The D. A. Cooks a Goose
by Erle Stanley Gardner
Category: Public prosecutors

It is a hot dry November in Madison City. The desert wind frayed men's nerves. [People in the country can take their economic misfortune better than people in cities because they can work and grow their food.] There was a hit-and-run accident that injured a woman and killed her baby; that car was stolen. D.A. Doug Selby got a phone call from a woman at the bus depot, Alice Grolley. People tried to get her into a car and she is afraid her baby might be hurt. Selby and Sheriff Rex Brandon go to the bus depot, find the baby, but the woman is missing! Police Chief Larkin is called in. They find the woman that was Ezra Grolley's wife. Ezra is in the hospital, and dies before Selby can talk to him. Sheriff Brandon and Selby go to Ezra Grolley's shack in the country with Coroner Harry Perkins. They find a small fortune in hidden money! A.B. Carr meets Selby and tells him he is representing the widow Grolley. At the Inquest for the dead baby A.B. Carr suggests that accident was a murder attempt! Inez Stapleton visits Selby and tells him Carr is representing Alice Grolley and Mrs. Hunter, the accident victim. Inez heard that Ezra Grolley was quite rich. Then Sheriff Brandon comes to tell Selby that Alice Grolley was found murdered. From the wounds and the blood spatter they surmise Alice was attacked by two people. There is a clue from a tire track. Reporter Sylvia Martin tells Selby he should arrest someone to impress the public. Selby goes to San Francisco, searches Alice Grolley's apartment, and finds a packet of letters - evidence of inheritance. A fingerprint expert is brought to gather the baby's prints. Alice's jewel case has no fingerprints! Someone broke into Ezra's shack and dug around. Selby and Brandon now find Ezra's will leaving everything to his sister. Selby takes this will and some standards to a questioned document examiner, who explains his methods, and why the ink is two days old! Selby meets Jackson Teel, who financed Alice Grolley against a share in the estate. Selby learns that will and the letter were the work of a professional forger. Selby asks Sylvia Martin to plant two stories about Ezra Grolley in her newspaper. Selby experiments with the effect of height on blood spatter. Selby and Sylvia Martin hide in a tree to see if their bait attracts their game. But Selby's plan goes awry. Selby gets withheld information from a witness, and calls Sheriff Brandon. Another trap is set. This draws in a person who confesses about the whole plot. But Selby can't pin anything on the lawyer A.B. Carr. The last chapter explains Selby's thinking about the people and their stories. Selby noticed the pattern of blood spatter and what that represented: planting evidence, not an actual bleeding person! There were other inconsistencies that raised suspicions. They learn A.B. Carr got the Losstens to split 50-50 with the baby girl, a compromise solution.