Merlini’s hand was closing around the doorknob of Pauline’s trailer when the door suddenly opened. Mac Wiley ducked and came out. He was closely followed by a figure whose square shoulders, determined chin, and bright blue eyes were all too familiar, as were the perturbed scowl and the sharp bite his words held.
“Merlini,” he barked. “What the everlasting, blazing, blue hell are you and Ross doing in those uniforms?”
It was Chief Inspector Homer Gavigan.
Chapter Nineteen
Who’s Who
Merlini looked at me. “Lieutenant Harte,” he said, “this man is a dangerous character. If he makes trouble place him under arrest.” Then he faced Gavigan. “I’d rather be arrested for impersonating an officer than for exhibitionism. What do you want us to do — turn nudist? You had your colleagues deprive us of our clothes. And how’d you get here so fast — did you charter a witch’s broomstick?”
“No — a plane.” Gavigan’s frown was still forbidding, but his eyes twinkled. “I might have known jail wouldn’t stop you. What did you pick the locks with — your teeth?”
“That’s such a prosaic suggestion, Inspector. I said ‘Open Sesame’ three times, and the walls of Jericho fell flat. Mind telling us why you had us thrown into durance vile?”
“I didn’t think you’d stay there long,” Gavigan admitted. “But I thought it might keep you in a safe place long enough so that I could get here and take over. This isn’t your sort of case. It’s full of gangsters and gunmen. I was afraid that that sort of professional criminal might reply to your subtle and fine-drawn methods of detection with a machine-gun barrage. I thought you might be more comfortable in Hooper’s jail than on a morgue slab.”
“The morgue slab would be lots cooler than the fire Ross and I have jumped from the frying pan into. Your well-meant solicitude has resulted in our breaking half the penal laws of the State of New York. When Schafer and Hooper catch up with us, you’re going to have to go to bat for us — that is, if you want this murder case solved.”
“That’s what you think,” Gavigan said. “I’ve got it solved!”
“Oh,” Merlini said sharply. “Arrested the villain?”
“I’m going to just as soon as I’ve heard your story.”
“He’s still on the lot, then?”
“He’s still on the lot?” Gavigan asked. “Who’s still on the lot?”
“Why, the Duke, of course. Isn’t he the man you want?”
“The Duke? How did you know he was anywhere around here? Miss Hannum says she didn’t tell you.”
“He’s the bee in O’Halloran’s bonnet. We’ve just heard all about the Duke and Maxie and the Vanishing Lady.”
“O’Halloran?” Gavigan said. “Martin O’Halloran? Has he got a finger in this pie?”
Merlini nodded. “Both fists. And he seems to have stolen a march on you. He’s scouring the lot for the Duke now with visions of a ten-grand reward under his hat.”
“He won’t find him,” Gavigan stated. “The Duke’s lammed. And I sent Brady in to put a four-state alarm out on the teletype. He and Keith Atterbury’s car have been missing ever since the matinee. I want him, all right, but not for a murder rap. The murderer is still around. Say, where are Schafer and Hooper? Haven’t they discovered you’re gone yet?”
“Well,” Merlini said a bit uneasily, “I imagine they are beginning to get the idea. I think you’d better make your arrest before they show up. They’ve some awfully biased ideas on the subject, all of which concern Ross and myself. And I doubt if our escape is any contribution toward establishing our innocence. So Pauline finally admits that the tramp clown, Garner, is the Duke and that the Headless Lady was her sister, Paulette Hannum, café society’s Paula Starr?”
“Yes. When we told her the Duke had run out, she talked. She says she was afraid to before because he threatened to kill her. She also accuses him of the murders and causing her tumble last night.”
“Yes, I thought she might,” said Merlini. “But you don’t believe her. Why? What color rabbit is it you’ve got up your sleeve, Gavigan?”
“You’ll find out,” he promised. “But I want your story. I got a lot of it from Wiley here. I want more. How did you find out about this case in the first place? And don’t tell me it was crystal-gazing!”
“Inspector,” Merlini said insistently, “that’s not important just now. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and work fast. If you questioned Mac, you’ve got most of the story. Did Pauline tell you why the Major was helping Paula and the Duke get out of the country? We’ve heard a couple of times that he actively disliked the Duke and was none too pleased with Paula for eloping with him. What motive did he have for routing his show through a lot of unprofitable tank towns in order to get them to Canada the quickest way? I smell a rat. How much did the Duke pay him for the ride?”
“Pauline says he did it for love — on sister Paula’s account,” Gavigan answered. “But she’s lying. I think she’s scared I’ll make her kick the money back. I think I know the answer, though. It’s no secret that Maxie Weissman cleaned up a fortune in the policy racket before somebody put the finger on him. What isn’t so well known is that, when we went through his bank accounts and the like, we didn’t find nearly enough. A measly ten or fifteen thousand. I had a damn good hunch that he had his nest-egg in cash and that he had hidden it somewhere in or near the Bridgeport hide-out where he was killed. We tore the place apart, and we didn’t find it. I had two operatives, a man and a policewoman, playing the part of man and wife, rent the house from the owner and stick there, hoping that some friend of Maxie’s who knew its location would be up there after it. He must have had a tin box so full of cash that I was sure, if anyone knew where it was, they wouldn’t be able to resist it for long. Sooner or later they’d come snooping.”
“That,” Merlini said, “is what I call needed information. It explains the unexplainable — the fantastic incident of the elephants that escaped on purpose. The Duke, though he has tried to hide it behind clown white, certainly does have a head on him. Kellar once said, and without any exaggeration, that he could stand facing you and so misdirect you that if an elephant walked past, behind Kellar, you wouldn’t be aware of it. The Duke has worked that stunt in reverse. The elephants themselves were the misdirection! It’s a classic. One of the most massive bits of misdirection in the book.”
“Never mind the blurbs.” Gavigan glowered. “The Duke’s a slick article right enough, but he’d have been lots smarter to stay on the right side of the law. You’ve figured it right, though. While the front yard was full of auto wreck and the flower beds full of elephants and animal trainers, the Major — the Duke would probably have kept out of sight — fished up the boodle. I think now it was in the well. We found a few traces. I’ll have to admit that an elephant-truck accident was so damned unusual that I didn’t think it could be a phony. And I’d just dug up the fact that Paula Starr was originally Paulette Hannum and figured what had happened when Captain Schafer phoned me about you.”
“And now the Duke is on the run with the dough. O’Halloran will be glad to hear this — because it gives the Duke a motive for eliminating the Major. He didn’t want to split with him. And Paula might have boggled at murder — while the attempt on Pauline was to prevent his discovery. But if Pauline accuses the Duke without mentioning the money, what motive does she give him?”