CHAPTER EIGHT
"Then why ask me?" Hammond shrugged, but his eyes flickered toward PollyBeale.
"I thought perhaps you could give me a little additional information,"Dundee soothed him. "You see, it happens that I saw you, Miss Beale andanother young man come into the Stuart House dining room about half pastone today, just when I was thinking of lunch for myself."
"The mysterious 'other young man' was Clive's brother, Ralph Hammond,"Polly Beale cut in brusquely.
"Your decision to lunch with your fiance and his brother was quite asudden one?" Dundee asked courteously. "Just when did you change yourmind about Mrs. Selim's luncheon party at Breakaway Inn, Miss Beale?"
The tall girl threw up her mannishly cropped, chestnut head. "There isnothing at all sinister or even queer about it, Mr. Dundee! I was on myway to the luncheon, when I decided to drive past Nita's house, on thechance that she might like me to drive her over."
"Then you didn't know that Mrs. Dunlap had already arranged to meet Mrs.Selim downtown this morning and to take her to the Inn?" Dundee asked.
"No! I didn't hear of the arrangement," Polly answered decidedly.
"You were a close friend of Mrs. Selim's perhaps?" Dundee prodded.
"Not at all! But that would not keep me from doing my hostess acourtesy.... She hated her Ford and liked expensive cars," Polly addedunemotionally. "It was about a quarter to one when I got here, I shouldsay. Nita wasn't here, nor was her maid, but I saw Ralph's car parked infront of the house--"
"_Ralph Hammond's car?_" a woman squealed, but Dundee let Pollycontinue.
"I rang and he answered the door. Said he was alone in the house, goingover the premises at Judge Marshall's request," Polly said evenly.
"That's right--that's right!" Judge Marshall agreed hastily. "Nita--Mrs.Selim--wanted the unfinished half of the gabled top story finished up.Wanted a maid's room and bath, and a guest room and bath added to theliving quarters already completed. I gave the commission, for anestimate, at least, to the Hammond firm, since they had built the houseoriginally for Crain--Penny's father."
"I see," Dundee agreed. "And you sent your brother, Mr. Hammond?"
"He was the natural one to send," Clive Hammond retorted. "Small job.All he had to do was to get together an estimate on additional furnacelines and radiators, electric wiring, plumbing, plastering, etc."
"Go on, Miss Beale," Dundee directed.
"Thanks!" There was sarcasm in her brusque voice. "But that's reallyabout all I have to tell. Ralph complained that he was hungry andcharged me with giving him too little of my time--the usual thing. Ipicked up Nita's phone, called Clive and made the date for the three ofus. Then I called Breakaway Inn, cancelled the luncheon part of thebridge party with Nita, and Ralph and I drove back to Hamilton."
Dundee studied her strong, clever, almost plain face for a long minute.Certainly Polly Beale did not look like a liar--but he would have takenhis oath that she was lying now. Or rather not revealing the whole truthbehind the actual facts of her movements that day. For instance, could asimple plea of her future brother-in-law make her do so discourteous athing as to break a luncheon appointment, especially when such a coursewould not only disappoint her hostess and her friends but disarrange theseating plan of a rather formal party?
Of course the explanation was obvious. She had wanted, first, to seeNita and remonstrate privately with her for having so enslaved RalphHammond, when he was tacitly known to "belong" to Penny Crain--one ofthe sacred crowd. Failing that, she had found Ralph himself, and had notexpected to find him; had talked with him about Nita, and had quarreleda bit with him, perhaps, over his love-sodden behavior. And the crisishad become so acute that Polly had arbitrarily called upon Clive Hammondand then had forced Ralph to accompany her.
"Do you know, Miss Beale, why Ralph Hammond did not keep _his_engagement with Mrs. Selim this afternoon? Or rather, his promise toappear for cocktails and to be Miss Crain's partner for the rest of theevening--dinner and dancing at the Country Club?"
"I do not!" Polly said crisply.
"Hammond?"
"Neither do I," Hammond retorted angrily.
"Then it was not to discuss Ralph Hammond and his--affairs, that youbeckoned Miss Beale to meet you in the solarium upon your arrival?"
"It--_was not_!"
A shade too much anger and emphasis, Dundee decided. And he wishedheartily that Strawn's detectives would not delay much longer inbringing the missing young man into this already involved examination.
"You say that you both were in the solarium from the time of yourarrival, Hammond, until Mrs. Marshall screamed," Dundee continued. "Justwhat did you see and hear?"
Dundee watched their faces keenly, but again they were well-bred,expressionless. It was Polly Beale who answered: "Naturally there wasnot absolute silence, but I am afraid we were not listening. We wererather engrossed in our conversation. We were seated--near nowindows--and I for one _saw_ nothing, as well as heard nothing that Ican recall."
"Hammond?"
"That goes for me, too--absolutely!"
Abruptly abandoning the engaged couple, Dundee returned to Miles. "Youwere the second arrival, then?"
"Yes. I parked my car along the curb in front of the house," Traceyanswered readily. "And I came right on in, and Nita jumped up--"
"Yes. We've had all that twice before," Dundee interrupted cruelly."Now, Judge Marshall--"
"One of my friends gave me a lift from town," Judge Marshall volunteeredpompously. "Chap named Sampson. You may have heard of him--fine fellow,splendid lawyer. We played billiards together at the Athletic Club, andwhen I was about to call a taxi--my wife having the car here--he offeredto drop me here on his way to the Country Club.... N-no, I don'tremember the exact time, did not consult my watch."
"You came directly from the road into the house, Judge Marshall?"
"Certainly, sir!"
"Did you--er, see anyone?"
"You mean, sir, did anyone see _me_?" Judge Marshall demanded withpompous indignation. "No, no one, sir! If my word is not good enough foryou, you can think what you damned please!"
"I think we are all getting a little too tired, Mr. Dundee," Penny Crainsuggested, almost humble in her weariness.
"I'm truly sorry," the young detective apologized. "But I can't leavethings like this ... Mr. Drake, you have said you walked over from theCountry Club. You must have approached the house from the driveway side,the side of the house which contains Mrs. Selim's bedroom.... Is thatright?"
"More or less, except that I skirted the house rather widely and arrivedfrom the road, stepping upon the front porch, and walking directly intothe hall. I saw no one outside or near the house when I arrived," Drakeanswered, with less than his usual nastiness.
"And saw no one running away across the meadows?" Dundee pressed.
"No one at all," Drake retorted. "I wish to God I could truthfully saythat I saw a gunman, with a mask and a smoking revolver, skulkingthrough the wildflowers, but the absolute truth is that I saw no one."
"Thank you, Mr. Drake.... Now--Mr. Sprague, 'of New York'!"
Sprague's nervously twitching face reddened darkly. "I--I took a bus. Ihave no car of my own. I got off the bus on Sheridan Road, at theentrance to Primrose Meadows."
"I see. And you walked the quarter of a mile to this house?"
Sprague's hand fumbled with his cravat. "I--of course I did!"
"I see.... Now, Miss Raymond," Dundee pounced unexpectedly, so that thered-haired girl went very white beneath her freckles, "you observed Mr.Sprague toiling down the rutty road, hot and weary, but romantic in thesunset?"
Mrs. Drake let out a nervous giggle, then clapped her hand over hermouth.
"I--I wasn't looking that way," Janet Raymond stammered. "I--I just wentout on the porch for a breath of fresh air--"
"And you were _completely_ surprised when Mr. Sprague came walking upthe flagstone path?" Dundee persisted, for he knew she was lying, knewthat she had stationed herself there
to watch for Sprague.
"I--yes, I was! He stopped and talked for a while, before we came in andjoined Tracey and Lois in the dining room, where Tracey was mixingcocktails.... But," she flared suddenly, "I don't see why you have tobadger all of us, when it _must_ have been Lydia, the maid, who killedNita, because--"
"Oh, Janet! Shame on you!" Penny cried furiously.
"Where is the maid now, Captain Strawn?" Dundee asked. "I haven't seenher yet--"
"Because she's in her room in the basement, Bonnie," Strawn answered."Sort of forgot about her, didn't you?" and he chuckled at the youngerman's discomfiture. "But _I_ got her story out of her, you bet! Nothingto it, though. One of my boys--Collins, it was--found her in that short,dark hall that runs between the Selim woman's bedroom and the kitchen.Sicker'n a pup she was; it was a mess. Said she'd--"
"I'd better have her up and question her, if she's well enough," Dundeeinterrupted, as tactfully as possible. "It seems that she had anabscessed tooth out today, with gas and a local anesthetic.... Now, MissRaymond, will you tell me exactly what you meant by saying it must havebeen Lydia who killed her mistress?"
"I certainly will!" the red-haired girl cried defiantly. "What I can'tsee is why Tracey and Lois and Dex--Mr. Sprague--didn't think of it,too. It's as plain as--"
"Yes, as the nose on my face," Dundee cut in grimly, but with a glanceat Strawn. "Just stick to the facts, however, Miss Raymond, and maybe wecan all agree with you."
"Well, when Mr. Sprague and I went into the dining room, there were Loisand Tracey cutting up like a couple of children," Janet began,determined to take her time. "When they saw us, Lois said: 'Good Lord,Tracey! Get busy! Or your job as bartender will be taken away from you,'and Tracey began to shake cocktails at the sideboard--"
"Guess I'd better tell it, Janet, for what it's worth," Lois cut inimpatiently. "It's nothing more nor less than that I had to ring twicefor poor Lydia before she came," she explained to Dundee. "Tracey isfull of original ideas about cocktails, and wanted some sort of bitters.He was going to shout for Lydia, but I stepped on the button under thedining table, and the poor thing--in the basement nursing her jaw,probably--didn't hear. Tracey and I got to kidding, as Janet says, andhad scarcely noticed how long Lydia was in coming. I rang again, and shecame.... That's all!"
"That isn't all!" Janet denied angrily. "I was there when Lydia camein, and she was looking white as a ghost--except for her swollen jaw.What's more, she acted so dumb Tracey had to tell her twice what hewanted.... And then she said Nita didn't have any of those bittersanyway."
"An open-and-shut case against poor Lydia!" Penny Crain broke inderisively. "Go pluck daisies, Janet! You'd be of a lot more help!"
"Here's your maid, Bonnie," Captain Strawn announced lazily, as one ofhis plainclothesmen appeared in the arch between dining and living room,dragging by the hand a woman who was resisting strangely, her apronpressed to her face.
"You are Lydia?" Dundee asked, his voice kinder than it had been formany minutes. "Oh, it's Lydia Carr, Captain Strawn? Thank you.... Don'tbe afraid. And I'm sorry about the tooth.... Come along in. I'll notkeep you long."
The woman's knees seemed about to fail her, but with a sudden effort shereleased the detective's grip on her wrist. Very tall she was, very bonyin her black cotton dress. Pathetic, too, with her thin, iron-grey hair,and that apron concealing the left half of her face. It was odd, Dundeethought, that it was not the swollen jaw she chose to cover.
Mrs. Dunlap sprang to her feet and hurried across the room.
"Don't mind, Lydia, please. You must not be so sensitive," she saidgently, and even more gently pulled down the concealing apron....
"Good God!" Dundee breathed, and Strawn nodded his understanding of theyounger man's horror.
For the left half of Lydia Carr's face was drawn and puckered and ridgedalmost out of human semblance. Even the eye was ruined--a milky ballwhich the puckered, hairless eyelid could never cover again.
"Poor Lydia is ashamed of her scarred face," Lois Dunlap explained, herarm still about the maid's shoulder. "She isn't quite used to it yet,but none of _us_ mind--"
"You were burned recently, Lydia?" Dundee asked pityingly.
"That's my business!" the woman astounded him by retorting harshly.
"How did it happen, Lydia?" Dundee persisted, puzzled.
"I had an accident. It was my own fault."
Lois Dunlap's kind grey eyes caught and held Dundee's firmly. "I think,if Nita could speak to you now, Mr. Dundee, that she would beg you notto try to force Lydia's confidence on this subject. Nita was devoted toLydia--we can all testify to that!--and one of the sweetest things abouther was her constant effort to protect Lydia from questions and curiousglances. I, for one, know that Nita often begged Lydia to submit to askin-grafting operation, regardless of expense--"
When that kind voice choked on tears, Dundee abruptly abandoned hisintention to press the matter further.
"Lydia, your mistress had been married, or was still married, wasn'tshe?"
The woman's single, slate-grey eye stared into his expressionlessly."She had 'Mrs.' in front of her name, to use when she felt like it.That's all I know. I never saw her husband--if she had one. I onlyworked for her about five years."
"You say she used her married name 'when she felt like it....' What doyou mean by that, Lydia?"
"I mean she was an actress, and used her stage name--JuanitaLeigh--pronounced like it was spelled plain 'Lee'; but she was mostlycalled 'Nita Leigh'."
"An actress, you say?" Dundee repeated thoughtfully. "I had heard of heronly as director of the Forsyte School plays.... What shows was she in?"
"She was what they call a specialty dancer in musical comedy," Lydiaanswered. "Sometimes she had a real part and sometimes she only danced.She was a good hoofer and a good trouper," she added, the Broadway termsfalling strangely from those austere lips. "And when she wasn't in ashow she sometimes got a job in the pictures. She never had a realchance in the movies, though, because they mostly wanted her to doublefor the star in long shots, where dancing comes into the picture, or inclose-ups where they just show the legs, you know."
"I see," Dundee agreed gravely. "Where were you during the fifteenminutes or so before your mistress was shot, Lydia?"
"I was down in my room in the basement," the woman answered. "Nita--Imean Miss Nita was going to get Judge Marshall to build me a room on thetop floor. She hated for me to have to sleep in the basement, but Ididn't mind."
"You were not required to be on duty for the party?"
"No," she answered in her harsh, flat voice. "I'd fixed the sandwichesand put out the liquors for the cocktails--set them all out on thedining table and sideboard, and Miss Nita had told me to go and lie downas soon as I was through. So I did. I had an abscessed tooth pulled thismorning, and I was feeling sick."
"Did you hear the kitchen bell at all?" Dundee went on.
"I dropped off to sleep--that fool dentist had shot me full of dope--butI did hear the bell and I come up to answer it. Mrs. Dunlap said she'drung twice, and I said I was sorry--"
"Lydia, did you go into your mistress' bedroom before or after youanswered that bell?" Dundee asked with sudden sharpness.
"I did not! I didn't even know she was in her bedroom, until I saw hersitting at her dressing-table--dead." The harsh voice hesitated over thelast word, but it did not break.
"And just when did you first see her--after she was dead?"
"I went into the kitchen, thinking something else might be needed. ThenI heard a scream. It sounded like it come from Nita's--Miss Nita'sbedroom, and I run along the back hall that leads from the kitchen toher bedroom. I heard a lot of people running and yelling. Nobody paidany attention to me."
"You came into the room?"
"No, sir, I did not. I stopped in the doorway. I heard Mr. Sprague sayshe was dead. I was sick and dizzy anyway, and I couldn't move for aminute. I sort of slipped down to the floor, and I guess I must havepassed out. And then I was sick to my st
omach, and--I didn't seem tocare if I never moved again."
"Why, Lydia?" Dundee asked gently.
"Because she was the only friend I had in the world, and I couldn't haveloved her better if she'd been my own child," Lydia answered. And thestern voice had broken at last. "I was still there in the back hall whena cop come and asked me a lot of questions, and then that man--" shepointed to Captain Strawn, "--said I could go and lay down. He helped medown the basement stairs."
Dundee tapped his teeth with the long pencil he had kept so busy thatevening--tapped them long and thoughtfully. Then:
"Lydia, did you see anyone--_anyone at all!_--from your basement roomwindow before you answered Mrs. Dunlap's ring?"