“I don’t get it.”
“She holds my past as a threat over me to keep me from playing my hand. Carlotta would be terribly shocked if she knew her mother had been in the penitentiary. Otherwise, I might appear on the scene and make a bid for Carlotta’s affections. I’m in a position now to do much more for her than Mrs. Goldring is. Mrs. Goldring has spent the insurance money she received at the time of her husband’s death. I am relatively wealthy.”
Bertha asked curiously, “How could you have emerged from the penitentiary and made enough money to—”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to be blunt again, Mrs. Cool.”
“Oh, hell,” Bertha said, “I know it’s none of my business, but you interest me — now.”
“Yes,” her visitor said dryly, “I can see that the financial details interest you more than the romantic.”
Bertha thought that over for a few moments and said, “I guess you’re right.”
“The only way,” the woman went on, “that Mrs. Goldring could compete with me financially would be in the event she inherited money. The only chance she stands of inheriting money is if Mrs. Belder should die leaving a will, leaving all of her property to her mother. I understand such a will has been made, and I further understand that Mrs. Belder has disappeared.”
Bertha tugged at the lobe of her left ear, an infallible sign of intense concentration. “What do you mean when you say ‘disappeared’?”
“Committed a murder and skipped out. Eventually she’s going to be caught. The excitement incident to all of that is apt to make her heart pop — just like that,” and the woman snapped her fingers to illustrate the celerity of Mrs. Belder’s departure.