“Sure about the time?”
“Yes, sir,” the maid said. “The soda clerk can tell you that. When Mr. Ranley arrived, it was three-thirty-five. I told him that he was five minutes late, and he blamed the traffic cop for it.”
Frake made notes to get the soda clerk’s evidence, and to check the three-thirty telephone call from the drug store.
“Then what?” he asked.
“Then I went riding with Mr. Ranley, sir. We went out into the country and spent the afternoon. It was a few minutes of seven when I got back.”
“Very well! So you left Mrs. Lennek’s apartment about five minutes of three, spoke to Mr. Podd downstairs about three o’clock, was in that drug store telephoning about three-thirty, met Mr. Ranley there at three-thirty-five, spent the afternoon with him and returned here at seven?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When you left everything seemed to be as usual?”
“Yes, sir. Except that she was in a tantrum, as I have said.”
“I mean her boudoir. Nothing was — er — mussed up, or anything like that?”
“No, sir.”
“What was she doing when you last saw her?”
“She was at her desk, sir, and I believe that she was writing. I scarcely noticed, sir. I put the milk there and hurried away. I was a bit afraid that she would begin on me again to remain at home.”
“Any special reason why you should have done so?”
“No, sir.”
“She didn’t complain of being ill, and wanting you to remain on that account?”
“No, sir.”
“Do you know whether she expected any callers during the afternoon?”
“Not that I know of, sir,” said the girl.
Detective Frake turned toward Peter Podd.
“Mr. Podd,” he said, “you have heard how Miss Dolge has answered me. Were her answers, in so far as they concern you, substantially correct? She held that conversation with you at the rear entrance?”
“She did, sir,” said Peter Podd.
“And it was at three o’clock?”
“Yes, sir. I looked at the clock, and the time was mentioned between us. The young lady said she would have to hurry, or she’d be late for her engagement. She said it was with Benny Ranley, and I told her he was a likable lad.”
“And she went out the alley toward the street?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now are you sure, Podd, that she could not have returned within the next half hour?”
“If she did, sir, she never came in the servants’ entrance,” Podd declared. “I was right there until three-thirty.”
“Very well. She could not have returned and spent many minutes in the building and yet reached that drug store downtown by three-twenty-five, of course,” said Detective Frake. “Miss Dolge, I believe that I am through with you for the time being. Thank you for answering my questions so well. Kindly return to the chair in the corner and wait until I have finished the investigation.”
“Yes, sir,” said Marie Dolge.
She got up and walked across the room to the chair she had occupied before. Her face was drawn and her lips trembled slightly. Detective Sam Frake watched her until she had seated herself. Then he glanced at the others.
“Attorney Garder, I’d like to question you next, if you please,” Detective Frake said.
“Certainly!” replied the attorney. He got up and walked across the room and took the chair beneath the light.
CHAPTER V
GATHERING FACTS
The attorney bore the close scrutiny of Detective Frake very well indeed. But that was no more than could have been expected. Garder was not suspected of having caused Mrs. Lennek’s death. And, moreover, he was a man of full experience, a frequent witness before a court, a man not to be disconcerted by a few questions asked by a police detective.
“Mr. Garder, you have been handling Mrs. Lennek’s legal affairs?” Frake asked.
“Yes. I was Mr. Lennek’s attorney and have been handling his estate.”
“When did you see Mrs. Lennek last?”
“Yesterday. She called at my office.”
“Did she seem despondent at all?”
“On the contrary,” Attorney Garder replied. “She was considering selling some parcels of property and investing the money in another manner. She was to call at the office again in a week or so.”
“That was the last time you saw her alive?”
“Yes,” Garder said.
“Now, you say that you received a telephone message from her this afternoon?”
“I did. I was reading in my library. The telephone rang, and I answered the call myself.”
“What was said, Mr. Garder?”
“She urged me to come to her apartment immediately. She said that it was a matter of life and death. Then she hung up before I could ask her a question. So I came at once.”
“What time was the call?”
“A minute or two after half past three. I glanced at my watch as I was going through my front hall.”
Detective Sam Frake looked up at the ceiling and seemed to be thinking deeply. Presently he looked straight at Attorney Garder once more.
“Mr. Garder, do you know of anything that might have led Mrs. Lennek to kill herself?” he asked.
“I certainly do not. So far as I know she was a contented woman. Of course; I saw little of her except in a business way. What her social life was, I cannot say. She certainly was well supplied with funds.”
“You say that you came immediately to this building?”
“Yes.”
“So you came right up?”
“I did. I started along the hall, and Mr. and Mrs. Crend came around the turn and ran into me. They gave me the news of the tragedy.”
“And then?” Frake questioned.
“I went into Mrs. Lennek’s apartment. She was on her divan in the boudoir, dead. I telephoned the coroner’s office and the police, and waited here until you came.”
“Very good,” Detective Frake said. “Did you touch anything in the boudoir?”
“Nothing but the glass tumbler. It was on the floor. I picked it up, looked at it and sniffed at it, and put it back as it had been before.”
“I understand. Now, Mr. Garder, have you in your charge a will made by Mrs. Lennek?”
“Yes. I urged her to make one soon after her husband’s death, and she did so.”
“Do you care, for the sake of simplifying matters, to tell me the provisions of the will?”
“I can see no reason for not doing so. And I imagine that the beneficiary knows its provisions already.”
“What are they?”
“All property is left to Mrs. Lennek’s sister, Mrs. Howard Crend.”
“So Mrs. Crend is to benefit by the death?”
“To a large extent,” said Garder. “Mrs. Lennek’s estate is worth more than a million dollars, possibly a million and a half if care is used.”
Some of those in the room gasped. Mrs. Crend’s face went white for an instant and then red. Her husband seemed to be stunned.
Detective Sam Frake looked at the ceiling again and then back at the attorney.
“You’re sure it was Mrs. Lennek who called you over the telephone at half past three?” he asked.
“Why, yes! I know her voice, and she said that she was Mrs. Lennek. Otherwise, I’d not have left my library and come over here in such a hurry.”
“What did you think when she said that it was a matter of life and death?”
“I thought that something had come up that worried her, and that she was exaggerating greatly, of course.”
“You know nothing that might throw light on this case?”
“Not a thing,” said Mr. Garder. “I know of no reason why she should take her own life, and no reason why any one should kill her.”