Carson’s face was a ghastly yellow, but he still managed a sneer of bravado. “You’re forgetting that Meade admits leaving a note to lure her away.”
“He left a note in her dressing-room, all right, but Nora never saw Joe’s note. She was already dead. He didn’t know that, of course. He really supposed she’d gone to her death on account of his note.”
“You’re crazy,” Carson insisted strongly. “According to your insane theory, I killed her inside the opera house. But she was in her hotel room after the play started. She left that note for me—”
Shayne laughed. “That note was your first and most flagrant blunder. I was quite sure it hadn’t been written by Nora as soon as I read it. That’s why I asked you to identify the writing. When you said, positively, that it was Nora’s writing, I knew you must have forged it and left it there yourself — which meant you had planned she would be dead and couldn’t deny authorship.”
Carson’s defenses were crumbling under the impact of Shayne’s remorseless logic. In a stricken voice, he asked, “What makes you think she didn’t write it?”
“Because I’m an egoist, Carson. Just before Nora went to the opera house, she begged me to take the case, showing a lot of faith in my reputation and ability. If she’d had a clue, I felt reasonably certain she would have gone looking for me, not for the sheriff as the note stated. You also explained the presence of the note by saying one of her heavy coats was missing. There was no coat on her body, nor was one found any place in the vicinity. You haven’t a leg to stand on, Carson. I believe they use cyanide eggs in Colorado. That’s a quick, painless death — the same as you gave Nora and Screwloose Pete.”
“It was his fault,” Carson cried wildly, jumping up and pointing a trembling finger at Bryant. “He put me up to it. He planned it all after he got chummy with Pete. I had to do it. That or be killed. He threatened me—” He fell back on the settee sobbing incoherently.
Shayne nodded curtly to the sheriff. “That ought to mean a good stretch for Two-Deck even if he does escape going to the death-house with Carson.”
“But, what’s it all about?” Phyllis wailed. “Wasn’t Screwloose Pete Nora’s father?”
Shayne exclaimed, “By God, Phyl, do you need a blueprint?”