“I’ve been told that Maddy used her schemes on Claudine”
“No!”
“So Emmy said; but the details don’t matter so much. Drew. You can fix Claudine more easily than any one else.”
“This explains a horrible note I got from a Mrs. Gibbs—saying she is a creditor of Maddy’s.”
“Well, ask her for a statement. Those women will be glad to keep still for fear something might come out about themselves. What I’m worried about is this murder trial.”
“Trial? How can there be a trial with no one to try?”
“I mean the murder inquiry. The plans of the police include only two main issues; to find Locke and to learn all about Madeleine’s past.”
“Why the latter?”
“They think it will give them a line on the motive for the murder, and perhaps a hint as to the murderer.”
“Wasn’t it the artist?”
“Maybe and maybe not. I’m interested in that chap. Drew. Do you know, after the murder—I mean, supposing for the moment that he was the criminal—after the deed, he calmly walked downstairs, gave his masquerade costume to his servant, put on his hat, and walked out of the front door, saying to the doorman he’d be back in a few moments! Did you ever hear of such colossal nerve?”
“Never! How could he? Perhaps he didn’t do it, after all.”
“And then—he went out to Fifth Avenue, and climbed up to the top of a bus and went off.”
“How do they know all this?”
“It seems somebody saw him—some woman who lives next door, I believe, and she was watching the revelers that night.”
