“Then one of you climbed in and let the others in—”
“Adam Sussman. He was the smallest and the lightest. The girls refused.”
“You are talking about the window in the rear and the back door, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But you all went into the living room, which is in front of the house. Why was that?”
“We didn’t want to put on a light. Rabbi, and that room got some illumination from the streetlamp across the way. Besides. I guess that was the one room that had plenty of chairs.”
“And you all stayed together in that room?”
“More or less. There was some wandering around when we first came in, and a little later a couple of people went looking for the John, but mostly we just stayed in the living room, all except Moose, of course.”
“Why do you say ‘of course’?”
“Because he came back with this bottle of whisky. So I guess he’d done some exploring.”
“How much was in it? I mean, was it a full bottle?”
“Oh, it was full all right. He had to take the seal off to open it. And he offered it around first, but none of us took any, so he drank it down same as he did the beer down at the beach—showing off.”
“And then?”
“Then he started to act up.”
“What do you mean by that, Bill?”
“Oh, he was sort of chasing after the girls, especially
Betty Marks and Didi here.”
“And what did the rest of you do?”
Jacobs reddened. “Well, he was pretty drunk. I mean, he couldn’t catch them or anything like that, so I guess we thought it was funny. Once or twice we told him to cut it out and sit down, but most of the time we were laughing. You weren’t bothered, were you. Didi?”
She shook her head.
“Then it suddenly hit him, and he got all red and just sat down. He was sweating, and he looked terrible. So I suggested he lie down for a while. I guess he thought it was a good idea, because he tried to get up. Then he just sat down again, so I helped him up, and me and Adam tried to walk him to this room I had noticed off the hall. But Moose is—was—I mean, Adam is pretty small, and Moose was a big guy. So I called to this guy Jenkins, the colored fellow, and the three of us got him into that room and laid him on the couch.”
“I see.”
“When we laid him down, he saw Jenkins and he started in on him again—you know, calling him names and saying things like he didn’t need no help from no goddam nigger—that kind of thing. He was throwing himself around and trying to get up. The couch had this big sheet of plastic draped over it, like the rest of the furniture, so I suggested we wrap it around him. And almost immediately he fell off to sleep.”
“How do you know he was asleep?” the rabbi demanded sharply.
“Because he was snoring.”
“All right. Then you went back to the living room?”
“That’s right. And then Stu came along.”
“And then you came back to get Moose?”
“That’s right,” said Bill. “We went into the room where we had left him. I had the flashlight—” He paused and licked his lips. He looked questioningly at Stu and Didi.
“Go ahead.” said Stu hoarsely. “Tell it all.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Yes, I’ve got a key to Hillson House.” said Meyer Paff guardedly.
“And you were there this evening?” asked Lieutenant Jennings.
“I was there, but I didn’t go in. Say, what’s this all about?”
“There was a little trouble, and we’re just checking it over.” said Jennings easily. “Now, what time were you there?”
“Look, I was supposed to meet somebody at half past eight. I was a little late, and it was raining so hard I thought this party might not show. So when I got there and I saw that no one was around. I just drove on.”
“Didn’t it occur to you that this party you were supposed to meet might also be late? I’m surprised you didn’t wait a while.”
Paff shrugged. “Originally there were four of us supposed to meet. So first one calls and tells me he can’t make it.
And then another calls, and he can’t make it. So I was bothered to begin with—you know, disgusted—and I half had the feeling that the third one would have begged off if he could have reached me in time. So like I said, it was raining and there was thunder and lightning, so I thought. What the hell, two of them have disappointed me, so I’ll disappoint a little on my end. Good tiling, too. It turns out when I got home and called him, he said he thought he had a cold coming on and wasn’t about to go out in that kind of weather.”
“Well, that’s clear enough.” said Jennings, closing his notebook. “However, just to get things all cleared up. I’d appreciate it if you’d come down to the station house and make a statement.”
“So what do you call this?”
“Oh, I mean a regular statement that a stenographer can take down and you can sign.”
“Well…”
“It won’t take long, maybe half an hour or so.” Jennings assured him.
“All right, I’ll drop by in the morning—”
“I think the chief would like to have it tonight.”
“You mean right now?”
“Why not? You’re dressed. I can drive you down in ten minutes, and I’ll bring you back afterward.”
Paff was reluctant, but he could think of no reason to refuse. “Well, all right,” he said, “I’ll just tell my wife, and I’ll put on a pair of shoes. I don’t suppose I need to wear a tie,” he added with feeble humor.
“Beauty,” said Jennings appreciatively.
Paff headed for the door, then stopped. “Say, what happened down there? Was the place broken into, or—?”
“Why do you think that?” asked Jennings quickly. “Well, I understand it happened once before.”
Jennings nodded. “Yeah, it was broken into again, but this time it was a little more serious. Someone was found dead there. An employee of yours, as a matter of fact,” he added placidly.
Chapter Forty
I hate to say it to a man of the cloth…”
“I’m not a man of the cloth.”
“… but you’ve got an awful nerve. Rabbi. These kids tell me they find one of their friends murdered, and you ask me to let them go.”
“Why not?”
Lanigan ticked off the points on his fingers. “First, because they’re guilty of breaking and entering—”
“Not Stu Gorfinkle.”
“He did the second time.”
“The door was ajar.”
“Let’s not quibble. Rabbi. So it’s illegal entry. Second, they were present in the same room with someone who had narcotics in his possession.”
“They didn’t know that.”
“The law doesn’t differentiate—not here in Massachusetts, it don’t. Third, they were present in the same house where a man was murdered. Fourth, they could have committed the murder. And fifth, they did not report it to the proper authorities. And you ask me to release them!” Lanigan’s face was red with indignation.
“Yes, I ask you to release them,” he said soberly. “These are not vagabonds; they are respectable children of respectable parents, residents of this town. If you need them for questioning, they will be available. They are obviously guilty of the breaking and entering charge—they admit it, even though it’s fully understandable in view of the storm. Still, if you should decide to prosecute them on that charge, they will appear. As for the narcotics charge, it is based on a law which obviously was never intended to be taken literally—would you arrest everyone on a streetcar, for example, if one passenger was carrying narcotics? No, it is intended to enable you to prosecute someone you have reason to believe is involved in narcotics, even though the actual possession may be with a companion. Are you suggesting that while they were waiting for transportation home they were smoking this drug?”