1953 - The Sucker Punch (20 page)

She swung around and left the room.

For a long minute I stood staring at the door, unable to believe she meant what she said. My heart banged against my side, and my legs felt so shaky I had to sit down.

Why had she suddenly changed like this? Was she really frightened or was there something more behind it than I knew?

My mind shifted to Larry. Was he anything to do with her sudden change of attitude?

After a while I decided she was scared, and given time, she would get her nerve back.

I would leave her alone for a few days, then I'd wait my opportunity and have another, talk with her.

I wasn't going to lose, her.

I went slowly up to my dressing room and shut myself in.

I didn't sleep that night.

Lying in bed, listening to the rain and the wind, thinking of the horrible way Vestal had died, feeling that Eve was slipping away from me were thoughts enough to keep any man awake, but oddly enough they weren't keeping me from sleep.

I realized that I was becoming frightened: more frightened than I had ever been before in my life.

I knew the police could come to this house and take me away and keep me in a cell until it was time to burn me alive in the chair.

They could do that to me now if I had made one little slip, and I had no means of knowing or of finding out if I had made a slip.

I was frightened all right: too frightened even to worry about Eve.

The following morning Seemed interminable. I sat in my study waiting for something to happen. Leggit had said he was coming to see me, but he appeared to be in no hurry. A little after eleven o'clock, I decided that perhaps he wasn't coming and I should get down to the office.

The house was unnaturally quiet. I had caught a glimpse of Hargis as I had come down for breakfast. He looked pale and seemed to have aged.

He didn't look my way, and I didn't speak to him.

The two maids who served my breakfast were red-eyed with weeping, and this surprised me. I had no idea any of the staff were fond enough of Vestal to regret her death.

As I was pushing back my chair to get up, the telephone bell rang.

I lifted the receiver.

"Hallo, yes?"

"Chad?" It was Blakestone's voice. "I thought I'd call you. Lieutenant Leggit has been to see me. He's been asking all kinds of questions. Have you seen him yet?"

Again I felt a chill run up my spine.

"No, not yet. What kind of questions, Ryan?"

"It's damned odd. It's almost as if he suspects you of having something to do with your wife's death."

I opened and shut my mouth, but no words came.

"You there, Chad?"

I got hold of myself. My hand gripped the receiver until my knuckles turned white.

"I didn't get that, Ryan. What was that again?"

"I said he seems to suspect you of having something to do with Mrs. Winters's death. I told him he was crazy."

"What sort of questions did he ask?"

"He wanted to know if you were out between nine and ten last night. I told him we were working together. He kept on and on until I asked him what he was driving at. He said when a wife dies mysteriously, a husband is automatically the first suspect."

"Damned rot!" I said, trying to steady my voice. I was thankful he couldn't see my face. I knew it was a complete giveaway at this moment. "Besides, Vestal didn't die mysteriously. She drove over the cliff."

"I told him that. I told him too you were dictating letters at the time of Vestal's death. I said if you didn't believe me he could ask Miss Dolan and Hargis. I thought I'd better tip you off, Chad. I have an idea that guy doesn't like you too much."

"He was a pal of Vestal's. Naturally he feels sore she's dead."

"Well, I thought I'd tell you. I guess he's looking for a job. I told him Mrs. Winters was driving too fast. The crash must have happened a few seconds after I had passed her. That makes me feel bad. I might have…”

"You couldn't have done a thing. Well, thanks for calling, Ryan. There's nothing to worry about. You and I know I couldn't have had anything to do with Vestal's death. He'll probably drop the idea now he's talked with you."

"I hope so. You can rely on me to rally around if you need me."

I thanked him and hung up.

I got to my feet and went over to the window and stared down at the long stretch of garden.

I had been waiting for something to happen and now too much was happening. So Leggit was already wondering if I could have had anything to do with Vestal's death. That was smart of him. I wondered uneasily if I had underestimated him. Well, he might be suspicious, but he would soon run up against a brick wall. After he had talked to Hargis and Eve, he would know he could never get his hooks into me.

The time now was twenty minutes to twelve. I glanced out of the window and saw a car standing on the tarmac; at the driving wheel was a cop.

My heart did a somersault.

Leggit had arrived!

I waited.

As the minutes dragged by I got my second wind. This was a matter of life and death. If I couldn't control my nerves, I was sunk. I pushed back my chair and crossed over to the liquor cabinet. I poured myself a shot of whisky and gulped it down. Then I went back to my desk and pulled some papers towards me.

I tried to settle to work but although my eyes read the typewritten words, the words were meaningless. I sat there, staring at the sheet of paper and waited. I waited for three quarters of an hour before a knock came on the door and Leggit walked in.

"Good morning, Lieutenant," I said, getting to my feet. "Come on in. Will you have a whisky?"

I was surprised to hear how steady my voice sounded.

He gave me a hard, searching stare as he pulled up a chair to my desk and sat down. His great bulk made the chair creak as he settled himself.

"No, thanks."

I pushed the box of cigarettes across the desk. I was aware that his eyes were still examining me. I could feel them going over me with a thoroughness that suddenly made me angry.

Why should I be scared of this big, slow-witted cop! I was now worth sixty million dollars. I owned this palace of a house. I had property all over the country. Only sixteen months ago I was earning less than he was now. Didn't that prove I was smarter than he could ever be?

I watched him light his cigarette, then I lit mine.

"Have you found out how the accident happened, Lieutenant?" I asked at length as he made no move to say anything."

"The on-side front tire burst."

"I see." I looked down at my hands to hide the look of triumph I knew had jumped into my eyes.

"I understand you were in the study from nine to ten last night, Mr. Winters?"

I stiffened and looked up.

"Why, yes. I was dictating letters, and then my broker and I worked until Mrs. Hennessey telephoned."

"You were dictating on a tape recorder?"

"Yes, but what's that got to do with the accident, Lieutenant? I don't follow you."

His hard eyes stared stonily at me. "It wasn't an accident."

My heart skipped a beat and then began to race.

"Not an accident? But surely…”

He leaned forward.

"It was murder, Mr. Winters."

chapter seventeen

T
he clock on my desk ticked noisily in the silence that followed.

My mind darted this way and that like a scared mouse in a trap. How had he found that out so quickly? Had I left some damning clue? Did he know I had done it? Had I made some fatal mistake? Was he going to arrest me?

Somehow I kept control of my expression. I had to say something believable and at once.

"Murdered? You can't mean that!"

"She was murdered."

"But how do you know?"

"We'll get around to that in a moment. I want to talk to you about this alibi of yours."

"Alibi? You—you don't think I had anything to do with Vestal's death, do you?"

He stubbed out his cigarette before saying, "When any wife gets herself murdered, the husband automatically becomes suspect number one."

"But this is ridiculous!" I forced anger into my voice. "How do you know it was murder?"

"Have you got that tape recorder here?"

"What tape recorder? What are you talking about?"

"You were dictating letters between nine and ten last night Between nine and ten Mrs. Winters was murdered. The recorder is your alibi, isn't it? I want it."

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but it contains a number of business letters. They haven't been typed yet."

"I'll have a copy made and let you have it. Where is it?"

I hesitated, then shrugged.

"You're behaving in a most extraordinary way, but I suppose you better have it if you want it so badly. It's on the machine."

He got up, crossed over to the tape recorder, lifted the lid and took off the completed spool.

"Scratch your initials on the end of the tape, will you?" he said. "Just here."

I picked up a letter opener and scratched my initials on the narrow ribbon.

He grunted and dropped the spool into his pocket.

"Right." He sat down again. "I understand you and Hargis don't get on so well together?"

"No. He dislikes me and I have no use for him. What of it?"

"He tells me he saw you in this room at ten minutes past nine and again at twenty minutes past nine."

"He did. He brought coffee, and then later he announced Mr. Blakestone. What does all this mean?"

"What does it mean?" His face was like flint now. "You know as well as I do! You murdered your wife, and I want to know how you did it!"

I sat motionless, staring at him. I could feel the blood leaving my face.

Cold hooks of fear sank into my guts.

"I didn't kill her!" I heard myself whisper.

"Oh yes, you did. That's the one thing I'll bet my life on," Leggit said. "I knew she was heading for trouble the moment I saw her with you. I know all about you, Winters! I know what your reputation is with women. You wouldn't have married Vestal Shelley if she hadn't any money. You couldn't get what you wanted out of her so you killed her. How the hell did you do it?"

I got a grip on myself. He was bluffing. He couldn't prove a thing. I was sure of that. I had only to keep my nerve and call his bluff and he would have to back down.

"Okay; if you're so damned sure I killed her, go ahead and arrest me," I said, leaning forward to glare at him.

He stretched out his massive legs, and his big, fleshy face looked suddenly sleepy.

"You've been smart, Winters, but not quite smart enough. You murdered her all right, but how you were in two places at once beats me. This talk is off the record. Vestal Shelley was a friend of mine. I've known her for years. She had her faults, and sometimes she wasn't too easy to get along with, but I liked her. I was sorry for her too. She didn't get much fun out of her money. She would have given it all away for some looks. I regarded her as a friend, and no one murders a friend of mine, and gets away with it. You may have been smart, Winters, but I'm going to nail you— make no mistake about that!"

"You're crazy!" I said, banging my fist on the desk. "I was working here all the evening! Ask Hargis and Blakestone: they saw me!" Although I tried to control my voice, it went up into a shout. "You can't pin this on to me, Leggit, and you know it!"

"You've already made one mistake, and you'll make another. You smart punks always make mistakes. I'm patient, and I'll wait. At the moment, you're sitting pretty. I admit it. I know you killed her, but you've got what seems to be a cast-iron alibi. How you managed to be in two places at once I don't pretend to know, but I'm damn well going to find out, and when I do, you're as good as dead!"

I glared at him. What was I to be scared of? He admitted I had beaten him. Suppose he did know I had killed Vestal? What did it matter so long as he couldn't prove it?

I sat back, trying to relax.

"What makes you think I killed her?" I said. "Tell me that!"

"I'll tell you," he said. "You planned the murder to look like an accident. The idea was this: as your wife was driving down the cliff road, the on-side tire was to burst, and the car, out of control, would go over the cliff head. You waited for her in the garage. You hit her over the head. You took her in the car and drove down the cliff road to the first dangerous bend. In the boot, you had a burst tire. You changed a good tire for the burst tire, then you steered the car over the cliff head. That's what you did, didn't you?"

I had hold of myself by now. One slip and I was finished. I knew that.

I looked fixedly at him.

"Go ahead and prove it. I was in this room all the evening!"

"I'll prove it," he said quietly. "You made a bad mistake, Winters. The burst inner tube contained a quantity of sand. There's no sand where the car lodged. There's no sand on the cliff road. Where did the sand come from? It's my bet the tire burst several days ago—probably on the Eden End road. You changed the wheel and stored the burst tire in the boot, overlooking the sand that had worked into the inner tube. When I checked I found one of the wheel nuts was missing. We searched around and we found it. It was on the cliff road, and it proves you changed the wheel before sending the car over the cliff head. How do you like that?"

I sat motionless, looking at him. I was sick with fright, but I didn't let him see it.

"Prove it," I said, "Prove I did it."

"You couldn't have done it alone." He was leaning forward, staring at me. "You worked some trick with the tape recorder. I'll get around to it, but you couldn't have done it alone. Did Eve Dolan help you? Is she behind this? Was it she who put you up to killing your wife, Winters?"

I felt sweat start out on my face.

"Why should she? You're crazy! Neither of us had anything to do with it!"

"Why should she?" he repeated, and he showed his teeth in a fixed grin. "Haven't you seen your wife's will yet, Winters?"

That startled me.

"Of course I haven't. What has her will to do with this?"

"Plenty. Miss Dolan benefits from the will."