6:30 a.m. —As Is Mirage
Mrs. Endicott stared sharply at Lieutenant Valcour. She was suddenly tensely alert.
“I think,” she said, “that you have gone mad.”
“Do you still maintain the pretence that when you were on the sill of your window and looking toward your husband’s room you saw nobody on the balcony?”
“There is no reason why I should alter the truth.”
“I shall be as patient with you, Mrs. Endicott, as you have just been with me. Listen carefully to me, please, and I will tell you why it is I believe Marge Myles killed your husband, and why I think you have given her sanctuary after the crime by concealing her some place within this house.”
“I’ve no alternative but to listen, Lieutenant. But you are wrong—absurdly wrong.”
“We will start with the initial premise, Mrs. Endicott, that Marge did murder Harry Myles in that canoe episode on the lake. I know that she has been paying blackmail to her stepmother, Madame Velasquez, for a long while, probably since the time of the crime itself. Well, a woman of her type doesn’t pay hush money easily; she makes very certain, first, that the blackmailer really has the goods on her. Which made it simple for your husband.”
“Herbert? Are you suggesting the fantastic idea that Herbert was trying to blackmail her?”