“Why do people get so mixed up?” Emily asked.
“They do, all the time,” Virgil said. “At least they keep policemen from being unemployed.”
“He went to Europe, then, to try and dispose of his stock?” Ellen asked.
“More or less. According to the terms of the agreement among the partners, none of them could sell without common consent. However, Peterson hoped that Dr. Roussel, being a bachelor and living in Europe, might be sympathetic about his situation. He knew he would have no chance with Walter McCormack, but he thought that Dr. Roussel might be willing to advance him a substantial sum against the sale of the company-something he strongly advised.”
“And badly,” Holt-Rymers added.
“Is he married?” Linda asked.
“Yes, but his wife is suing him for divorce.”
“Then there was only one thing for him to do: let his wife divorce him in Reno and marry the girl he got into trouble,” she said.
Tibbs looked at her and shook his head. “Marrying under those circumstances seldom solves anything, particularly if you consider marriage as something more than a legal convenience. Anyway he couldn’t. She was already married-to a serviceman overseas.”
“Good night!” Forrest said.
“Agreed,” Virgil went on. “And when you add all of these things together, you can see why Peterson might have been in a frame of mind to attempt murder. He had motive and he is a big, powerful man, which made him a definite possibility. However, from the strictly legal standpoint all he had done that was unlawful was to have an affair with a consenting adult. He had plenty to worry about, but from a police point of view he wasn’t in very deep. Also if the company had been sold, most of his difficulties would have been solved for him.”
“How about the girl?” Linda asked.
“She went down to Mexico for a vacation. While there, she had a slight accident and lost her child. Enough about Oswald Peterson. Now, on to Mrs. Pratt.”
“No, thank you,” Holt-Rymers muttered.
“Quiet,” Linda retorted.
Virgil sipped his iced tea.
“Mrs. Pratt is a woman of insane vanity; her whole history proves it. Originally she turned down Dr. Roussel because at that time he couldn’t provide her with enough money. Then she married an older man who could. She was diminutive and ‘cute,’ so that to certain men she was very appealing; she cashed that asset like a traveler’s check. When she was widowed, she was left in very comfortable circumstances-enough to keep her well for the rest of her life. But that wasn’t enough for her, so she planned to remarry-and again to the highest bidder. To accomplish this she bought herself a very expensive and costly-to-maintain home and worked her way into society. If she could find herself a new husband in ample circumstances, fine; if not, she was sure that Albert Roussel still desired her and he was now making lots of money.”
“She should have grabbed him,” George commented.
“Don’t wish that on Uncle Albert,” Ellen said a little tartly.
“Sorry,” George apologized.
Virgil continued, “She splurged far beyond her income and didn’t receive the romantic returns she expected. She was certainly no longer young and some of her less desirable traits of character were beginning to show through. So when her money began to run out, she wrote to Dr. Roussel and more or less put herself on the block. He turned her down.
“Hurrah!” Ellen said. “One question-how did you find this out?”
“I had quite an extended telephone conversation with her maid. Normally I don’t believe she would have told me this, even if I had asked her officially. But there was a small incident: Mrs. Pratt embarrassed her when she made tea for me during my first visit. Also she was told that I was not to be considered a guest in the house, either because of my profession or, more likely, my race. This did not set well with that young lady, so when the subject came up in our little talk, she told me about it. Of course Mrs. Pratt has very few secrets from her maid, who lives in.”
“I would think not,” Emily agreed.
“Now come the beginnings of murder,” Virgil continued. “She was a woman scorned. This was her prime and basic motivation; to a person of her vanity, having her supposed long-time suitor refuse her hand when it was freely offered was insufferable. It was a gross humiliation and her overdeveloped ego demanded revenge.”
“Hell has no fury like a woman scorned,” Linda said.
“Perhaps that would not have driven her all the way to murder,” Tibbs went on, “but other things piled up. She was well aware that her appeal to men as a prospective bride was all but gone. She was desperate for more money. And, despite the fact that Albert Roussel had declined to marry her, she was still firmly convinced she was his heir, at least in part. When the company was organized, he was grateful for her support and told her that she would never lose by backing him. He offered to put up what assets he had at the time. She suggested to him that a legacy might be more appropriate, just in case something happened to him. This information came to me from his lawyer, who convinced him not to follow that suggestion.”
“I understood that a client’s conversations with his attorney were privileged,” Forrest said, making it a question.
“That’s correct,” Tibbs agreed. “But this was not the same thing. In this case the client had been murdered and I appealed to Mr. Wolfram to help me bring the persons responsible to justice. He was not required to answer me, but he chose to do so.”
“I see,” Forrest acknowledged. “One more thing, Virgiclass="underline" do people ordinarily go to the extreme of murder just for revenge? In Italian operas, yes, but I find it hard to believe.”
“That’s because you’re a decent and well-adjusted person,” Virgil answered him. “But how many times have you picked up a newspaper and seen something that began with the words ‘estranged husband’? Unfortunately it’s a too familiar pattern. A husband and wife break up; after the separation the woman starts seeing another man. The estranged husband bursts in on them, does some shooting, and often ends up by killing himself.”
“Of course!” Linda interjected.
“As far as money went, she still owned the stock,” George pointed out.
“Yes, she did. But she couldn’t sell it. Dr. Roussel opposed the sale of the company and had told her so.”
“I’m beginning to see,” Emily said. “With Dr. Roussel out of the way, she might be able to force the sale. She probably knew about Peterson and his troubles.”
“That’s right.”
“Wait a minute,” Ellen said. “Suppose she believed that the money in the estate would go to Mother-that is, the cash and assets like that-but that Uncle Albert would have left her the stock-for what she did for him. It would be very logical. In that case she could force the sale and take in twice as much.”
Tibbs nodded slowly. “I had the same thought. I can’t prove it’s right-not without a confession-but I’m sure of it just the same.”
Linda took over. “She knew McCormack’s chauffeur and got him-somehow-to do her dirty work for her.”
“That’s a little too fast,” Tibbs said. “Basically you’re right, but it isn’t that simple. It begins with the fact that Brown at one time was a decent enough man. He worked for Mr. McCormack for a considerable time. I learned that when he described the late Mrs. McCormack to me and said that she had died some time before. He was much better off than he realized; despite a limited education he had steady employment, a comfortable place on the estate to live, and, like all the members of Mr. McCormack’s household, he had been generously remembered in his employer’s will. He was to have received a legacy of two thousand dollars for each year of continuous service, which is a lot more than most people are able to save. He didn’t know that, but he should have realized that since his employer had no visible heirs, he would very likely be liberal toward those who had served him faithfully. But he didn’t reason this out and I guess McCormack’s attitude toward his staff was not encouraging.”