Part 21 (1/2)
”Exhibitionism.”
Reardon nodded.
”Some people are exhibitionists and some people are voyeurs,” Cardan said.
”What's the point?” Reardon asked. He could guess that it was going to get pretty squalid now, and he wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. Such testimony always made him feel as if he was leaning over window sills into darkened bedrooms.
”Well,” Cardan said, ”some people in this city like to enjoy the a well, you might call them a you might call them performances. They enjoy seeing various s.e.xual acts performed in front of them.” Cardan smiled what Reardon took to be an ugly, leering smile.
”What does that have to do with murder?” Reardon asked.
”I don't believe it has anything whatsoever to do with murder.”
”Did Karen Ortovsky and Lee McDonald give s.e.xual performances?”
”Yes. They were not prost.i.tutes, you must understand. They performed only with each other.”
”For money?”
Cardan smiled. ”For a great deal of money.”
Reardon said nothing, letting his silence draw Cardan on.
”The point is,” Cardan continued hesitantly, ”I sometimes acted as their agent.”
”For whom?”
”For certain people who desired their services.”
From the way he talked, Reardon thought, you might have taken Cardan for a jewelry clerk at Tiffany's. ”Wealthy people?” Reardon asked.
”Very wealthy people,” Cardan replied. ”Not the usual p.o.r.no crowd.”
Reardon did not understand the distinction. ”Go on,” he said.
”Simply this,” Cardan said. ”It will not be hard for the police a.s.signed to the case to a.s.sociate me with Miss Ortovsky and Miss McDonald. I knew them very well. I know a lot of people very well. But I could not have had anything to do with their murder. I was very saddened by it, as a matter of fact. But I was in California when it happened.”
”Who did you arrange these performances for?”
”That's confidential.”
”This is a murder case,” Reardon said. ”Nothing is confidential.”
”I can a.s.sure you personally that none of my clients could possibly have had anything to do with the murders.”
”You arranged for Karen Ortovsky and Lee McDonald to perform s.e.xually for money, is that right?”
”I have already said that,” Cardan said.
”You're under arrest.”
Cardan was thunderstruck. His eyes widened in frenzied disbelief. ”What!”
”You have a right to remain silent,” Reardon began.
”You can't do that,” Cardan exclaimed, his whole body trembling.
”Who are your clients?”
”No! I can't tell you that!”
”You have a right to an attorney,” Reardon began again, his voice growing louder.
Cardan's eyes filled with tears. ”That will ruin me,” he pleaded. ”For G.o.d's sake, I'm an attorney.”
”Who are your clients?” Reardon asked again.
”Please! Please!” Cardan sputtered.
Reardon stopped. ”Who are your clients?” he asked menacingly.
Breathlessly Cardan replied, ”No more than ten or twelve people, that's all.”
”I want them all,” Reardon said.
Cardan frantically pulled a notebook from his coat pocket and began scribbling down the names. When he had finished he tore out the page and handed it to Reardon. ”Here,” he said.
Reardon grabbed the paper from his hand and looked at it. ”This had better be all of them.”
”It is,” Cardan a.s.sured him, unnecessarily straightening his tie.
”If I find out that you left anybody off this list, I'll break your a.s.s,” Reardon said. ”I'll hang you out to dry, do you understand what I'm telling you?”
”No one is left off,” Cardan said. ”You have my word.”
”You may be hearing from me again,” Reardon said, ”after each of these people has been contacted.”
”Wait!” Cardan exclaimed. ”You can't contact them!”
Reardon began to walk away.
Cardan grabbed Reardon's arm and forcefully pulled him around. ”You have to keep this in confidence. You said this would be in confidence!”
Reardon grabbed Cardan by his collar and pulled his face close to his own. ”Sue me!” he said angrily, and threw Cardan backward with such force that the man stumbled to the ground.
As Reardon walked back across the Sheep Meadow he looked at the list Phillip Cardan had given him. One name gaped before him like a b.l.o.o.d.y mouth: Wallace Van Allen.
”Wallace Van Allen? Are you crazy?” Mathesson said in a voice so loud that several people in the precinct house turned toward him.
Reardon waited for the people in the precinct house to return their attention to whatever they had been doing before Mathesson's outburst. Then he handed Mathesson the list Cardan had given him.