2 Murder in the Winter Page 23
“You got anyone in handcuffs yet?”
“No, and you’d better not have anyone either, Cy. You’re supposed to be working on the case.”
“Working? I’ve almost solved it. Just a matter of dotting some i’s and crossing some t’s. Are you ready to eat? If so, I’ll come on and we can talk about it on the way.”
Lou, always ready to eat, was excited to hear what I had to say, and to down a plateful of his favorite foods.
+++
I filled Lou in as I drove.
“So, what do you think, Lou?”
“I think your theory is sound. If those other things work out in the morning, I think we’ve got all the information we need. True, our evidence is circumstantial, but people have been hung on circumstantial evidence before.”
“I have a couple of other aces, too. I figure if I exaggerate the truth on one hand, and tell an outright lie on the other, I can get him to confess.”
“You think so? He’s been so cool to this point.”
“Well, if I learn what I expect to learn tomorrow, I think you’re gonna see our guy sweat.”
+++
I took Lou home after dinner and drove back to my place. It was time to put work aside for one night. I wanted to see what Hogan’s Heroes were up to. Soon, I would transform myself into Col. Hogan and my adversary into Col. Klink.
32
I awoke on Monday morning the way God intended for us to awaken. Without the aid of any electronic device. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and realized where we were in the case. I smiled. Not because I like arresting people for murder. I don’t. But because I like to see justice done. Still, it’s not an easy job. Sometimes murderers are truly bad people. Other times, they are people who find themselves in certain circumstances and don’t make good decisions. I feel sorry for those people, and truly have no idea if I would’ve acted any differently if faced with the same situation.
I had two phone calls to make, but both could wait until after I’d showered and spent my time with God. I wouldn’t hurry. Other than Ray Phelps, no one in this case had beaten a path out of town. There was no reason to think our guy would, especially when he had no idea we were coming.
+++
I picked up my black monstrosity, and made my calls. One gave me the answer I wanted. The other I’d have to call back. Only one duck left, and then one sitting duck. My third call was to Lou to let him know things were progressing, and I was on my way to pick him up for breakfast.
+++
We opened the door to the Blue Moon and stepped inside.
“Boy, do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary,” Rosie called out.
“Duck, Rosie. Not canary.”
“So is someone’s goose about to be cooked?”
“No, I’m more in the mood for bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits with gravy, and blueberry pancakes.”
“Anything else?”
“It depends on whether you have any pie ready when we get through.”
“And what about you, Sergeant?”
“You’d better bring me the same as him. That way neither of us will try to stab anything on the other guy’s plate.”
“Just make sure I get out of the way before either of you stab.”
“Don’t worry, Rosie. We’d never hurt you. You’re our favorite girl.”
“You mean you dropped those other ones?”
“There never was anyone but you, Rosie. Those others were the figment of his imagination.”
It was more than Lou could take.
“Some day, Rosie, when I can get rid of this guy, I’ll bring these figments in here and let you see what you think of my imagination.”
“I think I’ll stay out of this one. Let me put your order in.”
+++
After breakfast and dessert, I walked over to the phone and called Sam. All of my ducks were now lined up. It was time to pay someone a visit. A last visit.
The two of us left the Blue Moon, and drove to confront our murderer in silence. I pulled up in front, got out and walked toward the door, not sure if we had been spotted, or not.
We opened the door, and stepped inside. Tony McArthur stood in front of us, checking his mail. He looked up, but didn’t smile.
“Is this it, Lieutenant?”
“I’m afraid it is, Tony.”
“I didn’t want it to end like this.”
“Neither did we, but when someone is murdered, someone else has to pay for it.”
“It’s a rotten job, isn’t it, Lieutenant?”
“Sometimes it is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got a job to do. Please stay in your apartment until all of this is over.”
We waited for McArthur to shut the door to his apartment, then walked over to Martin Mulroney’s door and knocked.
He opened quickly, a frightened look on his face. It seemed like he frightened easily when he wasn’t in costume. He invited us in. Once he had hit a few buttons, he handed me the phone so I could listen to a message.
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant. I didn’t want it to end like this.”
“Neither did we. We’re just doing our jobs. Please show a little respect and keep your door shut until after we’ve left. Let him keep what little dignity he has.”
“I understand, and I will.”
It was time for our confrontation. Lou and I walked across the hall and knocked at Arthur Rothschild’s door.
“Come in.”
I opened the door and walked in. Lou followed me, and shut the door.
“Back again, Lieutenant.”
“Yeah, but this will be the last time.”
“So, you’ve solved your case.”
“That’s right. It turned out that the boots that made the footprints at my house belonged to Tony McArthur. Also, his SUV was used.”
“So, this was all about someone visiting your place?”
“No, but that’s where the murderer made his mistake.”
“Murderer? I can’t believe that Tony McArthur would murder someone. He seems like a nice, young man.”
“What makes it even harder is that he was out of town when the murders took place.”
“So, there was more than one?”
“That’s right.”
“But how could McArthur have killed someone if he was out of town?”
“He didn’t.”
“But I thought you said it was his boots and his SUV.”
“I did. It turns out the killer had a duplicate key to McArthur’s apartment.”
“No way. Only, Mrs. Crouch has a key to McArthur’s apartment, and she wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“I have no idea whether or not Mrs. Crouch has killed anyone, but in this case she didn’t.”
“You’re speaking in riddles, Lieutenant.”
“And I thought you liked games, Mr. Rothschild.”
“Not too much. I don’t do much of anything. Just sit around and pass the time. It’s all I can do these days.”
“McArthur told us about the keys.”
“What keys, Lieutenant?”
“The keys that fell out of his pants pocket one day when he was visiting you.”
“I’d forgotten all about that. That was quite a while back. I gave the keys back to him.”
“Was that right after you made wax impressions of them?”
“Always the jokester, right, Lieutenant?”
“It probably wouldn’t be hard to track down who made those keys for you. It’s a small town. Men in wheelchairs are easily remembered. Since you don’t like to drive, maybe you had someone come here and pick up the wax impressions. Or did you have someone drop off the impression and pick up the keys for you?”
“You’re not joking, are you, Lieutenant?”
“I wish I were. More people would be alive then. But let’s forget about the keys. That’s not what gave you away.”
“Okay, I’ll play along, Lieutenant. What gave me away?”
“It would’ve been much h
arder to nail you if you hadn’t come to my house.”
“You’re going to have to tell me what you’re getting at.”
“First, there are the footprints.”
“You mean McArthur’s boots?”
“Yeah, but McArthur doesn’t limp. I wondered why one foot dug in deeper than the other as it left a vehicle at the street, but didn’t when the person who left them returned to his vehicle, and then I realized I was dealing with a smart cookie. Most people would’ve taken the medication just before they left home, but you wanted to make sure you could make your getaway. You knew no one in your building gets up early, so you waited until you got to my place to take the medication, only it took a minute or so to take effect, so you were limping the first few steps.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Remember, Lieutenant, I can’t walk.”
“That’s not what the witness said.”
“What witness?”
“The one who saw you get out of McArthur’s SUV. He said you sprang from the vehicle and ran as fast as you could to the door. Then you hurried inside and went straight to McArthur’s apartment to drop off the boots and whatever else of his you had taken. Then you got in your chair you’d left in McArthur’s apartment and wheeled yourself back to your apartment, and if anyone had seen you they wouldn’t have thought anything about it other than you were up earlier than usual.”
“You said there were murders. So far nothing you’ve told me has anything to do with murder.”
“Not directly, but I’m coming to that. When you found out the inn was reopening and would offer plays again, it became too much for you. You were fine as long as no one else could perform there, but soon that would no longer be the case. You made a decision to get rid of everyone in the building who had acted there with you. You planned to invite everyone to your apartment, only McArthur was out of town, and Mulroney was out that morning.”
“Are you basing this on that note I left on Mulroney’s door that said I wanted to talk with him?”
“There was no note. Mulroney says you called him and invited him over, the same way you invited the others, only all of them were home and could come right away to hear the good news. That’s how you phrased it, wasn’t it, Mr. Rothschild? Good news.”
“I went over and left Mulroney a note.”
“Do you have that note, Mr. Rothschild?”
“No, why would I have it?”
“Well, guess what Mr. Mulroney has. The message you left on his phone. It’s still there. I just got through listening to it.”
“So, what does that prove? Maybe I did call. I can’t remember everything.”
“Guess what else I found out? The three men who died died from the same poison that the doctor gave you to help you walk. One dose helped you to walk. A larger dose in something to drink ended the lives of three of your neighbors.”
“You can’t prove that.”
“Oh, but I can. Carter Thornton talked to the mailman on Thursday. Talked about the celebration the four of you had. Also, I have a search warrant. My guess is you still have some of that solution around the apartment. It shouldn’t take us long to find it.”
Arthur Rothschild knew he had been defeated. Actually, he had been defeated when he lost his ability to walk. It’s just that nothing that happened before that caused him to snap.
A tear ran down Rothschild’s cheek.
“You don’t know what it’s like to have to sit in a chair everyday, never able to do anything normal people do. I had nothing against any of those people, but I couldn’t stand all of them getting to go back to work when I couldn’t. You win, Lieutenant. You’re smarter than I thought you were. I never thought you would suspect a man who couldn’t even walk.”
Rothschild reached into his pocket and brought out a vial.
“Here’s what you’re looking for, Lieutenant. At least what’s left of it. I thought about using the last of it on myself, but, no, that wouldn’t be right. Who knows? Maybe a doctor at the prison hospital has come up with some new procedure to fix my leg. If I can walk again, it will be worth it to go to prison.”
I called for a black-and-white to come and take Rothschild. I had solved the case, but I wasn’t a happy man. If only I’d been there the day Rothschild fell and broke his leg. Maybe things would’ve been different. Possibly they would’ve been different if someone had befriended him. But then some had befriended him. Or had they? Were any of his neighbors really his friends, or did they just run errands for him when it was convenient?
I felt sorry for him, but no more so than the sorrow I felt for those whose lives he took. Those I would never meet. Those who would never have another chance to pursue their dreams. As I thought about him and what he had done, I asked God to never let me get so obsessed with something that I would do something wrong to hold on to it, or to try to get it back.
Lou and I waited until the black-and-white came and took Rothschild away. Then, we walked out. I closed the door behind us, not knowing that our next case would trouble us even more. It would be the case that would affect us more than any other had in all our years on the force.