“Or criminals,” put in Gibbs. “Since seeing that paper, I feel convinced that the dying man tried to write ‘get both,’ meaning to insure punishing to the women who killed him.”
“Then you think women really did the deed?” asked Bates, a strange fear in his blue eyes.
“Yes, I do;” Gibbs stated, “but Corson thinks women were merely at the root of the trouble. However, that isn’t the point just now. That will all be learned later. First, we must get an idea of which way to look. And, too, I may be wrong. The illegible word on that paper may mean, as Corson thinks, the beginning of some name. The fact that the B is not a capital doesn’t count for much when we realize the circumstances of the writing.”
“I should say not!” and Miss Prall looked straight at him. “Think of that poor dying man trying to write, while his life blood ebbed away! And can you fail to heed his dying message? Can you fail to get those wicked, vicious little wretches who heartlessly lured him on and on in their wild orgies, until it all resulted in his fearful end! I, for one, shall never be satisfied until those foolish, flippant little things are punished——”
“Oh, Letitia,” wailed Miss Gurney, “bad as they are, you wouldn’t want to see them all stuffed into an electric chair, would you, now?”
The mental picture of the chorus girls crowded into a single electric chair was almost too much for Richard’s sense of humor, and he smiled, but Miss Gurney went on:
“But, anyway, if a pack of girls did do it, don’t think it was the chorus girls. They’re too frivolous and light hearted. I think you’d better look nearer home. The girls in this house were all down on Sir Herbert. None of them liked him, and he was always berating them, both to us, and to their very faces. That telephone girl, now,——”
“Eliza, will you keep still?” fumed Miss Prall. “Why do you suggest anybody? These detectives are here to find out the murderers and they not only need no help from you, but they are held back and bothered by your interference. Please remain quiet!”
“I’ll talk all I like, Letitia Prall; I guess I know what’s best for your interests as well as my own.”
“You haven’t any interests separate from mine, and I can look after myself! Now, you do as I tell you, and say nothing more on this subject at all. If Sir Herbert was the victim of his foolish penchant for those light young women, I’m not sure it doesn’t serve him right——”