Time to Murder and Create

Page 21

  "They come close enough, Matt. Sometimes theyll make a person look guilty when hes not, especially if the operator isnt very good at what hes doing. But if they say youre innocent, its a pretty good bet you are. I think they ought to be admissible in court. "

  I had always felt that way myself. I sat there for a while trying to run it all through my mind until everything fell into place. It took its time. Meanwhile, Guzik went on talking about the interrogation of Beverly Ethridge, pointing up his remarks with observations on what he would like to do with her. I didnt pay him much attention.

  I said, "The car wasnt him. I should have realized that. "

  "Hows that?"

  "The car," I said. "I told you a car took a shot at me one night. The same night I spotted Lundgren for the first time, and the place was the same as where he came at me with the knife, so I had to think it was the same man both times. "

  "You never saw the driver?"

  "No. I figured it was Lundgren because hed been dogging me earlier that night and I thought hed been setting me up. But it couldnt have been that way. It wouldnt be his style. He liked that knife too much. "

  "Then who was it?"

  "Spinner said somebody ran up onto a curb after him. The same bit. "

  "Who?"

  "Plus the voice on the phone. Then there were no calls any more. "

  "I dont follow you, Matt. "

  I looked at him. "Trying to make the pieces fit. Thats all. Somebody killed Spinner. "

  "The question is who. "

  I nodded. "Thats the question," I said.

  "One of the other people he gave you the dope on?"

  "They all check out," I said. "Maybe he had more people after him than he ever told me about. Maybe he added somebody to the string after he gave me the envelope. The hell, maybe somebody rolled him for his cash, hit him too hard, panicked, and threw the body in the river. "

  "It happens. "

  "Sure it happens. "

  "You think well ever find out who did him?"

  I shook my head. "Do you?"

  "No," Guzik said. "No, I dont think we ever will. "

  Chapter 19

  I had never been in the building before. There were two doormen on duty, and the elevator was manned. The doormen made sure that I was expected, and the elevator operator whisked me up eighteen floors and indicated which door was the one I was looking for. He didnt budge until I had rung the bell and been admitted.

  The apartment was as impressive as the rest of the building. There was a stairway leading to a second floor. An olive-skinned maid led me into a large den with oak-paneled walls and a fireplace. About half the books on the shelves were bound in leather. It was a very comfortable room in a very spacious apartment. The apartment had cost almost two hundred thousand dollars, and the monthly maintenance charge came to something like fifteen hundred.

  When youve got enough money, you can buy just about anything you want.

  "He will be with you in a moment," the maid said. "He said for you to help yourself to a drink. "

  She pointed to a serving bar alongside the fireplace. There was ice in a silver bucket, and a couple of dozen bottles. I sat in a red leather chair and waited for him.

  I didnt have to wait very long. He entered the room. He was wearing white flannel slacks and a plaid blazer. He had a pair of leather house slippers on his feet.

  "Well, now," he said. He smiled to show how genuinely glad he was to see me. "Youll have something to drink, I hope. "

  "Not just now. "

  "Its a little early for me too, as a matter of fact. You sounded quite urgent on the phone, Mr. Scudder. I gather youve had second thoughts about working for me. "

  "No. "

  "I received the impression-"

  "That was to get in here. "

  He frowned. "Im not sure I understand. "

  "Im really not sure whether you do or not, Mr. Huysendahl. I think youd better close the door. "

  "I dont care for your tone. "

  "Youre not going to care for any of this," I said. "Youll like it less with the door open. I think you should close it. "

  He was about to say something, perhaps another observation about my tone of voice and how little he cared for it, but instead he closed the door.

  "Sit down, Mr. Huysendahl. "

  He was used to giving orders, not taking them, and I thought he was going to make an issue out of it. But he sat down, and his face wasnt quite enough of a mask to keep me from knowing that he knew what it was all about. Id known anyway, because there was just no other way the pieces could fit together, but his face confirmed it for me.

  "Are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

  "Oh, Im going to tell you. But I think you already know. Dont you?"

  "Certainly not. "

  I looked over his shoulder at an oil painting of somebodys ancestor. Maybe one of his. I didnt notice any family resemblance, though.

  I said, "You killed Spinner Jablon. "

  "Youre out of your mind. "

  "No. "

  "You already found out who killed Jablon. You told me that the day before yesterday. "

  "I was wrong. "

  "I dont know what youre driving at, Scudder-"

  "A man tried to kill me Wednesday night," I said. "You know about that. I assumed he was the same man who killed Spinner, and I managed to tie him to one of Spinners other suckers, so I thought that cleared you. But it turns out that he couldnt have killed Spinner, because he was on the other side of the country at the time. His alibi for Spinners death was as solid as they come. He was in jail at the time. "

  I looked at him. He was patient now, hearing me out with the same intent stare he had fixed on me Thursday afternoon when I told him he was in the clear.

  I said, "I should have known he wasnt the only one involved, that more than one of Spinners victims had decided to fight back. The man who tried to kill me was a loner. He liked to use a knife. But Id been attacked earlier by one or more men in a car, a stolen car. And a few minutes after that attack I had a phone call from an older man with a New York accent. Id had a call from that man before. It didnt make sense that the knife artist would have had anybody else in on it. So somebody else was behind the dodge with the car, and somebody else was responsible for knocking Spinner on the head and dumping him in the river. "

  "That doesnt mean I had anything to do with it. "

  "I think it does. As soon as the man with the knife is taken out of the picture, its obvious that everything was pointing to you all along. He was an amateur, but in other respects the operation was all quite professional. A car stolen from another neighborhood with a very good man at the wheel. Some men who were good enough to find Spinner when he didnt want to be found. You had the money to hire that kind of talent. And you had the connections. "

  "Thats nonsense. "

  "No," I said. "Ive been thinking about it. One thing that threw me was your reaction when I first came to your office. You didnt know Spinner was dead until I showed you the item in the paper. I almost ruled you out, because I couldnt believe you could fake a reaction that well. But of course it wasnt a fake. You really didnt know he was dead, did you?"

  "Of course not. " He drew his shoulders back. "And I think thats fairly good evidence that I had nothing to do with his death. "

  I shook my head. "It just means you didnt know about it yet. And you were stunned by the realization both that Spinner was dead and that the whole game didnt end with his death. I not only had the evidence on you, I also knew you were tied to Spinner and a possible suspect in his death. Naturally that shook you up a little. "

  "You cant prove anything. You can say that I hired someone to kill Spinner. I didnt, and I can swear to you that I didnt, but its hardly something I can prove either. But the point is that its not incumbent upon me to prove it, is it?"

  "No. "

  "And you can accuse me of whatever you want, but you dont have a shred of proof e
ither, do you?"

  "No, I dont. "

  "Then perhaps youll tell me why you decided to come here this afternoon, Mr. Scudder. "

  "I dont have proof. Thats true. But I have something else, Mr. Huysendahl. "

  "Oh?"

  "I have those photographs. "

  He gaped. "You distinctly told me-"

  "That I had burned them. "

  "Yes. "

  "Id intended to. It was simpler to tell you it had already been done. Ive been busy since then, and didnt get around to it. And then this morning I found out that the man with the knife was not the man who killed Spinner, and I sifted through some of the things that I already knew, and I saw that it had to be you. So it was just as well that I didnt burn those pictures, wasnt it?"

  He got slowly to his feet. "I think Ill have that drink after all," he said.

  "Go right ahead. "

  "Will you join me?"

  "No. "

  He put ice cubes in a tall glass, poured Scotch, added soda from a siphon. He took his time building the drink, then walked over to the fireplace and rested with his elbow on the burnished oak mantel. He took a few small sips of his drink before he turned to look at me again.

  "Then were back to the beginning," he said. "And youve decided to blackmail me. "

  "No. "

  "Why else is it so fortunate for you that you didnt burn the pictures?"

  "Because its the only hold Ive got on you. "

  "And what are you going to do with it?"

  "Nothing. "

  "Then-"

  "Its what youre going to do, Mr. Huysendahl. "

  "And what am I going to do?"

  "Youre not going to run for governor. "

  He stared at me. I didnt really want to look at his eyes, but I forced myself. He was no longer trying to keep his face a mask, and I was able to watch as he tried on one thought after another and found that none of them led anywhere.

  "Youve thought this out, Scudder. "

  "Yes. "

  "At length, I would suppose. "

  "Yes. "

  "And theres nothing you want, is there? Money, power, the things most people want. It wouldnt do any good for me to send another check to Boys Town. "

  "No. "

  He nodded. He worried the tip of his chin with a finger. He said, "I dont know who killed Jablon. "

  "I assumed as much. "

  "I didnt order him killed. "

  "The order originated with you. One way or the other, youre the man at the top. "

  "Probably. "

  I looked at him.

  "Id prefer to believe otherwise," he said. "When you told me the other day that youd found the man who killed Jablon, I was enormously relieved. Not because I felt the killing could possibly be attributed to me, that any sort of trail would lead back to me. But because I honestly did not know whether I was in any way responsible for his death. "

  "You didnt order it directly. "

  "No, of course not. I didnt want the man killed. "

  "But somebody in your organization-"