Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

'No.'

'Are you sure? Didn't your sister ever mention him?'

'No. I'm sure she didn't.'

'Mr. Wolfe and I know him very well. We do not believe he killed your sister. I don't say we know all about him. He may have had, he may have, some – uh – connections that we don't know about. I will even concede that he may have been the one who was paying the rent for your sister's apartment, and her other – You're shaking your head.'

'She didn't shake her head,' Fleming said.

'Sorry, I thought you did. Anyway, whether he was paying the rent or not, we do not believe he killed her, and that's why Mr. Wolfe sent me to see you. If they bring him to trial – you know what will happen. Everything they have found out about your sister will be on record. As you know, a jury is supposed to acquit a man if there's a reasonable doubt. We want to establish a reasonable doubt for the police so it won't get in a courtroom for a jury, and we thought you might help. You saw your sister fairly often, didn't you?'

'That's pretty clever,' Fleming said. 'But I must remind you that for my wife a trial of the right man might be just as bad as a trial of the wrong man. I don't agree with her, not at all, but Isabel was her sister.'

'No,' I said, 'I'm not being clever. All we need is a reasonable doubt. For instance, what if we can show the police that there's another man, or woman, who had a good motive? Or what if they learn that Isabel told someone – it could be your wife – that someone had threatened to kill her? If and if and if. For our purpose, Mr. Wolfe's and mine, it doesn't have to be strong enough to charge him and try him, just the doubt. But even if they nailed him, his trial might not be as bad, for your wife, as Orrie Cather's trial is sure to be. We know something about the line they think they have on Orrie.'

'What is it?'

'I can't tell you that. We got it in confidence.'

He was squinting at me. 'You know, Mr. Goodwin, I'm a mathematics teacher and I like problems. Since this is so close to us, though it's closer to my wife than to me, it isn't just a problem, but still my mind has the habit.' He put a hand on his wife's knee. 'You won't mind, dear, if I admit I would like to help with this problem. But I won't. I know how you feel. You do exactly what you want to do.'

'Fair enough,' I told him. And to her: 'You saw your sister often, didn't you?'

She had put her hand on top of his. 'Yes,' she said.

'Once or twice a week?'

'Yes. Nearly always we had dinner together on Saturday and went to a show or a movie. My husband plays chess Saturday evenings.'

'According to the newspaper, when you went there day before yesterday you got no answer to your ring and the superintendent let you in. Is that correct?'

'Yes.'

'That was an important moment, when you entered the bedroom. I don't want to jar you again, Mrs. Fleming, I truly don't, but it's important. What was your first thought when you saw your sister's dead body there on the floor?'

'I didn't – it wasn't a thought.'

'First there was the shock, of course. But when you saw the – when you realized she had been murdered, it would have been natural to have the thought He killed her or She killed her, something like that. That's why it's important; a first thought like that is often right. Who was the he or the she?'

'There wasn't any he or she. I didn't have any such thought.'

'Are you sure? At a time like that your mind jerks around.'

'I know it does, but I didn't have a thought such as that then or any other time, that he killed her or she killed her. I couldn't even try to guess who killed her. All I know is there mustn't be a trial.'

'There will be a trial, of Orrie Cather, unless we can find a way to stop it. Did your sister ever show you her diary?'

She frowned. 'She didn't keep a diary.'

'Yes, she did. The police have it. But since -'

'What does it say?'

'I don't know. I haven't seen it. Since -'

'She shouldn't have done that. That makes it worse. She didn't tell me. She must have kept it in that drawer she kept locked. Don't I have a right to it? Can't I make them give it to me?'

'Not now. You can later. If there's a trial it will be evidence. It's called an exhibit. Since you never saw it, we'll have to skip it. It looks pretty hopeless, because I don't know of anyone but you who can give me any information. Of course a good prospect would be the man who paid the rent for the apartment, and the car and the perfume and so on, but I don't know who he is. Do you?'

'No.'

'That surprises me. I thought you would. You were close with your sister, weren't you?'

'Certainly I was.'