly legal, and detectives checking up her story are inclined to agree with her.
“Since Cynthia Renton is the artist who painted Mandra’s portrait, police point out that she would well have been able to duplicate the portrait in order to establish an alibi. Juanita Mandra, on the other hand, is confessedly incapable of executing any such striking canvas as the work in question. There is also Miss Alma Renton, an artist of international reputation, sister of Cynthia Renton, who is being questioned by the police.
“The authorities insist that they will shortly uncover the portrait which Juanita Mandra claims was stolen from her apartment. They feel that this will have been accomplished before another twenty-four hours have passed, and state that when such a discovery is made their case against Cynthia Renton will be iron-clad.
“It is a case filled with colorful, exotic characters, moving against bizarre backgrounds. Not the least colorful of the personalities involved is Mr. Terry Clane, an adventurer who has recently returned from an extended stay in China. It is reputed he spent much of that time studying in a hidden monastery in a mountainous region where the old ruins of an ancient city were filled with gold and gems which had remained undisturbed through the centuries. Clane is able to speak Chinese fluently, and police insist that they overheard a conversation between Clane and a young Chinese woman who was in Clane’s apartment, in which this beautiful young Oriental accused Clane of having stolen Mandra’s portrait from Juanita’s apartment. As yet, the police have not taken Clane into custody, but Inspector Malloy states that if there is any evidence uncovered connecting Clane with the mysterious disappearance of the portrait from the dancer’s apartment, Clane will be arrested and charged not only with being an accessory in the murder of Mandra, but with the crime of breaking and entering as well.
“Cynthia Renton is represented by C. Renmore Howland, the noted criminal attorney whose boast is that he has never yet lost a murder case. Those who are acquainted with the tactics of this forceful lawyer insist that the witness, Winton, will be cross-examined as to his identification of Miss Renton’s legs. These insiders also claim the true story of what happened in Mandra’s apartment the night of the murder has not yet been told; that Howland will soon release, either himself, or through his client, a story of innocent youth lured into a compromising position, of a desperate struggle between a man of the world on the one hand, and an adventurous but unsullied girl (continued on page 3).”
Terry turned the page of the newspaper, but didn’t resume reading the article. He stood staring at the reproduction of the portrait, watching the cynical, leering eyes which, even in the newspaper reproduction of the portrait, seemed so coldly dominant.
Terry realized that, despite the obstacles he had thrown in the way of the police, it would be but a matter of hours before they had separated the wheat from the chaff. There remained Sou Ha’s confession to consider. Inspector Malloy had doubtless had that confession taken down in shorthand, yet he had not mentioned it in the interview he had given to a representative of the press.
Why?
Terry had heard many stories of police methods. He had heard of evidence being suppressed in order to secure convictions. If Sou Ha should be arrested and should repudiate her confession, there would be numerous legal obstacles in the way of her conviction. It would, for one thing, be difficult to secure any corroborating evidence, whereas, so far as Cynthia was concerned, her attempt to switch portraits, her contradictory statements, her futile effort to manufacture an alibi, all would tell against her heavily.
Was it possible, Terry wondered, that the police would deliberately ignore what they had heard Sou Ha confess in order to convict Cynthia? He had heard of such things being done. Standing there on the sidewalk, heedless of the roar of traffic, Terry brought his mind to a sharp focus upon the problem which confronted him.
Clane’s entire period of concentration didn’t occupy more than a few seconds, yet, in those few seconds, he reached a conclusion which would have startled Inspector Malloy, could that individual have but peeped into the recesses of Clane’s mind. There was one logical deduction to be made from the known facts, which had so far escaped everyone.
Terry abruptly snapped the newspaper together, folded it, thrust it under his arm, entered a nearby booth and telephoned C. Renmore Howland’s office.
“There’s a Mr. Levering in conference with Mr. Howland,” he told the girl who answered the telephone. “It’s imperative that I should speak to him at once.”
“What is your name?”
“Ben Marker, an attorney in the Cutler Building,” he told her. “Get Mr. Levering at once. It’s most important.”
He heard a click on the line, then the sound of low voices, as though rather a heated argument were progressing in a whispered undertone a few inches from the transmitter. Then Levering’s voice said cautiously, “Hello, what is it?”
Terry made his voice sound harshly belligerent.
“I’m Ben Marker, an attorney in the Cutler Building. I’m taking charge of the affairs of a certain William Shield. Shield has assigned all his property to me, and, looking over his papers, I find he has a claim against you on a hit-and-run charge. My client has an injured spine because you smashed into him when you were driving a car while intoxicated and I want some money and I want it fast, otherwise I’ll sue.”