Part 9 (1/2)
”Indeed, yes. The information about our fellow guests was invaluable. Soda?”
”Thanks,” Wendell said, ignoring the gla.s.s in order to drink directly from the can. A good man, with a pure heart, but sadly lacking in the niceties at times, which was a pity. ”Maggie, I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner but, um, I'm working a new case. Two of them, actually-I just got handed a second one this morning. You know how it is.”
”Oh, that's fine,” Maggie said quickly, then too quickly added, ”I mean, I was disappointed not to see you when I first got back but, um, well, you're here, right?” This time when she looked at Saint Just her expression bordered on pleading. Poor thing. She was so good with words on a page; the delightful turn of phrase, the quick comeback, the witty banter. But put her into a real-life situation where those same things are needed, and she quickly folded herself into a ma.s.s of insecurities.
How he adored her.
Saint Just sat down on the couch beside her, patting her hand as he told Wendell that the reason Sterling wasn't here to greet him was that he had become a Santa for Santas for Silver. ”He's quite enthused about the thing. Have you by any chance heard of this organization, Wendell?”
”No, can't say I have. But they're a dime a dozen this time of year. Tell Sterling I said hi, okay?” Then he s.h.i.+fted slightly on the chair and looked to Maggie once more. ”This case I've just been a.s.signed to?” he began, sparing a moment to look at Saint Just as if to say Yes, and it's all your fault, d.a.m.n you.
”A murder case?” Maggie asked, clearly happy to be on ground that was not at all personal. If she only knew ...
”Yes, Maggie, and I'm wondering if maybe you knew the victim, since you're both writers.”
”Oh, Steve,” Maggie said, ”this is New York, remember? You can't walk ten feet in any direction without tripping over somebody who tells you he or she is a writer. Just like all the waiters in this town are actors.”
”But you might know this one, Maggie. He wrote for Toland Books.”
”Francis Oakes?” she asked, leaning forward on the couch. ”Really? Bernie told me he'd died, but the papers reported it as a suspected suicide. Is it Francis? No. Who'd want to kill him? The guy was about as threatening as-as Woody Allen.”
Saint Just, who had been sipping from his gla.s.s, coughed and sputtered as politely as possible, earning himself a few slaps on the back from Maggie, who clearly believed his difficulty to be a distraction.
”Was it Francis, Steve?” she asked again.
”You all right, Blakely?” Wendell asked, and Saint Just could hear the amus.e.m.e.nt in the man's voice.
”Fine as ninepence, left-tenant, thank you. But you fascinate us with this story, although you've said very little so far, haven't you? Please, do go on. I a.s.sure you, we're hanging on your every word.”
”I'll just bet you are.” Wendell got up and began pacing the carpet. ”Here's the deal, Maggie. Yes, the vic is Francis Oakes. At first look the primary believed the guy hanged himself. You know, living in an attic, no money, no prospects-all that stuff. Oh, and his lover had just broken off with him a couple of weeks before he died. Top that off with the fact that we all know how many suicides there are around the holidays, and for a while Oakes looked like just one more unhappy schmuck who didn't want to face another new year.”
”Poor guy, that's so sad. But it wasn't suicide? The first officers on the scene didn't get that? Francis would have left a note, if he'd committed suicide. He was a writer. He had to have left a note. That would be like an astronaut leaving earth without his s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Well, something like that. Alex, didn't we say that about Sam Underwood? That he hadn't left a note, and writers would always leave a note? Hanging. Man, there's a lot of that going around, isn't there? Oh, sorry, Steve. I won't interrupt again, I promise.”
”That's okay. But that was one of the things that stood out, Maggie, yeah. No note. Still, that isn't all that unusual. Some people decide something at the last minute, and then act on it before they can chicken out, you know? But there was something there, some kind of sicko poem from somebody who sent the guy a dead rat.”
”A dead rat?” Maggie s.h.i.+vered. ”That's just plain creepy.”
Saint Just already knew this part, because Wendell had already told him about the poem, the rat. Yet, at that time, the police had still believed Oakes had committed suicide, that the poem and rat had been the proverbial straw that broke his writer's back. Wendell may consider what Saint Just had done as meddling, but it would appear that meddling had at least b.u.mped the incompetent detective from the case and had him replaced with the much more competent lieutenant.
Which didn't mean Saint Just couldn't have a little fun at the man's expense. ”This is all very interesting, Wendell. Could you tell us what prompted Oakes's COD to be readjusted to homicide?”
”Would you listen to him?” Wendell said to Maggie, shaking his head. ”COD-cause of death. Everybody's into the lingo these days.” He turned to Saint Just. ”MOD, in case you're wondering-manner of death-is still asphyxiation by hanging. But we found a lot of pre-mortem bruises at post, indicating that maybe the guy may have had a little help taking that final leap. Can we get on with this now?”
”Yeah, sure,” Maggie said, giving Saint Just a quick slap on the knee. ”Stop interrupting, Alex. Tell us about the poem, Steve.”
”I don't have a copy with me, Maggie. It was just four lines-maybe from a nursery rhyme? But the last two lines didn't rhyme, even though they easily could have, you know? The last lines referred to the dead rat, and hinted that Oakes could be just as dead.”
Maggie hugged herself. ”I'm trying to imagine opening a package and having a dead rat fall out on your lap. Poor Francis. A big, ugly, smelly rat. With those pointy teeth and that long skinny tail. Blecch!”
” Yes, thank you for that image, my dear. But let's try to concentrate on poor departed Francis, all right?”
”I know,” Maggie told Saint Just. ”But I was just thinking. We're afraid of rats because they're dirty, and ugly, right? But then there's the name-rat. That couldn't help, right? I s.h.i.+ver just at the word. I mean, what if they'd been called puppies? Would we still think they were ugly, with such a cute name, or would we think puppies was an ugly name? Think about it. How effective would it have been in that old movie, if James Cagney had said 'You puppy, you dirty puppy!' Nothing. It would have been a big nothing.”
”Is this going anywhere, Maggie?” Wendell asked, earning himself a smile from Saint Just.
”No. But one more, okay? Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So he'd probably think a rat was ugly even if we started calling them puppies, right? Oh, and the other way around-puppies would be cute even if we called them rats, right? Have we talked about this before? It all seems so familiar. Maybe last month? No, I don't think so. Well, maybe. Must have been another reference to Shakespeare. Jeez, a dead rat ...”
Saint Just smiled in real amus.e.m.e.nt. ”She goes on like this from time to time, Wendell. Endearing trait, don't you think?”
”Uh ...”
Maggie's cheeks colored adorably. ”I'm sorry, Steve. So the rat and the poem, right? They weren't connected with the murder, is that what you're saying? They were just a coincidence?”
”That's what we're not sure of,” Wendell admitted, sitting down once more. ”The threat-the poem was definitely a threat-might have been quickly followed by the murder. Except for one thing. If you got a dead rat in the mail, wouldn't you immediately get it the h.e.l.l out of your apartment? So we started thinking maybe the killer brought it with him, although we can't think of any reason to do that.”
”Are there fingerprints on the box, the wrappings?” Saint Just asked.
”No, it came back clean, which sent up another red flag. d.a.m.n shows on TV make people believe this stuff is checked in ten minutes, but it takes days. And who said the rat was in a box, Blakely?”
”Forgive me, left-tenant,” Saint Just said without missing a beat. ”I am guilty of an a.s.sumption there, aren't I? I considered the logistics of the thing, if the rat had been delivered via the post. You did say it was sent, correct? I suppose it could just as well have been delivered via messenger. But consider the possibilities, if you please. A dead rat, in a bag, even a st.u.r.dy bag? The shape and feel alone might easily have alerted someone, not to mention the biological laws of decomposition that could have-”
”Okay, thanks Alex, we got it,” Maggie broke in, making a face. ”Satisfied, Steve? Because he could go on if we let him. I'm not the only one who does that.”
Wendell nodded, then said, ”Where was I?”
”Mired in questions with, to this point, no answers,” Saint Just supplied helpfully. ”What a shame the trail of clues had been left to grow cold while the authorities labored under a misconception. You did say you were only very recently a.s.signed to the case, didn't you, Wendell? I believe Bernice mentioned Mr. Oakes's sad demise had occurred last week. Heaven only knows how the scene may have been corrupted, isn't that right? Civilians tripping in and out of the deceased's apartment, disturbing valuable crime-scene evidence unless, of course, they were very careful, which the police, it would seem, were not. Yes, yes. A pity. Is it truth or fiction that any homicide that remains unsolved after forty-eight hours is often never solved at all?”
”Would you stop already?” Maggie whispered fiercely from between gritted teeth before she got to her feet and approached Wendell. ”I'm so sorry, Steve. What can we, um, I do to help?”
”Probably nothing much,” Wendell said, looking over her head to where Saint Just, being a gentleman, had also gotten to his feet and was now smiling most benevolently at the lieutenant. ”We're looking for any background information on Oakes. His boyfriend wasn't a lot of help there, at least no farther back than the last two years. What do you remember about him?”
”Not a lot, actually. Toland Books is a small house, and the writers who live in the area do get to meet once in a while-at Christmas parties, dinners during semiannual sales meetings, stuff like that. I sat next to Francis one time, at one of those dinners. He was already pretty much on his way out, I'm afraid. I was ... I was sort of dating Kirk at the time, and he was Francis's editor, and he told me he'd turned down his last couple of proposals. So that was what-three years ago? Oh, wait, I do remember something, Steve. Francis had only moved to New York about two years or so before that, from somewhere in the Midwest. I think he was hoping for big things, but nothing ever really panned out. But that's it, that's all I've got, sorry. Maybe Bernie can help.”
There was a beep on the intercom and Maggie walked over to press the b.u.t.ton, to have Socks tell her that J.P. Boxer was on the way up.
”That's my cue to leave,” Steve said, grabbing his coat that he had draped over the back of the desk chair. J.P. Boxer was a former cop turned defense attorney-meaning she'd gone over to the enemy. Wendell liked her, and J.P. considered him to be a good cop, but that didn't mean they exchanged Christmas cards. ”Look, we're not making a lot of noise about this, not wanting to have the press start making up names for some CUNY serial killer or something. They break soon for the holidays anyway, and in the meantime there's a big police presence in the area, just not so you'd notice. They'll be on the lookout for anybody who doesn't look like he belongs in the neighborhood, stuff like that.”
”We'll be as close as oysters, Wendell,” Saint Just promised, taking the man's hint to not return to Oakes's apartment, because he would be seen.
”Yeah, right. Oysters. Who says stuff like that? A clam, Blakely-quiet as a clam. And I'll check with Bernie, Maggie. She was actually my next stop. Blakely? Can I see you outside for a moment?”
Saint Just prudently ignored Maggie's curious look and joined the lieutenant in the hallway.
”I'll make this fast, since J.P.'s on her way up-what don't I know? What aren't you telling me?”
”I don't understand, left-tenant. It's just as I said. I was inquiring about Oakes because of Maggie.” Saint Just complimented himself quietly, as he had told Wendell the exact truth-in a way.