“Why... yes, he was.”
“And when you saw that Carl Moar was on the jury, you thought that you could do the man you loved a good turn by approaching Carl Moar and asking him to do everything he could to get a verdict of acquittal?”
She hesitated.
“And,” Mason asked, “didn’t you offer Moar a bribe? Come now, Miss Whiting, the facts are all available. Your part in this matter has been rather culpable. You had better tell the truth.”
“No,” she said, “I did not.”
“Now,” Mason went on calmly, “after Moar discharged his duties on this jury and after Morgan Eves had been acquitted, Mr. Moar found himself in the possession of some twenty-five thousand dollars. He went to the Hawaiian Islands and was enjoying a vacation in Honolulu. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Moar was rather naive in some respects and had made no effort to conceal his sudden acquisition of wealth, or to account for it. He merely changed his name and proceeded to take up a new life.
“Now, Mr. Van Densie, the attorney who represented Morgan Eves, found himself under investigation on a charge of jury bribing. The district attorney launched a sweeping investigation. It became important to Mr. Van Densie, as well as Mr. Eves, to keep the grand jury from calling on Mr. Moar as a witness. Mr. Moar’s attempts to take a new identity were sufficient, so far as a mere neighborly interest was concerned, but would hardly have withstood the investigation of trained detectives. Therefore, you were selected to go to Honolulu and arrange with Mr. Moar for a more effective disappearance. In order to explain the trip you were making to your sister, you told her you were going on your honeymoon. Mr. Eves, whom you secretly married, found himself very busy at the moment, assisting Mr. Van Densie conceal matters from the investigators. He actually sailed on the ship with you, but after it had left the dock, climbed over the side on a rope ladder and returned on a speed launch. You went to Honolulu, explained that situation to Mr. Moar, and arranged with him for a complete disappearance.
“This scheme had been carefully thought out by Van Densie, Morgan Eves, and perhaps in part, by you. You knew that a Roger P. Cartman had been in an automobile accident and sustained a broken neck. You purchased a ticket in the name of Roger P. Cartman on the same steamship as that on which Mr. Moar traveled under the name of Carl Newberry. From time to time, Mr. Moar would surreptitiously visit your cabin. You would place a steel and leather harness, or brace, upon his neck so that it concealed much of his face, put on huge dark glasses which concealed his eyes, and wheel him about the deck in a wheel chair.
“On the night of the sixth you, having familiarized yourself with the custom of Aileen Fell of being on deck immediately after dinner, and feeling that this was a propitious time because of the storm, arranged to have Mr. Moar commit a supposed suicide by shooting himself and jumping overboard. You expected that the sound of revolver shots would attract Miss Fell’s attention so that she could see what apparently was the body of a man hurtling into the ocean.
“However, Miss Fell’s curiosity brought her up to the boat deck so in place of having Moar apparently a suicide, he seemed to be the victim of a murder, and his wife was accused of the murder.