Category: Curtain Call – Viola Vane

 

Another letter included in the pack was a letter sent from ex-fiance Hector Roland to Ira Adler at Christmas, a month after Viola’s disappearance. The letter is seemingly from a still distraught man to a friend talking of how much he misses and hopes Viola is ok. 

However, noted at the bottom of this letter is a set of numbers which at first glace appear to be a set of dates but I believe are a code. I put this letter aside for now to come back to. The main concern right now is trying to get an overall picture and maybe being able to pinpoint a murder weapon.

The rehearsal notes were interesting in getting an idea of the state of play on that fateful day. I feel these are going to be more useful with more context and further evidence, but things that jump out at me for now are – Viola (Vi) forgetting her lines a total of 7 times. that the writer believes Hector is excellent but that this could be his last play there, getting too big but seemed to be the one to get people back in line. Also notes that the they took 5 at 4:52 due to Ruth stopping in but were ‘back to it’ at 5:00. Lastly a note to get a peace offering for Olga and flowers for Viola – dog roses suggested by George.

Here I pause to  wonder and have made a note regarding George. Firstly, his wife think Viola is an immoral bad influence and now here, his suggestion of dog roses from Once and Floral. Could there be more to this relationship?

Finally we have the police files, the forensic report and the evidence list. 
I started with the forensics. The remains were moved in the trunk to the university where they underwent a series of tests including x-rays, MRI & CAT scans. 
The mummification and preservation of the victim while in the trunk were due to the ramains experiencing low humidity or extreme temperature soon after time of death, spontaneous mummification happening in a matter of weeks and that due to the manipulation of said remains, and the trauma inflicted on the left side of the head she was placed there after death and before rigor mortis set in, not more than a couple of hours. 

From the age, sex and ethnicity of the body and from the various items found in her pockets and bag, there is little doubt this is Viola Vane, 

She was fully dressed including a wool dress and coat. The only thing to note from the clothing is that after all this time it was in poor condition and that the fabric helped absorb some moisture helping in the above mentioned mummification.
She was also wearing a wristwatch on her left wrist. A new watch (manufactured in 1934) of white gold and marquise-cut emerald inlay, not a cheap accessory. The thing to note here is that the face was shattered and the internal mechanisms knocked out of place, presumably through blunt force, and that the face reads 5:57. Though this may not fully indicate a time of death it certainly does suggest the presence of a struggle just before 6. Though there is the question of how much of a struggle as a collapsible knife was also found without any trace evidence of genetic material on the blade and thus she either didn’t have time or the inclination to fight back in full.

An interesting thing to note before getting into the injuries that killed her is the antemortem injuries also cataloged, this was not the first time she sustained injuries with healed breakages on both her right hand and forearm.

Looking at the account of injuries sustained before death, the idea of a brief struggle is enforced. With perimortem trauma on her left wrist and further extensive perimortem damage on the front left portion of the skull it indicates she try to defend herself but with such a small amount of trauma the beating she took didn’t last long before it became fatel.

The fracture in her skull that appears to be the killing blow, measures 8cm in diameter and is circular in shape indicating a weapon of similar size and shape, this blow lodged shards and splinters of bone into the frontal lobe of the cerebrum. To me this sounds like it must have been a hefty swing to cause so much damage.
A single cabochon-cut ruby was extracted from this impact area, where it was found lodged in the frontal bone. The ruby measured 3cm in length, 3cm wide and 2cm high, not an insignificant size.

Final conclusions given on the report – the assailant dealt 2 powerful blows to the victim using a blunt object. One made contact with the left wrist, which is likely held up in defense, the other with her skull lodging a small gemstone into her cranial bone while also lodging shards of bone into her brain. Death, if not instantaneous likely occurred within minutes of this. 

All in all it sounds like quite a traumatic death for poor Viola Vane.

Last but not least I came to the evidence list. This is a well documented catalog of everything found in the attic that appear to have been added to but otherwise left alone over the years. I left this till last to make sure I had more of a picture of what happened before searching to see if a potential weapon could be found among these items. I feel that description given in the autopsy report gave me enough to go on, a blunt weapon with gemstone(s) inlaid, specifically looking for one that has cabochon-cut rubies or had a ruby measuring 3x3x2cm.

There were a few similar looking items, a box inlaid with emerald-cut gems, a severely dented prop crown with briolette gems, what looked to be a promising metal prop sword that contained a cobochon-cut gem inlay with a missing gem – the inlay was the wrong size though being 3x2x4 cm. 
Finally I found an item that seemed so obvious it was almost hard to believe it was left there, so out in the open. A simple cane with a wooden shaft measuring 3ft. It has a circular metal head 3″ in diameter. There are 2 cabochon gem inserts of the right size (3x3x2cm), most notably, one of these gems is missing, no doubt having been lodged in Viola’s head all these years.

I passed my findings on to Julia, who had the police look at the weapon, further analysis show this is very likely the weapon so at least I know I have started strong. 

Though I am happy to have found the murder weapon so easily I have to wonder how it came to be that none of these items, were touched in 80 years. Had the cane been found earlier might it have led to a deeper search of the attic? If the truck had just been looked in, or had the conditions not been so ideal that Viola mummified so quickly no smell of rot drew attention to her. 
I know that there is small comfort to be had in dealing with a cold case so old that the potential of bringing the murder to justice may be far too late, I hope that I can at least solve this mystery so poor Viola can rest in peace.

 

 

I took a look at the physical evidence sent – a handkerchief, as nicely embroidered as it was at first glance it seemed superfluous so I moved on.

Next I took a look at the two letters. One from Hector to Viola’s mother Olga. The letter dated August 1933, over a year before Viola’s disappearance, apologises for cancelling their meeting where they were meant to go over the wedding preparations. It was also apparent from the letter that the engaged couple had been bought together, with a lot of effort, by Olga and that the date for the wedding was set for the following year. Two things I found odd: that he forgot about a prior engagement and had chosen that over meeting Olga, and that he talked about being a talented performer and playing the part of son-in-law to perfection as well as he and Viola keeping the press’ attention in their next production.

In the first oddity, there is no mention of what the other appointment was but it must have been important enough to blow off his future mother in law. In the second, it was the phraseology he uses that struck me as bizarre. There is no assurances of love for the woman’s daughter just talking about ‘play the part’ and ‘everything I’ve ever wanted in a career’ and that he is sure that Viola feels the same. It feels like this was a marriage of convenience, to further both careers by combining their star power.

I moved on to the second letter. This letter was a little harder to read being hand written. I have provided the transcription in the evidence pack. This letter had lots of coded sections and within the first section the handkerchief became apparent as that helped with the cypher for translating the coded bits. It was pretty straight forward letter from Viola to ‘darling’, the handkerchief was hand embroidered by her to give to this darling as well. The letter spoke their relationship and alluded to how she felt trapped and due to her engagement and the contract with the theatre she was unable to leave the city. She also mentioned about sending Hector off to talk to her mother about reception plans so she and ‘darling’ could meet in her dressing room.

This letter obviously confirms my suspicions in my first blog post that Viola was having an affair. We don’t know if this is George, but it definitely seems to be someone at the theatre if they are able to meet so easily in her dressing room.

This code breaking made me think of a letter from the first pack that Hector sent to Ira. The letter was dated Christmas date the month after Viola went missing and talks about how he hopes she is doing ok. But I had not looked too closely at the numbers scribbled by hand at the bottom of the letter.

Using a basic book cypher they spelt out ‘sending you the money enough to cover your responsibilities’. Presumably, this was also from Hector to Ira. Interesting that he needed to say this in code and made me wonder a little further about the two men.

As there is nothing else to find I moved on to the accounts ledger. Again, more code. These theatre types are an awfully suspicious and secretive bunch! I made my way through both the code and the basic information found within the pages spanning from the beginning of October to the end of November 1934. Over all it seems the theatre was in trouble. In just that 2 month period George spoke to the bank about the theatres mortgage, got a loan, a rather hefty interest loan at 30% ($3000 interest payment meaning the loan must have been in the region of $10,000 and noted that he wanted to look at potential buyers, with Ira listed as someone who might be interested. Looking at the financial aspects it definitely seemed that more money was going out than was coming in.

Also of interest were royalties being paid to Olga. PI fees noted as ‘cover for Olga’, were these for Olga or watching Olga? Lastly ‘everything is going to be ok now that you are coming back’ was noted next to the section at the start of October. I would be interested in who this was referring to but alas there is nothing further noted.

Additionally we have a delivery note of the lockbox that Viola no doubt found herself in and a receipt from the flowers Joe Sampson went to retrieve. Again looking back at the first bundle of evidence this was noted on his rehearsal notes and having read the police report below we know the timeline and reason why they felt the need to get Viola flowers following her mothers entrance.

Finally I moved on to the newspaper article and the police report. The article detailed that Viola would be leaving the play and her understudy, Evelyn Kitteridge would be taking over. I have to note here as well that she and Director Ira Adler were later married and are the grand parents of our client Julia. I hope I don’t end up with bad news for her but this does point to Evelyn having little motive if she was going to be getting the leading role anyway.

I read through the police report twice and decided that instead of trying to pull the threads out from the statements made that putting a time line together would be far more useful.
This can be found here

Olga’s statement shows us that she was the one to put in the missing person’s report, she also didn’t return home to the place she shared with her daughter so it wasn’t until that morning that she realised Viola was missing.

The timeline confirms the time of death from Viola’s broken watch as being 5.57pm. There is also more confirmation around this from Ira’s statement in that he heard a lot of commotion and the lift starting up. It is obvious that this is how Viola, in her trunk ended up in the attic, and also how the lift ended up broken – the repair listed in the account book a few days later attests to this. I also included other notable timeline additions that I feel may become relevant, or at least help to paint a bigger picture further into the case.

Other things that came to light are, as mentioned above, the way that Olga came in and accosted her daughter mid-rehearsal. Joe took her cane away from her as she looked to do damage with it. It is very likely this cane is the one that was used against Viola later in the afternoon, and we even see that it was taken, by Evelyn, to Viola in her dressing room before the murder took place. Putting the weapon at the scene.

Sadly the police interview report lacked any real depth, they did not interview Ruth Erikson and only a few days later they closed the missing person case, deciding that Viola had left on her own accord. There seemed to be very little investigation and no real belief that something might have happened to her.

From working through the time line and the evidence, I concluded that the only person we can eliminate from suspicion right now is Joseph Sampson. He was not in the theatre at the time of death. In fact we have pretty good evidence to say that from just after Olga left around 5.15 until 6.30 he was out getting the flowers. The receipt from Once and Floral even states that her was there at 6pm and that there was a delay in getting the flowers arranged. All in all Joe has a pretty solid alibi.

After having made my conclusion, I handed over to Jay to work through and let me know if he came to similar conclusions on both the murder weapon and on who the most obvious person to eliminate right now were. Unsurprisingly, he thought the same as I, so we crossed off Joe and let Julia know so she could see about getting more evidence for us to sort though.

While waiting I went back over the files and created a murder board and drew up the timeline proper as linked above. I think it will be easier to work through with a better outline for myself and might help aid Jay while we try to work on this from opposite ends of the UK.

 

I had been curious as to when and why the engagement had been called off, the newspaper article from around that time suggested that it must have been mid-February. Looking at the letter it seems that Viola was not in love with Hector, no great shock, but that she also was no longer seeing ‘darling’ and that this rejection, and his subsequent decision to marry someone else, had left her wanting more from life and love. This obviously confirms that the engagement to Hector was in face a career driven decision but also that Viola was looking for something more than just being a start.

Putting this aside we had a look at the purse. I originally expected this to be Viola’s but upon looking inside we sound a ticket in Ruth Eriksons name and a train timetable. On the back of the ticket were some ticked of chores and yet another line of coded wording. As it was only two word this was easy to de-code to ‘call Lawrence’. We kept this to one side and took a look at the telegram as this also had Ruth’s name on as it was from her to her husband on the night of the murder telling him she had arrived safely. It appeared that the Lawrence on the back of the ticket might be the VP of the general store she sent the telegram but we were unsure why it would matter to her.

Analysing the content of the message to George we cross reference this with the train timetable, the station closest to the theatre and the timings that would work with her leaving the theatre and being in Tannesville, PA by 9.51pm in order to sent the telegram. It seemed there were a few options but it wasn’t till we were looking at the newspaper article that we were able to lock in the train she took. The article outlines so train disruptions, one of which fell on the 6th November and would mean that there would be no trains from Penn Station at all let alone going through Tannesville from 5.30pm. As we can place her leaving the theatre around 5pm the only train she could get would be the 5.20. This seemed like as great an alibi as any, but we did spend some time discussing why she left George a gift and what it might be, there were no further pieces of evidence that helped narrow that down so we left that line of inquiry alone for now.

Speaking of George, the poster and the scribbled discussion on it confirmed that he was thinking ahead, even with, or maybe because of the theatres monetary trouble, he had put out a poster with Viola on though it seems no contract had been signed by the young star and, in my mind, speaks of a desperation by George to try and lock her in to a new show quickly. Viola must have felt the walls closing in even more. On the back of the poster was another code grid that has been added to the list, I hope that another piece of this will help us crack it soon.

The last two pieces of evidence are not specifically linked but together we believe they an important piece of Viola’s story and I am going to explain them in the order they make sense, not the order we looked at them in.

The first is a letter from Olga to Ira Adler. In it Olga is talking about Viola, using her real name Viktoria. This in itself speaks of an intimacy that Hector didn’t share with either lady. She talks of her past and what she had to do to Vi to the place she is now and how Viktoria can buy them both nice things, that she takes her mother to parties and they are all things never dreamed of back home (in Romania) but that Vi longs for something else. She goes on to states they both want the best for her daughter and for Ira to speak to Viola so she doesn’t throw away her fame and marriage. This letter is dated December 1933, just 2 months before she broke up with Hector after splitting up with her lover and finding him ready to marry another.

Without unpacking that lets look at the last piece of evidence – the script notes. they appear to be a not very well hidden conversation Viola and Evelyn had along the side of script pages, Presumably a written conversation between the two ladies during a read through or rehearsal. They start out friendly, Viola bought herself a watch recently that cost 3 paychecks (the one she was wearing when she died?). But the Eve asks what Vi thinks of Ira and tells her that they have been seeing each other for a little while and that Ira is ‘over the moon’ for  her. Vi then makes excuses to leave.

These two confirm that Viola’s ‘darling’ was indeed Ira Adler. Along with the letter to Hector I would guess that they had been seeing each other for a while in secret, that Ira said he wasn’t the marrying type, whether this is true or a pretty lie he told her so she wouldn’t have to worry about marrying Hector it’s hard to say. I would also surmise that after Olga interfered with her letter in December Ira called things off and not long after Ira, who seems to like young pretty actresses starting seeing Evelyn. There is no date on the scripts notes, but there is a note for updated rehearsals on Feb 25th. This leads me to believe that this conversation was what led to Viola sending the letter to Hector calling off the engagement on the 22nd February.

I do not believe that this helps eliminate Ira or Evelyn, in fact they are pretty likely candidates at this time. Ruth Erikson on the other hand….. I had originally had her quite near the top of my prime suspects list, but Jay and I agree the alibi is pretty solid and have to go with the evidence – Ruth Erikson has now been eliminated.

 

 

All in all it seemed like a long way for one person to heft a trunk of that size without anyone noticing or commenting on the noise. The exception being that Ira noted the sound of the elevator.

This also led us to wonder where both Ira and George were. Ira stated that he was on a call in the office over the period of time the murder took place. However, George said that he was going over the books. You would assume that meant that they were both occupying the office though neither mentions this fact. It is possible George was going over the books somewhere else, perhaps the bar? 

On top of this there was another box cipher noted which has been added to our list.

The missing person report and a first interview with Ruth Erikson and the night doorman at the apartment Viola and Olga shared as well as a follow up interview with Evelyn, as she was the last known person to speak to Viola.

It confirmed Ruth had gone the their country house and got the 5.20 train as we surmised. Interestingly she noted that her husband was distressed following the incident between Viola and her mother. 

Additionally she was very open about her dislike of Viola and hoped she never came back to the theatre.

Next was Evelyn, and, maybe unsurprisingly she seemed extremely jealous of Viola’s success and claimed she never appreciated her good luck. Her assessment of Viola’s state of mind towards the end is supported by some of the evidence we have come across, she was distracted, forgetting her lines, and the new dance routine was a challenge. With everything we know about her this is to be expected, she was not happy with her life at the time and wanted to leave the stage quiet badly. Evelyn went on to state she was better suited to the part, having bagged leading lady with Viola’s disappearance. 

Lastly the doorman, Albert Mercer. His statement confirmed that Viola never returned that night. It also bought to light the fact that Olga often went out drinking all night and did so on this occasion, not returning til the early hours of the morning.  He also revealed that not only does this happen often but she drinks so much that she blacks out and forgets events that occurred and on one occasion got violent with him and clocked him with her umbrella for no reason and then forgot the incident occurred the next day. 

This piece of information sparked some debate between us, in my head Olga has always been a suspect for the murder and this to me supported the fact. Following earlier evidence Jay did not think this was the case. We looked back at what we had been through before and found that Hector noted that Olga was intoxicated when banging on the door when he left and also Joe Sampson mentioned she was during the altercation with Viola itself. Following this we added the information to the murder board and agreed she could not be eliminated at this point. 

It does make me wonder again what the argument was about. Why did Olga get drunk and then feel the need to confront Viola in the theatre while she was in the middle of rehearsal? Had she found out about her daughters decision to leave?

The next thing to look at was the ‘Here’s what happened’ review for the week of November 4-10 1934. When we first went over this we couldn’t see what significance it could make, that was until we went back over the time line and found the newspaper clipping of Hector on the 6th November at some restaurants opening night. Cross checking the time he said he arrived at his event with the picture and the reviews it was apparent that the event he attended on the 6th was the Cancio’s opening night, and with photographic evidence to the fact it gives him a very solid and reliable alibi.

Going in order we next read over the magazine article from November 1937. There we find the Hector made it to the movies, I for one am glad that he was doing well after the heartbreak and loss he suffered loosing Viola. Sadly it seems he never got out from the shadow the missing star cast.

The article goes on to talk and Ira and Evelyn, we already know they were later married of course, however, this gives us the date of January 1935 just three months later. It also tells us that they had their child not long after even speculating that it perhaps a little too soon after. This is very interesting, I would love to know just how soon. Was Evelyn pregnant in November 1934? Maybe I am speculating a little too much here with no evidence but it is interesting!
The article then goes on the mention George Erikson, in a snippet he recalls that he was doing the books and that he must have been going over the numbers when she ‘walked out their lives’. It also mentioned that he was now living in Boston following his divorce from Ruth. I feel like there might be more to this but again with no evidence it is just my mind going wild. 

Lastly they spoke to Olga, who still seems very angry that her daughter left her alone and considering she was now living in Hell’s Kitchen in the 30’s, probably not that well off. Where did all the money go? If Olga killed her and forgot do we think she suspects this fact?

Going by the sealed envelope we have next it seems that Hector and Olga fell out and the fact the envelope was sealed, never recovered. The letter inside is dated March 2nd 1934, not long after Viola broke the engagement off, a wedding band was also included. In the letter Hector tells Olga the ring may be bad luck but he was returning it back to her in good faith. I really do believe Hector cared for Viola, the letter is very sweet, singing her praises and he goes on to implore Olga to let her live her life, and move on and to ‘stop blaming her for growing up’ telling her the Viola won’t need her for much longer. 

The last evidence are song lyrics, or perhaps poems. Now we both read these and assumed different things. We both agreed these were by Ira but Jay thought the first one Odd Endings (Jan 29th 1934) was about Viola and My First and Last (November 3rd 1934) was about Evelyn. We decided to keep our minds open but I am going to give my perspective here. The first tells of an end of love and that he has found someone new, this tracks with the date. The 2nd he talks about watching her and a troublesome girl pulling him away and that his ‘heart lives in you like a bird in a tree’. To me this is Ira telling Viola, just days before her death, that he still loves her, that he has chosen her.

If this is the case, if he did chose her and told Evelyn, she would have been pretty angry. Angry enough to kill? If we look at the quick marriage not long later and the baby, we could even theorise that maybe she was pregnant at the time and maybe finding this out drove her over the edge? After all is said and done, the one person who really benefited from Viola’s death was Evelyn Kittridge, she got the career, the man, the theatre.

Ok I am running away with myself here, there is no evidence for any of this just my wild theorys and speculation. For one thing, how did she move the body? We have already ascertained the difficulty of this.

The one thing I am sure of is that everything I hear about Viola makes me so sad she never got to actually live her life. Just as she was on the verge of getting the chance to be her own person, even find a lover of her own, someone came along and killed her. I hope that, though many many years too late, we can do her justice and solve this case.

 

A newspaper column from 10 years after Viola’s went missing talks of a memorial held in her memory. A number of things struck us as odd here. Firstly, I hate to say it as she is Julia’s grandmother, but Evelyn is an incredibly false woman. Which I guess made her a good actress but after reading about how jealous she was of Viola and how much she disliked her, her words 10 years later were obviously only because Vi was no longer around. However 2 others things to note here – 1. she says that she feels like she ended up with the life Viola was meant to have, and it does seem that way from the evidence we’ve seen already and 2. she says that she feels Viola ‘looking down on her’. Is this a bit too on the nose, considering Viola’s corpse was above her all those years?

This brings us to another set of notes with coded sections. Reading through this the notes can only belong to George as he talks about owning money to the Betucias. I hadn’t realised till now that George borrowed money off the mafia. It appears that he addressed the note to a lover, it is on Cadence headed paper and I can’t help but think these are to Viola. Was she having an affair with George after all?

The next document was an interesting look into a concierges life and also confirms Ira’s phone call. There are two entries for A.R.Lairde (Ira Adler!) on stating that he called them and was on the phone on November 6th at 4.54-6.15pm and ordered a special drink for his date. It also confirmed he and his date were there at 7pm and she chocked at dinner. So at least we have a alibi for Ira.

The next 2 documents were by far the most interesting ones so far – 2 medical reports from the private practice of Dr Walters, with Viola as the patient. The first one is dated May 11th 1934 and was a prenatal appointment. The location was in Canaan in Connecticut. It appears this the country residence of Viola of Hector. Viola evidently was pushing herself too hard while pregnant and had retired to the country house in order to take it easy in the last few months with the baby due on the 15th August it seems she conceived in December or January. Before she ended her engagement with Hector and her relationship/affair with Ira. From the prenatal report it is worth noting that Hector was fully aware of the pregnancy and as my partner in crime solving, Jay, noted, was called ‘friend’ and not ‘baby daddy’ at any point.

The 2nd medical report was dated August 12th 1934 and details the babies delivery. After 9 hours of labour Viola gave birth to a healthy baby at 9.19am. It also seems that Hector was not there for the birth and stayed at his show to avoid suspicion. Once again Viola had to go through a big life event alone, but for the carer Miss Eastmont who was hired to look after her during the pregnancy in Canaan.

The next document is from Croft-Myer Investigations. Addressed to ‘Sir and Madam’ and dated 19th October 1934. It appears the PI was hired to follow Viola but failed to find anything interesting. The closest he came was following her to New Canaan on October 26th. At the end he notes that he is closing the case due to lack of payment, this was dated the week of 12th November, over a week after Viola had gone missing. 

My assumptions with goes back to an entry in the accounts ledger we went through some time ago that notes the cost of PI fees and question covering Olga

Original entry

Transcription

Does this mean it was Olga and George that hired the PI? It’s obvious the PI didn’t find anything, but just days before she went missing he was able to give whoever hired him the address of where she was going. Could Olga have gone there herself? Is this the family business she attacked Viola over on that fateful day?

Next we have a property agreement. Nothing particularly surprising here as we know that Ira and Evelyn ended up with the Cadence. The only things to stand out here are that they bought it together from the start and that Hector was their guarantor. The sale was finalised on January 4th 1935, 2 months to day from Viola’s murder.

Also slightly unsurprising is the next document, the divorce proceedings of Ruth and George Erickson. We already know that they were later divorced though again the interesting thing here was how soon. It appears Ruth filed for separation on November 20th 1934, with the divorce being finalised the following July. It does however state that George had been unfaithful and the main cause for the divorce was adultery. It does seem it was reoccurring though. An interesting note that adds weight to the idea that Viola was one of these is that the PI, from Croft-Myer, gave testimony:

“On December 4th, 1934, the Plaintiff and council hired private detective Brian Michaelson, of Croft-Myers Investigations, who discovered evidence of the Defendant’s adultery.”

Though not stated as to who, the timing does suggest Vi but is very odd that the PI that we believe George hired would use those details against a former client. Maybe he really didn’t appreciate not being paid! 

And so we find ourselves at the last piece of evidence, a letter from Hector to Ira. the letter is telling Ira that Hector was going out of town, to Connecticut, for a few days in order to take some more time to relax and rejuvenate. The letter is dated August 13th 1934 – the day after the babies birth. There is more code at the bottom, we once again unravelled this and found it to say:

Dr. called. Baby born do you want to visit? Have you told E?

So Ira did know, but presumably Evelyn didn’t?

As we closed the file on this batch of evidence we talked through the revelations from the various documents and letters. Coupled with what we already know we have a working theory:

Ira can be ruled out from actually murdering Evelyn as we now have a pretty water tight alibi. Evelyn however has no such alibi so what is she killed Viola? She may well have known at this point that Ira wanted to go back to Viola (and now we know why), maybe in a fit of rage she killed Viola and then had to get Ira to move the body? Or maybe George? Did Ira tell her about Viola’s baby and this was the reason she chocked while at dinner that night?

 

We started with Olga’s arrest record which showed that over her life she was arrested a number of times, it appears she was arrested a few times just attacking her daughter, though Viola of course never pressed charges. She has a number of intoxication arrests but nothing on the day of her daughters murder. However the newspaper clipping suggest there was a woman arrested in the theatre district so we opened up the arrest file from the Midtown South Precinct and had a look through. To note that one male arrested who refused to give his names was suspected to be Michael Betucia, wanted fugitive and crime boss, and who George Erikson was heavily in debt to. John Titor, self-proclaimed time traveller, was also arrested on this day at 5.41pm.

Further down we found what we were looking for, an intoxicated woman fitting Olga’s description, walking with a limp, who refused to give their name was arrested at 5.40pm and booked in at 6pm. She was arrested for trying to to force entry to a building in the midtown area. We believe this must have been Olga and if this is the case, she didn’t manage to re-gain access to the building and as such unlikely to have killed her daughter.

A taxi receipt, small and with limited information is still able to confirm Evelyn’s movements and we have to rule her out as well. Yes I have been behind the theory that she was the one who did it, she took Viola’s life, but its seems it wasn’t intentional she was just in the right place at the right time.

This brings us to the coded conversation scribbled on the back of theatre notes. After deciphering these we found the conversation was between Ira and Evelyn evidently arguing about Evelyn taking on Ira and Viola’s baby. Which they decided to do in the end.

A very interesting few pages from Hector’s memoirs were next in line, the note at the top appear to be from Hector asking Ira and Evelyn to read the chapter so they can decide if they are happy with him sending it to his editor and publishing the information in the final book. The account was pretty illuminating, giving a full account of Viola’s pregnancy, Hector’s involvement and the impact of Viola’s disappearance. The scribbled reply from Ira confirmed that they were not prepared to let this information be publicly released and seems that this was the reason this period of Viola’s life was never known.

Finally we have a blood stained coded letter. At this point it already seems that we only have one suspect left, but this letter was pretty damning. The letter, addressed to Hector, was most obviously written by Viola just before the murder. She talks about leaving, taking the jewels that she had hidden and taking Julian away and starting a new life with him. She notes that she is going to tell George that night and thinks he will be supportive as he’s always had a soft sport for her. She also tells Hector that the key she has on her, and presumably the one found one her, was for the the liquor cabinet in the Grace Note which has a false bottom… and where she hid her jewels!

Evidently telling George didn’t go down as well as she had expected. He must have flown into a rage, not only had he pinned all his hopes for the Cadence on her financially but he also loved her from afar and from evidence he thought she felt the same. He must have seen the walking stick and struck her with it, one would assume he had not intended to kill her, but the force behind the cane was too much and the strike killed her instantly. Panicking he stuffed her in her own trunk, already packed for her departure, took the trunk to the service lift and stuffed her in the attic where nobody found her until 80 years later. Hopefully the chapter from Hectors memoirs will be released and her Viola’s story can be told so people know how it ended,  she was going to give it all up, take her jewels and baby and begin a life somewhere else. Julian was all she cared about at the end, but thanks to George Erikson he never got to know his mother. Who knows what might have been if Viola had been able to escape the life she hated and raise her baby but  at least Ira and Evelyn were there for Julian and from Julia’s accounts he lived a good life in the theatre, Viola’s legacy still lives on in her granddaughter Julia. 

 

A quick additional note – Julia found the hiding place and the lockbox was still there! If one good thing comes from this, George never even knew about it, otherwise he would have taken the contents for himself and kept the Cadence. Now Julia can use the find, which is hers by right as Viola’s granddaughter, and buy the Cadence herself, bringing it back to the family.