The banner line read:
Gambler Taken For Ride
Below this was a picture of a thin young man with a felt hat pulled down over his eyes. The caption read:
'Body found in Willow Creek identified as that of Charles (Lefty) Dolan, local gambler.'
'The guy at the bottom of the stairs,' Williams said. 'The guy with the hollow voice.'
'Let s go,' Crane said.
'Where?'
'To see if Slats bumped off Delia, too.'
Ann smiled at Peter March across the champagne glasses, thinking he was probably the most presentable twenty million dollars she had ever seen. They were at the Crimson Cat again because of Alice March who simply had to see Delia Young.
'She s your husband s discovery, isn t she?' she d asked Ann with innocently widened eyes. 'I must see her.'
With them were Talmadge March, who had come with Alice, and Carmel March and Dr Woodrin. It was almost midnight, and many people in the velvet-draped room were having late suppers. The tinkle of glass, of silver, mingled with blare of unmuted trumpets bearing down on the Tommy Dorsey arrangement of 'The Song of India.'
Ann s excuse for accepting a date with Peter March had been that Bill Crane was too ill to go out. She wasn t sure whether any of them believed this, or felt, as Alice March obviously did, that she was paying Crane back for deserting her for the night-club singer. She didn t really care; she wanted to listen to them talk, to see if she could detect a false note in their conversation. She felt it would be impossible for the murderer not to betray himself if one were only acute enough to catch the right remark.
Over the noise of the band, Alice March said, 'That singer must be very, very attractive.' She smiled sweetly at Ann.
Ann thought her pink face was the kind Italian painters used to float cherubs around. She would have liked to slap it hard. She said instead, 'You ll see her in a minute.'
A thin sound of flutes, a weird rumble of drums marked the end of 'The Song of India.' There was a muffled crash of cymbals; couples returned to their tables from the floor.
Carmel said, 'Don t you wish you had some of her allure, Alice?'
For an instant Alice March looked like an angry Persian cat. She didn t reply, but Talmadge came to her rescue. 'I ve heard she uses the same fascinating gardenia perfume Carmel does,' he drawled.
Ann wondered why he was trying so hard to establish the fact Carmel used a gardenia perfume. It certainly seemed as though he was trying to implicate Carmel in the deaths. It was certainly very suspicious.
Carmel said in a brittle voice, 'Perhaps Alice should use gardenia… Maybe she could keep her man.'
'You re always trying to pick a quarrel, aren t you, dear?' Alice March said sweetly.
'Well, aren t you?'
'Why, Carmel!'
'Yes, you are. Only you don t dare bring it out in the open.' Carmel s dark eyes glistened. 'Why don t you say what you re thinking… you and Talmadge?'
Dr Woodrin said, 'Carmel! Let s don t have any silly fights.'
Peter March said, 'Let s go home. I don t want to see that singer again.'
'Oh, but I do,' Alice March said, apparently undisturbed by Carmel s outburst.
Ann wondered, as the floor show started with a chorus routine, what Carmel had meant. What were Talmadge and Alice March thinking? She felt Carmel would like to slap Alice, too. There were certainly some dark undercurrents in the March family. She decided she didn t like either Talmadge or Alice. They both had an air of conspiracy about them.
She talked to Peter March during the floor show, noticing Carmel s eyes on them at intervals. She had a good time with Peter; he was fun. He was telling her about a bicycle trip he had taken in Italy. Dr Woodrin disappeared for a while and when he came back he sat beside Ann.
'May I speak to Mrs Crane a second?' he asked Peter.
'Why, sure.'
Dr Woodrin spoke softly in her ear. 'This is probably a joke, but while I was out that little chorus girl, Dolly, spoke to me in the hall. She asked me to tell you to leave, that you were in danger.'
'In danger?' Ann felt her heart jump. 'Are you sure she meant me? What kind of danger?'
'She wouldn t say.'
'I ll have to talk to her,' Ann said.
The floor show was ending, and she saw Dolly Wilson in the chorus. The girl was very pale, and her eyes were frightened. She disappeared into the hall back of the orchestra.
Ann was getting up when Alice March said, 'But where s the singer… Delia Young?'
Nobody knew. Ann said, 'Excuse me a moment, please?' Alice said, 'I ll go with you, dear.' Ann said, 'No, thanks.'
Dolly Wilson was stepping into peach-colored panties when Ann found the dressing room. Her figure was like that of a boy, supple and thin, without hips and firm breasted. Her skin was good.
She said, wide eyed, 'You shouldn t have come here.'
Ann said, 'You d make a good debutante model.'
She said, 'Do you think so?' She blushed. 'I m not used to having women look at me,' she explained.
'Have you ever thought of modeling?' Ann asked. 'I think I could get you a job.'
They talked, and when the other girls had gone Ann discovered Dolly had heard the bartender calling Mr Crane on Donovan s private wire. 'He told Mr Crane you d be in trouble if he didn t take you back to New York,' she said.
She thought Donovan was angry at Mr Crane because of Delia Young.
'What happened to her?' Ann asked.
'She s all right. She s somewhere out in the country. I had a note from her.' Dolly added with obvious pride, 'She s my best friend.'
'Is she with Donovan?'
'I don t know. The note didn t say. But Delia can take care of herself.'
'Donovan likes her, doesn t he?'
'I think they re married,' Dolly confided.
'But why did she let Bill-my husband-go up?'
'She may have liked him, but I ll bet she was using him to make Donovan jealous,' Dolly said.
Ann wrote a note to Mrs Jacobson at Causeman-Mason s in New York. 'She s the buyer there,' she said, giving the note to Dolly. 'I m sure she can find work for you if you ever go to New York.'
When she got to the table Bill Crane was there. She felt herself blushing. He had just arrived and Dr Woodrin was offering him a drink. He grinned at her and refused the drink.
'I m on the wagon… for at least an hour,' he explained.
Carmel March said, 'You look as though you d been run over by the wagon.'
Ann could see she was pleased by Bill s arrival.
Bill turned to Ann. 'Haven t I seen you before?'
'I m your wife,' Ann said.
'Isn t that a coincidence?' He was being very suave. 'Or am I simply de trop?' Carmel said, 'Please stay.'
Ann could see Peter March was very embarrassed. 'I think it s time to be going,' he said. He looked at Bill, then turned his eyes away. 'Would you like to take your wife home?' He was obviously not looking at Ann.
'Darling, will you ride with me?' Bill asked.
'I guess I ll have to,' Ann said.
'I thought I was going to stay in bed,' Bill explained to Peter. 'But I suddenly felt better. That s how I happened to come out here.'
Ann saw the others believed only part of that. They thought he d let her go out, then sneaked out himself to see Delia Young, not knowing Ann would be at the Crimson Cat.
