“I have no objection to a continuance,” Mason said. “The defense would like very much to have the district attorney verify the photograph, and I feel that the district attorney should pursue further the question of why this witness refuses to answer questions about his business deal with Vera Martel.”
Judge Alvord said, “Mr. Mason, I am going to ask you if, to your knowledge, there has been any substitution of photographs or captions in this case.”
“No, Your Honor. I have just received this photograph from a detective who arrived in this court just a few minutes ago in response to a telephone conversation with him I had last night in which I asked him to bring down photographs of Maureen Monroe.”
In the silence that followed there was the sound of a woman sobbing.
Judge Alvord looked down at Nancy Gilman, who was crying.
“The Court is going to take a recess until tomorrow morning at ten o’clock,” he said. And then, turning to Hamilton Burger, said, “I would suggest that, in the meantime, the police make every effort to get at the bottom of this. There is certainly a situation here which should be thoroughly investigated.”
“Very well, Your Honor,” a chastened Hamilton Burger said.
“Court’s adjourned,” Judge Alvord announced, and then gave Mason a long look of puzzled respect before arising and leaving the bench.
Chapter Seventeen
It was late that afternoon when Paul Drake entered Mason’s office.
“Well,” he said, “Hartley Elliott confessed. Of course, it all became apparent after Nancy Gilman made her statement.
“Nancy gave birth to twin girls. They were identical twins. She felt she couldn’t keep them both, but she wanted one. Nancy was a remarkably intelligent, resourceful woman. She wanted to get a good home for the other daughter. She learned in some way that Mrs. G. W. Monroe of Redding had been confined and had given birth to a Mongoloid. The woman was heartbroken, so Nancy arranged a substitution and the Monroes returned to Redding with a beautiful daughter.
“The girls are absolutely identical. Even now it is almost impossible to tell them apart. When Hartley Elliott met Glamis he was so struck by the amazing resemblance that he started a quiet investigation. He wanted to find out about it, so he employed Vera Martel.
“It didn’t take Vera long to run down what had happened. That was where Vera Martel tried the double-cross which turned out to be her death trap. Hartley Elliott thought they were either going to blackmail Nancy or sell information to Roger Calhoun.
“But Vera learned that John Yerman Hassell had left a sizable bequest in his will to whatever offspring Nancy might have during the six-month period following her affair with him. She learned that Nancy had very quietly convinced the Hassell heirs that Glamis was really the daughter of Hassell and had received a settlement. This is a tricky legal point. She didn’t receive the inheritance; she received a settlement from the heirs.
“Also bear in mind that Maureen had never been formally adopted. The Monroes had simply palmed her off as their natural daughter.
“So Vera Martel began to wonder why it wouldn’t be better to tell her accomplice she was working only on the blackmail angle but cut herself in on the real gravy by telling Maureen she thought there was some property Maureen didn’t know about which Vera could recover. And so she paid Maureen ten thousand dollars for a half interest in all of this property.
“Maureen accepted the offer— Actually, her father, G. W. Monroe, didn’t know anything about the transaction. He had come to Redding that night for an entirely different purpose.
“It wasn’t until several days had passed that he learned what had happened from Maureen, then he told Maureen she was adopted.
“Suddenly Maureen found herself in an impossible situation. She was a foundling child who had been informally adopted into a wealthy family, but she was undoubtedly illegitimate. She knew that the Kimberlys would never consent to their socially prominent son marrying an illegitimate child, so Maureen started frantically hunting for Vera Martel.
“In order to find out just what Vera had in mind, Maureen trailed her. She trailed her to the Gilman residence where Vera had gone to have a showdown with Glamis. Glamis didn’t know anything at all about what was happening, but Carter Gilman did know that Vera, a private detective, had been making inquiries about his wife and had been quietly trying to find out something about her background. So Gilman decided to consult you and telephoned for an appointment.
“Maureen followed Vera to the Gilman residence; Vera hurried back to the garage, walked through the darkroom and into the workshop where she was to meet her accomplice and arrange to bring Glamis and Nancy in for a showdown.
“Maureen followed Vera right into the room, accused Vera of being a crook, threw the ten thousand dollars in her face, then ran out of the workshop and around the house, jumped in her car and drove away. Later on she got a passkey somehow, went to Vera’s Las Vegas office, let herself in and wrecked the place looking for the documentary evidence Vera had. She finally found it and then went to the casino and gambled for a while before she took a plane back to Redding.
“Hartley Elliott was meeting Vera in the garage. The run-down battery was all part of the plan. He gave her the result of what information he had been able to acquire and was to give her more last-minute instructions. When he heard Maureen coming he hid in the shadows of the darkroom. After Maureen had left, Hartley, of course, realized that Vera had sold him out. Regardless of the fact Maureen had tried to return the ten thousand, Vera Martel had her signature on a document of assignment. Elliott became enraged at the double-cross and started choking Vera. He says in his confession he never intended to kill her but only to discipline her and make her afraid of him, and that probably is true. However, he did choke her to death. When he saw she was dead he crammed her body into the trunk of Gilman’s automobile. Then he saw Gilman coming out of the house, so Elliott slipped into the darkroom and hid. Then, when Gilman passed through the darkroom and entered the workshop, Elliott dashed out of the darkroom, down the driveway, back in the front door and up to his room. Naturally, he had no opportunity to pick up the money that had been flung all over the floor of the workroom.”
Della Street said, “So Gilman must have seen Vera Martel as she entered the garage.”
“That’s right,” Drake said. “He was eating breakfast and reading the paper. He looked up just as Vera Martel went into the darkroom. That bothered him. Then, later on, he saw Maureen running out of the workshop and, of course, he thought it was Glamis.
“Gilman wanted to go out and investigate but he had to get rid of Muriell, so he asked her to cook some food which he didn’t really want. Muriell, however, knowing he had eaten enough, stalled around, hoping he would countermand the order.
“Gilman finally got out to the workshop, found the money all over the floor and the signs of struggle. He jumped in his car, drove around looking for Vera. He found where her car was parked but he couldn’t find her. It never occurred to him that her body was actually in the trunk of his car. When he couldn’t find Vera he drove his car to the place where he usually caught the bus, parked it and took the bus to town.
“Hartley Elliott had Vera’s car keys and her purse. He first wanted to move Vera’s car, then he could hardly believe his good luck when he found Gilman’s car parked at the bus stop.