"Did she speak?" Mavis asked the question.
"No, she no speak; she die at once. I look in de dress, and I find dat letter and dis." Geary opened his huge black palm, and on it lay the coral hand with the dagger. "Dat on de ground near de dress," he ended.
"Do you recognize this?" asked Morgan, turning to Gerald, while Mrs. Crosbie uttered a wail of fear and Mrs. Berch became even paler than she had been.
Gerald had defended Mrs. Berch before and she had returned his kindness by accusing Mavis. He determined to leave her to her fate, since she was so ungrateful, especially as he readily recognized the coral hand. "So you did not give it back to Venosta after all!" he said to the terrified Mrs. Crosbie. "Mr. Inspector, this amulet belongs to----" He was about to say the name when Mrs. Berch, after a glance of despair around, interrupted.
"It belongs to me," she said harshly, "not to my daughter. Mrs. Crosbie received it from Signor Venosta, but she gave it to me to return to him after she made use of it to control the Jew moneylender. I did not return it to Signor Venosta, I----" She stopped.
"It was found near the corpse of Bellaria by this man," said Morgan gravely, "so if it belonged to you----"
"It hers; it hers," shouted Geary.
"How do you know?" asked Rebb sharply.
"I see dis woman in dat engine," he meant the motor car, "on de hill when I leave Bellaria dead. I run out to see where anyone was, dat kill Bellaria, and I see dat woman wid dis odder in dat engine."
"But you came running from the house," cried Rebb; "you could not----"