proved too great. I knew Skip was supposed to be in Pennsylvania on business, and Suzanne had told me she had a date with Jimmy Weeks that evening. You know, odd as it may seem, she really had quite a crush on him.”
“Was he in the house while you were there?”
Arnott shook his head. “No, the way they had arranged it, she was to drive to the shopping mall in Pearl River, leave her car there and join him in his limo. As I understood it, she was meeting Jimmy early that night. Obviously I was wrong. There were a few lights on downstairs when I got to Suzanne’s house, but that was normal. They came on automatically. From the back I could see that the windows of the master bedroom were wide open. It was child’s play to climb up, since the second-story roof of that very modern house slopes almost to the ground.”
“What time was that?”
“Precisely eight o’clock. I was on my way to a dinner party in Cresskill; one of the reasons for my long and successful career is that almost invariably I could furnish an impeccable set of witnesses as to my whereabouts on particular nights.”
“You went into the house…,” Geoff encouraged.
“Yes. There wasn’t a sound, so I assumed everyone was away as planned. I had no idea that Suzanne was still downstairs. I went through the sitting room of the suite, then into the bedroom and over to the night table. I’d only seen the picture frame in passing and had never been sure if it was a genuine Faberg’; obviously I had never wanted to seem too interested in it. I picked it up and was studying it when I heard Suzanne’s voice. She was shouting at someone. It was quite disconcerting.”
“What was she saying?”
“Something to the effect of ‘You gave them to me and they’re mine. Now get out. You bore me.’”
You gave them to me and they’re mine. The jewelry, Geoff thought. “So that must mean that Jimmy Weeks had changed plans and arranged to pick Suzanne up that night,” he reasoned.
“Oh, no. I heard a man shout, ‘I have to have them back,’ but it was much too refined a voice to have been Jimmy Weeks, and it certainly wasn’t poor Skip.” Arnott sighed. “At that point, I dropped the frame in my pocket, almost unconsciously. A dreadful copy as it turns out, but Suzanne’s picture has been a pleasure, so I have enjoyed having it. She was so entertaining. I do miss her.”
“You dropped the frame in your pocket,” Geoff prodded.
“And realized suddenly that someone was coming upstairs. I was in the bedroom, you remember, so I jumped into Suzanne’s closet and tried to hide behind her long gowns. I hadn’t closed the door completely.”
“Did you see who came?”
“No, not the face.”
“What did that person do?”
“Made straight for the jewelry case, picked among Suzanne’s baubles and took out something. Then, apparently not finding everything he wanted, he began going through all the drawers. He seemed rather frantic. After only a few minutes he either found what he was looking for or gave up. Fortunately he didn’t go through the closet. I waited as long as I could, and then, knowing that something was terribly wrong, I slipped downstairs. That’s when I saw her.”
“There was a lot of jewelry in that case. What did Suzanne’s killer take?”
“Given what I learned during the trial, I’m sure it must have been the flower and the bud… the antique diamond pin, you know. It really was a beautiful piece: one of a kind.”
“Did whoever it was that gave Suzanne that pin also give her the antique bracelet?”
“Oh, yes. In fact, I think he was probably trying to find the bracelet as well.”
“Do you know who gave Suzanne the bracelet and the pin?”
“Of course I know. Suzanne kept few secrets from me. Now mind you, I can’t swear he was the one in the house that night, but it does make sense, doesn’t it? So see what I mean? My testimony will help to deliver the real murderer. That’s why I should have some consideration, don’t you agree?”
“Mr. Arnott, who gave Suzanne the bracelet and pin?”
Arnott’s smile was amused. “You won’t believe me when I tell you.”
96
It took Kerry twenty-five minutes to drive to Old Tappan. Every turn of the wheel seemed interminable. Robin, brave little Robin, who always tried to hide how disappointed she was when Bob sloughed her off, who today had so successfully hidden how scared she was-it had finally become too much for her. I never should have left her with anyone else, Kerry thought. Even Jonathan and Grace.
Even Jonathan and Grace.
Jonathan had sounded so odd on the phone, Kerry thought.
From now on, I’ll take care of my baby, Kerry vowed.
The momma and the baby-there it was again, that phrase stuck in her mind.
She was entering Old Tappan. Only a few minutes more now.
Robin had seemed so pleased at the prospect of being with Grace and Jonathan and of going through the photo albums.
The photo albums.
Kerry was driving past the last house before reaching Jonathan’s. She was turning into the driveway. Almost unconsciously she realized that the sensor lights did not go on.
The photo albums.
The flower-and-bud pin.
She had seen it before.
On Grace.
Years ago, when Kerry first started to work for Jonathan. Grace used to wear her jewelry then. Many pictures in the album showed her wearing it. Grace had joked when Kerry admired that pin. She’d called it “the momma and the baby.”
Suzanne Reardon was wearing Grace’s pin in that newspaper picture! That must mean… Jonathan? Could he have given it to her?
She remembered now that Grace had told her that she had asked Jonathan to put all her jewelry in the safe- deposit box. “I can’t put it on without help, and I can’t get it off without help, and I would only worry about it if it were still in the house.”
I told Jonathan I was going in to see Dr. Smith, Kerry realized. Last night, after I came home, I told Jonathan I thought Smith would crack, she said to herself. Oh my God! He must have shot Smith.
Kerry stopped the car. She was in front of the handsome limestone residence. She pushed the driver’s-side door open and rushed up the steps.
Robin was with a murderer.
Kerry did not hear the faint pealing of the car telephone as she pressed her finger on the doorbell.
97
Geoff tried to phone Kerry at home. When there was no answer, he tried her car phone. Where was she? he wondered frantically. He as dialing Frank Green’s office when the guard led Arnott away.
“The prosecutor’s office is closed. If this is an emergency, dial…”
Geoff swore as he dialed the emergency number. Robin was staying with the Hoovers. Where was Kerry? Finally someone answered the emergency line.
“This is Geoff Dorso. I absolutely must reach Frank Green. It concerns a breaking murder case. Give me his home number.”
“I can tell you he’s not there. He was called out because of a murder in Oradell, sir.”
