Case of the Dubious Bridegroom by Gardner Erle Stanley

Author:Gardner, Erle Stanley [Gardner, Erle Stanley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1949-08-16T12:16:50+00:00

Her smile was a wan motion of tight lips. Of a sudden, she seemed to be cowering by the closet door. “How do you do, Lieutenant? I’m very pleased to meet you.”

Tragg said to Edward Garvin, “You’ve heard about your wife?”

“Yes, I was shocked, surprised. I . . . I hardly know what to do.”

“There’s a good chance she was killed in Los Angeles and transported to Oceanside. That’s why I’m interested in the case. Now if you want to help,” Tragg said, “you can come on back and make arrangements for the funeral and while you’re back we’ll . . . ”

“Arrest him on a bigamy complaint that was issued yesterday by the district attorney’s office,” Mason interpolated.

Tragg turned to Mason, said, “Now, that wasn’t necessary.”

“I merely wanted him to know what the score was,” Mason said.

“Now look,” Tragg said, in the voice one uses to an obstreperous child, “I want to talk with Mr. Garvin. I’m not going to hurt him, and he certainly has nothing to conceal, but there are some things about his wife’s death that I want to uncover. He can help me.”

“That’s fine,” Mason said. “We’ll both help.”

“I can get along without your help.”

“Come, come, Lieutenant. Two heads are better than one.”

“We’re getting into the field of a different proverb now,” Tragg said, smiling. “At this point you can refer to the good old proverb that too many cooks spoil the broth.”

“Didn’t Ethel Garvin commit suicide?” Mason asked.

“She did not commit suicide,” Tragg said. “The bullet in her head produced almost instant death.”

“Well?” Mason asked.

“She was shot while she was in the right-hand seat of the car. Someone drove her for some little distance, then parked the car and pulled and hauled the body over until it was behind the driver’s seat. He then pushed the left arm through the spokes of the wheel, shut off the lights and ignition and drove away in another car.”

“That had been following?” Mason asked.

Tragg shook his head and said, “Frankly, Mason, I don’t think so. It looks as though the murderer had gone to a certain spot and had parked the getaway car. Then he’d gone out and joined his victim, shot her right in the head at close range, then driven the car for some little distance, perhaps quite a few miles, to the point where his own car had been parked and was waiting for a getaway. The murder may well have been committed while she was in Los Angeles. The murderer drove Ethel Garvin’s car up as close to his own car as he dared, then got out, stood on the running board of his own car, pulled the body over behind the steering wheel, fixed everything the way he wanted, then stepped into his own car and drove away.”

“Unless, of course, he had an accomplice waiting,” Mason said, “which would make it a two-man job.”

“Which would make it a two-man job,” Tragg told him, “but for certain reasons, we don’t think that it was.

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