The D.A. Breaks an Egg

“During the latter part of July, the twenty-ninth to be exact, I found myself temporarily out of funds in Yuma, Arizona.

“A young chap offered to take me part way to Los Angeles which was my destination. He said he would drive until he got too sleepy to go on. His first name was Frank. He was driving a car with a Missouri license. I’m almost certain he said his last name was Grannis.

“He drove me as far as Madison City. He told me he was too sleepy to try to go on, and said he was going to stay at a motel. He was a perfect gentleman, and offered to get me a single room if I desired to wait and go on with him next morning. However, I couldn’t do that, despite the fact that it was then well past midnight. I had to be in Los Angeles and decided I would hitchhike on through.

“A motorist gave me a ride within five minutes of the time Frank let me out of his car, and I didn’t think any more of it until I read in the paper a Frank Grannis had been arrested in Madison City on a hit-and-run charge. I returned to Madison City to investigate, because if this Frank Grannis is the same man who gave me a ride to Madison City, I know he couldn’t have been involved in any accident. I was with him from the time he left the checking station on the Arizona-California border until he turned in for the night at Madison City.

“This is the reason I came to Madison City. I wanted to investigate the hit-and-run case because I understood Frank Grannis was arrested here, then taken to some other county.

“Imagine my surprise when I awakened this morning to find the county officials not only had me listed as being murdered, but also calmly invaded my bedroom by means of a passkey without so much as a knock on the door.”

Brandon said, “Why, I’m the one who arrested that Frank Grannis, Doug. The highway police found this dead Mexican outside of Holtville. He’d evidently been riding a bicycle and a car had hit him, knocked him over into the ditch, and the driver had kept right on going. A piece of the headlight lens was found just to the side of the highway at the scene of the accident, and another piece a little farther over toward the ditch. The police telephoned all along the highway asking us to search transient garages and auto courts for a car with a broken headlight lens.

“I remember one of the deputies located this Grannis car. The headlight on the right-hand side was broken, there was a big dent in the fender on the right side and the man who owned the car admitted he had driven up from Tucson the day before, driving until late at night.

“I notified the El Centro sheriff and described the pieces of glass which were missing from the bent headlight. They seemed to check. So the El Centro men rushed up here bringing the pieces with them. There’s no question about it. The pieces fitted absolutely. Grannis hit that Mexican.

“The El Centro authorities filed a hit-and-run charge against him and took him back with them.”

“Well,” Selby said, “you can see what’s happened now. And here, of course, is something that shouldn’t come as any great surprise.”

“What’s that, Doug?”

“The attorney who is representing Frank Grannis is Mr. Alfonse Baker Carr.”

“Now why the devil didn’t Daphne Arcola tell you that when you talked with her?”