“Why didn’t you tip us off so we could grab Waid?” the sheriff grumbled.
Mason said, “Because the evidence would be materially strengthened by having Waid become panic-stricken, and make a sudden disappearance. Flight, in itself, is an evidence of guilt. You can see that Waid was panic-stricken. As soon as he realized he had murdered the wrong parrot, he knew how deadly the evidence of the parrot would be, because it would prove conclusively that the parrot didn’t learn his speech by hearing the excited last words of Fremont C. Sabin, but had been carefully coached to repeat those words by someone who had access to it; and Waid was the only one, outside of Fremont Sabin, and the son Charles, who had access to the parrot. You will note that Steve Watkins didn’t live in the house, and Mrs. Sabin had been away for six weeks.
“Of all the persons who had a complete alibi, the parrot was the one who had the best. The parrot was not at the scene of the shooting. That was attested to by Mrs. Winters. Therefore, the parrot couldn’t have learned his speech from hearing Sabin say those words. I felt it was quite possible that Sabin’s murderer might be in the room last night when I disclosed the switch in parrots. Charles Sabin had known of it for some time. The information came as news to Mrs. Sabin, Steve and Waid — I saw to that... So Waid decided the only thing for him to do was to kill the parrot. He didn’t know that other persons had heard the parrot’s comments. You see, that’s the trouble with teaching a parrot something to say: you never can tell how often he’ll say it, or when he’ll say it.
“But Waid had all the breaks in one way. He hadn’t intended to pin the crime on Helen Monteith. It’s probable that he knew nothing of Helen Monteith. He had intended to pin the crime on Helen Watkins Sabin. Imagine his consternation when he found that Helen Watkins Sabin had an alibi; that she had been in court in Reno when the murder was supposed to have been committed. Then, he suddenly realized there was an excellent opportunity to pin the crime on Helen Monteith, but he had to get that parrot out of the way. And then his confidence suddenly returned when he learned that the decree of divorce had been forged, and that Mrs. Sabin didn’t have an alibi after all.
“Once having placed the time of the murder accurately, and disregarding the evidence of the string of fish to which Sergeant Holcomb attached such great importance, it became obvious that Sabin was not alive at ten o’clock on the evening of Monday, the fifth. Therefore, Waid’s statement that he had talked with Sabin over the telephone must have been false.”
Helen Monteith said, “Well, I hope they hang him! He killed one of the best men who ever lived. You’ve no idea how unselfish and considerate Mr. Sabin was. He thought of everything, no detail was too small to escape him. Nothing which would go for my comfort was overlooked.”
“I can readily appreciate that,” Mason said soberly. “Everything that he did... Wait a minute...”
He stopped abruptly.
“What’s the matter?” the sheriff asked.
Mason said excitedly, “That will! He really executed that after he’d married you. Yet he didn’t make any provision in it for you. He provided for everyone else.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Why didn’t he provide for you?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know. He would have had some good reason. I didn’t want money, anyway. I wanted him.”
Mason said, “That’s the angle to this case I can’t understand. Fremont Sabin made his will at the time he was negotiating that property settlement with his wife.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Sheriff Barnes asked.
Mason said, “It just doesn’t fit into the picture. He makes provision for every one of the objects of his affection, but he doesn’t make any provision whatever for Helen Monteith.”
“That was because he didn’t have any reason to,” the sheriff said. “He’d married her in Mexico, and he was going to marry her again, later on. We know now that the reason for all this was that he was waiting for Helen Watkins Sabin to get her divorce. Naturally, he didn’t expect to die in the meantime.”
Mason said, “No, that doesn’t cover it. The businessman doesn’t make his will because he expects to die, but to take effect when he does die. He covers every possible eventuality. Notice that the will specifically provided for the payment of money to Helen Watkins Sabin in the event he died before the divorce decree had been granted and the money paid. In other words, she, having made a good faith attempt to carry out the agreement, was to be protected, regardless of what might happen to Sabin. That shows his essential fairness. Yet, he made no provision for Helen Monteith.”
Helen Monteith said, “I didn’t want him to. I’m not dependent on him for anything. I’m making my own living. I...”
Suddenly Mason got to his feet and started pacing the floor. Once or twice he made little gestures with his fingers as though checking off points against some mental inventory he was taking. Abruptly he turned to Della Street. “Della,” he said, “go get the car. Fill it up with oil and gas, and bring it down to the front door. We’re going to take a ride.”
He turned to Sheriff Barnes and said, “Sheriff, I’d consider it as a personal favor if you’d expedite all the formalities as much as possible. Cut all the red tape you can. I want to get Helen Monteith out of here at once.”
The sheriff studied him from beneath leveled eyebrows. “You think she’s in some danger here?” he asked.
Mason didn’t answer the question. He turned to Helen Monteith. “Do you suppose,” he said, “you could help me check one phase of your alibi?”
“What do you mean, Mr. Mason?”
Mason said, “I want you to do something which is going to be a nerve strain. I hate to inflict it upon you, but it’s necessary. There’s one point we want to establish, immediately.”
“What?” she asked.
“I think I know the real reason for that original substitution of parrots,” Mason said. “I remarked a while ago that we’d probably never know just what caused Sabin to make that switch. Now I think we can get the real reason. If what I suspect is true, there’s an angle to this case so vitally important that... Do you think you could stand a drive to Santa Delbarra? Do you think you could point out to me the exact room in the hotel where you last saw your husband?”
“I could,” she said, “but I don’t understand why.”
Mason shifted his eyes to meet the steady inquiry in those of Sheriff Barnes. “We’ve been talking quite a bit about becoming hypnotized by circumstantial evidence. After a person once gets a fixed belief, he interprets everything which happens in the light of that belief. It’s a dangerous habit to get into, and I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely innocent, myself. I’ve been so busy pointing out the trap to others that I’ve walked into one myself without noticing what I was doing.”
Sheriff Barnes said, “I don’t know what you’re after, Mason, but we’ll rush things through. I have the matron coming over with all the personal property taken from Miss Monteith... Here she is now. Check this property and pay particular attention to the contents of your purse, Miss Monteith. Then, sign this receipt on the back of this manila envelope.”
Helen Monteith had just finished signing the receipt when Della Street entered the room and nodded to Mason. “All ready, Chief,” she said.