Nate leaned forward and said with excitement, “And what if Jack Neppier decided that killing her husband would get him both the lovely widow and the business in one fell swoop? They would certainly not be the first lovers who conspired to do away with a husband.”
“If Orrie was blackmailing them, it would be easy for them to conspire to get her to the shop Saturday evening. Mrs. Rashers could have put the note in Seth’s coat—she is certainly sharp enough to have noticed the way Miss Childers was playing up to Seth,” said Annie.
“That would be so wicked,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “Poor Mr. Timmons. You did say that he’d been cleared?”
Nate said, “Yes, although when I talked to Chief Jackson this afternoon, he said that District Attorney Dart was not giving up on the idea that somehow Mr. Timmons was in on the initial murder with you. And that he has suborned my sister and her maid into giving him a false alibi.”
“Whatever would Mr. Timmons’ motive be?” said Mrs. Sullivan.
“That doesn’t seem to worry him,” said Nate. “But I think it would be very difficult to get him even to consider that the victim’s wife or a prominent businessman like Jack Neppier would be involved.”
“I hate to sound heartless,” said Annie. “But is there anyone else with a possible motive that Dart, or at least Jackson, would consider?”
“Besides my husband,” Florence said flatly.
Nate looked over at her and said, “You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t think even Dart would be willing to go up against George K. Fitch, one of the owners of the Morning Call. Evidently there were some last minute changes to the Sunday edition your husband was working on, and Fitch told Chief Jackson that he was up on the print floor, in sight of your husband, all of Saturday night.”
Mrs. Sullivan visibly relaxed, her smile breaking forth. “Thank you, Mr. Dawson. I didn’t dare ask Alan about that...after having already nearly broken his heart by confessing I thought he’d killed Joshua.”
“If we can’t depend on the police taking a prominent businessman or Mrs. Rashers seriously as the murderer, then who does this leave us with?” asked Nate, suddenly feeling very tired and discouraged.
Annie reached out to take his hand and squeeze it. She said, “We mustn’t give up. I do have another possibility for the murderer—of both Joshua Rashers and Orrie Childers.”
“Who?” Nate asked.
Annie looked at Mrs. Sullivan and then back to him and said, “Couldn’t it be Franklin Griggs?”
*****
“Franklin Griggs?” Nate and Florence Sullivan cried in unison.
Annie almost laughed at their identically shocked looks. “Yes, Franklin Griggs. Nate, do you remember me telling you that Laura said Seth was concerned about how the relationship between Orrie Childers and Griggs changed after Rashers’ murder?”
He looked puzzled and said, “Yes, but what of it? With Rashers gone, Griggs would be the one who would probably determine if she got to replace Mrs. Sullivan and get a higher salary.”
Mrs. Sullivan shook her head and said, “Poor misguided girl. There is no way that she would be able to handle my job as compositor, much less as lead typesetter. Franklin Griggs knew that, and whoever stepped in to run the company would discover it quickly enough. Even Joshua, who certainly did appreciate the attention she gave him, wouldn’t have promoted her.”
Annie said, “But Mr. Griggs did seem to be favoring Miss Childers. The days I worked there, she was seldom at her case working, but he never reprimanded her. And Seth told Laura that several times he had to reprint material because she’d done such a bad job in setting her type and had tried to proof her own galleys.”
“All that proves is that Griggs was as susceptible to flattery by a pretty girl as anyone,” replied Nate.
“Yes, but what Seth said worried him the most was the fact Orrie suddenly stopped trying to flatter the foreman. He told Laura that Miss Childs was acting like she didn’t have to worry about his good opinion anymore.”
Nate looked sharply at her and said, “You think this was because she started blackmailing him?”
Annie remembered how good it was to work with a man who appreciated her intelligence, replying, “Yes, that was what I was thinking. He certainly would have the strength to strangle her and the opportunity to frame Seth.”
“But why would he have killed Joshua?” asked Mrs. Sullivan, who was clearly distressed by this idea. “Franklin Griggs loved Joshua. He worked with him for nearly twenty-five years.”
Annie said, “I have been thinking about this off and on since this morning when I saw what good spirits Griggs was in. I thought at the time it was because he’d gotten the news that Mrs. Rashers wasn’t selling the company, but what if it was relief that his blackmailer was dead?”
Nate said, “I still don’t see how that relates to Rashers’ death?”
Annie replied, “Didn’t Mr. Griggs tell you that he knew ahead of time that Mr. Rashers was planning on the trip with his wife back east?”
“Yes, and he directly contradicted Mrs. Rashers’ claim that her husband had agreed to fire Mrs. Sullivan that night. He said that Rashers had told him weeks earlier about the trip and that he was going to promote her to forewoman since he, Griggs, would be so busy managing the company while Rashers was out of town.”
“Oh, dear deluded man,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “Joshua would never have left Franklin in charge. Joshua valued him for his unquestioned loyalty, not his skills as a compositor or a manager.”
Annie nodded. “Just what I thought. And now, according to Mrs. Rashers, her husband’s plan all along was to bring Jack Neppier in as a partner—in part to run the business so he could spend more time with his family—or other pursuits.”
“Now I see,” said Nate. “First, let’s say Griggs is lying and he didn’t learn of the planned trip until that Friday night. Second, when he does hear about the trip, he thinks this is going to be his chance to move up in the company. Third, when he goes to talk to Rashers about this, he learns that not only is he not getting promoted, but some young man is going to be running the business.”
“He would be devastated,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “He was always talking about Joshua making him a junior partner some day. But kill Joshua?”
Annie thought it interesting that she’d thought her husband capable of this act—but not Franklin Griggs. Was it because she believed her husband was a stronger or weaker person than the foreman? But she took Mrs. Sullivan’s reaction seriously, saying, “I think the question is, was he devastated enough to lash out in anger? What kind of temper does Griggs have? And if he killed once, and Orrie Childers was pushing him to the wall with her blackmail, could he do it again?”
“He is generally very genial, although I know that as of late the aches and pains of age—his joints hurt when he’s had to do a fair amount of setting type—have made him more irritable. And I’ve been worried that he’s become too dependent on alcohol to ease his pain—making him more volatile than usual.”
Annie thought that Griggs’ drinking may have accelerated even more after Rashers’ death because of his guilty conscience—and Orrie’s blackmail.
Mrs. Sullivan intruded on this thought, saying, “How could Franklin have paid Orrie three hundred dollars? He doesn’t make any more than I do.”
“If he’s been saving up over a long period of time, he could have accumulated that much money—particularly since he doesn’t have anyone else to support,” said Annie, who knew from her own experience how a small amount invested each week could grow over time.
Nate snapped his fingers and said, “I just remembered. Griggs said something the first day I met him about being able to help Mrs. Rashers out if she were in economic difficulty because he had saved up a little money.”
Annie felt a surge of optimism. She hated to think of the poor man as a murderer, but he certainly had a motive if all their speculations were correct—and Dart would be much more likely to consider him an al
ternative than Mrs. Rashers or Jack Neppier.
“But how can we prove any of this?” Nate asked.
Annie heard chimes coming in through the open window and realized it was already eight. They had been talking for an hour, and Laura would be here soon. She stifled a yawn and said, “Maybe we need to sleep on this. See if any of our ideas still sound viable tomorrow.”
“The proof!” Mrs. Sullivan cried, startling Annie.
“You have proof that Griggs did it?” asked Nate.
“No—well, maybe.” Mrs. Sullivan hesitated. “Remember, Mr. Dawson, how you kept asking me about the galley proof of the invitation?”
“Yes, Chief Jackson seemed to think this was the most damning evidence against you. Said it proved that you had read the invitation and knew that Rashers was going away. And because it was found under his body, he believes that this shows that you were in his office while he was still alive. That you quarreled over the invitation, stabbed him, causing him to let go of the galley proof and fall on it.”
“But don’t you see. As I kept telling you, I didn’t pull that proof. I didn’t even set the type for it. I got in at about 7:15, put on my apron, and then I went and got the single copy that was on the hook to see how much work I had ahead of me. That is when I first saw the wording of the invitation, and I immediately went to his office to ask about it. I remember thinking what a relief it would be for me to have him gone. That I might even get up the nerve to leave the firm while he was away. The main point is that I didn’t have time to set the type or pull the proof. So the murderer must have been the one to do it.”
Nate, frowning, said, “Are you saying that someone did the work you were supposed to do before you got there—just so they could frame you?”
“I don’t even know that Joshua had called me in to do the invitation. It was a pretty easy job. But certainly if this was an elaborate plan on the part of Mrs. Rashers, it would be possible that she would try to implicate me this way.”
“But could she set the type and pull the galley proof?” Nate asked.
“Of course she could,” Annie answered for her. “Mrs. Richmond told me that Catherine Rashers worked in her fathers’ print shop as a girl. That is where she met Joshua. And Laura told me typesetting is like riding a horse—not something you forget how to do even if you haven’t done it in a long time. Jack Neppier would have the skill to do it as well.”
Annie paused and thought for a moment, then she said, “What if Neppier made an appointment with Rashers at seven to finalize the business plans? While he was in the office, Catherine could have snuck into the shop and found the copy on the hook where Rashers would have left it (since she is the one who demanded that he get the proof of the invitation done that night). She could have quickly set the type and use the galley press to pull the copy. The noise from the steam engines on the floor above would mask any sound.”
Nate added, “I also noticed when I visited the Rashers that you couldn’t see out of the office window into the shop. So, after pulling the proof, Mrs. Rashers could have taken it to the office and distracted her husband while Neppier stabbed him. Then, if Orrie, hiding in the supply room, saw them leave the office—she would later blackmail them. Eventually, Neppier strangles her and Catherine Rashers puts the note in Seth’s pocket to frame him.”
They all stared at each other for a moment, imagining the sequence of events. Then Annie said, “You know, this version of what happened works even better for Griggs. We already know that he stayed after the evening shift left at five-thirty. So let’s assume that Mr. Rashers gave him the invitation to set up. After pulling the proof, he goes in and asks about the possibility of taking over while Rashers is out of town...they have an argument...he grabs up his bodkin and stabs Rashers.”
“But if Griggs was to do the invitation, why did Joshua have Mrs. Sullivan come back in?” said Nate. “That is what I would ask if I were the district attorney.”
Annie turned to Florence. “You said you thought that it was odd that Rashers would have you come back to do something so simple as the invitation. What kind of work would you have expected to do?”
“A legal document. He always left those for me. And they often are brought in as special rush orders.”
“That’s it,” Annie said, standing up and pacing in a tight circle at the back of the cell. “When I was going through the correspondence for my audit, there was a letter from a local lawyer who complained because his document had not been printed on that Friday night. He did have the decency to say he understood the death of the firm’s owner could explain why that happened—but his complaint was that when he came the next day to pick up the document—no one could find the copy he had sent in—so he had to have it redone.”
“So, you are saying this is evidence we could offer in the trial that Mrs. Sullivan wasn’t called in to do the invitation—despite the widow’s claim, but that Griggs had been given the invitation to set up. ”
“And that Griggs took the copy that was for her from the hook and threw it away—to help frame Florence, who he knew was due to arrive at seven-thirty,” said Annie.
Nate said, “The police report that Jackson gave me said that Griggs left with Timmons and his apprentice at six-thirty and that he went on to a local saloon after they split—providing him an alibi from six-thirty on. This means if he did kill Rashers, it must have been before he left. In fact, that when Seth and Dunk saw him step out of the office and say good night, Rashers was already lying unconscious on the floor, slowly bleeding to death.”
“Nate, didn’t you say that the doctor who did the autopsy said that since none of the arteries were cut completely––that whoever stabbed him might not get much blood on them?”
“Yes. And he said it could take as much as an hour for Rashers to completely bleed out. So Griggs could just walk out of the office after stabbing Rashers, take off his apron, put on his coat, and on his way out he could go by the hook and take off the legal copy and replace it with the invitation copy. Then leave with Seth and Dunk, thereby establishing his alibi.”
Annie shuddered at the image of Rashers lying unconscious for nearly an hour, maybe regaining consciousness eventually but being too weak to move or call out.
Nate went over to join her, putting his hand on her shoulder, and said, “That would take nerves of steel. And I don’t know how we can prove that is how it happened.”
“I need to see the galley proof.”
Annie looked over in surprise at Mrs. Sullivan, who was still sitting on her bed, and said, “Why? What good would that do?”
Looking more animated than Annie had ever seen her, Mrs. Sullivan stood up and went to Nate, saying, “Please, do you have a copy of the galley proof that was found under Joshua?”
Nate went over to the folder and began going through the materials, saying, “I don’t have the original, of course, but Sergeant Thompson had someone print off another copy for me. Yes, here it is.”
When he handed the strip of paper with the printed invitation to Mrs. Sullivan, she took it over to where there was an oil lamp on a small table at the foot of her bed and bent over to look at it closely under the pool of light.
She then stood up slowly and said, “Oh dear. I am so very afraid you are correct, Mrs. Fuller. I would have never believed it. But Franklin Griggs definitely was the one who set the type for this invitation. A good compositor can recognize the type set by different people, and I have been looking at Franklin’s work for five years.”
Annie walked over to stand beside her and said, “Can you show me how you know it’s Griggs’ work?”
Mrs. Sullivan pointed to the capital V in the line “Bon Voyage Party.” She said, “See the way the little serif on the top of the right hand stroke of the V is broken. That is from Griggs’ case. He only has two capital V’s of that font in his case, and he’s been too lazy or cheap to replace the one that got broken several months ago. And see the way that every time there is a small letter g in the co
py? How it is slightly blurred in the lower section? He never remembers to tamp down the form, and the letter g tends to stick up. He also didn’t do a good job of centering the last line. That happens when he is upset—which I imagine he might have been that night.”
“So you are saying this proves that Griggs is the murderer?” Nate asked.
“Well, the use of the type face from his case could have happened if someone like Mrs. Rashers used his case to set the type. But the other markers—well—I don’t know that a jury would accept it as evidence. But it has convinced me.”
Nate looked at the galley proof and said, “Well it is worth at least running our ideas by Jackson. And talking to Seth and Dunk to see if they remember anything from that night that would confirm that Griggs had been setting the type for the invitation in the hour before they all left the shop. Maybe one of them will remember seeing him exchange the invitation copy for the copy of the legal document that was supposed to be waiting for Mrs. Sullivan. And we need to ask them if it was possible that Orrie could have slipped into the shop or the supply room while they were all working. Although I suppose that she could have come after right they left—found Rashers—and maybe figured out that it must have been Griggs who killed him.”
He then looked at Annie and said, “I know you both are tired, and this can definitely wait until tomorrow. I don’t even know if Jackson is still around. But you did say that Seth was working tonight? Maybe I will stop by and ask him.”
Annie was about to remind him that Laura was probably on her way over to the jail to meet them when she suddenly felt a wave of terror.
Nate, who must have seen something in her face, left Mrs. Sullivan’s side and came over, saying sharply, “Annie, what is it?”
“I just had an awful thought. This morning, Griggs still believed that he was going to be asked by Mrs. Rashers to manage the company. But she told me she was going to tell everyone in the shop about the new partnership at the end of the day, as soon as the papers were signed. He will be furious. What if he tries to do something to Mrs. Rashers or Neppier and tries to pin it on Seth again?”
Deadly Proof: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery Page 31
