“Oh, no,” she said quickly. “I want to tell you everything. Why should I refuse?”
Shayne shrugged. “Go ahead then.”
“There isn’t much to tell.” She paused to moisten her lips. “We had just turned into the alley, and it was awfully dark. Neil was a step ahead of me — and the first thing I heard was the gun going off. Neil groaned and fell before I realized what had happened. Then I heard someone running. I couldn’t actually see in the darkness, but I realized he’d been shot and his murderer was getting away. I instinctively got my pistol out of my bag and fired after him. I shot twice. And then I heard someone running up behind me. I didn’t know it was you, Michael.” She rubbed her eyes as though still bewildered. “I didn’t know you were anywhere in Juarez. And — that’s all,” she ended simply.
Rodriquiz looked at Shayne and shrugged. He asked Carmela, “You will swear the pistol was in your handbag when the first shot was fired?”
“Oh, yes. It was.”
“And you fired only two shots, after Mr. Cochrane had fallen and his assailant was running away?”
“That’s right. That’s the way it happened.”
Captain Rodriquiz opened the small revolver and drew out three empty brass cylinders, which he carefully lined up in front of him. The gun was a. 38 with its barrel sawed off half an inch from the cylinder to make it a small though lethal weapon.
“There is one empty chamber,” he pointed out to Shayne and Carmela. “Behind that there are three empty cartridges. Then two loaded ones.” He drew out the two unexploded. 38 shells. They had snubnosed, leaden heads, and two deep notches in the shape of a cross were cut in the soft nose of each bullet. He lined the two bullets up with the empty cylinders and said, “Your pistol has been fired three times, Miss Towne.”
“Perhaps I shot three times. I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Carmela shuddered violently. “I thought I just pulled the trigger twice.”
Shayne leaned over to pick up one of the bullets, and he studied it with a frown. “Homemade dumdums,” he muttered. “Who taught you to fix bullets this way, Carmela?”
“Father fixed them for me. Years ago when he gave me that gun. He said”- her voice faltered and then came clearly-”they were more deadly that way. And that I should never use it until I had to, but if it ever came to a showdown, that I should shoot to kill.”
“And tonight was the first time you had to use it?” murmured Rodriquiz.
“Yes, I–I haven’t carried that pistol, or even thought about it, for years, until tonight.” She glanced from the Mexican captain to Shayne. “Why are you both looking like that?”
Shayne shrugged, and reached over to replace the bullet. “There were only three shots filed in the alley, Carmela. Rodriquiz and I were right behind you. One of the three bullets killed Cochrane.”
“Of course! That’s what I said at first. That I fired twice after he fell. And then you said there were three bullets fired from my gun and I — Oh!” She caught herself up suddenly, staring at the three empty brass cylinders in front of the captain. “But — if there were only three shots fired altogether-”
“And there are three bullets missing from your pistol,” Rodriquiz put in pleasantly.
Carmela winced, looking dazed and disbelieving. “I don’t understand. It’s all so sort of mixed up.”
“Wait a minute,” Shayne said. “That’s a six-shooter, isn’t it? Why are there only five shells?”
“That’s all I ever put in it,” Carmela told him. “Father taught me to keep an empty chamber under the hammer.”
“The three exploded cartridges were in a row behind the one empty chamber,” Captain Rodriquiz agreed. “Would it not be better to tell the truth, Miss Towne? A full confession. He insulted you, perhaps? To defend your honor, you were forced to fire the shot.”
“But I didn’t!” Carmela cried wildly. “Someone else shot him and ran away in the darkness. That’s the way it happened.” She clamped her lips together and settled back to fight for composure.
Shayne said, “I think you’d better tell us why you are over here tonight. Why you met Neil Cochrane in El Gato Pobre and were going to a place like Papa Tonto’s with him.”
“He was taking me to Lance. He said he was. He swore Lance was at that awful place. He and Father both said so.”
“Wait a minute,” said Shayne. “Take your time and tell us all about it. When did Cochrane tell you that?”
“This afternoon. After Father came home from — after he was released. Neil came to see him. They were in the library arguing violently when I passed to go upstairs. I heard Lance’s name mentioned as I went by. I jerked the door open and demanded to know what they were talking about — what about Lance. But Father wouldn’t let me stay. He ordered me out. He was angrier than I’ve ever seen him.
“I went up to my room and waited until Neil left,” she went on in a hard, strained voice. “Then I went down and confronted Father. I demanded to know what Neil had been saying about Lance. He refused to tell me, at first. He insisted it would be better if I didn’t know. But I threatened to leave home unless he told me. I accused him of trying to keep us apart again as he did once before.
“Then Father exploded. He said, all right. That I might as well know the truth. He said he’d paid Neil to keep quiet about it so I wouldn’t find out. That that’s what the argument was about and Neil had demanded money for his silence. Then he told me Lance was mixed up in some Nazi spy activities and he was making his headquarters here at a place called Papa Tonto’s.
“I didn’t believe it,” Carmela went on rapidly, her cheeks beginning to show a little color. “I accused Father of lying to keep me away from Lance. And he cursed me and said, all right, if I wanted proof why didn’t I get Neil to show me. I told him I would. That I’d call Neil up and ask him. And he said he’d paid Neil to promise not to tell me, and that Neil would probably deny it if I asked him, but why not get him to take me to Papa Tonto’s so I could see for myself.
“And that’s what I did,” she ended dully. “I called Neil and asked him if he’d take me to Papa Tonto’s tonight, and offered to meet him at El Gato Pobre after dinner. So we did, but when I asked him about Lance he denied everything — because Father had paid him to, I guess. He wouldn’t believe me when I said Father had told me the truth. But he was willing enough to take me. He didn’t seem to think that was breaking his promise to Father. And that’s — all. We were almost there when — it happened.”
Shayne asked, “He did insult you, didn’t he?”
She shrugged disdainfully. “He made some horrid remarks. He pretended to think I had asked him to take me to that place because I wanted to. You know, because I wanted him to take me there. I don’t know what kind of a place it is, but from what he said I guess women do go there with men.”
Shayne said, “Listen carefully now: When you went into El Gato Pobre, where was Cochrane?”
“Dancing with a girl. He took her back to another table where there were two men, while I waited just inside the door.”
“Did you recognize the girl?”
Carmela caught her lower lip between her teeth and looked frightened for the first time. “How do you know all about it?”
“Captain Rodriquiz and I were there watching. Did you recognize the girl, Carmela?”
“All right. I did,” she flashed at him. “It was the same one I saw with Lance in El Paso. The one whose picture you showed me the other night.”
Shayne nodded grimly. “Did you ask Cochrane about her?”
“Yes. He just laughed and said she was one of the habituees of Papa Tonto’s whom he knew slightly.”
“And when you left the restaurant,” Shayne persisted, “did you notice the girl ahead of you?”
“Yes, I did. She and the two men with her. They stayed ahead of us all the way, and Neil said they were probably going to Papa Tonto’s too.”
Captain Rodriquiz had been following Shayne’s questions and Carmela’s answers with alert interest. He now interposed, “And when you turned into the alley, were they not ahead of you still?”
“I think so. Yes. I saw them just ahead when the clouds cleared for a moment.”
“And after the first shot was fired?” Rodriquiz persisted.
“It was so dark. And I was excited and confused.”
“Why did you bring that gun with you tonight?” Shayne asked suddenly.
“Well, I was going to that dreadful place with Neil Cochrane. And Father suggested it. In fact, he refused to let me out unless I promised to bring it. I think he was afraid something might happen.”
