'Maurer took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped his face with it,' Frances said quietly. 'As he did so, he flicked out a gold pencil. It fell on his shoe, and then rolled across the floor and went down a drain in one of the shower cabinets. Maurer tried to get it up, but he couldn't reach it. This other man said they had to go, but Maurer said the pencil had his initials on it, and he had to get it. The other man said no one would ever see it down there, and there was no way of recovering it. Maurer finally agreed to leave it.' She turned to look at McCann who was standing stiff and motionless. There was blood on Maurer's shoe,' she went on, 'and some of the blood got on to the pencil. You have only to get the pencil, prove the blood belongs to Miss Arnot, and then perhaps you'll believe I'm telling the truth!'
Conrad looked at Forest.
'Well, is that the corroboration you want?' He swung around and grinned at McCann. 'She thought that one up entirely on her own. She's quite a detective, isn't she, Captain?'
CHAPTER NINE
FERRARI pushed open the door and came into Seigel's office. He walked over to the desk, sat down in the armchair and wriggled himself into it.
'Is he dead?' Gollowitz asked in a strangled voice.
Ferrari stared at him.
'Does the sun shine? Is the grass green? Why do you waste time on the obvious? Of course he's dead. When I say I'll do a thing. I do it.'
Gollowitz sank beck in his chair. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his face.
'And they'll think it's an accident?'
'Yes, they will think it's an accident,' Ferrari said. 'It went just as it was planned.' He folded his claw-like hands across his flat stomach, and looked at Gollowitz with eyes that were as lifeless and as still as the eyes of a doll. 'If you make a proper plan, you must succeed. He is dead, and now we must think about the girl.'
'I'm glad I sent for you,' Gollowitz said, and at the moment he meant what he said. 'I wouldn't have thought it possible to have done the job so easily.'
'It was only easy because I have had years of experience,' Ferrari said. 'With no experience and no plan, it wouldn't have been possible.'
'Now about the girl,' Seigel put in. 'How are you going to take care of her?'
'Another accident?' Ferrari asked, looking at Gollowitz.
'Yes; that's essential. We may have to wait a week. If she died immediately after Weiner it would look bad, wouldn't it?'
'If we have the time, a week would be better,' Ferrari agreed.
At this moment the telephone bell rang, and Seigel picked up the receiver. He listened for a moment, then the other two saw his face tighten. He handed the
receiver to Gollowitz.
'McCann,' he said. 'Sounds as if he's blowing his top.'
Gollowitz said into the mouthpiece, 'Yes, captain?'
'Why the hell didn't you tell me you were going to take Weiner?' McCann snarled, his voice blurred on the humming line. 'You've really started something this time. Listen, that girl's talked!'
Gollowitz raised his eyebrows. With Ferrari sitting close by, he felt comfortably safe.
'Let her talk, Captain,' he said. 'I don't care. Why should you?'
There was a slight pause, then McCann said viciously, 'You crazy? I tell you she's talked! She actually saw Maurer kill that woman. She's ready to go on the stand and swear to it!'
'Let her go on the stand. It's her word against Maurer's. She's got no corroboration. Why should we worry?'
'She doesn't need corroboration,' McCann snarled. 'She's got proof!'
Gollowitz stiffened.
'What do you mean?'
'I tell you she's got proof! She says Maurer pulled out a handkerchief after he had killed June Arnot. A gold pencil fell out of his pocket and dropped on his bloodstained shoe. Then it rolled across the floor and went down a drain. Maurer tried to retrieve it, but he couldn't reach it. The crazy bastard left it there! The girl saw it happen! The D.A.'s only got to get the pencil and Maurer's sunk. It has his initials on it and his fingerprints and June Arnot's blood. There was no blood in the changing room, so the blood must have come from him. It's proof a jury would love. Do you still want me to stop worrying?'
Gollowitz's face suddenly turned a greenish hue.
'Is this true?'
'How the hell do I know? It's what she's just told Forest. They'll soon find out
it it's true or not!'
Gollowitz's brain was working fast. If this was true then Maurer was as good as in the chair.
'Where is this drain?' he asked.
