“Yes.”
“All right, what’s the low-down?”
“They were shaking down Minerva Carlton. They threatened to tell her husband. Tom Durham met her in the Cabanita. Minerva said she’d be at the KOZY DELL SLUMBER COURT Saturday night and would pay off. She wrote the name on the back of a menu. Lucille managed to get placed in the same booth after they’d left and grabbed the menu. They didn’t show the first time — scared, I guess, Mrs. Carlton repeated the next week. She got Dover Fulton to pose as Stanwick Carlton, her husband. When the blackmailers showed up, she laughed at them, said her husband knew all about her ‘indiscretion’ and had forgiven her; that he’d arrived unexpectedly from Colorado and she’d confessed the whole thing to him because she had to. She seemed radiantly happy.
“There was some argument, and Durham, mad at having lost a touch, started a swing at Fulton. Fulton drew his gun, took a shot, missed and hit Amelia Jasper in the fanny.
“Before Fulton could fire again, Durham had the gun wrenched away from him.
“Fulton made the mistake of being game. He made a lunge and Durham let him have it right between the eyes. Minerva Carlton turned and started to run and he hit her in the back of the head. He’s a crack shot.”
“And the suitcase?”
“Just as you said. They knew they had to account for the third bullet.”
“And what about Lucille Hollister?”
“They wanted to do business with her. She’d been keeping an eye on the blackmailers. They were watching the house where she was staying, intending to get her when she came out. You blundered into the picture and the two women followed you around to the back, later on into the bedroom.”