swindle an' that they will have to keep this guy quiet by payin' him back the dough.
'Granworth says OK but believe me he ain't so pleased an' I'll tell you why. He has just made two hundred grand legitimately on the stock market. He reckons that he is goin' to give up this counterfeitin' business an' go straight. Also he is beginnin' to get tired of Paulette. He has gone so far as to make over the two hundred grand to his wife Henrietta an' he has also taken out a big insurance. He don't feel so pleased at the idea of partin' with the dough back to Rudy, but he tells Paulette OK he will pay up an' that the great thing to do is to keep this Rudy Benito quiet.
'But Rudy is beginnin' to get suspicious. He reckons that Paulette musta known something about what was goin' on. He makes some inquiries an' he finds out that Paulette has been gettin' around with Granworth Aymes - that their names have been coupled together.
'The poor guy don't know what to do. He knows that Granworth is a crook an' he is beginnin' to suspect his own wife, so he gets down an' he writes an unsigned letter to Henrietta. He tells her that her husband is playin' around with some woman, but he don't say who. He writes this letter so that Henrietta will get after Granworth an' bust up the business between him an' Paulette.
'Now we are comin' close to the time when the works start shootin' properly. Henrietta writes some letters to Granworth from Hartford, Connecticut, where she is stayin', accusin' him of gettin' around with a woman, an' this puts Granworth in a jam. He has got to get his hooks on the two hundred thousand Registered Dollar Bonds that are in the safe deposit in Henrietta's name so as to give 'em to Rudy to keep him quiet, an' he has gotta do this without Henrietta knowin' anythin' about it. So what does he do? He gets goin' directly he gets the first letter from Henrietta. He gets Periera to manufacture counterfeit dollar bonds an' he sticks 'em in the safe deposit in the place of the real ones. This way he reckons he is safe. The phoney bonds will keep Henrietta quiet an' he can hand the real ones over to Rudy an' keep him quiet. Paulette has told him that Rudy ain't goin' to last long an' he reckons that when he dies he can get the real bonds back again.
'He tells Paulette about all this an' she thinks that it is a swell idea an' that if they play it carefully they can get away with it. But they don't reckon on one thing. They forget Rudy Benito. This guy is suspicious an' not only is he suspectin' Granworth but now he is also suspectin' Paulette.
'So now we come to the big day. We come to the 12th January-the day that Granworth Aymes goes over the edge of Cotton's Wharf. Now I reckon that this day is a pretty interestin' sorta day. In fact I will go as far as to say that durin' a long experience of crooks an' murderers an' what will you I ain't ever heard of a day that was just like this 12th January.
'It is a day that all you guys are goin' to remember all your lives, an' personally speakin' I reckon I am goin to remember it too.
'Now get the set-up. This 12th January is the day that Paulette has told Rudy that she is goin' inta New York to make the wicked Granworth pay up the two hundred thousand that he has swindled Rudy an' her out of. Rudy listens to all this stuff with his tongue in his cheek. He is gettin' pretty wise to Paulette an' he reckons that when she goes to see Granworth he is goin' to string along too, but he don't tell her.
'OK. Well Granworth ain't feelin' so pleased with the 12th January either. He knows that he has gotta hand over the two hundred thousand in bonds to Paulette an' he has also received the third note from Henrietta who has come back to New York an 'in this note she tells him that she is goin' to see him an' have a showdown about this woman he is gettin' around with.'
I look around at 'em. Metts is sittin' holdin' his pipe in his hand, lookin' at me as if he was hypnotised. Henrietta is starin' straight in front of her. Poor kid I reckon she ain't feelin' so good at hearin' all this stuff about Granworth. Across on the other side of the room Paulette is lyin' back on her chair keepin' her eyes on me. There is a sorta half smile playin' around her mouth. She sits there, quite still, not movin' a muscle, just like she was petrified.
'OK,' I go on. 'So here we are on the afternoon of the 12th January. Paulette comes to New York for the express purpose of seem' Granworth Aymes an' gettin' the two hundred grand in dollar bonds from him, an' after her, keepin' well under cover, comes the poor sick guy, Rudy Benito, coughin' his way along, with his guts fulla hatred for his wife who has sold him out for the man who has helped her to do it.
'Rudy has got his own scheme. I reckon that in the afternoon he takes himself a room at some little quiet hotel and rests himself. He is preparin' for the big act he is goin' to put on with Granworth. Just for the minute I'm goin' to leave him there.
'In the afternoon Paulette goes along an' sees Granworth in his office. Maybe Langdon Burdell is there an' maybe he ain't, but anyhow Paulette spills the beans to Granworth. She tells him that the only way of keepin' Rudy quiet is to pay back the dough. She don't know that Rudy suspects her an' she tells Granworth that the guy is goin' to die soon anyway an' that then they can join up again.
'Granworth says OK. He gives her the two hundred grand in dollar bonds an' he tells her about the fast one he has pulled on his wife, Henrietta. He tells her how he has got Periera out here at the Hacienda to fake up counterfeit dollar bonds to replace the real ones that he has just handed over to Paulette. I reckon that they think that this is one helluva joke. Maybe they sit there an' laugh their heads off.
'Well, after they have enjoyed this big joke, Granworth tells Paulette his big news. He tells her that his wife Henrietta is in New York an' that he has just received a note from her to the effect that she is goin' to see him that evenin' an' have a showdown about this woman he is supposed to be runnin' around with. Paulette is interested like hell. You bet she is. She is rather enjoym' the joke. She asks Granworth what he thinks Henrietta will do. He tells her that he reckons that Henrietta will say that unless he gives up this dame he is gettin' around with she will divorce him. He says that she will be all the more inclined to take one helluva strong line because she thinks that she has got the two hundred grand in dollar bonds that was in the safe deposit. She don't know that they have been switched an' that they are fake;
'Then Granworth an' Paulette have another helluva big laugh.
'Paulette says OK, but she is mighty curious to know about this interview that is comm' along with Henrietta an' she would like to stick around an' hear what happens an' Granworth says OK, that when he is through with Henrietta he will come back to his office an' if she will be waitin' there for him about eight-thirty he will tell her the works an' they can have another big laugh.
'Paulette says OK, an' she goes back to her hotel an' probably gives herself a facial an' a big drink. She thinks that she is doin' swell.
'All this time the poor sap Rudy is restin' up at his hotel, tryin' to get himself up enough strength to have the big show-down with Granworth. But maybe he can't make it. Maybe he don't feel so good, so he just sticks around waitin' an' waitin' until he feels good enough to make it, an' if you people have ever known a guy who's got consumption real bad you'll know what I mean an' you'll feel for Rudy.
'An' Granworth just sits around in his office waitin' for Henrietta to telephone through.
'In the later afternoon she comes through. She tells Granworth that she has just gotta see him an' she asks him where. He says at some little downtown cafe an' when the time comes Henrietta goes along, an' he drives up in his car an' they have a big talk.
'Granworth has had a coupla drinks an' is fairly high an' fulla courage. He tells Henrietta he don't give a durn for her an' that she can do what she likes. When she says that she will divorce him if he don't give up this other dame, he says OK an' if she does he won't pay her any alimony, that he will leave the country first. Then she says she don't give a hoot about the alimony because she has got the dollar bonds an' then be just laughs like hell, because he is thinkin' what a funny story he will have to tell Paulette when he goes back to the office an' meets up with her again.
I stop talkin' because there is a knock at the door. Metts gets up an' goes across. He talks to the copper at the door an' then he comes back across the room to me. He has got two telegrams in his hands an' he gives 'em to me. I bust 'em open an' read 'em. One is from the 'G' Office in New York an' the other is from a Captain of Mexican Police Rurales in the Zoni district to Mexican Police headquarters at Mexicali, who have forwarded it on to me from there.
They both look pretty good to me.
I put 'em down on the desk in front of me an' I go on.
'Henrietta can't say anything else,' I tell 'em. 'He is drunk an' she knows it. She gets up an' she leaves, an' she goes back to the depot an' takes the first train back to Hartford, Connecticut. We know she does this because two guys in the railway service, a ticket clerk an' a train attendant, have identified her picture as bein' on the train that left at ten minutes to nine.
