“Did you hate her so?”
“For a long time but not in the last year. I felt something would happen … I am not superstitious but I think sometimes a terrible deed casts a shadow before it. I saw the shadow some time ago. I knew she would not be allowed to live much longer … and I was sorry for her. After all, I had loved her once.”
“I have some news,” I said, interrupting this mystical reverie.
“News?” He put the onyx holder down and looked at me politely.
“The police are going to arrest the murderer tomorrow.”
“How do you know?”
“I found out this afternoon … through the grapevine … the warrant is being prepared now.”
“But they can’t do this to her … they can’t!” He fell with the grace of a dying swan into my little trap … unless of course I had fallen into his trap: at the moment, I wasn’t sure which, but I bluffed it through.
“I’m afraid they can. After all, even a great dancer like Eglanova is at the mercy of the law.”
“I know, but we must stop them.” He let his monocle drop; he was suddenly haggard-looking. “She mustn’t be brought to trial.”
“But if she’s innocent she’ll be let off.”
“Innocent!” he groaned.
“Do you think she really killed Ella?”
“Who else?” His voice was strained and it quavered; he sounded very old.
“Did you talk to her about it?”
“Never. We have never discussed Ella alone together since it happened. I knew. She knew that I knew, from the beginning. There was never anything to say.”
“Did you talk like this to Gleason?”
“Of course not. I made up lies! oh, such lies, such confusion! They may never straighten out all the things I tell them.”
“Even so they will arrest her tomorrow.”
“Then we must get Ivan. We must engage lawyers. The best in America … I am told in this country with a good lawyer you can escape anything.”
“It’s been known to happen. She already knows the police suspect her, that they may arrest her any minute.”
“I should be with her now.”
“I’m not sure that’d be such a good idea.” For the moment, I didn’t want any of these people getting together and comparing notes; if they did I might find myself in serious trouble. “You see the police are watching her and if they think you might be an accomplice of some sort your testimony in her favor won’t be worth a cent.”
“Even so …”
“Besides, she told me she was going to be with her lawyers this evening. Wait until tomorrow. That’s the only thing to do, the only really intelligent thing to do …” I talked for several minutes, trying to divert him; then, still unsure as to whether I had or not, I left.
5
Mr. Washburn arrived ten minutes late for dinner with me at a little French restaurant on Fifty-fifth Street. A place with good food and dim lights.
“Elmer Bush is going to drop by in an hour,” said Mr. Washburn, sitting down, not even bothering to say good evening.
“Is that a good idea?”
“Good idea or not we have to see him. He’s in charge around here, just as much as Gleason.” This last name, on his lips, became a curse.
We ordered a light cool dinner. The room was dark but not air-conditioned … it was a little like being in a cave somewhere in Africa.
“The police are going to make an arrest, aren’t they?”
He nodded.
“Jane?”
“I’m doing everything I can to stop it. I’ve been at City Hall all afternoon. I’ve talked to the Mayor, to the Governor up in Albany.”
“I suggest you find her a good lawyer.”
“Benson will represent her … I’ve seen to that, at company expense.” I knew then he was serious; Mr. Washburn doesn’t like to spend money.
“Jane doesn’t know yet, does she?”
“I don’t think so. You’re the one who sees her.”
“She’s home now. She suspects they might … it’s so damned awful, so stupid! Didn’t you explain to Gleason that there is no motive, absolutely none? That regardless of circumstantial evidence, the state is going to look damned funny when they try to convict her?”
“He seems confident.”
“But can’t you stop him? A trial like this could ruin her.”
“I can’t do anything more than get her acquitted. She will be acquitted … I’m sure of that.”
It’s a good thing, I suppose, that I have a great deal of self-control because my impulse at that moment was to rush straight to Gleason’s office and tell him exactly what I thought of his investigation.
“Besides,” said Mr. Washburn, “I have reason to believe that the trial will be speeded up so that Jane will be through in time for our Los Angeles opening.”
I was beginning, dimly, to see the plot. “You seem very confident,” I said, “that by the time the trial is over the police will have lost interest in the case … that Eglanova will be out of danger.” I was now fully aware that Jane was to be the lightning rod for the whole company in general and for Eglanova in particular.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said my employer sharply and I shut up. There was plenty of time for saying what I had to say.
We ate the first course in silence; then, when the entree arrived, I asked, very casually, “Tell me, Mr. Washburn, why you were trying to get Armiger to take Eglanova’s place, before Ella was killed.”
I suppose if I had spat in his face I would have made less effect; he sat back in his chair abruptly and his chin jerked up, like a boxer off guard.
“How did you know I’d written her?”
“I saw her answer on your desk one day.”
“I’m not sure I approve of your reading my mail.”
“It was accidental, believe me. I don’t usually read other people’s mail. I’ve been wondering, though … been wondering quite a bit lately whether that might tie in with the murders. You see, it’s more important to me to get Jane off the hook than it is for you to save Eglanova.”
“You haven’t mentioned seeing that letter to anyone, have you?”
“Not yet. But I plan to tell Gleason about it tomorrow … any stunt I can think of to throw him off the track.”
“It could be misinterpreted.” Mr. Washburn was worried.
“It would provide a mild diversion. They might even suspect you.”
Washburn snorted. “As if I would make such trouble for myself! All I have to do is fire a ballerina … it couldn’t be simpler. I don’t have to kill them … though there are times when I have been greatly tempted.”
“Why did you write Armiger?”
“Because right after we opened in New York, Sutton told me that she and Louis were planning to quit the company and go into musical comedy, into night clubs, to make money. I was furious, of course; I did all I could to stop her, promised her more money than Eglanova gets … everything, but she said she’d made up her mind.”
“Then that clears you.”
“Not entirely,” said Mr. Washburn very distinctly, his eyes on mine. “I found out after I wrote to Armiger that Ella had said nothing to Louis about this plan of hers … or rather they had discussed it but neither, according to him, had decided to leave the company. For some reason she wanted to upset me, to get me to promise her more money which I did and which I was bound to give her after Eglanova left. That’s the way the situation was when she died. She hadn’t told me she would stay with us but I knew, after talking to Louis, that she would.…”