The D.A. Breaks an Egg

19

Horace Lennox, his face drawn, and with deeply etched lines at the corners of his mouth, entered the sheriff’s office, and said, “You sent for me, sir?”

“Yes, Horace. Doug Selby and I want to talk with you for a minute.”

“Yes, sir. What about?”

“It’s about your sister, Moana.”

Horace raised his eyebrows.

“You’ve decided to stand up for Dorothy Clifton on this thing?”

“Naturally.”

Brandon said, in a kindly voice, “Horace, it gets back to what happened the night this girl was murdered. Dorothy says that someone took her car.”

Horace nodded.

“I’m afraid your mother thinks that’s merely something Dorothy made up,” Selby said.

“I’m afraid so.”

“But you know, and I know that someone must have taken her car.”

Horace nodded.

“Could it have been Moana?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Moana’s secretive. She likes to play ’em close to her chest, but she wouldn’t have done a thing like that. If she’d taken the car, she’d have come forward and said so.”

“Did you see her when you got home last night?”

“No.”

“But you have talked with her?” Brandon asked, glancing significantly at Selby.

“Yes.”

“When?”

“About an hour ago.”

“Where was she when you arrived home last night? Asleep?”

“She wasn’t home. She’d gone up to see her closest friend who lives at Santa Barbara. Poor kid. I guess she was pretty much upset with all the publicity, and so forth. The Lennox clan isn’t accustomed to... well, to seeing its name in the paper, particularly in this connection.”

“So she went up to see her friend?”

“Yes.”

“Who is this friend?”

“Mrs. Jordon L. Kerry, Connie — short for Constance. She and Moana were inseparable before Connie married.”

“You talked with Moana after she came home?”

“Yes. She’s a good kid. She likes Dorothy. I think she’s pretty thoroughly convinced that no matter what else happened, Dorothy must be innocent. But what with the loss of that jewelry and the shock of having someone break into the house and all that... well, the kid’s pretty much upset.”

“And you don’t think she took Dorothy’s car?”

“I don’t think she took the car. But I do think it could have been one of the servants. I’m not eliminating them from the picture until I’ve done a lot more investigating. And then there’s... there’s one other possibility.”

“What’s that?”

Horace hesitated, then shook his head. “I don’t think I care to discuss it.”

Brandon looked at Selby, then started drumming on the desk. “Okay, Horace,” he said at length. “Thanks a lot for your help. I was just trying to check up on things.”

“What’s happening with — with the case?”

“Oh, lots of developments,” Brandon said. “Nothing that’s really determinative, but we’re keeping after it.”

“You’ll let me know?” Horace asked with sharp anxiety in his voice.

“Sure, sure,” Brandon said reassuringly.

When Horace had left, Brandon pulled the telephone book toward him, started looking down the list, then said, “Here’s the number at Santa Barbara. Let’s call.”

He put in a person-to-person call. “The sheriff’s office,” he said, “I want to talk with Mrs. Jordon L. Kerry at Santa Barbara. Rush the call through, will you? It’s something of an emergency.”

He held on to the phone, then after a few moments said, “Hello... yes, hello. Mrs. Kerry? This is Sheriff Brandon speaking. You’re very friendly with Moana Lennox and I’m trying to check up on some jewelry she has. Would you know the jewelry if you saw it again?... I see, you would... When did you see Moana last, Mrs. Kerry?... Oh yes... What time?... I see... All right, thank you. I was just trying to check up on that jewelry. We don’t have too good a description. We may be on the trail of something. I think we may be able to find the burglar, and if we do we’re going to require an ironclad identification. As a matter of fact, we’re on a hot trail right now... Well, thanks a lot.”

He hung up, said, “Moana was up there last night all right. She drove up and she and Constance talked almost all night. Mrs. Kerry says she was in quite a state of nerves and seems all broken up about the fact that Dorothy is suspected of the murder. She says it will ruin her brother’s life, and the girl is on the verge of hysterics.”

Selby puffed thoughtfully on his pipe. “Of course, Rex,” he said, “with all of the emotional problems that are confronting her, it’s only natural that she’d like to go and see her best friend, but — hang it, Rex, somehow, I can’t help wondering if there isn’t something more to it than that.”

“Oh, I suppose so,” Brandon said, wearily, “but the point is she wasn’t with old A. B. Carr and Frank Grannis, so there’s nothing in that lead.”

“Hang it,” Selby said. “I suppose I’m getting jumpy. Every move we make we run up against old A. B. Carr, and I suppose my perspective is becoming warped, but... Rex, do you suppose there’s a possibility Moana wasn’t up there; that this is an alibi that’s been cooked up by Carr?”

“Why would she want an alibi?”

“I don’t know,” Selby said, and for several moments gave himself up to thoughtful contemplation as he puffed slowly at his pipe.

“I feel that jewel burglary was an inside job, Rex.”

“So do I.”

“I don’t think it could have happened exactly the way Moana described it. Now then, whom would Moana be protecting?”

The sheriff said, “You’re getting into deep water there, Doug. The Lennox family is firmly entrenched in this town, and any time we start opening their closet doors looking for skeletons, we’re going to have to know which closet and what skeleton.”

Selby said, “If Moana is up to anything — if there is any connection between her and old A. B. C., she’ll have been warned against betraying herself by any unconscious slip.”

Once more Selby sought solace in his pipe, then suddenly he said, “Rex, suppose we could get her away from her family. Get her up here in the office under such circumstances that she thought she was here for another purpose, and then suddenly start grilling her on where she was last night.”

Brandon said, “It would have to be done very cleverly, Doug, and you couldn’t afford to let her know you were doubting her word about anything until you were certain you had the goods on her. The family has lots of friends and The Blade would like nothing better than to claim we were trying to dig up a red herring to compensate for having lost out to Otto Larkin on a solution of the case.”

Selby said, “We’re on a spot, Rex. Everyone will expect us to go ahead and prosecute Dorothy Clifton for murder, but there isn’t one scrap of evidence connecting the murder weapon with her. Anyone could have gone out and planted that murder weapon in the hedge after knowing that Dorothy Clifton had been questioned. I don’t think Dorothy Clifton’s guilty, and I don’t want to prosecute her.”

“The only way we can get out of prosecuting her is to find the person who did do it,” Brandon pointed out.

“Let’s assume that burglary was an inside job, Rex. Who did it?”

“Dorothy Clifton might have,” Brandon said. “About one chance in a million. Mrs. Lennox might have had some reason for doing it. Then when Moana wakened she could have hurried out of the room, up the back stairs, and into the upper corridor, and down the front stairs.”

Selby nodded.

“But,” Brandon went on, “the most logical suspect is Steve. Steve may have found himself trapped in some predicament, something that a youngster gets into. He had to have money fast. And then, of course, there’s one other possibility.”

“What’s that?”

“Moana could be protecting herself — but we need evidence, Doug. We can’t play hunches in a matter of that kind.”

Selby cupped the warm bowl of his pipe in his hand. “Rex, suppose we should recover that stolen jewelry.”

“That, of course, would be the answer,” Brandon said.

“And if Moana were protecting anyone, when she knew that we’d recovered the jewelry, she’d blurt out the whole story.”

“If we’d recovered the jewelry, she wouldn’t need to blurt out anything,” Brandon said.

“But suppose she thought we’d recovered the jewelry. Then she’d tell her story, wouldn’t she?”

“Probably.”

“You have sketches of the jewelry, Rex?”

The sheriff nodded.

“Stacy Bodega, of the Bodega Jewelry Company, has a large collection of antique jewelry. He’s not only a collector, but a speculator. He thinks the market is going up on it later on and he’s saving all he can get his hands on. He’s almost certain to have some jewelry that almost duplicates the jewelry taken from Moana’s dresser drawer.

“Suppose we get in touch with him, show him the sketches of the stolen jewelry, then get Moana in here, and tell her that we’ve recovered her jewelry. Let her just get a glimpse of it at the start. Don’t give her a chance to make a careful comparison for identification, but with all the assurance in the world tell her we’ve recovered the jewelry and then look at her accusingly. She should break down and give us some information.”

“It’s worth trying,” Brandon said. “In fact, at this stage of the game almost anything is worth trying.”

Selby reached over and picked up the sheriff’s telephone, said to the operator, “Get the Lennox residence. I want to talk with Miss Moana Lennox. Tell her it’s the district attorney calling.”

He held the phone a moment, then heard Mrs. Lennox saying very firmly, “I’m sorry, but the child simply cannot be disturbed. This is her mother and...”

“I’ll talk with her,” Selby cut in. Then in his most suave tone said, “Hello, Mrs. Lennox. This is Mr. Selby, the district attorney. We’re working on a very important clue. I’m going to have some jewelry here in about an hour that I want Moana to look at. I have reason for wanting to keep the matter very confidential. Will you please have Moana come to the sheriff’s office in about an hour?”

“Couldn’t you bring it out here?”

“Under the circumstances,” Selby said, mysteriously, “circumstances which I am not at liberty to explain, that would be very inconvenient. I’d like very much to have Moana come to the sheriff’s office.”

“In an hour?” Mrs. Lennox inquired.

“In an hour,” Selby said. “And please have her come alone and without letting anyone know where she’s going.”

“Very well, Mr. Selby, and thank you for your efforts. However, Mr. Selby, I certainly hope that you’re not going to let that creature pull the wool over your eyes.”

“That creature?”

“That Dorothy Clifton person. She has completely hypnotized my son, Horace. I am very much pained to see that he is so credulous. I have spent a great deal of money giving him a legal education, and I certainly think that an attorney should be a little less naive. Particularly so far as designing females are concerned. I certainly hope, Mr. Selby, that you’re not going to be taken in by this creature’s wiles. If the jewelry you have is Moana’s, it came from Dorothy Clifton. If it didn’t come from her, then it isn’t Moana’s jewelry.

“This creature is not only responsible for all of our troubles, but I’m certain that she’s the one who entered Moana’s bedroom and stole that jewelry. We had been talking about Moana’s jewelry that night before Dorothy went to bed. She must have committed the murder and then taken Moana’s jewelry. When the case is finally solved that will be definitely and positively established. In fact, I shall insist that it is definitely and positively established so that my son can come to his senses.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lennox,” Selby said. “In about an hour then.”

“In an hour,” she said, and hung up.

Selby turned to the sheriff with a grin. “Well,” he said, “we’re starting to burn bridges, Rex. Let me have those sketches of the stolen jewelry. I’m going to see Stacy Bodega, dig up some earrings, a brooch, and a pendant.”

Brandon looked at his watch. “It’s two now. She’ll be in here at three o’clock then.”

Selby nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here in time with the jewelry. I’m certain Stacy Bodega will co-operate.”