Murder in the Library (19 page)

“Say, Cy, you got your
Taser ready for this next guy?”

“Oh, I’d love to use it,
Lou. After I disable him, you shoot him with some pepper spray, and then throw
some poison ivy on him for good measure.”

We had no idea if
Michael Belding was our murderer or not, but we knew that he’d showed no remorse
when he learned the Colonel had been murdered.

I pulled up in front of
the house, and the two of us got out of the car. We walked up to the door and
knocked. A woman answered. I felt sorry for her already.

“Is Mr. Belding here
please?”

“Whom shall I say is
calling?”

“Tell him it’s Lt.
Dekker with the Hilldale Police Department, about that matter we discussed the
other day.”

“You’ve already talked
to him? Michael didn’t say anything to me about it.”

“I guess it slipped his
mind. With some people I make an impression. Others I don’t. I guess he’s one
of the others. Just tell him that I’d like a minute of his time.”

“Just a minute, we were
just sitting down to eat.”

I wondered who ate that
early, then realized it was getting close to 6:00. I was glad that we caught him just before he ate. If I could do anything to make his meal a little more
unpalatable, I’d be happy to oblige. A few seconds later, my new best friend
came to the door.

“What do you want? I
told you to quit bothering me. You want me to sue?”

“No, I want you to come
to breakfast. Tomorrow morning we wish for you to be a guest of the city for
our annual suspects day breakfast.”

“Is this some kind of
joke I’m supposed to understand?”

“Well, we do plan to
feed you breakfast, and we’d like for you to stand up with some other people to
see if anyone recognizes you. Never know where you might run into friends.”

“Not interested.”

Belding started to shut
the door, but I stopped him.

“Mr. Belding, attendance
isn’t optional. You’re one of our most prized guests. Not only are we inviting
you to our breakfast and costume party, but we’ll be providing a ride for you.
Just think, your own chauffeur.”

“Still not interested.
You’re not making any sense.”

“Let me make it simple.
We have three witnesses who saw a man enter or leave the victim’s residence on
the day of the murder. You will be one of many who will participate in a lineup
so that our witnesses can tell us if you are or aren’t the man we’re looking
for.”

“I already told you, I
was home in bed that day.”

“So, you say. If, at
some point, we find any witnesses who say you were home in bed that day, we
will allow them to identify you in a lineup, but since we have not yet been
able to find any, and we want your participation in our current event, we’ll
see you in the morning.”

“Listen, lay off me and
find somebody else.”

Again, Belding tried to
shut the door.

“Mr. Belding, I don’t
think I’m getting across to you how much your attendance means to us. Let me
put it another way, tomorrow morning we’ll have an officer here at 8:00 to
drive you to headquarters where we’ll feed you, then require your assistance in
our lineup. If you would rather go tonight, that is fine, too. We have a nice
small, one room suite that you can share with some of our fair city’s other misguided
inhabitants.

“Now I’m sorry we cannot
afford something better for you, but you must understand that is all that we
can provide on such short notice. Humble us this one time, Mr. Belding. If for
some reason you choose not to open your front door at 8:00 in the morning, the officer standing over there has been trained in opening even hard to open
doors. Just in case you’re one of those people who have a habit of walking or
driving in your sleep, we are leaving three officers outside your home tonight to
wake you should that happen. See how much we care, Mr. Belding?”

“You’ll see how much I
care, when I get through slapping you with a lawsuit, cop.”

+++

“Mr. Terloff.”

“Lt. Dekker, isn’t it?”

“Oh, it’s so good of you
to remember my name.”

“I do my best. Of course
it helps when you’re one of the few people I’ve met since I’ve been here.”

“That’s one of the
reasons why I came back today. I want to give you more opportunities to meet
people. Tomorrow, we’re having a breakfast in your honor, and we’re going to
give you a chance to stand up and see if anyone recognizes you.”

“Huh?”

We have three witnesses
who saw someone enter or leave the victim’s house on the day he was murdered.
We want them to see everyone who might have had even the slightest reason for murdering
Professor Hardesty, so we can eliminate those who had nothing to do with his
murder.”

“Sounds cool. I’ll be
there.”

“We’re even going to
provide a ride for you. Eight o’clock tomorrow morning that officer over there
will knock on your door and expect you to be ready to go downtown with him.

“Remember, we’re
providing breakfast. Also, protection. We’ll have some officers guard your
house overnight.”

“Cool. That’ll give me
something to tell the grandkids, provided I ever have any.”

+++

Lou and I merely shook
our heads as we pulled away. What kind of night were we having?

“What do you think about
all of this, Lou?”

“I don’t know what to
think, Cy. We’ve got a suspect who’s excited about taking part in tomorrow’s
festivities, and two witnesses who are reluctant. Shouldn’t it be the other way
around?”

“Yeah, and who are we
supposed to believe is our murderer, the guy who’s going in kicking and
dragging, or the one who might step outside in the morning and ask the officers
if they’d like to leave early, so he can be the first one there.”

“I know I don’t know
what to make of it, Cy.”

+++

We had three more houses
to visit before we dropped by Antonio’s to pick up the food. We expected Earl
Hoskins to be our biggest problem, and we were right. Well, right except for
Belding.

“Lieutenant, I don’t
understand why you’re bothering Myra and me. We liked the old guy. We didn’t
have anything to do with his murder. You should know that.”

“Mr. Hoskins, we are
hoping that the lineup tomorrow will help us solve Col. Hardesty’s murder and
bring the murderer to justice, but even if it only helps us eliminate some
people from suspicion, that will be a big help and will allow us to zero in on
fewer suspects. We’re having everyone downtown, even Mrs. Hardesty.”

“I know she didn’t do
it. And why do you have to have us go downtown on our day off? I had things to
do tomorrow.”

“So did I, Mr. Hoskins,
but because someone murdered Col. Hardesty, I have to work. I’m sure the
inconvenience will not be that great, if we can bring the murderer to justice.”

“Do you really think
you’ll get the murderer tomorrow, Lieutenant?” Mrs. Hoskins asked.

“I don’t know. I just
know we have three witnesses who saw someone. Whether or not any of those
witnesses will make a positive identification, I don’t know. We can only hope.”

+++

We left the Hoskins
house with only two more houses on our schedule. So far things were going well.
Everyone had been at home. A few minutes later, we had one hundred percent
attendance. Joe Guilfoyle said he was willing to do anything to bring his
friend’s murderer to justice, and Robert Collins, the plumber, couldn’t
understand why we wanted him, but was willing to comply.

I was tired after
visiting eleven suspects and three witnesses, and speaking with all the
officers after each visit to let them know how great I felt the danger was that
someone inside might flee. I didn’t want to lose anyone, even those who seemed
unconcerned, so each time I made out like there was some chance the suspect or
witness might try to leave, because there was. We knew only how each person
reacted to us, not what was in his or her mind. If we knew that, we wouldn’t be
doing what we had planned. We’d have already read our murderer’s mind and
arrested him or her.

Tired, hungry, ready to
collapse, that pretty much described Lou and me. But our work wasn’t over. We
arrived at Antonio’s to pick up the food. I’d never seen so many sandwiches
before; Strombolis, hoagies, ham and cheese, turkey and bacon. It was almost
enough to cause Lou and me to flee. Well, not really, but if some of the
officers declined our offer of food, I wouldn’t press them.

I was curious to see how
our college student was behaving, so Lou and I started our run near campus.
Someone had opened the door twice, sighed, and reluctantly closed the apartment
door. Someone had even looked out the back window. I hated to nix Blakeman’s
date, but sometimes love has to take a back seat to justice.

All was proceeding well
until we arrived at Belding’s house. Lou pointed and I looked at a scuffle
taking place on the front lawn. Neighbors stood in their doors, looking on in
awe. As I pulled Lightning up to the curb of the house next door three officers
pulled Belding to his feet.

“Well, Mr. Belding, how
nice of you to take us up on our offer of accommodations for the evening.”

Belding mumbled
something I couldn’t understand.

Mrs. Belding stood in
the door, downcast.

Two officers escorted
Belding over to a squad car and into the back seat. He yelped as they bent his
head to allow him to get in. After Belding was firmly ensconced in the car, a
couple of the officers came over to fill us in. Despite his wife’s
protestations, Belding came stomping out of the house ordering the officers to
leave. They stood there and took his spew of expletives, but when he took a
swing at one of them, they drew the line. He was so irrational that it took two
of them to hold him down so the third one could put the cuffs on him. I
would’ve loved to have forgotten about Belding for a couple of weeks, but we
needed him for the lineup, just in case he had been coherent enough to have
committed the murder. I’d begun to doubt his guilt, but sometimes the most
likely and most irrational acting one committed the murder.

I encouraged the
officers to eat before they left, giving Belding an opportunity to calm down,
and to allow as many of his neighbors as possible to see how what his temper
had brought upon him.

+++

We saved the Hardesty
and Downey houses for last, knowing that two of the men who volunteered for
duty were our good friends Lt. George Michaelson, and Frank Harris, the medical
examiner.

“Well, Frank, so you
finally are willing to admit that you have little work to do.”

“No, Cy, I just know
that wherever you are a body is soon to wind up there, so I wanted to save you
a phone call.”

“Well, Frank, I’m sorry
to disappoint you. The only dead meat I’ve got for you at present is in the
form of Strombolis, hoagies, ham and cheese, and turkey with bacon.”

“Are you serious? You
actually showed up with food. And to think that George had offered me
ten-to-one odds that you wouldn’t. I could’ve made a bundle. What happened,
guys? Go on a diet?”

Evidently Frank hadn’t
noticed Lou’s diminishing waistline. I wasn’t about to point it out. The way
things were going Frank had already suggested getting a Wii to everyone he met
who wasn’t on a slab.

“How dare you use the
“d” word in our presence? I’ll have you know that I always take care of my
friends.”

“And what would you have
done if you looked in the back seat and realized that there weren’t enough
sandwiches for everyone?”

“I told you that I
always take care of my friends. I would’ve gone home and called and ordered you
a couple of pizzas as soon as I’d finished eating.”

Frank laughed.

“I’m sure you would’ve,
Cy.”

Just as Frank finished
his comment, George waved and walked up.

“Everything’s secure
here, Cy. So, what brings you here? Don’t tell me you’re making good on your
promise of dinner. Late,” he said, looking at his watch, “but at least you’re
here. What happened, they give you some fancy food that you don’t know what it
is? You know that Frank offered me five-to-one that you wouldn’t bring us any
food, don’t you? I should’ve taken him up on it.”

“The way Frank tells it,
it was ten-to-one, and you offered it to him.”

“Yeah, but that was
after he offered me five-to-one.”

“Well at least both of
you were able to hold on to your money. Now, do you want something to eat, or
not?”

“Yeah, but we’ve got
some young guys with us, not as tough as Frank and I. We’ll let them go first.
You did bring enough for everyone, didn’t you?”

“It depends on how much
everyone eats. We’ve got only twelve sandwiches left.”

“See, Frank, we were
right. They only brought enough for themselves.”

I looked at my watch. It
was a little after 8:00. I was hungry and tired, but we didn’t get a lot of
opportunities to spend time with our friends, so we plopped down on the hood of
George’s car and ate with them. We could see two sides of both houses from
where we were. The younger guys took their food to the back of the houses and
watched what we couldn’t see.

+++

It was after 9:00 when Lightning coasted to a stop in front of Lou’s place. Everywhere we went the
officers told us they were okay, and encouraged us to go home, get some sleep,
that the next day would be a busy one for us. All three of the officers
assigned to Belding’s house agreed to split up after they delivered him to
jail, and each one went to reinforce another team of officers.

“Well, Lou, this is
almost it. At least I hope it is. With what we have and the possibilities we
have for tomorrow, I think we can bring the perp to justice.”

“I sure hope so, Cy. I’m
ready to get this one behind us. So, do you have any more of an idea than you
did?”

“Not really, Lou. I mean
I’ve a couple of ideas, but, as you know, sometimes it turns out to be someone
you don’t suspect. I know I’m going to be very disappointed if tomorrow comes
and we don’t have someone behind bars.”

“Well, then quit being
disappointed, Cy. We already have someone behind bars. Remember Belding?”

“Yeah, and I hope that
some of those drunks in with him throw up all over him, maybe even knock him
around a few times. I hope he starts something with one of the violent types.”

“Cy, correct me if I’m
wrong, but you seem to be taking a liking to Belding just like you have your
next-door neighbor.”

“I think you’re right,
Lou. Maybe we can send them away together. Don’t know where we can find a leaky
raft, do you?”

“We won’t need a leaky
raft. Both of them would try to throw the other one overboard before they were
out of sight of land.”

“You really think Heloise
would throw a man overboard?”

“You’ve got me there,
Cy.”

“Okay, we’ll see what we
can do about a leaky raft.”

The two of us shared a
laugh.

“Or, I could identify my
neighbor and you can name Belding as her accomplice.”

Lou got out, walked up
to his apartment door and waved. I nodded and patted Lightning on the backside
to let him know it was time to go home.

All the way home I
thought of all of our possibilities. Did our witnesses actually see someone
enter the Colonel’s home, or did one of our witnesses commit murder? Did
everyone in the house love the Colonel as much as he or she pretended?
Actually, I didn’t think that Tom Brockman loved the old man, and I didn’t know
if the Colonel's grandson-in-law did or not, but they acted like they were on
good terms with him. Was it possible that our murderer was closer to home than
we suspected? Was there really a stolen key? Or was an outside suspect created
to take our suspicions away from those who lived there? And was his good friend
Joe really his good friend Joe? Was he unable to raise the Colonel that day as
he said, or did he get caught just after leaving, and have to make up an excuse
that the Colonel didn’t answer the door? I remembered that his wife thought he
left the house early.

So where does that leave
us? What about Earl and Myra Hoskins, the handyman and the maid?  I thought she
was okay, and her alibi checked out, but what about his? He could’ve sneaked
over and murdered the Colonel, but did he? And what reason would he have had?

That brought me to
Michael Belding. On the surface he seemed too crazy to be our murderer, but was
his craziness an act? Did he force us to arrest him tonight, hoping that he’d
be in jail tomorrow and wouldn’t have to take part in the lineup? Supposedly,
he was sane enough to teach a high school class. Did that mean he was sane
enough to plan a murder in advance, because I was pretty sure that the
Colonel’s murder was premeditated. Everything pointed to that. The threat.
Everything.

So, where did that leave
us. Well, it left us a plumber we’d never considered, Robert Collins. He seemed
the most unlikely of all our suspects. Did that mean that he is our murderer? I
didn’t think so, but then, over the years I’ve seen murderers who were just as
unlikely.

All who were left were
Daniel Terloff and two guys who were hard to find. What about Terloff? The guy
seemed like he’s having the time of his life. Is this all a ruse? Did he really
change how he felt about the Colonel after spending several years in the
wilderness, or was he trying to make us think that he had changed?

Who else did we have? A
guy who drives around and sprays for bugs who wouldn’t have seemed like a
suspect at all, if he hadn’t disappeared. Or did he? He had been back to the
duplex he rented. How many times I didn’t know, but he did return.

And then there was our
most likely suspect who was the hardest to find, Carl Bauerman, actor
extraordinaire. All we had of these last two were pictures and fingerprints,
but was that enough to find them?

I arrived at my house,
hoping that the next day revealed more than that night had done. I was hopeful.
I was confident.

+++

Nights where I’ve a
particularly satisfying meal are not the only nights I have nightmares. It is
also true on nights when I go to bed extremely tired. That night was one of
those nights.

I went to sleep, found
myself dreaming. There were officers outside my next-door neighbor’s house. She
went outside to make sure none of them got away. One at a time she invited them
in, but got nowhere. She was hoping that either she or one of the cops would
try on the handcuffs. Reluctantly, she went inside, smiling, saying “Cyrus is
the one for me.” A first nightmare led to a second. The second one was worse. I
sat in my car in the pouring down rain. Lightning flashed. No, I don't mean my
car opened its doors. I mean the kind of lightning that goes with thunder. It,
the lightning, and a screen a distance in front of me, revealed that I was in a
drive-in movie theater. I felt steam on my neck, a burning in my flesh. I
turned to my right and screamed. There, braced against my body, I found my
next-door neighbor, the ugly one herself. Her breath had burnt a hole in my
shirt collar. Her drool had caused my skin to blister. I screamed again. It was
worse than I thought. Muffy was eating all the popcorn. I lunged for the door,
but found that someone had removed the knob. I reached out for the keys, to
lower the window, and hoped it was wider than my girth, but the keys were not
there. I heard a jingling, and pushed my neighbor away long enough to see a rat
carrying a tub of popcorn and a ring of keys jump over the seat into the back
seat.

I was about to give up
hope when I awakened. Even awake, I found something against me and something
in   my mouth. Not something as terrifying as my neighbor, but something. I
spat out my keys and they fell to the floor. Once again I reached for a knob,
only this time I found one. I turned it and lunged from my enclosure.
Simultaneously, I heard and felt a thud. It was almost as painful as the sight
of my next-door neighbor. In a matter of days, I regained my senses and found
myself on my bedroom floor. I looked up from whence I had come. I had never
walked in my sleep before, nor did I’ve any idea that my bedroom closet was
larger than my girth. I reached out and up for the top of my   mattress. In
more attempts than I could count, I was able to reach up, grasp my mattress,
and pull myself to my knees. Sometime before dawn, I lifted myself to my bed,
and, once again, drifted off to sleep.  My nightmares were over. Well, at least
I didn’t have any more nightmares that night. I still had an unsolved case, and
I didn’t see a “For Sale” sign in my next-door neighbor’s yard. Someday I would
have to check into what it takes to have a house condemned.