“It’s genuine. It has to be. It can’t be a plant. Once Farnsworth had killed himself, once Kenyon had seen the body and this note... it’s so obvious there’s no use wasting time talking.”
“And so they let Harold take the rap?”
“At the time, they didn’t know anything about Harold, or about Harold’s visit. They were merely turning a suicide into a murder so as to save their own skins. It probably never occurred to them someone would be convicted of that murder.”
Malloy thought things over, pursing his lips as he fitted this new evidence into the picture.
“Everyone agrees Gloster was honest as the day is long,” Clane went on. “He was a grouch, but he was on the square. So he wasn’t in on it at all. Taonon simply told Gloster that Farnsworth had been working for the partnership in locating those Philippine investments. Gloster believed him. Then came Harold’s trial and conviction. Taonon and Nevis were in a quandary. To let Harold be executed for a murder he hadn’t committed was beyond the scope of their plans. They didn’t dare to speak up and tell the truth... So they did the next best thing. They arranged for Harold to escape.”
“And what of this paper?” Malloy asked.
“They concealed it here. They didn’t dare destroy it because if the worst ever came to the worst, this was a will. They could plant it in some place where it could be found. If the cat got out of the bag and there was other evidence Farnsworth had left which would strip the partnership of the mining properties, then Farnsworth’s estate would be a consolation prize. So they concealed the paper here. After Gloster was killed, the paper was reconcealed in its original hiding place.”
“Go on,” Malloy said.
“Gloster couldn’t get Nevis on the phone because Nevis was at a poker game,” Clane said. “But he got Taonon, and Taonon came down here.”
“And killed him?”
“No. He told him where Nevis could be reached, and then Taonon ducked out. He crawled in a hole and pulled the hole in after him. He would probably have tried to leave the country if the newspapers next day hadn’t carried the story of Gloster’s death. So Taonon hid out to wait and see what the next developments were, and he phoned his wife and told her to do the same thing. That’s the only consistent way of explaining what happened.”
“Then who the devil killed Gloster?” Malloy asked.
“Let’s reconstruct what must have happened,” Clane said. “Gloster got Taonon down here. Taonon told him to call Nevis. Then Taonon skipped out. That made Gloster mad. He called Nevis at the number Taonon had given him, and he called me later on.”
“I’m listening,” Malloy said. “So far this is your baby.”
Clane said, “Nevis came down here and...”
“No, he didn’t,” Malloy interrupted. “He didn’t come down here. Gloster went to see him.”
Clane shook his head. “Nevis came down here.”
“Clane, you’re crazy. There are half a dozen witnesses to...”
“To what?” Clane interrupted.
“The telephone conversation when Nevis and Gloster agreed to meet — to the meeting itself.”
“How many witnesses saw Nevis and Gloster engaged in conversation?” Clane asked.
“Well, of course, you can’t expect...”
“Nevis lied,” Clane said. “Gloster never went to see Nevis at all. Nevis came down to see him.”
“Any evidence to prove that?” Malloy asked.
“Gloster’s car.”
“What about the car?”
“Did you notice anything peculiar about the car when you saw it?” Clane asked.
“In what way?”
“The windscreen, for instance?”
“No.”
“Notice where particles of fog moisture had condensed on the windshield?”
“Yes. There was nothing unusual about that. It was foggy. Naturally the moisture would have condensed, on the windshield.”
“And some of the moisture had run in little rivulets down the hood.”
“Yes.”
“But did you notice any fan-shaped streaks on the windshield which would have been there if the windshield wipers had been at work, or any splash stains where drops of water running down from the windshield had been blown back by wind caused by the motion of the car? You did not. The reason you didn’t see those things is that they weren’t there. The reason they weren’t there is that the fog settled some time after ten and before eleven, and Gloster’s car wasn’t moved after the fog settled. The mute evidence of that car proves Nevis is a liar.”
Malloy scratched his head. “Well, now, Mr. Clane, you’ve contributed something there. Damned if you haven’t.”
“So,” Clane went on, “we are in a position to reconstruct what happened. As soon as Stacey Nevis arrived, Gloster must have realized his danger and started for the telephone. Perhaps to call the police. Nevis shot him.”
“They both were in on the murder?” Malloy asked.
“Nevis killed him,” Clane said. “If Taonon had known he was dead, he would never have gone into hiding. While Gloster was telephoning to Nevis, Taonon saw his opportunity to wash his hands of the whole mess and get out. He left it entirely up to Nevis.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because of the way Taonon skipped out, then phoned his wife to skip out.”
“Nevis is a man of action, not a man of words. Gloster told him enough over the telephone so that Nevis knew what had happened. He made up his mind right then to commit murder. He put his finger on the receiver hook to cut the connection, then raised his voice so everyone at the poker table could hear him, and said he couldn’t get away from the poker game, that if Gloster wanted to come up and honk the horn, he’d go down and talk with him briefly. He was gone approximately twenty minutes. He had ample time in the twenty minutes while he was out of the poker game to drive down to the warehouse, kill Gloster, turn around and come back. I have an idea that if you check back on that poker party, you’ll find that no one actually heard the honking of the horn except Nevis, that Nevis made it a point to tell everyone he had to be dealt out for a hand or two while he went down to talk with his partner on a business matter. He told them he would only be away five or ten minutes. Actually he was away for twenty minutes. But because he had been careful to implant the belief in their minds that he was sitting down in an automobile talking, everyone thought That’s where he was. When you stop to analyze it, Nevis has no alibi at all. And furthermore, the mute evidence of Gloster’s car shows that Nevis was lying. It has to be that way.”
“I began to think that it might be something like that,” Malloy admitted, “after I heard Harold’s story.”
“You heard Harold’s story?”
Malloy grinned. “Sure. What the hell did you think we put you two in the same cell for? We wouldn’t have put you in with a convicted murderer unless we’d wanted to hear his story. We thought he might talk to you.”
“And you had the room wired?”
“Sure,” Malloy said. “Us professionals can’t do this brilliant deductive reasoning that you amateurs do, so we have to rely on a little practical stuff now and then. Well, that’s the way it goes. Anyhow, you certainly did a job on that automobile. Guess that’s something we overlooked... But you must learn not to go around breaking into buildings, Mr. Clane, and doing all those unconventional things. When you have any information in the future, you’d better go to the police and tell them frankly what you have.”
“And be laughed at for my pains,” Clane said.
Malloy grinned. “Well, now, Mr. Clane,” he said, “just between you and me, I don’t think the police are going to laugh at you any more. I really don’t for a fact. And now I have an idea perhaps you and this young lady would like to get the hell out of here, because we’re going to bring Mr. Nevis down here and ask him a few questions.”