But Hogarty had not been killed, despite what the others had thought. He had lain desperately ill in the cabin of an Indian. He had shown great determination in journeying to civilization, seeking revenge. Twice on that trip, he had been near the point of death. When finally he had reached civilization, his foot had become frostbitten, and it had been necessary to remove several of the toes on his right foot.
He had carried on his quest for vengeance. In the meantime, Alden Leeds and his wife had separated. Hogarty finally found the woman, but, because she was legally married and not divorced, he had entered into her life, posing as her brother. Then they had found Leeds.
Emily Milicant had realized she was still in love with him. Hogarty, posing as Emily’s brother, wanted blackmail. Leeds, finding himself in this position, had tried his best to work out some fair settlement with Hogarty. His relatives, recognizing the quick, romantic attachment which had sprung up between Leeds and Emily Milicant, and naturally misinterpreting it, had sought to thwart a marriage by having Leeds declared incompetent.
In the meantime, the implacable Hogarty, under the name of Conway, had built up a lottery business which he had sold to Serle. A disgruntled customer had tipped off the police, thinking to get revenge on Conway, in place of which, the trap had closed on Serle, and Serle, in turn, had made demands on Hogarty. When Hogarty laughed at those demands, Serle planned to get his money back from Hogarty. Not being able to do it, save by resorting to murder, he had planned a deliberate crime which, under ordinary circumstances, he could have committed so as to give himself a perfect alibi. It was the ingenuity of Mason’s spectacular courtroom tactics which had punctured that alibi.
Della Street entered Mason’s office as he was finishing with the paper. “Alden Leeds, his wife, Phyllis Leeds, and Ned Barkler are in the office, Chief,” she said. “The police have just released them.”
“Tell Gertie to send them in,” Mason said.
Mason smiled genially as they crowded about him, shaking hands, showering congratulations. When the first excitement had died away, and Mason was able to get his callers seated, Leeds said, “Mason, I want you to do everything possible to protect Emily. The authorities have been working on that old murder case. The understanding, by which she was released and under which I was released, was that if Alaska wanted us, we would still be held to answer on that old charge.”
Mason grinned. “Don’t you see?” he said. “There isn’t any old charge. They can’t charge either of you with the murder of Bill Hogarty because Bill Hogarty was killed on the seventh of this month by Guy T. Serle. Here’s a press dispatch which says so.”
Leeds knitted his frosty eyebrows for a moment in thought, then glanced up at Mason with a smile. “I see,” he said. “You apparently managed to kill two birds with one stone.”
Mason grinned. “I didn’t kill ’em,” he said. “I resurrected ’em so I could give my clients clean bills of health.”