The opportunity for direct questioning was too
miraculous to be ignored. So he changed his tone suddenly and said very
earnestly: "No, I am not a reporter, Miss Earle. But I am _not_ James
Wadley Randolph, Jr. I am James F. Dundee, special investigator attached
to the office of the district attorney of Hamilton, and I want you to
help me solve the mystery of Mrs. Selim's murder."
It took nearly ten precious minutes for Dundee to nurse the terrified
but obviously thrilled woman over the shock, and to get her into the
mood to answer him freely.
"But I shan't and _can't_ tell you anything bad about Nita!" she
protested vehemently, wiping her red-rimmed eyes. "The papers are all
saying now that she got $10,000 for double-crossing some awful racketeer
named 'Swallow-tail Sammy', but I _know_ she didn't get the money that
way! She was too good----"
"From Nita's confidences to you, do you have any idea how she did get
the money?" Dundee asked.
Miss Earle shook her head. "I don't know, but she got it honorably. I
know that!... Maybe she found her husband and made him pay alimony----"
Dundee controlled his excitement with difficulty. "Did she tell you all
about her marriage and divorce?"
Again Miss Earle shook her head. "The only time she ever spoke of it was
last year--the first year she directed our play, you know.
Pages:
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326