"Also I happen to know that he's been crazy about Mrs. Lawrence for a
long time. He's been hangin' around the house a good deal--an' doin'
little things like a man will when he's nuts about a woman. For
instance, Mr. Warren wasn't no investing man: s'far's I know he had all
his money in gover'ment bonds and such like investments. But he sank some
money into them woolen mills that Mr. Lawrence owns. And also he
pretended that he liked that kid sister of Mrs. Lawrence's--Evelyn
Rogers. But there ain't hardly a doubt in my mind, Mr. Carroll--an' I'm
handin' it to you straight--that he was crazy about Mrs. Lawrence. And,
not meanin' no impertinence, sir--I ain't blamin' him a bit.
"Also, I reckon she wasn't exactly indifferent to him. She's been up in
his apartment twice--which is a terrible risky thing, an' somethin' no
woman will do unless she's wild about a feller. Oh! everything was proper
while she was there. I was at home all the time and I know. But she
was--what you call, indiscreet--that is, in comin' up there at all--no
matter how decent she acted when she was there. An' also, sir, she used
to write him notes--most every day."
"You have some of those notes?"
"No, sir. I had one--if you want the truth--but when I saw you was
watchin' me--sure, I know you've had a couple of dicks shadowing me--I
destroyed it."
"Where are the rest of her letters?"
"Mr. Warren used to burn 'em up careful. He wasn't takin' no chances of
someone findin' 'em and he bein' caught in a scandal--which is why I
think he really cared about her serious. His other lady friends he used
to joke about--but never Mrs. Lawrence. An' the one letter of her's that
I had--I'm betting that he looked for three days without stopping before
he gave it up as a bad job.
"That's the way things was when I seen him begin to make arrangements to
get away from town. It wasn't supposed to be none of my business and Mr.
Warren never was a feller I could ask questions of. When he had something
to tell me, he told it--an' I never got nothin' out of him by askin'.
But, bein' his valet, there was certain things I couldn't very well miss
knowin'. I know his apartment is sublet for the new tenants to come in on
the first of the month, he placed his car with a dealer to be sold and
he didn't order a new one an' he drew a whole heap of cash out of the
bank the day before he was killed.
"Also that day he sent me downtown to do some shoppin'. While I was
downtown I seen him go into the railroad ticket office. I didn't pay much
attention to that then and later on he drove by the house for a minute.
I had taken his laprobe out of the car the night before and forgot to put
it back--so I thought I'd better do it. I went downstairs without his
knowing it--and when I put the laprobe in the car I seen he had a
suit-case in there. An' the suit-case wasn't his, sir--the initials on it
was N.L.--which, if you know, sir--Mrs. Lawrence's name is Naomi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account