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Chapter 17 The Perfect Crime

Gerard smiled happily at Chief of Police Phil Dowland, and said, ‘Can’t you guess?’

‘About Samuel Bruno’s murder?’ Dowland asked. ‘You think his son, Charles, did it, don’t you?’ He didn’t like Gerard because he was a private detective and he didn’t work by police rules.

‘No.’ Gerard’s smile grew wider. ‘But I think he did another murder. Do you know Guy Haines?’

‘Yes,’ Dowland said. ‘His wife was murdered last June.’

‘Guy Haines and Charles Bruno met on a train to Santa Fe ten days before Miriam Haines died,’ Gerard said.

‘You think Bruno killed her?’ Dowland asked. ‘You’ve got no proof.’

‘Yes, I have,’ Gerard said happily. ‘I’ve spoken to a friend of Bruno’s, Edward Wilson, who saw him going to the railway station in Santa Fe on the day of Miriam’s murder, a taxi-driver in Metcalf who drove Bruno to the amusement park the very night Miriam Haines died, and a man he tried to buy whisky from, near the amusement park - and another taxi driver who saw him, too. And I’ve got bills of phone calls Bruno made to Metcalf.’

‘But why did Bruno murder this woman?’ Dowland said, laughing. ‘Because he met her husband on a train?’

‘No,’ Gerard said. ‘You don’t see, do you? It was a plan, Bruno wanted Guy to kill his father, and he did

‘Guy Haines!’ Dowland shouted. ‘Oh, this is. . .’

‘Yes, Guy Haines,’ Gerard said. ‘He didn’t want to, but he had to after Bruno murdered his wife. Guy was frightened. It was all Bruno’s idea, the perfect crime. There was no reason for Guy and Bruno to murder these two people. They thought the police could never find them.’

‘What happens now?’ Dowland asked.

‘I’m going on holiday,’ Gerard said. ‘I want to check some more details about Guy Haines. I can wait a few weeks.’