CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Hello, Penny!" Dundee greeted the district attorney's private secretaryThursday morning at five minutes after nine. "Any news from Sanderson?"
"Yes," Penny Crain answered listlessly. "A night letter. He says hismother is still very low and that we're to wire him at the GoodSamaritan Hospital in Chicago if anything turns up."
"Then I suppose I can reach him there by long distance," and Dundeelifted the telephone from Penny's desk to put in the call.
"What's happened?" Penny demanded, her brown eyes wide and startled.
"And hurry it up, will you, please?" Dundee urged the long distanceoperator before hanging up the receiver and answering Penny's question."That's just the trouble--nothing's happened, and nothing is very likelyto happen here. I'm determined to go to New York and work on this peskycase from that end--"
"Then you've come around to Captain Strawn's theory that it was a NewYork gunman?" Penny asked hopefully.
"Not by a jugful!... But what's the matter with you this morning, youngwoman? You're looking less like a new penny and more like one that hasbeen too much in circulation."
"Thanks!" Penny retorted sarcastically; then she grinned wryly. "You areright, as a matter of fact. I was up too late last night--bridge at theMileses'."
"_Bridge!_" Dundee ejaculated incredulously. "So the bridge party _did_take place, in spite of the society editor's discreet announcementyesterday that 'owing to the tragic death of Mrs. Selim, the regularevery-other-Wednesday dinner-bridge of the Forsyte Alumnae Associationwill not be held this evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tracey Miles,as scheduled'."
"It wasn't a 'dinner-bridge' and it really wasn't intended to be aparty," Penny corrected him. "It just sort of happened, and of all theghastly evenings--"
"Tell me about it," Dundee suggested. "Knowing this town's telephoneservice as I do, I'll have plenty of time to listen, and you don't knowhow all-agog I am for inside gossip on Hamilton's upper crust."
"Idiot!" Penny flung at him scornfully. "You know society would bore youto death, but I don't think you would have been exactly bored lastnight, knowing, as I do, your opinion of Dexter Sprague."
"Sprague? Good Lord! Was he there?... This does promise to beinteresting! Tell me all!"
"Give me time!" Penny snapped. "I might as well talk, since there'salmost no work for me to do, with Bill away.... Ralph called me up lastnight at dinner time, and asked me if I felt equal to playing bridgeagain. He said that he, Clive, Tracey and Johnny Drake had lunchedtogether yesterday--as they frequently do--at the Athletic Club, andthat Judge Marshall, who had been lunching at another table with hisfriend, Attorney Sampson, stopped at their table and suggested a bridgegame at his home for last night. Hugo said he wanted to coax Karen intoplaying again, so she would get over her hysterical aversion to the gamesince she had to replay that awful 'death hand'.... You see," Pennyexplained parenthetically, "Hugo is a regular bridge fiend, andnaturally he doesn't want to be kept out of his game."
"Brute!" Dundee cried disgustedly. "Why couldn't he give the poor girl afew days more?"
"That's what I thought," Penny acknowledged. "But _I_ didn't get aninhibition against bridge, and the idea rather appealed to mepersonally. The last few days haven't been particularly cheerful ones,so I told Ralph I'd be glad to go. Tracey had suggested his house,instead of Hugo's, because Betty wasn't well yesterday and Florawouldn't want to leave her for a whole evening. Well, Ralph and I--"
"Are you going to marry Ralph Hammond, Penny?" Dundee interrupted, as ifprompted by casual interest.
Penny's pale face flushed vividly. "No. I'm not in love with him, andI'm sure he realizes I'm not and won't ask me again. But I _had_ to sayyes Sunday! I simply couldn't let you walk in on us, after I'd permittedyou to eavesdrop while he was talking, without first saying the onething that would convince him that I believed in his innocence andhadn't set a trap for him."
"I see!" Dundee acknowledged soberly, but his blue eyes shonewith sudden joy. "Oh! There's long distance! Just a minute,darling!... Hello! Hello!... Yes, this is Dundee.... Oh! All right!Try again in fifteen minutes, will you?" He hung up the receiver andexplained to Penny: "Sanderson hasn't reached the hospital yet, but isexpected soon.... Go on with your story.... Who all played bridge atthe Mileses'? You don't mean to say Dexter Sprague was invited, too!"
Penny's face was still a brilliant pink as she answered: "I refuse tohave my climax spoiled!... When Ralph and I got there at eight, we foundthat Peter and Lois had dined with Tracey and Flora and that they weredelighted at the prospect of bridge, as a relief from endlessdiscussions of the murder. We'd hardly got there when the Marshallscame, poor little Karen not suspecting that she was going to have toplay. Then came Johnny Drake alone, with the news that Carolyn was inbed and very miserable with a summer cold. Polly walked over from herhouse, which is on the next hill to the right, you know. She said Clivehad decided to work late at the office, and had promised to call for herabout eleven, to take her home."
"What about Janet Raymond? Was she left out?" Dundee asked.
"I told you it wasn't a planned affair," Penny reminded him. "But Floradid telephone her, and she said she didn't feel like coming. She's beenmoping about like a sick cat since Nita's death. We all knew she wasidiotically in love with Dexter Sprague, and it must have been an awfulblow to her to hear you read aloud that note Nita received fromSprague."
"So I noticed," Dundee nodded, recalling the deathly pallor of thegirl's face as Sprague had glibly explained away that damning note andall its implications.
"Well," Penny continued, "Tracey suggested bridge, and at first Karenflatly refused to play, but Hugo finally persuaded her.... Karen woulddo absolutely _anything_ for that ridiculous old husband of hers! Isimply can't understand it--how she can be in love with him, I mean!"
"I thought you liked Judge Marshall," Dundee laughed.
"Oh, I do--in a way.... But fancy a young girl like Karen being in lovewith him!... Well, anyway, we all went out to the east porch, which iskept in readiness for bridge all summer. Iron bridge tables, coveredwith oilcloth, and with oilcloth pouches for the cards and score pads,so there's never any bother about scurrying in with things on account ofrain. It's a roofed, stone-floored porch, right outside the living-room,and under it are the garages, so it's high and cool, with a grand viewof Mirror Lake down below, and of the city in the distance." She sighed,and Dundee knew that she was thinking of her own lost home inBrentwood--the fine old Colonial mansion which had been sacrificed toher father's disastrous Primrose Meadows venture. Then she went on: "Idon't know why I am telling you all this, except that the setting was sopleasant that we should have had a much better time than we did."
"You're an artful minx, Penny!" Dundee chuckled. "You're working upsuspense for the entrance of the villain!"
"Then let me do it justice," Penny retorted. "Lois and Peter, Ralph andI, made up one table for bridge; Tracey and Polly, Judge Marshall andKaren the other. Flora said she didn't want to play, because she wantedto be free to keep an eye on Betty, although she protested she hadperfect faith in Lydia, who, Flora says, is proving to be a marvel withthe children. And Johnny Drake asked her to play anagrams with him, inbetween trips to the nursery. Johnny has a perfect pash for anagrams,and is a wow at 'em. So Tracey got the box of anagrams out of the trophyroom--"
"The trophy room?" Dundee repeated, amused.
"That's what Tracey calls it," Penny explained impatiently, "because hehas a couple of golf cups and Flora has an immense silver atrocity whichtestifies to the fact that she was the 'lady's tennis champion' of thestate for one year. There are also some mounted fish and some deer headswith incredible antlers, but the room is really used as a catch-all forall the sports things--racquets, golf clubs, skis, ping-pong table,etc.... Anyway, Tracey brought out the box of anagrams, and we were allhaving a pretty good time when, at half past eight, the butler announced'_Mr. Dexter Sprague_'!"
"Your tone makes me wish I'd been there,"
Dundee acknowledged. "Whathappened?"
"You know how slap-em-on-the-back Tracey always is?" Penny asked,grinning. "Well, you should have seen him and heard him as he dismissedpoor Whitson--the butler--as if he were giving him notice, instead ofletting him off for the night! And the icy dignity with which he greetedpoor Sprague--"
"_Poor_ Sprague?" Dundee echoed.
"Well, after all, Sprague _had_ been received by all the crowd beforeNita's death," Penny retorted. "I think it was rather natural for him tothink he'd still be welcome. He began to apologize for his uninvitedpresence, saying he had felt lonesome and depressed and had just 'jumpedinto a taxi' and come along, hoping to find the Mileses in. Flora triedto act the lady hostess, but Peter got up from his bridge table and saidin tones even icier than Tracey's: 'Will you excuse me, Flora? And willyou take my place, Drake?... I'm going into the library. I don't enjoythe society of murderers!'"
"Good Lord!" Dundee ejaculated, shocked but admiring. "Did Sprague makea quick exit?"
"Not just then," Penny said mysteriously. "Of course everyone was simplystunned, but Sprague retorted cheerfully, 'Neither do I, Dunlap!' Peterstalked on into the living room on his way to the library, Johnny tookhis place at the bridge table, and Tracey, at an urgent signal fromFlora, offered his seat at the other table to Sprague, as if he weremaking way for a leper. Poor Polly had to be Sprague's partner. Flora,as if she were terrified at what might happen--you know how frightfullytense and nervous she is--made an excuse to run upstairs for a look atBetty."
"And something terrible did happen," Dundee guessed. "You're lookingpositively ghoulish. Out with it!"
"After about half an hour of playing without pivoting," Penny went onimperturbably, "Hugo bid three spades, Karen raised him--in a tremblingvoice--to five spades, Hugo of course went to a little slam, and DexterSprague, if you can believe me, said: 'Better not leave the table,Karen. _A little slam-bid in spades has been known to be fatal to thedummy!_'"
"_No!_" Dundee was genuinely shocked, but before he could say more thetelephone rang. "Sanderson at last.... Hello! Chicago?... Oh, hello,Captain Strawn!... _What's that?_... Oh, my God!... Where did you saythe body is?"
He listened for a long minute, then, with a dazed "Thanks! I'll beover," he hung up the receiver.
"Sprague--murdered!" he answered the horrified question in Penny's eyes."Body discovered this morning about nine by one of the Miles' maids, inwhat you described just now as the 'trophy room'.... Shot--just belowthe breastbone, Captain Strawn says."
"The trophy room!" Penny cried. "Then--_that's_ where he was all thetime after he disappeared so strangely last night--"
"Whoa, Penny!" Dundee commanded. "Get hold of yourself! You're shakingall over.... I want to know everything _you_ know--as quickly and asaccurately as you can tell it. Go right on--"
"Poor Dexter!" Penny groaned, covering her convulsed face with herhands. "To think that he was _dead_ when we were saying such horridthings about him--"
"Don't waste sympathy on him, honey!" Dundee cut in, his voice verygentle but urgent. "If he had heeded my warning Monday he wouldn't bedead now."
"What do you mean?" Penny gasped, but she was already calmer. "Yourwarning--?"
"I had a strong suspicion that he was mixed up with Nita in herblackmail scheme and I took the trouble to warn him not to try to carryon with it. Yesterday afternoon I begged Strawn to have him shadowed tosee that he kept out of mischief. I was afraid the temptation would betoo strong for him, but Strawn wouldn't listen to me--still clinging tohis theory of a New York gunman.... Feeling better now, honey? Can yougo on? I want to get out to the Miles house as soon as I can."
"You're getting very--affectionate, aren't you?" Penny gave him a wobblysmile in which, however, there was no reproof. "I think I can go onnow--. Where was I?"
"Good girl!" Dundee applauded, but his heart was beating hard withsomething more than excitement over Sprague's murder. "You'd just toldme about Sprague's warning Karen not to leave the table when she becamedummy after Judge Marshall's little slam bid in spades."
"I remember," Penny said, pressing her fingers into her temples. "ButKaren _did_ leave the table. When Sprague said that awful thing, poorKaren burst into tears and ran from the porch into the living room, Hugostarted to follow her, but Sprague halted him by apologizing veryhumbly, and then by adding: 'I'd really like to see you play this hand,sir. I believe I've got the cards to set you with....' Of course hecould not have said anything better calculated to hold Hugo, who, as Isaid, is a regular fiend when it comes to bridge.... Well, Hugo playedthe hand and made his little slam, and then he again started to go lookfor Karen, but Polly, who was Sprague's partner, you know, told him inthat brusque way of hers to go on with the game and give Karen a chanceto have her little weep in peace. Probably Hugo would have gone to lookfor her anyway, but just then Flora came back. She said Betty was asleepat last and that her temperature was normal, and when she heard aboutKaren, she offered to take her hand until Karen felt like coming back."
"What did Drake do then? He'd been playing anagrams with Mrs. Miles, yousaid," Dundee interrupted.
"Don't you remember?--I told you Johnny had taken Peter's place at ourtable after Peter refused to breathe the same air as Dexter Sprague,"Penny reminded him. "Ralph and I, Lois and Johnny were playing together,and just at the time I became dummy, Sprague became dummy at the othertable. He rose, saying he had to go telephone for a taxi, and passedfrom the porch into the living room--"
"Where is the telephone?"
"The one the guests use is on a table in the hall closet, where we putour things," Penny explained. "You can shut the door and hold aperfectly private conversation.... Well, _we never saw Dexter Spragueagain_!"
"Good Lord! Another bridge dummy murdered!" Dundee groaned. "At leastthe newspapers will be happy!... Didn't anyone go to look for him afterthe hand was played?"
"Not straight off," Penny answered, with an obvious effort to rememberclearly every detail. "Let's see--Oh, yes! That hand was played outbefore Ralph had finished playing his, at our table, so I was free topay attention to the other table. Flora said that since they couldn'tplay another hand until Dexter came back, she thought she'd better huntup Karen, who hadn't come back yet."
"How long was Mrs. Miles away from the porch?" Dundee asked quickly.
"Oh, I don't know--ten minutes, maybe. She came back alone, saying shehad found Karen in her bedroom--Flora's room, of course--cryinginconsolably. Flora told Hugo he'd better go up to her himself, sinceshe evidently had her feelings hurt because he hadn't followed her inthe first place. Tracey, who wasn't playing bridge, you remember,because he had given up his place to Sprague, asked Flora if she'd seenSprague, and Flora said, in a surprised voice, 'No! I wonder where he isall this time,' and Polly said that probably he'd gone to the lavatory,which opens into the main hall and is next to the library.... Well,pretty soon Judge Marshall and Karen came back--"
"Pretty soon?--Just how long was Judge Marshall gone?" Dundee pressedher, his pencil, which had been flying to take down her every word,poised over the notebook he had snatched from her desk.
"I can't say exactly!" Penny protested thornily. "I was playing again atthe other table. I suppose it was about ten minutes, for Ralph and I hadmade another rubber, I remember.... Anyway, Karen was smiling like ababy that has had a lot of petting, but she said Hugo had promised hershe wouldn't have to play bridge any more that evening, so Floraremained at that table, playing opposite Hugo, while Tracey played withPolly. As soon as Tracey became dummy, Flora suggested he go look forSprague."
"And how long was _he_ gone from the porch?" Dundee asked.
"Less than no time," Penny assured him. "He was back before Polly hadfinished playing the hand. He said he'd gone to the hall closet, whereWhitson, the butler, would have put Sprague's hat and stick, and that hehad found they were gone.... Well--and you needn't put down 'well' everytime I say it!" Penny interrupted herself tartly. "Tracey said hesupposed Sprague had ordered his taxi
and had decided to walk down thehill to meet it, and he added that that was exactly the kind of courtesyyou could expect from a cad and a bounder like Sprague--walking inuninvited, making Karen cry, then walking out, without a word, leavingthe game while he was dummy. Flora spoke up then and said it was nowonder Dexter had left without saying good-by, considering how he'd beentreated. Then Tracey said something ugly and sarcastic about Flora'sbeing disappointed because Sprague had decided not to spend the wholeevening--"
"A first-class row, eh?" Dundee interrupted, with keen interest.
"Rather! Flora almost cried, said Tracey knew good and well that she hadonly been playing-up to Sprague before Nita's death, in the hope ofgetting the lead in the Hamilton movie, if Sprague got the job ofdirecting it, and Tracey said, 'So you call it playing-up, do you? Itlooked like high-powered flirting to me--or maybe it was more than aflirtation!...' Then Flora told him he hadn't acted jealous at thetime, and that he _knew_ he'd have been glad if she'd got thelead.... Well, just then along came Janet--"
"_Janet Raymond?_" Dundee ejaculated. "I thought you said she hadrefused the invitation when Mrs. Miles phoned her."
"So she had, but she said she changed her mind, had been blue allevening, and needed cheering up."
"How did she get in?"
"She walked over from her house, which isn't very far from the Mileses',and simply came up the path to the porch," Penny explained. "Traceyasked her if she had seen Sprague on the road--it's the same road Dexterwould have had to take going down the hill to the main road--and sheacted awfully queer--"
"How?" Dundee demanded.
"Exactly as she would act, since she was in love with him," Pennyretorted. "She turned very red, and asked if Sprague had inquired forher, and Flora quite sharply told her he hadn't. Then Janet said she wasvery much surprised that Sprague had been there, and that she couldn'tunderstand why he had behaved so strangely. Then Lois said she might aswell go fetch Peter from the library, since Sprague was no longer thereto contaminate the atmosphere. She came back--"
"After how long a time?"
"Oh, about five minutes, I suppose," Penny answered wearily. "She camein, her arm linked with Peter's, and laughing. Said she had found himreading a 'Deadwood Dick' thriller.... One of Tracey's hobbies--" shebroke off to explain, "--is collecting old-fashioned thrillers, like theNick Carter, Diamond King Brady, Buffalo Bill and Deadwood Dickpaper-bound books. Of course he didn't take up that hobby until a lot ofother rich men had done it first. There was never anybody less originalthan poor Tracey.... Well, Flora gave up her place to Janet, and againplayed anagrams with Johnny, Peter taking his original place at ourtable. Suddenly Polly threw down her cards--she'd been having rottenluck and seemed out of sorts--and said she didn't want to play bridgeany more. So poor Flora again had to be the perfect hostess, and switchfrom anagrams to bridge."
"And Polly played anagrams with Drake?" Dundee prompted.
"No. She said she thought anagrams were silly, and wandered off theporch and down the path, calling over her shoulder that she was going totake a walk. Tracey asked Johnny if he'd mind mixing the highballs andbringing out the sandwiches. Said Whitson had left a thermos bucket ofice cubes on the sideboard, some bottles of ginger ale, and a tray ofglasses and sandwiches. Told him he'd find decanters of Scotch and rye,and to bring out both."
"So Drake left the room, too," Dundee mused. "Oh, Lord. I _knew_ I'dfind that every last one of the six had a chance to kill Sprague, aswell as Nita!... How long was Polly Beale gone on this walk of hers?"
"She came in with a pink water lily--said she'd been down to the lilyponds, and that Flora had enough to spare her one," Penny answered. "Shecouldn't have been away more than ten minutes, because Johnny was justmixing the highballs, according to our preference for Scotch or rye--orplain ginger ale, which both Ralph and I chose. After we'd had ourdrinks and the sandwiches, we went on with bridge. Polly and Johnny justwandered about the porch or watched the game at the two tables. Andabout five minutes after eleven Clive Hammond arrived, coming up thepath to the porch, just as Janet had. After he came, there was no morebridge, but we sat around on the porch and talked until midnight. Clivesaid he was too tired to play bridge--that he'd been struggling allevening with a knotty problem."
"I can sympathize with him!" Dundee said grimly, as he rose. "I've gotmy own knotty problem awaiting me.... When that call comes through fromChicago, tell Sanderson the bad news, and say I'll telephone him later."