Opportunity: last seen after parade-ride returning home horseback Barrett's Mill Rd. 11:15. Next seen by Flower coming from barn where suit found 1:45. No satisfact. explan. whereabouts meantime. (Murder 1:00).
Fax supporting Ch as X:
1. Confessed. Loopholes in confesh don't rule it out. Maybe diabol. clever ruse.
2. X wore Ch's outfit.
3. X's horse prob. Ch's horse.
4. Scout idents X as Ch or Ph.
5. Had motive.
6. Had opportunity.
7. Ch had access old gun, knew how fire it.
8. Scout sez X limped; Ch had hurt leg.
9. What he doing in barn, unless taking off suit?
10. Ch family black sheep, unstable.
Fax NOT supporting Ch as X:
1. Loopholes in confesh. Maybe Ch continues boy hood custom, sez "I did it" when either brother accused. Ch assumes Ph did it, so protects him by confesh. Shocked when Ph doesn't confess, too, then clams up, assumes Ph trying pin murder on him. Big blow. (GOOD.) But maybe diabol. clever ruse (see above).
2. If Ch intended murder Dad, why do it in public place wearing own fancy suit? Unless crime of sudden passion. In which case, why? Why have loaded musk. with him? What reason for rondayvoo?
3. Not likely Ch would fall off horse, since expert horseman. But maybe unsteady becuz nervous?
4. Limp of X might be caused by fall off horse.
5. Boy Scout's identif. don't mean much, he only saw back of X.
PHILIP GOSS
Motive: weak. Suppose motive was revenge for Dad's making him fire at Ch night before—this mean Ph fond of Ch. Why, then, would Ph wear Ch's Paul Revere suit to murder Dad, thus pinning murder on Ch?
Opportunity: Ph was with Cone. Ind. Battery on arrival Rod and Gun Club noon. Shortly after (he say), he left, walked around fresh air, went to barn, came back. No witnesses. So no alibi. Gone full hour. Time enough.
Fax supporting Ph as X:
1. Alibi fishy.
2. Scout idents X as either Ch or Ph. But see above.
3. Gun handy, could fire it.
4. Logical he use same gun on Dad that Dad made him use on Ch. (But see under motive, above.)
5. VERY IMPORTANT: Ph nearly killed Dad with cannon same morning. Mistake, he say.
6. Ph's car found in parking lot at bridge after murder.
Fax NOT supporting Ph as X:
1. Motive looks weak.
2. Character good.
3. Why commit murder in public place? See above.
4. If Ph murdered Dad on horseback, didn't bring car. Car probly used by E. Goss to get to bridge from gun club.
QUERIES
1. Why E. Goss go to bridge?
2. Where gun?
3. Where hat?
4. Who E. Goss fight with before dinner? (Reported by Miss Morgan.)
5. DON'T FORGET BAWL OUT KELLY, HIRING GIRLS WITHOUT PERMISH.
The District Attorney threw his head back and dropped peanuts down his throat. "Now for the Alco' Club. An' wha' abou' unknown persons, ou'siders?" he said.
Chief Flower made a sarcastic noise. "You mean beyond a couple thousand visitors to Concord to see the parade? They trampled up the place like a herd of elephants. But who were they all? Damned if I know. There isn't a prayer of tracking them all down. Say, there was one kind of interesting thing though. Loftus said he noticed a parked car in the parking lot there by the bridge the night before. Let's see, Bernie, that was a green Chrysler sedan, last year's, with a Massachusetts license, right? Bob saw it around midnight, and thought it was just a couple of neckers. Did that registration come in?"
Sergeant Shrubsole looked uncomfortable. "Well, yes," he said, "it did."
Homer Kelly, his face red, gave a snort. "Never mind, Sergeant, I'll confess. That was my car. It was me."
The District Attorney stared at Homer, his mouth open. Then he guffawed and made a lecherous remark. Mary Morgan, whol had been doodling a face in the corner of her notebook, added a pair of horns and a set of villainous teeth.
*30*
I am tired of scraps. I do not wish to be a literary or intellectual chiffonier ... let me spin some yards or miles of helpful twine, a clew to lead to one kingly truth... —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Miss O'Toole leaned forward and placed a scribbled note beneath her boss's nose. The D.A. took it in, cracked a peanut between his fingers and cleared his throat. "Now then," he said, "perhaps this would be as good a time as any to hear from Ernest Goss's lawyer. Miss O'Toole, would you call him in?" With his tongue sticking out between his lips the District Attorney printed WILL on the top of a clean sheet of paper. "All right, Mr. Twells, here's a chair. You have a copy of Ernest Goss's will?"
"I do," said Mr. Twells, sitting down stiffly. "Would you like me to read it in its entirety? Or shall I just run down the list of beneficiaries?"
"If you can spare us the whereases, Mr. Twells, we'd be grateful," said the D.A., crushing another peanut. His own passage of the Massachusetts bar had been very shaky, and he detested high-class lawyers.
Mr. Twells was a miracle of brevity. "Well, then. Ernest Goss left nearly all of his estate in trust for his wife. She was to receive the income during her lifetime, with the right to dispose of half of it in her own will, with the other half going in equal shares to her children. The trustees were myself and Mr. Philip Goss. And then there were a few other beneficiaries outside the immediate family. Mr. Goss left his collection of old guns and Indian relics to Mr. Theodore Staples. I understand that both of these collections were quite valuable. And there are a few others who will receive small sums."
"Could you run though the list of names for us, Mr. Twells?"
"Mrs. Annie Bewley, Miss Alice Herpitude and Miss Maria Fuller Alcott Emerson, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Each is to receive one thousand dollars."
"What?" said Homer Kelly. "Miss Maria who?"
Mr. Twells giggled nervously. "We don't know who this Maria Fuller Alcott Emerson is, and so far we haven't found anyone in Springfield who knows her. The bequest is not large, of course, but we will continue to look for her. No one in the Emerson family knows of her. Perhaps the similarity of her name is purely coincidental..."
Homer looked up at the ceiling and twiddled his thumbs. Mr. Twells put down his document and cleared his throat. "There is one thing more which I feel it my duty to say at this time. It concerns Mr. Charles Goss. About a week before his father's unfortunate demise, Charles came to me at my office. He needed money. He asked me to write a letter to a prospective lender stating what his expectations were."
Homer leaned forward and stared at Mr. Twells. "His 'expectations'? You mean like some young rake in a nineteenth century English novel? Fattening the usurers? Burdening the ancient family manor with debt?"
"Well, of course it would have been most improper to do so. I refused. I would not have done it without his father's permission, in any case. Charles insisted that he merely wished to be able to leave home and set up independently, and he promised that he would pay back the money as soon as he was employed. But there was no way I could help him. I offered him a small personal loan, but he turned that down."
The D.A. shuffled his papers around happily. "Say, that's frst rate. Strawberry jam." He found the sheet headed CHARLES GOSS, and added a triumphant, "Needed CASH," under motive. "Thank you very much, Mr. Twells."
Miss O'Toole leaned forward and tapped the end of her pen on a pair of photographs. "Oh, yes, the sisters," said the D.A. He picked up the photographs and looked at them. "Which one is the smasheroo?"