Murder at Breakfast (23 page)

I
had one more place to check, the storage area where the ladder that had taken
up residence outside Mr. Cochran’s apartment used to be stored. The two of us
left the apartment and opened the door to the storage area. The ladder was
gone, but someone had left the dust behind. There was plenty of dust, but no
footprints. What someone had left, however, was marks made by a rope ladder.
Someone had used the rope ladder to get from the storage area to the roof
below. Even though I knew this, we continued our experiment. Heather secured
the ladder, tested it, then made her second descent of the day. Lou moved over
in case he was needed. Much like a relay, Heather touched down on the roof,
then began her ascent back to where I was. Again, no glitches, but when we removed
the ladder, it had again left a second mark behind.

We
joined Lou in Mrs. Higgins’ apartment and I filled Lou in on the test results
while Heather went to the bathroom to wash the bottom of her feet. When she
returned, I asked her the likelihood of most adults being able to use the rope
ladder.

“I
think most adults in fairly good condition could do what I did, just not as
fast.”

“I
don’t know if you noticed or not, but someone else had used the rope ladder to
descend to the roof. We just need to find out if that’s how the murderer got in
and out, because no one could have gotten in using the dumbwaiter or the
laundry chute, and as far as we know, the chain kept someone from entering
through the front door.”

“But
are you sure someone got in the apartment?”

“Not
to murder her, but later someone definitely did.”

“Well,
Cy, you are forgetting two other possibilities.”

“What
are they, Heather?”

“One,
someone could have come across the roof from the next apartment. Two, someone
could have come down the ladder over by the other apartment.”

“We’d
already thought of those possibilities. We just wanted to know if those were
the only ways someone could have gotten into the apartment.”

“Well,
I hope I’ve been some help to you, Cy.”

“Of
course you have. Besides, it’s always good to see you.”

We
walked Heather out, gave her a hug, and thanked her for all her help. Then we
turned around and trudged back inside the building, feeling a little defeated.
Anyone could have used the rope ladder to get inside the apartment. But I still
didn’t like the fact that all of the evidence was pointing to the apartment.
That scared me. It was like someone wanted us to forget all about breakfast, or
anything else outside of the apartment.

Lou
and I took a seat inside the apartment. This time I beat him to the punch.

“Well,
what do you think, Lou?”

“I
think Heather will be quite a catch for someone.”

“I
agree with you there, but what about the case?”

“Well,
it looks like it’s down to old man Cochran’s ladder, the rope ladder, someone
with a key, or the breakfast table. I guess that means we need to be looking
out in the parking lot.”

“Let’s
look at what we have, from the standpoint of this apartment. More than likely
the chain was on this door. Russell Cochran definitely had his chain on, so no
one could have gotten in that way, and Elaine Jewell was in her apartment,
keeping someone from getting in that way. It looks like someone either did it
at breakfast, or on the way to or from, that someone she trusted knocked on her
door when she returned, or returned with her, or that someone came down the
rope ladder. The problem with the rope ladder is that it seems someone would
have heard someone else climbing down the rope ladder.”

“But
I think that it’s just as likely that someone would have heard someone else
walking across the roof.”

“Are
you saying that it must have been done at breakfast?”

“Unless
the chain wasn’t on and someone with a key got in. We know who have keys. At
least we think we do.”

“Let’s
see. There are Margaret Draper, Wally Gentry, Margie  Washburn, Russell
Cochran, and Hilda Winters. Somehow I don’t think we’ve eliminated half of our
suspects. I think everyone is still an option.”

“Well,
I’ve ruled out Heather. I don’t think she was here in time to murder anyone.”

“Yeah,
as far as we know, she doesn’t have a key. We had to let her in. But we’re not
getting anywhere this way. Let’s try going all the way back to the beginning
last Friday and see if we can come up with anything that will help us put an
end to this mess.

“Let’s
start with the first day’s clue, “a farewell to arms.”

“You
mean you can remember the clues now, Cy?”

“No,
but I started taking notes. I’m not as young as I used to be. Anyway, looking
back on that, I’m sure all it means is that Mrs. Higgins died and she lived at
Parkway Arms. I don’t think there’s anything else to read into it. So, we came
out here and found Frank bending over the body.”

“You
think Frank did it?”

“Probably
not. He’s seen his share of dead bodies. So, anyway, we looked over the scene,
found a window unlocked, and found a half-eaten plate of food. We didn’t know
it at the time, but that food didn’t kill her. We questioned the manager, the
cook, and the handyman, found out everyone’s schedule, meal times, etc.
Everyone but Russell Cochran and Elaine Jewell ate breakfast in the dining
room, which is important because that was the time of day she died. All of the
residents except Cochran were gone for lunch, and only two of the staff ate
lunch in the dining room. The manager ate in her office, the two maids in their
apartments. None of that matters, because the woman was dead by then, and
because it was carpet shampooing day, the maids nor anyone else could go
anywhere near the dead woman’s apartment at lunch time or any other time until
4:00. Still, that has nothing to do with the murder, because, according to
Frank, Mrs. Higgins was dead by 9:30. That means she died before any of the
residents left the building, so no one has an alibi for the time of the murder.
Have I left anything out?”

“Not
that I can tell. I’m impressed, Cy.”

“So,
let’s move on to Saturday. Saturday’s clue of the day was ‘Ray Nitschke.” As
far as I call tell, all that was was a warning that I’d be trampled unto near
death by a linebacker maid. I guess that’s slightly better than the bulls at Pamplona. Only because there are more bulls at Pamplona than linebacker maids at Parkway
Arms. As far as looks are concerned, I can’t tell much difference between the
bulls and the linebacker maid, especially when they flare their nostrils.”

“You’re
just jealous, Cy.”

“No,
I think you are. You’re the one who wasn’t attacked by the brute of a woman.”

I
failed to add that it was good that it had been a man of more girth.

“But
back to our mission. On Saturday, we still didn’t know how the woman died, but
we talked to the two maids and five of the residents. One maid seemed to like
her, the other one didn’t know her well. As far as the residents are concerned,
one, Mr. Cochran, liked her very much, or so he says; one, Miss Winters, acted
like she was her best friend; one, Miss Jewell, seemed ambivalent about the
deceased; and the other two, Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Moberly, didn’t care for her. I
don’t think we need to read anything into this. Many times people aren’t
willing to share their true feelings, especially if one of those people is a
murderer.”

“And
I think one of the ten people we’ve talked to in the last week, Cy, is a
murderer. It’s just finding out which one it is.”

“And
that’s what we’re trying to do. I’m not here for a little R &R.”

“No,
you can get that at home, Cy.”

“Except
when someone in this town is foolish enough to commit murder, which is why
we’re here. So, let’s skip over the R & R of Sunday, and move on to Monday.
Monday’s clue of the day was “John Dickson Carr.” While that would’ve meant
nothing to us a few months ago, we now know that John Dickson  Carr  is  the 
author  who  was  best known for writing about people who were found murdered
in a locked room, a room where it seemed impossible for anyone to enter or
exit. What we have to decide is whether or not Mrs. Higgins was murdered in her
apartment. This case is a little different from other cases we’ve handled and
the ones Carr wrote about, because we know most anyone could’ve entered the
apartment, it’s just that they had to enter that apartment at a particular
time, or at least there were certain times when no one could enter because of
the wet carpet.

“But
Monday was also the day that Frank called us with the autopsy reports, and that
just got me to thinking about something I hadn’t thought about before. He said
that the poison took about thirty minutes to kill the woman. That means that
it’s highly unlikely that someone poisoned her before breakfast. If so, she
must’ve ingested the poison just before coming to breakfast. From what we can
ascertain, she spent approximately thirty minutes at breakfast, but it could’ve
been less. That means that either she was poisoned at breakfast, or someone
visited her apartment after she returned. I wonder if someone she trusted
stopped by her apartment and asked her to try something or other. If someone
did offer her something, it doesn’t mean that they had to sneak in and out
immediately, or that Mrs. Higgins didn’t have time to slide the chain back on
her door after he or she left. After all, it took the poison thirty minutes to
kill her. I wish we knew more.”

“I
understand what you mean, Cy. If we could figure out what poisoned her and where
she was poisoned, we’d have a better chance of figuring out who did it. Too bad
she wasn’t found until hours later. If she’d been found that morning, Frank
would’ve been able to narrow down her time of death a lot more.” 

“One
thing that has bothered me the whole time, Lou, is if she was murdered some
time around breakfast, and I believe Frank knows what he’s talking about when
he says she was, why did the murderer make another trip back to this apartment?
Surely doing that increased his or her chances of getting caught.”

“That’s
bothers me too, Cy, considering the situation. It wouldn’t have been quite as
bold if the carpet hadn’t been shampooed and the handyman wasn’t outside most
of the day. Supposedly, he was only inside for meals and necessary trips. He
could’ve caught someone coming down that ladder out of Mr. Cochran’s room any
other time, or the rope ladder from the apartment above hers, for that matter.”

“Of
course, we have only Wally’s word that he was outside most of the time, Lou.
Remember, the cook said she went out to see him one time and he wasn’t there.
He did come back shortly, but where was he at the time? And anyway, I’m not
convinced that he would’ve caught whoever it was. If he was working the flower
beds, he couldn’t have seen someone walk across the roof unless he moved away
from the building. Besides, Mrs. Higgins was already dead before he went
outside the first time.”

“You’re
right, because Wally helped the maids move the furniture before he ever got to
those flower beds.”

“Oh,
well! Maybe something will open up soon. We questioned the manager, the cook,
and the handyman again on Monday, but I can’t remember anything enlightening
that any of them had to say. I mean Margaret Draper said that Martha Carpenter
left the dining room to send up Russell Cochran’s food tray, but it wasn’t like
the cook denied doing it. And Wally Gentry said he was outside most of the day
and would’ve heard Cochran if he’d come down the ladder, unless he had come
down when Wally was inside eating lunch. Same with someone else and the rope
ladder.”

“The
old guy seemed pretty sick to me when we questioned him. I don’t think he had
anything to do with her death. I think he was sincere when he said that he
loved her.”

“I
agree with you, Lou, which leads me to my next point. Tuesday’s word from God
was ‘an oath,” and that’s one clue that I haven’t figured out yet. As far as I
can tell, it either has to mean that someone swore to us, or that someone told
the truth. Well, no one swore to us, and my guess is all but one of these
people could’ve told us the truth, so this clue baffles me. What about you,
Lou?”

“I’d
agree, Cy. I think it baffles you. I’ve been hanging around you for a long
time, and I think you’re telling the truth.”

“What
about when I tell you I’m thinking about taking you up to the roof over the
third floor and seeing if you can fly down to that roof below?”

“No,
the twitch of your moustache tells me that you’re lying this time.”

“I
don’t have a moustache.”

“See,
even you can’t tell when you’re lying.”

“Lou,
shut up, or you’ll hear an oath. Now, let’s move on. One thing that I remember,
after looking at my notes, is that some of these people were quick to alibi
other people. Wally said there was no way Russell Cochran could’ve come down
the ladder. Both maids said the other maid didn’t have an opportunity to enter
the dead woman’s apartment, and the third floor maid agreed with Wally, that
Russell Cochran couldn’t have done it.”

“But,
Cy, the residents didn’t seem as eager to alibi for each other as the staff did
to alibi for each other and some of the residents.”

“I
agree with you there. While none of them implicated anyone in particular, there
were references to someone walking by in the hall, someone leaning over the
dead woman at breakfast, or getting her something else to eat or drink. Still,
I don’t think any of this has gotten us anywhere so far, so lets’ carry on.

“We’re
up to Wednesday, yesterday, the day we ate all of our meals here. Yesterday’s
clue was ‘the rope, the lead pipe, and the candlestick.’ Since at no point
during the day did anyone ask us if we wanted to play a game of Clue, the only
thing I can think that those have in common is that they are all murder weapons
in the Clue game, so I’d think they were supposed to tell us something about
how the woman was murdered. They didn’t tell me, Lou. How about you?”

“Well,
we did find a rope of sorts, if you want to call the rope ladder a rope.”

“Okay,
I vote that we call it one. Motion carried. Now, is there anything else you’d
like to tell me?”

“Well,
Cy, I didn’t want to have to tell you, but I guess I must. Remember yesterday
when I left the breakfast table a couple of hours before you did. Well, on the
elevator one of the women asked me if I wanted to play a game of Clue. It was
only because of my brilliance, and my distaste for Colonel Mustard, that I was
able to solve the murder so quickly.”

“Lou,
did you ever hear that a person becomes a lot funnier just before he dies?”       

“No,
Cy, I didn’t, but I guess that bodes well for you. Looks like you’ll be around
a lot longer.”

“I
haven’t told you this, Lou, but I got a call from downtown. They asked me if
you were still pulling your weight. I had to tell them that you’d let me down
there lately. So, they asked me if I’d like a replacement. I told them I’d
think about it. Come to think of it, I think Heather might enjoy bringing
murderers to justice.

“And
another good thing about Heather. She probably eats more than you do, these
days.”

“Okay,
Cy. You win. I’ll buy you a Wii for your birthday.”

“Let’s
get back to yesterday, Lou, the day we ate three meals here.”

“I
ate three, Cy. I think someone said you ate six. I know Martha confided in me
that she had to go to the store three times yesterday.”

 “Oh,
Lou, eat your daily M & M. We’ve got a murder to solve. Now, even you, in
your delicate condition, can remember today’s clue, ‘Chutes and Ladders,’ only
today’s clue seemed to tell us how the murderer didn’t get in. Does that mean
that yesterday’s clue about the rope means nothing, either?