“Try to murder us?” repeated Bonnie, blinking.
Ellery stopped racing. “Yes,” he said briskly. “That’s exactly what we’ll do. We’ll jockey this bird into the position of trying to murder you. If the compulsion is strong enough — and I think we can make it strong enough — he must try to murder you... Bonnie.” Ellery’s eyes were shining. “Would you be willing to run the risk of an open attack on your life if by running that risk we stood a good chance of catching your mother’s murderer red-handed?”
“You mean,” said Bonnie slowly, “that if it were successful I’d be free? Ty and I — we’d both be free?”
“Free as the air.”
“Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I’ll do anything for that!”
“Not so fast,” said Ty. “What’s the plan?”
“To go through with the announced marriage, to utilize it as a trap for the murderer.”
“And use Bonnie as a guinea-pig? Nuts.”
“But I tell you Bonnie’s life is in danger in any event,” said Ellery impatiently. “Even if she’s surrounded by armed guards day and night, do you want her to spend the rest of her life waiting for the ax to fall? I assure you, Ty, it’s either Egbert or Bonnie. Take my word for that. The creature’s gone too far to stop now. His plans make it mandatory for Bonnie to die.”
“It’s a hell of a decision to make,” muttered Ty.
“Ty, will you listen to me? I tell you it’s the safest course in the long run. Don’t you see that by setting a trap we force his hand? We make him attempt Bonnie’s life when we want him to, under conditions we have established — yes, lure him unsuspecting right into a spot where we know what he’ll do and be prepared for him. By taking the bold step we reduce the danger to a minimum. Don’t you see?”
“How do you know,” said Glücke intently, “he’ll attack?”
“He’s got to. He can’t wait too long; I’m positive of that, never mind how. If part of our plan is to announce that immediately after the wedding tomorrow Bonnie and Ty are taking off for an unknown destination, to be gone an indefinite length of time, he must attack; I know he must. He can’t let Bonnie, living, vanish; he’ll have to try to kill her tomorrow or give up his whole plan.”
“Why shouldn’t he give up his whole plan?”
“Because,” said Ellery grimly, “he’s already killed two people in pursuance of his objective. Because we’ll give him another opportunity he can’t pass up. Because he’s desperate, and cold-blooded, and his motive — to him — is overwhelming.”
“Motive? What motive? I thought he was crazy.”
“Yes, what motive?” asked Bonnie tensely. “Nobody could possibly have a reason for killing me.”
“Obviously some one has, as this last message indicates. Let’s not go down byroads now. The big point is: Are you game to try?”
Bonnie laid her head on Ty’s shoulder. Ty twisted his head to look down at her. She smiled back at him faintly.
“All right, Queen,” said Ty. “Let’s go.”
“Good! Then we’ve got to understand this clearly, all four of us. You, too, Glücke. You’ll have an important job.
“We’ll let Sam Vix’s plans for the wedding stand; in fact, we use them. As it’s turned out, that studio mix-up just now was a break for us; it happened naturally, and that’s what we need most — natural events arousing no possible suspicion on the part of... let’s continue to call him Egbert.
“All right. We can depend on Sam to ring the welkin tonight; there will be plenty of ballyhoo between now and tomorrow afternoon. We make it clear that you two are to be married in the plane; we make it even clearer — this is vital — that you two are leaving for an unannounced destination, for an indefinite stay. That no one, not even the studio, will know where you’re going or when you’re coming back. That you’re sick and tired of it all, and want to be alone, to chuck Hollywood and all its sorrows for a while. If possible you must tell that to the press... convincingly.”
“The way I feel,” grinned Ty, “don’t worry about that.”
“Now what does Egbert do? He’s got to murder Bonnie — yes, and after the wedding you, too, Ty — before you slip out of his grasp. How is he going to do it? Not by poisoning food or drink, as in the case of Jack and Blythe; he’ll realize that, with the manner of their deaths so fresh in your minds, you just won’t touch untested gifts of food or drink. So he’ll have to plan a more direct assault; that’s inevitable. The most direct is a gun.”
“But—” began the Inspector, frowning.
“Let me finish. To shoot and get away safely, he can’t attack on the field; even if he succeeded in taking two accurate potshots from the crowd, he’d never live to leave the field. So,” snapped Ellery, “he’ll have only one course to follow. In order to make sure of a successful double murder and a successful getaway, he’ll have to get into that plane with you.”
“Oh... I see,” said Bonnie in a small voice. Then she set her smooth jaw.
“I get it, I get it,” mumbled Glücke.
“Moreover, since we know he’ll try to get into that plane, we also know how. He can get in, reasonably, only as the pilot.”
“The way he did it in the case of Jack and Blythe!” exclaimed the Inspector.
“Since we’re reasonably certain he’ll take the opportunity if he’s given the opportunity, all we have to do is give it to him. So we engage a professional aviator. That’s part of our announcement. We see to it that the pilot isn’t openly under surveillance, we permit Egbert to decoy the pilot into a dark corner, to incapacitate him — I don’t believe he’ll be in serious danger, but we can take steps to keep it down to a minimum — and we permit Egbert to take the pilot’s place in the plane.”
“Why a pilot at all? I run my own ship. Won’t that sound phony?” asked Ty.
“No, because you’re taking a pilot in order to have him drop you off somewhere to make connections with a train or a boat — not even the pilot, we’ll announce, will know where he’s going until after the takeoff. So, of course you’ll need a pilot, ostensibly, to bring the plane back after he dumps you. That’s all right. At any rate, friend Egbert will hop into the plane and take off, secure in the feeling that he’s left no trail and will be able to commit his crime in mid-air.”
“Wait a minute,” said Glücke. “I like your scheme, but it means putting these two youngsters in a plane with a dangerous criminal, alone except for some fool of a minister who’ll probably only make things worse.”
“This minister won’t.”
“Erminius is an old woman.”
“But it won’t be Erminius. It will be some one who just looks like Erminius,” said Ellery calmly.
“Who?”
“Your obedient servant. Erminius has a beautiful set of black whiskers, which makes him a cinch to impersonate. Besides, Egbert won’t be paying much attention to the preacher, I can promise you that. He’ll be too intent on getting that plane off the ground unsuspected. Anyway, Ty and I will both be armed. At the first sign of trouble, we shoot.”
“Shoot,” repeated Bonnie, licking her lips and trying to look brave.
“We’ll subdue him if we can, but we must give him the opportunity to show his hand. And that can be brought out in court.”
“Hell,” protested the Inspector, “you ought to know even catching the guy in an attempted homicide won’t pin the murders of Jack and Blythe on him.”
“I rather think it won’t make any difference. I think that, once caught, our friend will collapse like a straw man and tell all. If the stunt works, sheer surprise at finding himself trapped at a moment when he thought his plans were about to be consummated will put him off guard. At any rate, it’s our only chance to catch him at all.”