“Shit.”
“Exactly. Which means right now the only way for you to get out of here is to have twelve people stand up and say ‘not guilty.’ So forget the will, forget the money, forget the bail. Beating the rap, that’s the only thing now.”
Jeremy held up his hands. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. I can’t forget the will. Now, you say they’re contesting it-how can they do that?”
“Any relative can contest a will.”
“No, I mean what are they claiming?”
“First of all, that the will isn’t signed.”
“It is signed.”
“It’s a debatable point. I’m gonna debate it in court. I don’t need to debate it with you.”
“But isn’t it a point you can win?”
“Nothing’s certain. Let’s just say we got a good shot.”
“O.K. What else do they claim?”
“They’ll claim undue influence.”
“What does that mean?”
“That you were with your uncle when he wrote the will, that you coerced him into writing it.”
“Bullshit. It was all his idea. I didn’t even know he was doing it.”
“I understand. I’m just telling you what they’ll claim.”
“Well, they’re wrong.”
“And I will so inform the judge. I’m on your side, Jeremy. You don’t have to argue this with me.”
“Yeah, right. What else will they claim?”
“That Jack Walsh wasn’t of sound mind when he made the will.”
“Wait a minute. That’s been decided. You proved he was.”
“A judge ruled him sane then. It doesn’t mean one now will rule he was.”
“But-”
Steve Winslow held up his hands. “Look, kid. I’m trying to help. But I talk to you, and I can’t help feeling, ‘My god, am I here all alone?’ Now I understand, a million bucks is a lot of money, you’re interested, you wanna know if you’re gonna get it.
“But get this through your thick head. If you’re convicted of murder, one, you’re going to jail and two, you ain’t getting a cent. So get your head out of the clouds, stop thinking about the damn money, and give me some help with this damn murder case.”
Steve stopped and rubbed his head. “Now, you’ve had time to think about it. Who had the combination to your locker? Who could have taken the gun?”
Jeremy sighed and shook his head. “There’s no one.”
“Nobody ever picked up something for you after school?”
“No.”
“No one you ever asked to do you a favor, to get something out of your locker for you?”
“No.”
“What about the movie?”
“What?”
“The movie. And afterwards. Your alibi. You remember anyone who saw you, anyone at all?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Think. You must have seen someone.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“The whole time?”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t see anyone?”
“No.”
Steve sighed. “Christ, you’re a big help.”
Jeremy shrugged. “Hey, I’m sorry.”
Steve looked at him. He shook his head. “No, you’re not,” he said. “But let me tell you something. When District Attorney Harry Dirkson gets you on the witness stand-” Steve pointed his finger, “-then you’ll be sorry.”
27
Mark Taylor flipped open his notebook.
“O.K., here’s the dope. Alibis, get your alibis, red-hot alibis. The way it stacks up, the women got ‘em and the men don’t.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Claire Chesterton, Pat Grayson and Rose Tindel all alibi each other. Convenient as all hell, but it probably all checks out. The three of ‘em were on a shopping spree in the afternoon. Not that they did much shopping. If you want some cash receipts to back it up, they probably don’t have ‘em. What they were doin’ was touring shopping malls. Browsing here, browsing there. Bloomingdale’s, Conran’s, places like that. I don’t think they bought a thing. Frankly, I don’t think they got much money. But they spent the afternoon doing it. Then they caught dinner at one of the mall shops, and went to the movies.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. Why?”
“Don’t tell me they saw a film called Heathers?”
“Christ, no. Not their cup of tea. They saw Rain Man.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. There’s a big RKO Tenplex on Route 4, that’s where they went. Went there, got home about ten-thirty.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Murder could have been as much as an hour later. What did they do till then?”
“Puttered around the house and went to bed. Why?”
“Well, Jeremy Dawson says he came home and found Claire Chesterton watching TV.”
“Right.”
“So I’m wondering what happened to the other two.”
“They went up to bed.”
“Is that confirmed?”
Taylor looked slightly exasperated. “Not in any way that will stand up in court. But can you imagine any one of the three of ‘em taking off at ten-thirty at night, getting to Jeremy’s school, securing the gun, getting into Manhattan, finding Jack Walsh and plugging him, and then setting the body on fire-well, just between you and me you’re gonna have a little trouble selling it to a jury.”
“I know, Mark. I don’t think it happened. I just want to be able to raise inferences.”
“Well, you’ll have a lot better time with the men.”
“What have you got on ‘em?”
“Nothing. That’s the beauty of it. Zero, zilch, nothing. I don’t know where they were, but I know where they weren’t. And they weren’t home.”
“Until when?”
“At least until 12:30. ’Cause that’s when Claire Chesterton turned off the Carson show and went to bed.”
“And they were all out?”
“All of ‘em.”
“Together?”
“There your guess is as good as mine. Problem is, what with this will contest thing they’re on the other side and won’t give us the time of day.
“So here’s what we got. The night before, the three guys were on guard duty at Jack Walsh’s hotel. Last man on was Carl Jenson, Walsh went down and ditched him in the subway. Last time we’ve seen Jenson, last time we saw Walsh. Now, we know Jenson arrived home sometime during the day. We know that only from what Jeremy Dawson told you. He got home in the afternoon, Jenson was there, bawled him out for skippin’ school. Jeremy went out again and Carl Jenson must have left sometime after that, ’cause he wasn’t there when the women got home. As to where he was, your guess is as good as mine, ’cause all he’ll tell my man is to go fuck himself.”
“Nice.”
“On the other men, I know even less. You’ll recall Jason Tindel had the first shift the night before. He staked out the Holiday Inn until three in the morning. After that, he presumably went home and got some sleep. So we assume he got up some time the next day and went out, but no one knows where, and he ain’t talkin’.
“Fred Grayson had the three A.M. till eight shift. Presumably he went home, slept the morning, and then went out too. Whether he went with Jason, we don’t know. What we do know is the two of them were gone all day long and neither of them got back before twelve-thirty at night.”
Steve thought a moment. “That could be good.”
“How so?”
“Well, let’s look at the facts. Jason and Fred had the night shift, staking out the hotel. They’ve gone home and they’ve gone to sleep. Carl Jenson’s on duty. The guys are home sleeping, the women have gone out. Jack Walsh takes off and loses Carl Jenson in the subway tunnel.”
“Right.”
“So what would naturally happen then?”
“Carl Jenson calls the others, tells them Jack Walsh got away.”
“Right,” Steve said. “And they organize a search party and go looking for him. And they’re gone all day and don’t get back that night.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So what if they find Jack Walsh and kill him?”
“With Jeremy Dawson’s gun?”
“Sure, which Jason Tindel found a week before when he dropped by the school to pick up something Jeremy left behind.”
Taylor frowned. “That’s mighty thin.”
“Reasonable doubt, Mark. That’s all I need.”