“Yesterday afternoon Tarneverro and I met on the beach. He told me Shelah Fane had confessed to killing Denny - confessed it in his apartment that morning. He wanted to get a repetition of that confession with a witness to overhear - he planned it for last night in the pavilion. He would talk with her there alone, and I was to be hiding somewhere about. Then he proposed to send for an officer.
“I returned to this house, almost beside myself with hatred for the woman who had wrecked Denny’s life - and mine. I got to thinking - sitting alone in my room. Tarneverro’s plan began to look so very foolish to me. The police? I knew what one of your American juries would do with a woman like Shelah Fane - a beautiful, famous woman. They would never convict her - never. There were better ways than the police. I - I kept on thinking. I’m rather sorry I did.”
Her eyes flashed. “No - I’m not. I’m glad. I planned it all out. Last night - during the party - that was the time. Plenty of people about - plenty of people who might have done it. I planned the alibi of the watch - I remembered it from a play in which Denny once acted. I was in the kitchen from twenty minutes before eight until ten after the hour. Jessop and the cook were there too. At eight-fifteen I located Shelah Fane in the pavilion - she was waiting there - waiting to make a good entrance on her party - as she always did. She was like that.
“I went to her room and got a knife - one she had bought in Tahiti. I wanted something to wrap it in - a handkerchief - a big one. The door of the blue room was open - I saw a man’s clothes. I went in and took the handkerchief from the pocket of the coat - Mr. Bradshaw’s coat, I think.”
“Ah, yes,” remarked Jimmy Bradshaw grimly. “Thanks for the ad.”
“I went to the pavilion,” Anna continued. “She didn’t suspect. I came close to her -” The woman buried her face in her hands. “You won’t make me tell that part. Afterward I broke the watch in the handkerchief, put it back on her wrist. But there was no other evidence of a struggle, so I tore off the orchids and trampled them under foot. I went out and buried the knife deep in the sand - I heard voices on the beach - I was frightened. I ran to the house, and went up to my room by way of the back stairs.”
“And the handkerchief?” Charlie inquired. “You gave that to Mr. Tarneverro when he arrived?”
“Just a moment,” said the fortune-teller. “Anna - when did you and I last talk together alone?”
“On the beach, yesterday afternoon.”
“Have we communicated with each other since that moment?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Have I heard you say before that you killed Shelah Fane?”
“No, you have not.”
The fortune-teller looked at the Chief. “A little matter,” he remarked, “that I am rather keen to bring out.”
“But the handkerchief?” The Chief turned to Anna.
“I dropped it on the lawn. I - I wanted it to be found there.” She glanced at Bradshaw. “It wasn’t mine, you know.”
“Very thoughtful of you,” bowed the boy.
“On the lawn, precisely,” said Tarneverro, “where I picked it up.”
“And put it in my pocket,” remarked Martino. “By the way, I haven’t thanked you for that.”
“Do not trouble,” Chan advised him. “You were not the only one Mr. Tarneverro honored with his attentions.”
The Chief went over to the woman’s side. “Go upstairs,” he said sternly. “And get ready. You’ll have to go downtown with us. You can tell that story again - at the station.” He nodded to Spencer to accompany her.
The woman rose, her manner sullen and defiant, and went from the room, with the policeman at her side.
“Well,” said Ballou, “I guess we can all go now.”
The Chief gave a sign of acquiescence. Wilkie and Rita left first, followed by Martino, Van Horn and Jaynes. The latter stopped to shake Charlie’s hand.
“Thanks,” he remarked in a low voice. “I shall make my boat. And on this boat - and all others in the future - I shall try to keep my head.”
Diana went quietly up to her room. Chan turned to Julie.
“Go back to beach,” he said gently. “Look up at stars, breathe clean fresh air and think of future happiness.”
The girl gazed at him, wide-eyed. “Poor Shelah,” she whispered.
“Shelah Fane’s troubles over now,” Chan reminded her. “Do poor lady great kindness, and forget. Jimmy here will help you.”
Bradshaw nodded. “I certainly will.” He put his arm about the girl. “Come on, Julie. One more look at the coco-palms, and then we’re off for the coast, where trees are trees.” They moved toward the French window. Bradshaw smiled at Chan over his shoulder. “So long, Charlie. I’ve got to go now and tone down my adjectives so they’ll fit California.”
They went out, and Chan turned back into the room to find his Chief staring speculatively at Tarneverro. “Well, Charlie,” he remarked. “What are we going to do with our friend here?”
Chan did not answer, but thoughtfully rubbed his cheek. Tarneverro, seeing the gesture, smiled.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’ve made you a lot of trouble, Inspector. But I was in a horrible position - you can realize that. Should I have handed Anna over to you at once? Perhaps, but as I told you last night, I saw immediately that I was responsible for the whole affair. Innocently so, of course, but none the less responsible. I ought never to have told her - but I wanted a witness. If only I had kept my discovery to myself.”
“The man who looks back sees his mistakes piled up behind,” Chan nodded.
“But I never dreamed Anna would lose her head like that. These women, Inspector.”
“They are primitive creatures, these women.”
“So it would seem. Anna has always been a strange, silent, unfriendly person. But there was one bond between us - we both loved Denny. When she proved last night how desperately she loved him - well, I couldn’t betray her. Instead I fought my duel with you. Fought to the limit of my ability - and lost.” He held out his hand.
Chan took it. “Only the churlish are mean-spirited in victory,” he remarked.
The policeman in uniform looked through the curtains.
“Right with you, Spencer,” said the Chief. “Mr. Tarneverro, you’d better come along. I’ll talk to the Prosecutor about you. But you needn’t be alarmed. We’re not inclined to spend much money over here on chance visitors from the mainland.”
Tarneverro bowed. “You’re very encouraging.”
“You got your car, Charlie?” the Chief asked.
“I have it,” Chan told him.
The Chief and Tarneverro went into the hall, and presently Charlie heard the front door slam.
He stood for a moment looking about him at the bright room where his work was pau at last. Then, sighing ponderously, he stepped through the curtains and picked up his hat from a table in the hallway. Wu Kno-ching appeared suddenly from the dining-room.
Charlie gazed into the beady eyes, the withered yellow face of his compatriot.
“Tell me something, Wu,” he said. “How was it I came upon this road? Why should one of our race concern himself with the hatreds and the misdeeds of the haoles?”
“Wha’s mallah you?” Wu inquired.
“I am weary,” sighed Chan. “I want peace now. A very trying case, good Wu Kno-ching. But” - he nodded, and a smile spread over his fat face - “as you know, my friend, a gem is not polished without rubbing nor a man perfected without trials.”
The door closed gently behind him.
THE END
Table of Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
&n
bsp; Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Charlie Chan [4] The Black Camel Page 25
