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The Case of the Caretakers Cat :: Гарднер Эрл Стенли
Страница: 145 из 146That manifestly would have been impossible unless Edith DeVoe had been a party to the Ashton murder,because the crutch wasn't sawed up when taken there. It was sawed up in the apartment, and pieces of it had been burned in the grate. That would indicate that Ashton had been in the apartment; that his murderers had cut up the crutch after they'd killed him."
"Where would you have been if the police hadn't apprehended the grandfather?" Della Street asked.
"I don't know," Mason said. "I might have been able to make it stick, and I might not, but I think I could have pieced the facts together."
"Why didn't you accuse Oafley earlier?" she asked.
"Because," said Mason slowly, "of various factors involved. In the first place, I wanted Douglas Keene to come through, and, in the second place," and he chuckled, "I wanted to grandstand. If I had tipped off the police, they'd have taken all the credit, and they might have bungled the case so that Keene would never have been really vindicated. They might even have framed him. And I wanted Oafley to admit under oath being with Edith DeVoe at the exact time Ashton was murdered."
"And," she said, "last but not least, you so love to skate on thin ice that you like to play people one against the other while you take all kinds of chances."
"Perhaps," he grinned. "As I've told you before, I like to play a nolimit game."
"But why didn't you get Drake to find Watson Clammert?"
"He probably couldn't have done it in time. He'd have been handicapped. The best organized law enforcement agency in the country today is the one perfected by insurance companies to apprehend automobile thieves. They've worked out a perfect system of coordination. Ordinarily police don't coordinate. They do in automobile cases. So I fixed things so Watson Clammert would be apprehended as a car thief. That got me quicker results, enabled us to have him arrested, and brought about his confession. After all, it was really very simple. By going to the Biltmore Hotel, establishing our identities as honeymooners, letting the clerk see our new car, and get interested in you, then having you conceal the car and report it as stolen, we started in motion the machinery which was bound to put a finger on Clammert. He was entirely unsuspecting. He was driving the car he had purchased under his assumed name. It was only a matter of hours until he'd be arrested."
"Well," Della Street said, "the Lord knows your methods are unconventional, but I will say this for them, they're effective."
He grinned at her.
"And," she said, "now that we've finished up this case, we have an extra Buick sedan on our hands.
"Where would you have been if the police hadn't apprehended the grandfather?" Della Street asked.
"I don't know," Mason said. "I might have been able to make it stick, and I might not, but I think I could have pieced the facts together."
"Why didn't you accuse Oafley earlier?" she asked.
"Because," said Mason slowly, "of various factors involved. In the first place, I wanted Douglas Keene to come through, and, in the second place," and he chuckled, "I wanted to grandstand. If I had tipped off the police, they'd have taken all the credit, and they might have bungled the case so that Keene would never have been really vindicated. They might even have framed him. And I wanted Oafley to admit under oath being with Edith DeVoe at the exact time Ashton was murdered."
"And," she said, "last but not least, you so love to skate on thin ice that you like to play people one against the other while you take all kinds of chances."
"Perhaps," he grinned. "As I've told you before, I like to play a nolimit game."
"But why didn't you get Drake to find Watson Clammert?"
"He probably couldn't have done it in time. He'd have been handicapped. The best organized law enforcement agency in the country today is the one perfected by insurance companies to apprehend automobile thieves. They've worked out a perfect system of coordination. Ordinarily police don't coordinate. They do in automobile cases. So I fixed things so Watson Clammert would be apprehended as a car thief. That got me quicker results, enabled us to have him arrested, and brought about his confession. After all, it was really very simple. By going to the Biltmore Hotel, establishing our identities as honeymooners, letting the clerk see our new car, and get interested in you, then having you conceal the car and report it as stolen, we started in motion the machinery which was bound to put a finger on Clammert. He was entirely unsuspecting. He was driving the car he had purchased under his assumed name. It was only a matter of hours until he'd be arrested."
"Well," Della Street said, "the Lord knows your methods are unconventional, but I will say this for them, they're effective."
He grinned at her.
"And," she said, "now that we've finished up this case, we have an extra Buick sedan on our hands.