The motivation for stealing his car and stuffing Mary into the trunk had been dismally clear—to implicate him in the murder. But why this? The hand-printing conveyed nothing. A graphologist might read meaning into the carefully squared E, the flourishing S, the quiver in the final leg of the R. But as far as Mervyn was concerned, there was no clue to the identity of the sender. Mervyn was swept by a gust of rage; it was followed by a swift retreat to cover. The threatening note changed nothing, except for the worse. If only he knew with whom he was dealing! He could then take counter-measures of some kind. According to Harriet Brill—not the most reliable evidence, but it was at least something to go on—Mary had arranged to meet “John.” There had doubtless been other Johns in Mary’s life, but the four most immediate Johns were John Boce, John Thompson, John Pilgrim and John Viviano. He might go to each of these and ask the direct question: “Where were you last Friday night?”
