‘No, she didn’t do that,’ Maddux said. There was a cold, hard expression on his face that made everyone in the room stare at him. ‘But before you pin her death on Dester, you’d better start digging around for the other man.’ He paused, looking at Madvig. ‘For you can bet your last buck there is another man.’
Chapter Twelve
It was lucky for me that both Madvig and Bromwich resented Maddux’s intrusion into the case. I didn’t realize this at the time, but subsequent facts were to prove that they were hostile not only to him, but to his ideas.
Madvig said, ‘Oh, I don’t know, Mr. Maddux. We don’t want to make this case too complicated. As I see it, Dester killed her. That’s a straightforward theory. They drive away, she is found dead and he has disappeared. It looks a cinch to me. It’s happened thousands of times before, and it will happen thousands of times in the future.’
Maddux stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment, then he shrugged his shoulders.
‘Okay. It’s not my business to tell you how to run this investigation, but remember what I said when you find Dester’s dead body: look for the other man.’
‘What makes you think Dester is dead?’ Madvig asked sharply.
‘When a guy is insured for three-quarters of a million and he comes to me to ask me to delete the self-destruction clause in his policy with a lame story that he doesn’t want to be tempted to do away with himself, I know there’s trouble coming. When I know he is married to a gold-digging murderess I know from which direction the trouble will come. When I hear he’s suddenly disappeared and she’s been found dead in mysterious circumstances I know a smart idea to defraud my company has been tried and has turned sour. We must find him.’
‘We’ll do that,’ Madvig said, his purple face turning a deeper shade.
‘And another thing: who inherits what’s left of his estate now his wife is dead?’ Maddux went on. ‘Did he leave a will?’
Something nudged me into life. Call it a hunch if you like, but I had a sudden feeling that no one must see the will that Marian found until I had had the chance of examining it. For all I knew Dester might just possibly have left me something, and if he had, I would be right out on a limb. So far, there was no motive that could be put down in black and white for me to have murdered him, but a mention in the will would supply the motive.
‘I don’t know,’ Burnett was saying. ‘I don’t think he made a will.’ He looked over at me. ‘You haven’t come across a will, have you, Nash?’
‘Not yet, but I have still a lot of papers to go through,’ I said. I looked across at Marian, met her surprised eyes and frowned at her. I did this quickly, and then looked back at Burnett. He didn’t seem to have noticed my signal. ‘If I find anything I’ll let you know at once.’
‘Has he any relations?’ Maddux asked.
‘No, nor has Mrs. Dester.’
Maddux scratched the side of his jaw.
‘I’d like to know who would benefit if my company had to pay the claim.’ He showed his white teeth in a grim smile. ‘I may say this: we won’t pay out unless we are absolutely convinced there has been no attempt at fraud. All the same, I’d like to know who we have to deal with.’
‘If Nash finds the will, I’ll let you know,’ Burnett said.
‘Okay. Well, now I’ve got to get back to San Francisco. I’ll be down again.’ He turned to Madvig. ‘Until Dester is found, alive or dead, I want someone in this house. I can either send one of my own investigators or you can use one of your men. I want this house watched day and night until Dester is found. Will you fix it or shall I?’
That was nearly the finisher as far as I was concerned. How was I to move Dester’s body if there was a policeman guarding the house?’
‘Surely that’s not necessary,’ Madvig said, frowning. ‘You said just now you were convinced Dester is dead.’
‘I want to make certain his ghost doesn’t walk,’ Maddux said with a hard little grin.
‘Sergeant Lewis can stay,’ Bromwich said.
Madvig shrugged his shoulders.
‘Yes. He’s right here now. There’s no point in using one of your men.’
‘That’s fine,’ Maddux said and knocked out his pipe. ‘If you find either Dester or his will, let me know at once.’ He turned to me. ‘What’s your position here, Mr. Nash?’
‘I’ve been paid to the end of the month,’ I said. ‘I’m at Mr. Burnett’s disposal until then.’
‘I don’t want to stay,’ Marian broke in.
Maddux looked at her, then at Burnett, who said, ‘Couldn’t you stay on for a few days, Miss Temple? We shall need you at the inquest. The house will have to be looked after. Naturally I’ll see you get paid. I would be glad if you would stay.’
Marian hesitated. ‘Very well, I’ll stay until the end of the week, but not after.’
‘Thank you. We shall probably have news of Dester by then.’
Maddux, Madvig and Bromwich had gone out into the hall. I could hear Madvig talking to Lewis.
Burnett went on, ‘Well, as I’m here, I may as well look at Mr. Dester’s papers. I haven’t much time. Have you got them ready for me?’
‘I was going to parcel them up and send them down to you,’ I said. ‘At the moment they are in rather a mess. If you could give me until tomorrow morning I’ll have them all ready for you.’
He hesitated, then nodded. ‘Do that. I can get one of my clerks to go through them.’
Nodding to Marian and then to me, he went out and joined the other three as they stood by the police car talking.
Marian came up to me. ‘Glyn, why didn’t you?’
I whipped my hand over her mouth, cutting her words off.
‘Lewis is out there,’ I breathed. ‘Don’t say anything.’ Then raising my voice, I went on, ‘Let’s get back to the study. We have a lot of work to get through.’
Pale, her eyes alarmed, Marian let me lead her into the hall.
Lewis was prowling around at the foot of the stairs, his hands in his trousers pockets, his thin, hard face scowling.
We went past him without saying anything, down the passage and into Dester’s study. I shut the door and locked it.
‘Glyn! What is happening? Why didn’t you tell them we had found the will?’
‘I wanted to look at it first,’ I said, moving away from the door and over to the desk. ‘I had to look at it first.’
‘But why? You can’t do that. It’s addressed to Mr. Burnett.’
I pushed aside the heap of bills and found the long envelope. Then I sat down, holding it in my hand.
‘I can put it in another envelope. Burnett’s not to know it’s sealed. I’ve got to look at it first.’
She came and stood opposite me, her hands resting on the desk, her eyes scared.
‘But why, Glyn? Is there something wrong?’
‘Not yet. You heard what Maddux said about the other man? If I’m named in this will, he may jump to the conclusion that I am the other man.’
She stared at me, her eyes opening wide.
‘I could be in trouble, Marian, if I don’t handle this setup carefully. You may as well know the truth. For a very short time, Helen and I were lovers.’
Marian turned away and, crossing the room, she sat down. ‘I guessed that, Glyn.’
‘Yes. Maddux may guess it too. If Dester is found dead he may think I killed him if I’m named in this will.’
‘Of course he won’t, Glyn! How can you say such a thing?’
‘Oh, yes, he will. It’s a formula the police work to: husband who is insured for a lot of money suddenly dies. The wife has a lover. The wife dies. The lover is found to come into money left by the husband. Q.E.D. The lover has killed the husband and probably the wife. It has happened and will go on happening. All they want now is to find a motive.’