Norda, naturally, had seen such stories in the press, but since they hadn’t concerned her, she had read them casually. Now she was startled to find how many such cases could be assembled when one diligently clipped stories from the papers of half a dozen large cities.
She went to a lawyer. The lawyer called in the postal authorities. The postal authorities went to work and the letters continued to come.
It was impossible to get any proof. The person mailing the letters evidently wore gloves. There was never so much as the smudge of a fingerprint which could be developed in iodine vapor. The envelopes were mailed in drop boxes in various parts of Los Angeles. Norda Allison’s name and address had been set in type on a small but efficient printing machine, such as those frequently given children for Christmas.
At the suggestion of Norda’s lawyer, Lorraine Selkirk Jennings, Mervin’s divorced wife, who was now living in Los Angeles with her second husband, was consulted. She remembered having given Robert a very expensive printing press for Christmas the year before. Robert had taken it to San Francisco when he went to visit his father. It was still there. Mervin Selkirk had, it seemed, enjoyed the press even more than his son.
This information gave Norda’s lawyer ground for jubilation. “Now we’ll get him,” he gloated. Norda made an affidavit. Her attorney handled it from there. Police served a search warrant on Mervin Selkirk.
The printing press was located without difficulty. From the condition of the rollers, it was evident it hadn’t been used in some time. Moreover, the experts gave it as their opinion that the envelopes had most certainly not been addressed on that press. The type was of a different sort.
Mervin Selkirk was excessively polite to the officers. He was only too glad to let them search the place. He was surprised to find Miss Allison had been having trouble. They had been engaged. He was quite fond of her. The engagement had been broken over a minor matter. Miss Allison was working altogether too hard and had been under great nervous tension. She had not been like herself for some weeks before the engagement was broken. If there was anything Mervin could do, he wanted it understood he was willing to help at any time. He would be only too glad to render any financial assistance in tracking down the persons who were annoying Miss Allison. The police were welcome to drop in at any time. As far as he was concerned, they didn’t need any search warrant. His door would always be open to the authorities. And would they please convey to Miss Allison his sincere sympathy. He admitted he had tried to call her himself a couple of times, but she had hung up as soon as she recognized his voice.
It wasn’t until Lorraine Selkirk Jennings called long distance that Norda’s frayed nerves began to give way.
“Was it the printing press?” she asked Norda.
“No,” Norda said. “The press was there all right but it hadn’t been used for some time.”
“That’s just like him,” Lorraine said. “I know exactly how his mind works. He saw Robert’s press. He then went out and got one similar to it, but with different type. He probably printed about two hundred envelopes in advance, then he took the press out on his yacht and dropped it overboard. He knew you’d suspect him; that you’d find out about Robert’s press and get a search warrant — that’s his way of showing you how diabolically clever he is. I’m surprised you went with him as long as you did without recognizing the sort of man he is beneath his mask.”
Norda resented Lorraine’s tone. “At least I found out in time to avoid marrying him.”
Lorraine laughed. “You were smarter than I was,” she admitted. “But you’ll remember I dropped you a note telling you not to be fooled.”
“I thought it was the result of jealousy,” Norda said somewhat ruefully.
“Heavens, I’m happily married again,” Lorraine said. “I was trying to save you from what I’d gone through with him... If I could only get sole custody of Robert, I wouldn’t want anything more.”
Norda said apologetically, “Of course, Mervin told me stories about you. I was in love with him — or thought I was, and it was only natural for me to believe him, since I’d never met you.”
“I understand,” Lorraine agreed sympathetically. “Let’s not underestimate either the man’s cleverness or his ruthless determination, my dear. He’ll stop at nothing and neither will his family.
“I tried to stick it out for Robert’s sake, but I could take only so much. I left him when Robert was four and returned to Los Angeles, since it was my home.
“The family is even more powerful here than in San Francisco. They retained a battery of clever lawyers, hired detectives, and they threw mud all over me. Some of it stuck. Three witnesses perjured themselves about Robert and about me. Mervin managed to get part-time custody of Robert. He doesn’t really care about Robert. He only wanted Robert so he could hurt me. I’m happily married now to a normal man, who’s normally inconsiderate, who grumbles when things don’t go to suit him and puts the blame on me for some of his own mistakes. I can’t begin to tell you what an unspeakable relief it is.
“I’m terribly glad you broke the engagement, but don’t underestimate Mervin. He simply can’t stand being humiliated and he’ll hound you until finally he gets you where you lose the will to resist.”
“Will he... I mean, is he... dangerous?” Norda asked.
“Of course he’s dangerous,” Lorraine said. “Perhaps not in the way you think, but he’s scheming, cunning, completely selfish and cruel. He had detectives shadowing every move I made... Of course you’re not vulnerable that way, but be careful.”
Norda thanked her and hung up. She remembered the torrid charges Mervin had hurled against Lorraine at the time of the divorce. She remembered something of the testimony in the sensational trial, and Lorraine’s tearful protests of innocence. At the time, Norda had not even met Mervin Selkirk and reading the newspapers she had considered Lorraine’s charges of a frame-up the last ditch defense of an erring wife who had been detected in indiscretions... after all, where there had been so much smoke there must have been some fire.
Now Norda wasn’t so certain.
It was at this time that Norda made a discovery about law enforcement.
The officers were nice about it; were, in fact, exceedingly sympathetic. But they pointed out that they had their hands full trying to apprehend persons who had broken the law. They didn’t have enough men to furnish “protection” on a day-to-day basis.
To be sure, if they had definite evidence that a crime was about to be committed, they would assign men on what was technically known as a “stake-out.” That was the most they could do.
They knew hardly a day passed without some jealous, estranged husband, some jilted suitor taking a gun and committing murder. The police would like to prevent those murders, but, as they pointed out, for every murder that was actually committed there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of threats by neurotic individuals who were simply trying to “throw a scare” into the recipient of their affections and so frighten her into reconciliation.
It was, the police pointed out, something like the women who threaten to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills if their lovers don’t return. Many women actually had carried out such threats and had committed suicide. Many thousands of others did not.
The police told Norda that it took evidence to convict a person of crime. It took far more than mere guesswork. There had to be evidence which was legally admissible in a court of law, and, moreover, such evidence had to prove the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt.