“Why?” she asked.
“That’s exactly it. Jannix had been playing the thing from the blackmail angle. Someone double-crossed him.”
Bertha forgot to light her cigarette. “Let’s get this straight,” she said, leaning forward.
“The first part of it is a cinch. Helen Framley didn’t write to Corla Burke. Someone did, someone who gave Helen Framley’s name, and told Corla to reply.”
“Well?”
“Get the idea?”
“No,” Bertha said shortly.
“If Corla had walked into that trap, if she’d gone ahead and married Philip Whitewell, the marriage would, of course, have been bigamous. Her understanding would have been that Jannix would get a divorce. You know what would have happened. There never would have been any divorce. He’d have kept bleeding her white. Once she married Philip, she never could make a move to get the divorce. Jannix had her then where he wanted her.”
“And you don’t think Helen Framley wrote that letter?”
“I know she didn’t.”