"
"But you were wrong about the secret shelf! The gun was never there!"
Strawn gloated.
"No. But it was the absence of fingerprints on the pivoting panel and
shelf which kept me on the right track. Miles had searched the shelf for
the marriage certificate which he could not know Nita had already
burned. Probably, too, he had written her a few letters during their
short courtship----"
"How was Sprague killed?" Sanderson interrupted impatiently.
Dundee led the way across the basement to a cubbyhole next to the coal
room, entered and came out with a narrow, deep drawer of ebony inlaid
with mother-of-pearl....
"First I must tell you that Miles got the gun out of the lamp that
Saturday night, parking his car at a distance and sneaking into the
house while I was talking with Lydia in the basement. We can guess that
he stowed gun, silencer and electro-magnet in a pocket of his car. At
any rate, he came back noisily enough a little later, to offer Lydia a
job as nurse in his home. Doubtless he assured himself that she knew
nothing, or poor Lydia would have gone the way of her mistress and
Sprague."
"Was Sprague----?" Strawn began.
"Despite my warning," Dundee went on, refusing to be hurried, "Sprague
made a demand for blackmail money upon Miles.
Pages:
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385