As John Night Sky explained in the Mongoose Tavern, murders aren't always pat. They don't always come with an easily discovered motive or a most-likely suspect.In this case, one fact alone points to the truth. A tattooed man answered the door and identified himself to you as Arnold Post. Helena Hiss verified this. And yet the body found in the desert, Arnold Post's body, had no distinguishing marks. The only logical conclusion is that Helena Hiss and an unknown, tattooed man murdered the real "untattooed" Arnold Post and spent two days in Santa Fe spending his money and preparing to flee the country.
Sure enough, half an hour after you reach this conclusion, the L.A. police fax you a picture of the real Arnold Post. He also has a crew-cut but is not the man you saw in cottage suite 18.
Within a week, you track the killer down. Clyde Olshan, a Taos drifter. You I.D. him as the man in suite 18 and Anna Elk Moon I.D.'s him as the man who bought her pots.
By rigorously questioning your two suspects, you finally get two confessions and piece together the following:
During her week in Taos, Helena met Clyde Olshan and fell for him. She knew he was a low-life and dangerous, but Helena was used to dealing with dangerous men. On the day they were driving up to Santa Fe, Clyde asked if he could have a ride. Helena thought the best way to work this was to have Clyde appear by the roadside and hitchhike with them. Arnold had a soft spot for hitchhikers.
Here's where the story gets fuzzy. Clyde says Arnold got mad and went out of control, reaching into the glove compartment for his .357. Helena says the two men got into an argument and Clyde found the gun. However it happened, Clyde shot Post and the car went out off the road, scraping itself on a rocky ledge.
Clyde and Helena thought quickly and their plan almost worked. They dumped the body in a lonely arroyo, fixed the scraped-up car as best they could and drove into Santa Fe. Helena gave Clyde a quick haircut and for two days, he masqueraded as Post, using checks and credit cards to get cash advances and buy expensive things they could later sell. As with Anna Elk Moon's pottery, Helena signed the checks with Post's name. During this whole time, Helena kept the bookie business going, fooling everyone, even Glen Treater, into thinking Post was still alive.
And then you came knocking. Spooked by your arrival, they decided to change their plans. They couldn't risk having "Arnold Post" use his airline ticket, not with the police hovering over them. So they faked the kidnapping. The ransom money wasn't all that important. They already had plenty. But sooner or later the real Post would be found.
His death would now blamed on kidnappers. If and when the truth was discovered, Clyde and Helena would be long gone.
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