“I was under the impression my wife had only one living relative,” he said. “Her aunt.”
“Your information is wrong. I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss the particulars with anyone except Linda Norburn.”
Light footsteps sounded in the hall behind Gilford. A woman appeared. She peered past Gilford’s shoulder.
“I’m Linda Norburn,” she said. “I heard something about a message for me.”
Gilford looked annoyed. “It’s all right, darling. I’m sure it’s not important.”
“The message concerns a death in the family,” Nick said. “And an inheritance.”
Linda stared at him, horrified. “Not Aunt Eleanor. I talked to her yesterday. She was in excellent health.”
“If I might come inside?” Nick said. “This isn’t the sort of news that should be delivered on the front step.”
“Yes, of course, please come in.”
“We don’t know who this man is,” Gilford said. He was starting to appear uneasy again.
“My name is Nick Sundridge,” Nick said. “Mrs. Norburn, your aunt, Eleanor Barrows, is fine. But she sent me to tell you some very important news.”
“Let him in, Gilford,” Linda said.
Nick was relieved to hear the firm edge of authority in her voice. Linda was not a weak-willed individual. Norburn evidently realized he would not win the small skirmish. Reluctantly he stepped out of the way.
“The living room,” Linda said. “Follow me, please.”
Nick moved into the hallway. Rex accompanied him.
“The dog stays outside,” Gilford ordered. “He looks vicious.”
Nick motioned Rex outside. Rex obeyed. Nick dropped the leash on the front step. Rex sat down.
“Stay,” Nick said.
Rex whined but he sank down on the step.
Gilford shut the door. Rex’s low growl could be heard through the wooden panels.
Nick walked into the living room behind Linda. She stopped and turned to face him, her hands knotted tightly together, eyes huge with fear.
“Please tell me who died,” she said.
“The good news is that the death has not yet occurred,” Nick said.
“What?” Linda stared at him.
“But if I can’t make you believe me, you’re going to be the victim of a tragic accident at sea,” Nick added.
“What the hell is going on here?” Gilford demanded. “Linda, he’s crazy. We’ve let a madman into our house.”
Nick opened the envelope and dropped the contents on the coffee table.
“Did your husband tell you that he has been married and widowed twice?” he asked.
Linda shook her head, dumbfounded. “I have no idea what you are talking about. You must have the wrong address.”
“Damn right, he’s got the wrong address,” Gilford roared. “He’s a con artist or a thief who talked his way in here to rob us. Sundridge, you had better get out of here before I call the cops.”
“Go ahead and call them,” Nick said. “I’m sure they’ll be interested in these photos.” He picked up the pictures and held them in front of Linda’s face. “Meet Norburn’s first two wives. Both drowned within a few months after they were married, just as you’re going to drown somewhere en route to Hawaii. Did you know that your husband took out a life insurance policy on you recently?”
“You’re lying,” Gilford snarled. “You can’t possibly know that. Furthermore, that isn’t me in those pictures.”
He lunged forward in an effort to grab the photos. Nick snapped them out of the way and then gave them to Linda.
Bewildered, she stared at the pictures. “Gilford, is this you in these pictures?”
“Of course not,” Gilford said.
“Look at the eyes and then look at the ring on his little finger,” Nick said. “It’s the same one he’s wearing now.”
Linda inhaled, a sharp, shocked breath. She looked up from the photos. “It is you, Gilford. What is going on here? I don’t understand.”
“I told you, the man in those photos isn’t me,” Gilford said.
“I’ve got the telephone number of the insurance agent who sold your husband the policy on your life,” Nick said to Linda. “The office opens at nine so you’ll be able to verify what I’m telling you. Your husband bought the policy a month after you were married. Payable on your death. Accidental death, I might add. Which is why you’re scheduled to go overboard. Murder isn’t covered.”
“All lies,” Gilford snarled.
True. The part about having tracked down the insurance agent was a lie. The best you could say about it was that it was a bluff. Just one of the tactics that gave private investigators a less-than-respectable reputation. There hadn’t been time to start making phone calls to every insurance company in the Los Angeles area. But there was bound to be one because it was part of the pattern.
Linda turned to Nick. “My aunt asked you to investigate Gilford, didn’t she?”
“Darling, your aunt disapproves of me,” Gilford said. “You know that. This is some kind of setup. She’s trying to make you distrust me.”
Outside a car screeched to a stop in the street. Linda rushed to the window and pulled the shade aside.
“It’s Aunt Eleanor,” she said.
“The police will be able to verify the identity of the man in those photographs,” Nick said. “They might not be able to prove that Norburn murdered his first two wives but they can certainly confirm his first two marriages.”
“That proves nothing,” Gilford raged.
“Among other things it proves fraud.” Nick paused. “Unless you disclosed those first two marriages to Linda?”
“No,” Linda said. She turned away from the window to stare at Gilford. The photos in her hands shook a little. “He never told me that he had been married.”
Gilford made fists of his hands. His eyes were very hard and very cold. “My past has nothing to do with us, Linda. Sundridge can’t prove anything.”
“I don’t need to prove anything,” Nick said. “The police will handle that end of things. In a couple of days the story will be front-page news on every paper in the country. The press loves a good society murder story. A court of law might not be able to get a conviction but that won’t be necessary. You’ll be tried and convicted in the press.”