“I’m not doing anything at present. I have been a secretary and a night club entertainer. I’ve clerked in a dry goods store and have done modeling work in Los Angeles.”
“What time was it you heard the sounds of the typewriting?”
“I don’t know. It was when I came in. Sometime around midnight, I would say, but that’s just a guess.”
“What had you been doing?”
“I’d been out with a boy-friend.”
“Doing what?”
Resentment showed in her eyes. “Is that necessary?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“We went to a picture show.”
“Not until midnight.”
“No, then we had some drinks and danced.”
“Then what?”
“Then he drove me to the hotel.”
“Straight to the hotel?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Did he see you as far as the elevator?”
She frowned, and said, “Now, listen, I’m being a good sport and giving you the breaks in this thing. Don’t ask so many questions.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Marks, but it’s necessary. You can rest assured that I’ll keep anything you tell me in complete confidence, insofar as I can do so.”
“Well, yes,” she said, “he came to the elevator with me.”
“Could this have been before midnight?”
“No, I’m sure it wasn’t before midnight.”
“It was probably after midnight, then?”
“Perhaps.”
“How much after?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t look at my watch. I’m not accountable to anyone and I don’t have to tell anyone just what time I came in.”
“You heard this typewriting distinctly?”
“Yes.”
“And remembered it?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“I didn’t think it was important.”
“You’ve made a living by running a typewriter?”
“Yes.”
“How did this typing sound to you? Was it the ragged touch of the hunt-and-peck system, or was it done by the touch system?”
“It was fast typing,” she said. “I don’t believe I could tell whether it was a touch system, but that typewriter was going like a machine gun.”
“How long did you hear it?”
“Just while I was walking past the door.”
Selby said casually, “And your boy-friend, I presume, can verify your statement?”
“Yes, certainly... Why, what do you mean?”
Selby smiled at her.
“Well,” she said, defiantly, “he came as far as my room.”
“Did he stay?”
“He did not.”
“Just went to the door of the room?”
“Well, he kissed me good-night.”
“Once or more than once?”
“Listen,” she said, “get this straight. This is the reason I didn’t want to say anything about what I’d seen. I was afraid a lot of people would start asking questions that were none of their business. I’m straight. If I wasn’t, it’s no one’s business except my own. The boy I was out with is a nice chap. I’ll say that for him. He’s a perfect gentleman and he knows how to treat a woman. He came as far as the room. He was here perhaps five minutes. He kissed me goodnight, and — believe it or not — he was darn nice and sweet about it.”
“And there’s nothing else you can tell me — about the typing?”
“Not a thing.”
“Can’t you place that time a little more closely?” Selby asked.
“Well, it was after midnight. It might have been quite a bit after midnight.”
“Don’t you know that it was much later than that?” Selby said kindly. “After all, Miss Marks, I don’t want to pillory you with a lot of questions, but this man died perhaps right around midnight. The question of time becomes important. Now can’t you...?”
“It was right around three o’clock in the morning,” she said sullenly.
“That’s better. Have you any way of fixing the time — definitely?”
“We danced until about a quarter to three. My boy-friend said he had to work in the morning and he couldn’t make too big a night of it. So we came directly to the hotel.”
“And went directly to this room?”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t think he was more than five minutes?”
“No.”
“You didn’t go as far as the elevator with him when he left?”
“Of course not. He saw me to my room and that was all. When he left, I locked the door, took my clothes off and tumbled into bed. I was a little weary myself. It had been quite a night — you know, we’d been hoofing it.”
Selby nodded.
“What’s the name of your boy-friend?” he asked.
“Do you have to call him?”
“I’d like to talk with him.”
“It’s Herbert Perry,” she said. “He’s working at a service station in...”
Selby stiffened to electrified attention.
“Herbert F. Perry?” he asked. “The young man who’s bringing a suit to determine heirship to the Perry Estate?”
She frowned for a moment and said, “I guess that’s right. He said something about some lawsuit he was in. I gathered from the way he talked he didn’t think he stood much chance of winning it. But he said if he could win it there’d be a big bunch of money in it for him.”
“And you don’t know where he went after he left this room?”
“Why, he went down in the elevator, of course.”
“But you didn’t see him go?”
“No, of course not.”
“How long have you known Herbert Perry?”
“To tell you the truth,” she said, “I just met him that night.”
“Who introduced you?”
She stared defiantly at the district attorney and said, “It was a pick-up, if you want to know.”
“On the street?”
“Certainly not! I stopped in at the bar at the Blue Lion for a drink. This boy was there. He was very nice. We got to talking.”
“Did he,” Selby asked, “seem to know anything about you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Did he know where you lived?”
“Come to think of it,” she said, “he did say that he’d seen me a couple of times at the hotel and had inquired something about me. He knew my name. He said he’d been wanting to meet me for a week, but didn’t know just how to arrange it. He was an awfully nice chap.”
“So then you spent the evening together?”
“Yes, we hoofed around a bit and had a few drinks.”
Selby smiled, and said as casually as possible, “Well, thanks very much for coming forward with the information. Don’t change your address without letting me know, because it may be important. It’s rather difficult to believe that this man was alive and writing on his typewriter at that hour in the morning... You don’t think there’s any possibility you could be mistaken in the room?”
“No, because I noticed there was a light coming through the transom. I wondered who could be writing at that hour in the morning.”
Selby smiled, thanked her again and sauntered casually out to the corridor. As soon as he heard the door close behind him, however, he raced for the elevator. In the lobby he crossed to the telephone booth, grabbed up the receiver and said to the operator in an excited voice, “Get me the sheriff’s office, quick!”
Chapter XII
Herbert Perry sat in the district attorney’s office, facing the light. The sheriff and Douglas Selby concentrated upon him steady stares of silent accusation.
“Now, listen,” he said, “this Marks girl is a nice kid, see? She’s on the up-and-up. Of course, it was a pick-up, but that’s the way things go nowadays. Times are different from what they used to be.”