Two men quietly came into the room.
“We’re precinct detectives,” one of them said, and they showed their identification. “We’ve been standing in the hall and heard the whole thing.”
“Can you arrest these three swindlers at once?” Marshall Bryant demanded. “For what they’ve done to my wife and me and to an innocent girl?”
“Yes, sir,” said the detective. “You are under arrest, Dorn, and so are you two women, on a conspiracy charge.”
“I know my rights,” Dorn asserted. “I’m a lawyer, and you can’t—”
“I can,” said the detective. “Let me quote the law to you, Mr. Dorn. The unlawful acts you three persons planned to commit, and in part did commit, are fraud, misrepresentation, and obtaining money or property under false pretenses.”
“I object, I vehemently object!” Dorn said. “We may have planned it, but we haven’t actually obtained the inheritance.”
“That’s beside the point,” the detective said. “Quote: ‘Persons agreeing together to commit a crime can be prosecuted for conspiracy. In a conspiracy it does not matter whether the unlawful act agreed upon is carried out or not.’ You’re under arrest for conspiracy. Get up. All three of you.”
Dorn shrugged and said no more. He, Mrs. Heath, and Dorothy stood up. The false Lucy pulled the silver ring off her finger and bitterly threw it at Dorn.
Marshall Bryant said, “You’re being arrested for conspiracy, but I’m going to bring action against you in the courts for a whole lot more. For fraud and misrepresentation, and for detention of Lucy.”