The D.A. Breaks an Egg

Dorothy said, “Every time that thought comes to me I can feel my flesh crawl. Horace’s mother!”

Selby picked up the telephone. “Get me the sheriff’s office, please.” Then, after a moment, he said, “Rex, I’m coming down to your office. Wait for me there, please, and see that no one knows just what we’re talking about.”

“I’ll be in my private office,” Brandon said.

Selby hung up, put the things back into the purse, picked up a brief case, dropped the purse in the brief case, and said to Dorothy Clifton, “You wait here, if you will, please, Miss Clifton.”

He left the office, walked down the corridor to the sheriff’s office, found Brandon in the private office, and said, “Well, Rex, it’s a mess. Some member of the Lennox family is mixed up in this thing. We have a darn nice girl in the office who is throwing away her chance at happiness, and no matter how we play things we’re going to be in a mess. However, first, let’s go through this purse together.”

“How did you get it, Doug? Did Dorothy have it?”

Selby nodded, then briefly told the sheriff the story Dorothy had told him.

“There’s a letter in here,” Selby finished. “I didn’t want to read it while I was with her in there because I didn’t want her to know what’s in it. You’ll get a jolt when you look at the return address on the envelope, Rex. It’s that letter from Mrs. A. B. Carr!”

Brandon whistled.

They bent over to read the letter, written on perfumed stationery in a large hand: