“Take this.”
“Yes, sir,” Jessie said obediently.
It was hard lifting her head from the pillow. He hesitated, then slipped his arm around her shoulders and sat her up. The coverlet dropped away and Jessie thought, Now, Jessie! But she really didn’t have the strength to pull it back up... And me in my most décolleté nightgown. How shameless can you get? He’ll think I purposely...
Jessie drank the milk very slowly.
“It’s hot.”
“I’m sorry. Take your time.” His voice sounded funny.
When she sank back he removed his arm as if it hurt.
“Thank you, Richard.” Is this really me? Jessie thought.
“Feeling better?” He was addressing the badly reproduced Van Gogh still-life over Gloria Sardella’s bed.
“Worlds.”
But it’s so nice... Jessie slipped under the covers, giggling again.
He went over to the window and looked out. The fire escape seemed to disturb him. He pulled the window down and locked it, lowered the Venetian blind, closed the vanes. Then he went into the bathroom.
One second, her forehead was smooth and white, the next it had a hole in it, a real hole, black and then red...
“I’ve opened the bathroom window, Jessie. I’ll leave the door to the living room open for circulation. Unless light bothers you?”
“Just don’t go away.” She began to shiver again.
“I won’t. Remember, I’ll be in the next room. At anything — for any reason — sing out.”
“Yes... The linen’s in that closet next to the kitchenette. Richard, she’s dead.”
“Go to sleep now, Jessie.”
“I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I don’t seem to have any strength at all.”
“It’s been a rough night. If you’re not better in the morning I’ll call a doctor.”
“Oh, no...”
“Oh, yes.”
The light snapped off, but she could not hear him move.
“Good night,” Jessie said drowsily.
“Sleep well, Jessie.”
He went out then, in a sort of stumble.
He didn’t look at me as if I were just any woman. He looked at me as if...
The last thing Jessie heard as she fell asleep was the scream of police sirens heading uptown.
The voice of Abe Pearl at the other end of the wire was so loud the old man glanced over at the bedroom doorway.
“Stop bellowing, Abe,” he grumbled. “I’m not deaf yet.”
“Where in the name of God have you been?” Chief Pearl demanded angrily. “I’ve been trying to reach you all night. Where you calling from?”
“Jessie Sherwood’s place in New York.”
“Look, Dick, if you want to shack up, shack up, but the least you can do is leave me her phone number so I can contact you. I didn’t start this, you did!”
“You cut that out, Abe,” Richard Queen growled. “I’m not shacked up with anybody—”
“Okay, so she’s playing hard to get — Becky, will you shut up!... Can you give me five minutes?”
“Go ahead,” he said shortly.
“I got a call tonight from New Haven, from this Dr. Duane. He’s been phoning all over creation trying to reach Humffrey again. He finally contacted me out of desperation, wanted me to run over to Nair Island and see if maybe Humffrey hadn’t gone back there — he’d tried to reach Stallings, but there was no answer. I’ve found out that Stallings had gone to a movie; anyway, he hadn’t seen or heard from Humffrey. The point is, Mrs. Humffrey is bad again, and it sounded to me like Duane’s got hold of a hot knish and would like to let go. You don’t know where Humffrey is, Dick, do you? I thought I’d check with you before calling Duane back.”
“I haven’t seen Humffrey, no,” Richard Queen said slowly. “Abe.”
“Yes?”
“What time did Humffrey leave his Park Avenue apartment today? Did Duane talk to Mrs. Lenihan?”
“She told him he’d left early this morning and didn’t say where he was going. At the time Duane called me, which was about nine tonight, Humffrey still hadn’t got back.”
“Did Cullum chauffeur him? Or did Humffrey leave alone?”
“I don’t know.” Abe Pearl paused. “Dick, what’s happened? Something happened tonight.”
“Connie Coy’s been knocked off.”
“The mother?”
When Abe Pearl heard the story, he said, “One minute, Dick. Just hang on.” The silence was prolonged. “I’m trying to piece this together—”
“It’s complicated,” Richard Queen said dryly.
“Dick. Why did you ask me what time Humffrey left his New York apartment today?” He said, “Dick? You there?”
“I’m here.” The old man said rapidly, “Abe, doesn’t it strike you as queer that the day Finner is murdered Humffrey’s movements can’t be accounted for, and the night Connie Coy gets it — ditto?”
Abe Pearl said, “What?”
“You heard me.”
His friend was silent.
Then he said, “You’re crazy! There might be a dozen explanations—”
“Sure.”
“It’s just a coincidence—”
“I can’t prove it isn’t.”
“The whole idea is ridiculous. Why...” Abe Pearl paused. “You’re not serious.”
The old man said, “Oh, yes, I am.”
Silence again.
“How long has this bee been buzzing around in your bonnet?” the Taugus chief finally demanded.
Inspector Queen did not answer.
“Don’t you see you’ve got nothing to back it up? So Humffrey couldn’t be located around the time of either murder. So what? Maybe now that his wife is tucked away in New Haven, he’s picked himself up some tasty blonde—”
“Now?” The old man sounded grim. “That could have happened a year ago.”
“Dick, you’re off your trolley. Alton Humffrey? You have to be human to start chick-chasing. Even if Humffrey had the yen, he wouldn’t put himself in such a position. He thinks too damn much of himself and his precious name.”
“Be consistent, Abe. One minute you’re saying Humffrey might be having an affair with some woman to account for his absences, but when I suggest the woman was Connie Coy and he had the affair with her last year you start telling me he isn’t the type. Sure he’s the type. Under given circumstances, any man’s the type. And especially the Humffreys of this world.”
“Humffrey...” He could almost see Abe Pearl shaking his head.
“I admit it’s mostly hunch. But there isn’t much else to go by, Abe. Up to now it’s been one stymie after another. First the nephew, Frost, comes up with an airtight alibi for the baby’s murder. Then the killer lifts the Humffrey folder from Finner’s files and chokes off the obvious lead to the child’s mother. When we finally get to the Coy woman by a roundabout route and she’s about to come through with the baby’s father’s name, she stops a bullet between the eyes. I can’t wait for the next stymie, Abe. I’ve got to take the initiative.”
“You’re heading for big trouble,” Chief Pearl said in a mutter. “You can’t go after a man like Humffrey with a popgun.”
“I don’t intend to. I won’t move in till I have some man-sized ammunition. And I think I know where I can get some.”
“Where?”
“I’ll let you know when I get it. Give my love to Becky, will you?”
At the triple knock Richard Queen moved over to the door and said in a low voice, “Yes?”
“It’s Wes, Inspector.”
He unlatched the door.
“Did I time it right?” Polonsky asked.
“Keep your voice down. Miss Sherwood’s asleep. Yes, Wes, perfect. Did Johnny also tell you what happened tonight?”
“Uh-huh.” Polonsky rubbed his mashed nose with the back of his old man’s hand. “Looks like you started something, Inspector. Any leads?”