Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-08-19
Copyright S. S. Van Dine
WNU Service
CHAPTER XV-Continued

"The disconnected buzzer wires
gave me the answer this morning."
explained Vance. "Her scheme was
both simple and bold. She knew
that, if she followed Swift upstairs
before the big race, she would have
no difficulty in enticing him into the
vault on some pretext or other
especially in view of the fact that
he had shown marked interest in
her. Her intention was to shoot
him in the vault, just as she did,
and then go into the study and
shoot you. Swift's body would then
have been placed in the study, with
the revolver in his hand. It would
appear like murder and suicide. AS
for the possibility of the shot in
the study being heard downstairs,
I imagine she had tested that out
beforehand under the very condi-
tons obtaining yesterday afternoon.
Personally, am of the opinion that
shot in the study could not be
heard down here during the noise
and excitement Of a race broad
cast, with the study door and win
dows shut. For the rest, her orig
inal plan would have proceeded
just as her revised one did. She
would merely have fired two blanks
out of the bedroom window instead
of one. In the event that you should
have guessed her intent when she
entered the study, and tried to sum-
mon help, she had previously dis
connected the wires of the buzzer
just behind your chair at the desk"
"But, good Lord!" exclaimed
Floyd Garden in an awed tone. "It
was she herself who told Sneed
about the buzzer being out of or
der"
"Precisely. She made it a point
to be the one to discover that fact,
in order to draw suspicion entirely
away from herself" Vance paused.
After moment he went on.
Gas say, her plan had to be
revised somewhat because Doctor
Garden had not returned. She had
chosen the Rivermont Handicap as
the background for her maneuvers,
for she knew Swift was placing a
large bet on the race-and if he
lost, it would give credence to the
theory of suicide. In a way, Doc
tor Gardens absence helped her,
though it required quick thinking on
her part to cover up this unexpected
gap in her well-laid plans. Instead
of placing Swift in the study, as she
originally intended, she placed him
in his chair on the roof. She care
fully wiped up the blood in the vault
so that no trace of it remained on
the floor. A nurse with operating
room experience in removing blood
from sponges, instruments, operat-
ing table and floor, would have
known how. Then she came down
and fired a blank shell out of the
bedroom window just as soon as
the outcome of the race had been
declared official. Substantiatin' sui
eide.
"Of course, one of her chief diff
culties was the disposal of the sec
ond revolver-the one she fired
down here. She was confronted with
the necessity either of getting rid
of the revolver-which was quite
impossible in the circumstances-or
of hiding it safely till she could
remove it from the apartment; for
there was always the danger that
it might be discovered and the
whole technique of the plot be re-
vealed. Since she was the person
apparently least under suspicion,
she probably considered that plac-
ing it temporarily in the pocket of
her own topcoat, would be sufficient
ly safe. 1t was not an ideal hiding
place; but I have little doubt that
she was frustrated in an attempt
to hide it somewhere on the roof or
on the terrace upstairs, until she
could take it away at her con-
venience without being observed.
She had no opportunity to hide the
revolver upstairs after we had first
gone to the roof and discovered
Swift's body. However, I think it
was her intention to do just this
when Miss Weatherby saw her on
the stairs and resentfully called my
attention to the fact"
"But why" asked Professor Gar
den, "didn't she fire the revolver
upstairs in the first place-it would
certainly have made the shot sound
more realistic-and then hide it in
the garden before coming DOWN."
''My dear sir! That would have
been impossible, as you can readily
see. How would she have got back
downstairs? We were ascending the
stairs few seconds after we heard
the shot, and would have met her
coming down. She could, of course,
have come down by the public stairs
and re-entered the apartment at the
front door without being seen; but
in that event she could not have
established her presence down here
at the time the shot was fired
and this was of utmost importance
to her. When we reached the foot
of the stairs, she was standing in
the doorway of Mrs. Gardens bed.
room, and she made it clear that
she had heard the shot. It was. OF