“You’re absolutely crazy,” she said.
I said, “Now we go on from there. Evaline Harris came back with the photographs all right, but she also had an overpowering curiosity. She was a chiseler, and she was greedy. Her trunk had been smashed in shipment. She knew you’d never consent to having her make a claim for damages because you didn’t want anyone to trace her, but, without consulting you, she went ahead and made the claim. You found out she’d been traced. That caused a lot of trouble.
“John Harbet was giving you instructions. You were going to him for advice. He knew all about Evaline Harris. When he first started looking for Amelia, the trail led to you. While he was giving you the once-over, he hung around the Blue Cave. He was friendly with Evaline. He worked with her, coaching her and giving her instructions on what she was to do in Oakview.”
She said, in a dull, mechanical voice, “That’s a lie.”
“No, it isn’t a lie. It’s the truth. It can be proved. Now then, when Evaline Harris left that back trail by putting in a claim with the railroad company for her damaged trunk, Harbet blew up. That was when Evaline Harris tried to cut herself in on the deal. She wanted some coin to keep from talking — and that’s why she was found strangled in bed. Now then, Flo Danzer, it’s your move.”
She came towards me. “Damn you, get out of here, or I’ll claw your eyes out. I’ll scratch your face. I’ll—”
Bertha Cool’s big arm swung around like a pile driver. She caught a fistful of Flo’s hair, jerked her head back, and said, “Shut up, or I’ll knock your teeth down your throat. Sit down in that chair and stay there. That’s better.”
Bertha Cool relaxed her hold on the woman’s hair.
For a moment they glowered at each other, Bertha Cool towering over the woman in the chair. Then Bertha said, “I can be just as tough as you are. You’ve had a background which gives you a strong stomach, but you haven’t seen anything yet. I’m really hard.”
Flo Danzer said, “It’s a damn lie, but it makes a good story. I suppose it’s a shakedown. What do you want?”