“You told him what you’d found out?”
“Yes. Everything.”
“Did he make any comments?”
“He said that under no circumstances must Arthur know I was there.”
“That impressed you as being somewhat unusual?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him that I must know what was in the wind. He was evasive. After a while he said that he thought that when Mrs. Right left the house, she might have intended to go away for good. If that were the case she’d probably left a letter for Arthur, and that she might have said some things about me in that letter. He said that everything was going to be all right, however, and if I’d just have confidence in him and come up in time to go sailing with him at three o’clock Sunday after-noon, things would all clear up. He asked me to come up early Sunday.”
“Did he give you any more details?”
“No. He seemed very nervous. He kept pushing me toward the rail of the yacht. He said it would be fatal if Arthur discovered I had been there. He said there were some things he’d have to explain to Arthur, and he’d have to do it at just the right time.”
“Then what?”
“I got into the skiff, and he rowed me to the yacht club.”
“And Arthur Right didn’t know you were there?”
She hesitated a moment, then said, “I rather think he did.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Just as I was leaving the skiff, I heard Addison swear under his breath, and then he said. ‘There’s Arthur on deck now. Don’t look back. Keep right on walking, and duck inside the clubhouse.’ ”
“You did that?”
“Yes.”
“Now, do you know whether this interview took place before four o’clock or afterwards?”
“It was right around four o’clock. I remember stopping on the road back at a service station. I noticed then that the clock showed it was about twenty-five minutes past four. I wanted my oil changed. I left that service station by twenty-five minutes to five. I’m positive of that.”
Duryea said, “You telephoned Mrs. Right on Catalina Island Sunday afternoon after you’d learned of the murder?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It suddenly occurred to me that if she’d left a statement — and if she hadn’t been intending to come back — well, the officers might have got into the house or interrogated the servants and found the statement...”
“Go on,” Duryea said as she hesitated.
“Well, there might have been something in it which would have made it look bad for Pearl. That is, something that... oh, some dirty linen that it would have been better not to have aired.”
“You mean something that would have made things embarrassing for you, don’t you?” Duryea asked.
“I didn’t think of that so much at the time. I was thinking of what a position Pearl would be in.”
“Look here,” Duryea said suddenly, “you thought perhaps she had murdered her husband, didn’t you?”
Nita Moline hesitated for just a fraction of a second, then said slowly, “No. Not that.”
“But you thought she might be accused of it?”
“I thought the officers might consider that possibility — if they got that statement.”
“And you did know that you were mentioned in that statement?”
“Well, I didn’t know — it wasn’t until later that I recalled what Addison had said. I’m sorry, Mr. Duryea, but I just can’t amplify that. Pearl was nervous and upset, and there was a lot she didn’t understand.”
“Is there anything else you have to tell me?” Duryea asked.
“That’s all.”
“Nothing about what happened Sunday morning?”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Why? What happened Sunday morning?”
“After you discovered the bodies. Didn’t you remove some of the evidence?”
“Why, no. Mr. Duryea. No, honestly. It was just this thing that I’d done Saturday that weighed on my mind — this business of coming up here and being aboard the yacht and not... well, holding out the information on you.”
“I see,” Duryea said, “and now you’ve told me everything?”
“Yes, everything. Absolutely everything.”
Duryea said, “I think that’s all, Miss Moline. I’m sorry you didn’t tell me about this in the first place.”
“I... well... you can see what it meant to Mrs. Right — or what I thought it meant. I’m sorry. I just didn’t feel that I should be the one to throw the first stone.”
Duryea watched her to the door. When she had left, he said to Miss Stevens, “Get me police headquarters in Los Angeles at once. Rush the call through.”
Miss Stevens dashed from the office to put through the call. A few moments later, when Duryea had his party on the line, he said, “This is Frank Duryea, district attorney at Santa Delbarra. Miss Nita Moline resides at six-o-nine Maplehurst Apartments. I want her apartment searched. You’d better get a warrant. It’s in connection with the yacht murder case up here. I’m looking for a statement which may have been writ-ten by C. Arthur Right and which was taken from the yacht and secreted. You’ll have to work fast. Miss Moline has just left my office. It will take her a couple of hours to get to her apartment. You should be able to have a warrant and be there within an hour. That will give you an hour to search.”
Duryea hung up the phone.
Nita Moline, trim in her light gray skirt and jacket, waited just long enough after leaving the district attorney’s office to make certain she was not being followed. Then she entered a telephone booth in a drugstore. With swift efficiency, she dropped a coin, dialed long distance, and said, “Miss Smith calling from pay station six-four-one-two-five. I want to talk with Mr. Ted Shale at Richgrove nine-seven-three-two-four, with no one else if he’s out. Will you please rush the call?”
She was told to deposit eighty-five cents and to hold the line. While she waited, she took a few quick puffs on a cigarette. The slight trembling of her hand as she conveyed the match to the end of the cigarette had been her only indication of nervousness.
When she had taken the second deep drag, the operator said. “Here’s your party.”
Miss Moline dropped the cigarette to the floor of the telephone booth, placed the sole of her neat gray shoe on the end, heard Ted Shale’s voice saying, “Hello.”
Miss Moline said, “Ted, do you know who this is?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“It’s very important. I’ve been appointed administratrix with the will annexed, you know. There are some things I have to do, some very important steps to be taken in connection with the estate. I made a list of some papers I was to deliver to my attorney, Mr. Hazlit, of Hazlit & Tucker. I left these papers in a tan purse which I was wearing with another outfit. When I changed my clothes, I changed purses, but forgot to transfer some of the things. That tan purse is in the upper right-hand drawer of the little dressing table on the north side of my room. I left my key at the desk. I’m going to call them and tell them to let you have it.
“Now, like a good boy, will you run up to the Maplehurst Apartments right away? Ask for Miss Moline’s key, and go up to my apartment. Now listen, Ted, this is very important. The apartment doesn’t like to have tenants let other persons go to apartments to take things out, but it’s all right to take things in. So will you wrap up a bundle of some sort? It doesn’t make any difference what it is. Stop at a bookstore and buy the first two books you come to, or if you have a package of laundry handy, take it along. See that the package is displayed prominently. Do you get that?”