Triple Jeopardy (18 page)

Then if Getz was shot with Goodwins gun how would you account for it'Youre not obliged to account for it, but if you dont mind just repeat what you told me.

Well - Koven hesitated. He cleared his throat for the twentieth time. I told you about the monkey. Goodwin opened a window, and thats enough to kill that kind of a monkey, and Getz was very fond of it. He didnt show how upset he was but Getz was very quiet and didnt show things much. I understand Goodwin likes to kid people. Of course I dont know what happened, but if Goodwin went in there later when Getz was there, and started to open a window, you cant tell.

When Getz once got aroused he was apt to do anything. He couldnt have hurt Goodwin any, but Goodwin might have got out his gun just for a gag, and Getz tried to take it away, and it went off accidentally. That wouldnt be murder,

would it'

No, Cramer said, that would only be a regrettable accident. Thats all for now, Mr. Koven. Take him out, Sol, and bring Hildebrand.

As Koven arose and the dick came forward I reached for the phone on Pat Lowells desk. My hand got there, but so did Cramers, hard on top of mine.

The lines here are busy, he stated. Therell be a phone you can use downtown.

Do you want to hear Hildebrand before you comment'

Im crazy to hear Hildebrand, I assured him. No doubt hell explain that I tossed the gun in the monkeys cage to frame the monkey. Lets just wait for Hildebrand.

It wasnt much of a wait; the Homicide boys are snappy.

Byram Hildebrand, ushered in by Sol, stood and gave me a long straight look before he took the chair Koven had vacated. He still had good presence, with his fine mat of nearly white hair, but his extremities were nervous. When he sat he couldnt find comfortable spots for either his hands or his feet.

This will only take a minute, Cramer told him. I just want to check on Sunday morning. Yesterday. You were here working'

Hildebrand nodded, and the squeak came. I was putting on some touches. I often work Sundays.

You were in there in the workroom'

Yes. Mr. Getz was there, making some suggestions. I was doubtful about one of his suggestions and went upstairs to consult Mr. Koven, but Mrs. Koven was there in the hall -

You mean the big hall one flight up'

Yes. She said Mr. Koven wasnt up yet and Miss Lowell was in his office waiting to see him. Miss Lowell has extremely good judgment, and I went up to consult her. She disapproved of Mr. Getzs suggestion, and we discussed various matters,

and mention was made of the gun Mr. Koven kept in his desk drawer. I pulled the drawer open just to look at it, with no special purpose, merely to look at it,

and closed the drawer again. Shortly afterward I returned downstairs.

Was the gun there in the drawer'

Yes.

Did you take it out'

No. Neither did Miss Lowell. We didnt touch it.

But you recognized it as the same gun'

I cant say that I did, no. I had never examined the gun, never had it in my hand. I can only say that it looked the same as before. It was my opinion that our concern about the gun being kept there was quite childish, but I see now that I was wrong. After what happened today -

Yeah. Cramer cut him off. Concern about a loaded gun is never childish.

Thats all Im after now. Sunday morning, in Miss Lowells presence, you opened the drawer of Kovens desk and saw the gun which you took to be the gun you had seen there before. Is that correct'

Thats correct, Hildebrand squeaked.

Okay, thats all. Cramer nodded at Sol. Take him back to Rowcliff.

I treated myself to a good deep breath. Purley was squinting at me, not gloating, just concentrating. Cramer turned his head to see that the door was closed after the dick and the artist and then turned back to me.

Your turn, he growled.

I shook my head. Lost my voice, I whispered, hissing.

Youre not funny, Goodwin. Youre never as funny as you think you are. This time youre not funny at all. You can have five minutes to go over it and realize how complicated it is. When you phoned Wolfe before you phoned us, you couldnt possibly have arranged all the details. Ive got you. Ill be leaving here before long to join you downtown, and on my way Ill stop in at Wolfes place for a talk. He wont clam up on this one. At the very least Ive got you good on the Sullivan Act. Want five minutes'

No, sir. I was calm but emphatic. I want five days and I would advise you to take a full week. Complicated doesnt begin to describe it. Before I leave for downtown, if youre actually going to crawl out on that one, I wish to remind you of something, and dont forget it. When I voluntarily took Kovens gun from my holster and turned it over - it wasnt found on me, as you put it - I also turned over six nice clean cartridges which I had in my vest pocket, having previously removed them from my gun. I hope none of your heroes gets careless and mixes them up with the cartridges found in my gun, if any, when you retrieved it from the monkey. That would be a mistake. The point is, if I removed the cartridges from my gun in order to insert one or more from Kovens gun, when and why did I do it'Theres a days work for you right there. And if I did do it, then Kovens friendly effort to fix me up for justifiable manslaughter is wasted, much as I appreciate it, because I must have been premeditating something, and you know what. Why fiddle around with the Sullivan Act'Make it the big one, and I cant get bail. Now I button up. I set my jaw.

Cramer eyed me. Even a suspended sentence, he said, you lose your license.

I grinned at him.

You goddam mule, Purley rumbled.

I included him in the grin.

Send him down, Cramer rasped and got up and left.

When a man is caught smack in the middle of a felony, if as I had been, there is a certain amount of red tape to getting him behind bars, and in my case not only red tape but also other activities postponed my attainment of privacy. First I had a long conversation with an assistant district attorney, who was the suave and subtle type and even ate sandwiches with me. When it was over, a little after nine oclock, both of us were only slightly more confused than when we started.

He left me in a room with a specimen in uniform with slick brown hair and a wart on his cheek. I told him how to get rid of the wart, recommending Doc Vollmer.

I was expecting the promised visit by Inspector Cramer any minute. Naturally I was nursing an assorted collection of resentments, but the one on top was at not being there to see and hear the talk between Cramer and Wolfe. Any chat those two had was always worth listening to, and that one must have been outstanding,

with Wolfe learning not only that his client was lying five ways from Sunday,

which was bad enough, but also that I had been tossed in the can and the days mail would have to go unanswered.

When the door finally opened and a visitor entered it wasnt Inspector Cramer.

It was Lieutenant Rowcliff, whose murder I will not have to premeditate when I get around to it because I have already done the premeditating. There are not many murderers so vicious and inhuman that I would enjoy seeing them caught by Rowcliff. He jerked a chair around to sit facing me and said with oily satisfaction, At last weve got you, by God.

That set the tone of the interview.

I would enjoy recording in full that two-hour session with Rowcliff, but it would sound like bragging, and therefore I dont suppose you would enjoy it too.

His biggest handicap is that when he gets irritated to a certain point he cant help stuttering, and Im onto him enough to tell when hes just about there, and then I start stuttering before he does. Even with a close watch and careful timing it takes luck to do it right, and that evening I was lucky. He came closer than ever before to plugging me, but didnt, because he wants to be a captain so bad he can taste it and hes not absolutely sure that Wolfe hasnt got a solid in with the Commissioner or the Mayor or possibly Grover Whalen himself.

Cramer never showed up, and that added another resentment to my healthy pile. I knew he had been to see Wolfe, because when they had finally let me make my phone call, around eight oclock, and I had got Wolfe and started to tell him about it, he had interrupted me in a voice as cold as an Eskimos nose.

I know where you are and how you got there. Mr. Cramer is here. I have phoned Mr. Parker, but its too late to do anything tonight. Have you had anything to eat'

No, sir. Im afraid of poison and Im on a hunger strike.

You should eat something. Mr. Cramer is worse than a jackass, hes demented. I intend to persuade him, if possible, of the desirability of releasing you at once.

He hung up.

When, shortly after eleven, Rowcliff called it off and I was shown to my room,

there had been no sign of Cramer. The room was in no way remarkable, merely what was to be expected in a structure of that type, but it was fairly clean,

strongly scented with disinfectant, and was in a favorable location since the nearest corridor light was six paces away and therefore did not glare through the bars of my door. Also it was a single, which I appreciated. Alone at last,

away from telephones and other interruptions, I undressed and arranged my gray pinstripe on the chair, draped my shirt over the end of the blankets, got in,

stretched, and settled down for a complete survey of the complications. But my brain and nerves had other plans, and in twenty seconds I was asleep.

In the morning there was a certain amount of activity, with the check-off and a trip to the lavatory and breakfast, but after that I had more privacy than I really cared for. My watch had slowed down. I tested the second hand by counting, with no decisive result. By noon I would almost have welcomed a visit from Rowcliff and was beginning to suspect that someone had lost a paper and there was no record of me anywhere and everyone was too busy to stop and think.

Lunch, which I will not describe, broke the monotony some, but then, back in my room, I was alone with my wristwatch. For the tenth time I decided to spread all the pieces out, sort them, and have a look at the picture as it had been drawn to date, and for the tenth time it got so damn jumbled that I couldnt make first base, let alone on around.

At 1:09 my door swung open and the floorwalker, a chunky short guy with only half an ear on the right side, told me to come along. I went willingly, on out of the block to an elevator, and along a ground-floor corridor to an office.

There I was pleased to see the tall lanky figure and long pale face of Henry George Parker, the only lawyer Wolfe would admit to the bar if he had the say.

He came to shake my hand and said hed have me out of there in a minute now.

No rush, I said stiffly. Dont let it interfere with anything important.

He laughed, haw-haw, and took me inside the gate. All the formalities but one which required my presence had already been attended to, and he made good on his minute. On the way up in the taxi he explained why I had been left to rot until past noon. Getting bail on the Sullivan Act charge had been simple, but I had also been tagged with a material witness warrant, and the DA had asked the judge to put it at fifty grand! He had been stubborn about it, and the best Parker could do was talk it down to twenty, and he had had to report back to Wolfe before closing the deal. I was not to leave the jurisdiction. As the taxi crossed Thirty-fourth Street I looked west across the river. I had never cared much for New Jersey, but now the idea of driving through the tunnel and on among the billboards seemed attractive.

I preceded Parker up the stoop at the old brownstone on West Thirty-fifth, used my key but found that the chain bolt was on, which was normal but not invariable when I was out of the house, and had to push the button. Fritz Brenner, chef and house manager, let us in and stood while we disposed of our coats and hats.

Are you all right, Archie'he inquired.

No, I said frankly. Dont you smell me'

As we went down the hall Wolfe appeared, coming from the door to the dining room. He stopped and regarded me. I returned his gaze with my chin up.

Ill go up and rinse off, I said, while youre finishing lunch.

Ive finished, he said grimly. Have you eaten'

Enough to hold me.

Then well get started.

He marched into the office, across the hall from the dining room, went to his oversized chair behind his desk, sat, and got himself adjusted for comfort.

Parker took the red leather chair. As I crossed to my desk I started talking, to get the jump on him.

It will help, I said, not aggressively but pointedly, if we first get it settled about my leaving that room with my gun there in the drawer. I do not -

Shut up! Wolfe snapped.

In that case, I demanded, why didnt you leave me in the coop'Ill go back and -

Sit down!

I sat.

I deny, he said, that you were in the slightest degree imprudent. Even if you were, this has transcended such petty considerations. He picked up a sheet of paper from his desk.

This is a letter which came yesterday from a Mrs. E. R. Baumgarten. She wants me to investigate the activities of a nephew who is employed by the business she owns. I wish to reply. Your notebook.

He was using what I call his conclusive tone, leaving no room for questions, let alone argument. I got my notebook and pen.

Dear Mrs. Baumgarten. He went at it as if he had already composed it in his mind. Thank you very much for your letter of the thirteenth, requesting me to undertake an investigation for you. Paragraph. I am sorry that I cannot be of service to you. I am compelled to decline because I have been informed by an official of the New York Police Department that my license to operate a private detective agency is about to be taken away from me. Sincerely yours.

Parker ejaculated something and got ignored. I stayed deadpan, but among my emotions was renewed regret that I had missed Wolfes and Cramers talk.

Wolfe was saying, Type it at once and send Fritz to mail it. If any requests for appointments come by telephone refuse them, giving the reason and keeping a record.