Well, I'd known that Mr. Fleming had been about to
start suit against Rivers over a crooked deal Rivers had put over on him,
and I knew that if Mr. Fleming's death had been murder, there had been a
substitution of revolvers. So I showed the gun I'd bought from Rivers to
Philip Cabot, who had seen the revolver Mr. Fleming had bought, and he
recognized it. It hasn't been established just how Rivers got the Leech
& Rigdon, and never will be; the only people who knew were Rivers and
Dunmore, and both are in the proverbial class of non-talebearers. I
assume that Dunmore gave it to Rivers as a sort of down payment on
Rivers's silence, and to get rid of it.
"Well, you remember Dunmore's angry incredulity when I told him that
Rivers was offering twenty-five thousand instead of ten thousand. One
would have thought, on the face of it, that he would have been glad;
as Nelda's husband, he would share in the higher price being paid for the
collection. But when you realize that Rivers was buying the collection
out of Dunmore's pocket, his reaction becomes quite understandable. I
daresay I signed Arnold Rivers's death-warrant, right there."
"I'll bet your conscience bothers you about that," Gladys remarked.
"Oh, sure; it's been gnawing hell out of me, ever since," Rand told her
cheerfully.
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