We crossed the street and got into my car, Ruth in the middle.
"It's just a guess. You know that Rose Fulton has never been satisfied
with her husband's disappearance. Prine investigated and he's
satisfied. George was out of town when Eloise ran off with Fulton. A
neighbor saw Eloise carry a bag out to the car. Now suppose that Eloise
wasn't running away permanently. Imagine that she was just going to
stay the night with Fulton. She didn't want to stay at the house in
case George should come home. And there were the neighbors to consider.
She wouldn't want to go to a motel or hotel in the area. She was too
well known. So she planned to go up to the lake with Fulton. She took
just the things she'd need for overnight. Was it the time of year when
there wouldn't be people up at the lake?"
"It was this time of year," Ruth said.
"Now suppose George came home and found she wasn't home. He started
hunting for her. And went to the lake. Or imagine that for some reason,
driving back from his trip out of town, he stopped at the lake and
found them there together. What would he have done?"
"I see where this is heading," Ruth said. "It gives me a strange
feeling. George loved Eloise and trusted her. I guess he was the only
one who couldn't see what she was. If George walked in on the two of
them, I think he would have gone temporarily insane. I think he would
have killed them. He used to be a powerful man, Tal."
"So he killed them up there at the lake. He got rid of the bodies. He
could have wired weights to the bodies and sunk them in the lake, but
I'm more inclined to think he buried them. Maybe he buried them on his
own land there. He was lucky in that she had been seen at the Inn with
Fulton and she was seen leaving with Fulton. He had no way to know it
would work out so well. He killed them in anger, and buried the bodies
in panic. For a long time he was safe. He tried to go on as though
nothing had happened. He played the part of the abandoned husband. And
then somebody found the bodies. They didn't report it to the police.
They went to George."
Peary said eagerly, "And put the bite on him. They demanded money and
kept demanding money. He had to start selling things. When nearly
everything was gone, he killed himself. He couldn't face exposure and
trial and conviction. So we have to look for somebody who has gotten
rich all of a sudden."
"Or somebody smart enough to just put it away and not attract attention
by spending it," I said.
"He seemed so strange sometimes," Ruth said softly. "He said queer
things I didn't understand. He was like--one of those bad movies where
people laugh at the wrong places."
"It would be quite a thing to have on your mind," Peary said. "The more
I think about it, the more logical it seems, Mr. Howard. I think you've
hit it right on the head. The next step is to prove it. And that means
looking for the bodies. I--I'd like to hear what Mrs. Fulton has to
say, though. She's been annoying Prine by sending people here. I'd like
to know why she's so convinced that she's willing to spend money."
"We could phone her," I said. "If you could get her address."