She turned to Alvin Christopher. “That’s why you were invited, Mr. Christopher.”
“Wait a minute,” Inspector Home said. “If Rawlins came in by train, how did his name get on the airline passenger list?”
“That was the incredible luck. Either he had originally planned to go by plane, made a reservation and later decided to go by train and turned his reservation over to Adrian Thorpe to use, or perhaps Thorpe had asked Gerald to buy him a plane ticket and Gerald absent-mindedly made the reservation in his own name. Whichever it was, there is no doubt that it was Thorpe who rode the plane on a reservation made in Gerald Rawlins’ name, and Gerald came in by train.
“The phone call from the station making a reservation at the Sheridan for Adrian Thorpe was made by Gerald, of course. At the time Gerald didn’t know he was going to commit a murder in less than an hour, and was merely doing Thorpe a favor. No doubt Thorpe had asked him to make him a reservation, knowing he would have little time between the time his plane was due in and the time of the meeting. Another example of Gerald’s incredible luck was that the desk clerk at the Sheridan later assumed it was Thorpe himself who phoned for the reservation.
“Mrs. Chambers was killed in blind rage, without premeditation, but after committing the crime, Gerald did his best to wriggle out of it. Remembering the plane reservation was in his name, he tried a desperate plan. He bought a hunting knife, registering it in Thorpe’s name, then went to the Sheridan, waited until Thorpe was alone in his room, walked in and killed him. It was a simple matter to get Thorpe’s airline stub from his pocket, substitute his own train stub and remove the baggage stubs from Thorpe’s suitcases so that he could later attach them to his own. But in his first panic after killing his aunt, apparently he left his suitcase in the hall, where it remained all the time the police were investigating. Unfortunately, for Gerald, it still contained the red railroad baggage stub, and Hank noticed this.
“The handbag which disappeared from Thorpe’s room of course contained the evidence of Gerald’s embezzlement. No doubt the auditors will be able to put it together again, now they know what to look for.
“Finally, the reason Gerald had to get me out of the way was that he knew I intended to talk to Jonathan Toomey. On a routine police report by telegraph, where the police are chary with words in order to save the taxpayers expense, there was an excellent chance the only information coming from Dallas would be a verification that the audit showed Thorpe guilty of embezzlement. Certainly it would not have mentioned anything about the modes of transportation used by Thorpe and Rawlins. But Gerald knew if I personally talked to Toomey by phone, it would inevitably come out that Thorpe had flown. For it was Thorpe Mr. Toomey turned the auditors’ report over to, not Gerald. At the time Gerald was halfway between here and Dallas on a train.”
Sedalia took a deep breath. “Got anything to add?” she asked Gerald Rawlins.
“Yes,” he said in a tight voice. “I’m sorry I didn’t swing those fire tongs a little harder.”
At that moment the inspector’s desk phone rang.
“Here’s your Dallas call,” he said, handing it to Sedalia.