“But that bottle of cyanide — why, Chief, according to what John Locke says, that bottle of cyanide, all except four tablets, must have been out of the house by the time Nadine mixed that chocolate.”
“That’s right,” Mason said. “But remember that four tablets were missing.”
“Then her story was true. She did take that bottle of chemical sweetening—”
“That bottle of chemical sweetening,” Mason said, “was thrown in the lake. That’s the bottle that was recovered, the one that Hamilton Burger had as Exhibit B. That’s the one with the shot in it from the shotgun shell. That really was chemical sweetening.”
“But then,” Paul Drake asked, “how did Mosher Higley die?”
“There’s one other alternative,” Mason said, “and I think you have all overlooked the significant thing in Newburn’s testimony which was to the effect that when his wife slipped out toward the dining room, there was no one in sight, that she couldn’t find Nadine or Cap’n Hugo, that the double boiler containing the chocolate was on the stove, all melted, and—”
“You mean that she really did put the cyanide in at that time?”
Mason shook his head and said, “At that time Nadine must have been out to market, but what about Cap’n Hugo?”
“What about him?”
“He told us he was in the dining room all the time, washing windows.”
“Jackson Newburn didn’t see him. Apparently, Sue Newburn didn’t see him. Cap’n Hugo was the one John Locke sent after the bottle of cyanide. When he produced the bottle there were four tablets short.
“Cap’n Hugo felt very sympathetic toward Nadine Farr. He didn’t like the way Mosher Higley was treating her. He’d been with Mosher Higley for many years. He undoubtedly knew all about Rose Farr, all about the scandal, all about the death of Higley’s partner. Who can say otherwise than that Cap’n Hugo decided things had gone about far enough. It was time for him to retire to that little shack by the sea where he could get some good fishing, and time for Nadine to quit being pushed around.”
Paul Drake looked at Mason with consternation. “I’ll be damned,” he said. “When you stop to figure it out, it all fits in, it all clicks. Good Lord, Perry, what are you going to do? Are you going to tip Hamilton Burger off so he can grab Cap’n Hugo before he gets out?”
Mason said, “We’ll let Hamilton Burger paddle his own canoe for a while, Paul. After all, he wouldn’t welcome our help — at least, at the present time.
“After he realizes the legal problem of proof he’s up against, I might have a little chat with him — or perhaps you’d better, Paul. He might be less resentful if the information came from you.
“So if you’ll just hang around, Paul, I think at the proper time you can very tactfully place Burger under obligation to you — but leave me out of it.”
It took a good deal to bring expression to Paul Drake’s ordinarily impassive face, but this time his eyes were wide with surprise and a dawning comprehension.
“I’ll be damned!” he repeated slowly.