The Cradle Will Fall

soon.'

ON THE way home from the restaurant, Katie thought about the conversation she'd had with Edna Burns on her first visit to Dr. Highley. Edna was a bom listener. How much had Vangie told her? And how much did Edna know about Dr. Fukhito?

Katie pulled up in front of her house and decided not to put the car away yet. Suppose she phoned Edna and suggested driving over to see her? If Katie was any judge, Edna Burns would love a chance to have a cup of tea and gossip about Vangie Lewis.

Inside, Katie looked up Edna's number in the telephone book and quickly dialed it. The phone rang once and was picked up.

A man said, 'Yes.' The short word was delivered in a clipped, familiar voice. It belonged to Charley Nugent from the prosecutor's office.

'Charley? It's Katie. What are you doing in Edna's apartment?'

'She's dead. Fell-or was pushed-into the radiator. Split her head open.' His voice became a whisper. 'Get this, Katie. She was last seen alive around eight o'clock last night. A neighbor was with her. The neighbor heard her on the phone with Chris Lewis. Edna Burns told Lewis that she was going to talk to the police about Vangie's death. You better come right down.'

AFTER he finished a second Scotch, Highley went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He had told Hilda not to prepare anything for him tonight, but had given her a shopping list: lamb chops, fresh asparagus, and watercress for a salad.

Emotional exhaustion always compelled him to eat. After Winifred's death, he'd left her relatives and friends at the grave site, refusing invitations to join them for dinner. 'No. No. I need to be alone.' Then he'd driven to the Carlyle Hotel in New York. There he had requested a quiet table and ordered dinner. Halfway through the meal he looked up and saw Winifred's cousin, Glenn Nickerson, seated at a table across the room. He was dressed in the dark blue suit and black tie he'd worn to the funeral. It was obvious that he had followed Highley to the Carlyle. Nickerson had lifted his glass in a toast, a mocking smile on his face. He might as well have shouted, 'To the grieving widower.'

A week later Alan Levine, the doctor who'd treated Winifred, indignantly told him that Glenn Nickerson had asked to see Winifred's medical records. 'I told him that Winifred had developed classic angina symptoms. Even then, he had the gall to speak to the police. I had a call from a fellow in the prosecutor's office asking if a heart ailment could be induced. I told him that being alive today was enough to induce heart trouble. They backed off, said it was obviously a disinherited relative trying to cause problems.'

But you can induce heart trouble, Dr. Levine. You can prepare intimate little dinners for your dear wife. You can use her susceptibility to gastroenteritis to bring on attacks that register as heart seizures on her cardiogram. After enough of these, the lady has a fatal seizure. No one suggests an autopsy. And even if someone had, there would have been little risk.

But if they had thought to delve into Claire's death…

The chops were nearly cooked. He expertly seasoned the watercress, removed the asparagus from the steamer and took a half bottle of Beaujolais from the wine rack in the pantry.

He had just begun to eat when the phone rang. He hurried to the extension in the kitchen. 'Dr. Highley,' he said curtly. A sob sounded over the phone. 'Oh, Doctor, it's Gertrude Fitzgerald. I decided to go see Edna on my way home.'

He tightened his grip on the receiver.

'Doctor, Edna is dead. The police are here. She fell. Doctor, could you come right away? They're talking about performing an autopsy. She hated autopsies. She used to say how terrible it was to cut up dead people. Doctor, oh, please come here and convince them that she fell and that they don't have to cut her up.'

KATIE made a cup of tea and took it with her in the car. She'd planned to have tea with Edna. And now Edna was dead.

How could a person she'd met only once have made such an impression on her? In that one conversation they'd had, Edna had understood perfectly about John. She'd said, 'I know what it is to watch someone die. You want the misery to be over for them, but you don't want to let them go. When Mom and Dad died, all my friends said, 'Now you're free, Edna.' And I said, 'Free for what?' I bet you felt that way too.'

Edna had reassured her about Dr. Highley. 'You couldn't find a better doctor. That's why it makes me so mad when I hear him criticized. And those people who file malpractice suits! I could shoot them. I tell you, when a doctor loses a patient today, he has to worry. I guess nobody's supposed to die anymore.'

What had Charley meant by saying that Edna had phoned Chris Lewis last night? Was Charley suggesting that Edna might in some way have threatened him?

As she drove into the parking lot of Edna's apartment complex, she slowed down; a black medium-size car was pulling in ahead of her. The driver chose the first spot available on the right. Katie found a space directly behind the building, parked and got out of the car. Suddenly she heard footsteps and turned quickly. A figure loomed near her, a silhouette accentuated by the dim light from a solitary lamppost. 'Excuse me. I hope I didn't startle you.' The cultured voice had a faint English accent.

'Dr. Highley! Did my office call you?'

'Mrs. DeMaio. We didn't expect to see each other so soon and under such tragic circumstances, Here. Let's take this footpath around the building.' Lightly touching her elbow, he followed her on the path. 'Mrs. Fitzgerald called me. Evidently she was the one who found Edna.'

They were turning the corner to the front of the building when Richard appeared. She was very glad to see him. He grasped both her shoulders and pulled her to him. Then his hands dropped. 'Scott reached you?'

'No. I happened to call Edna myself. Oh, Richard, this is Dr. Edgar Highley.' The two men shook hands. Charley let them into the apartment. He said to Richard, 'We've got pictures, but I'd like you to have a look too.'

Katie was used to death. She often studied gory pictures of crime victims. But it was a different matter to see Edna crumpled against the radiator, to see the solid evidence of loneliness-the slices of canned ham, the empty cocktail glass.

Gertrude Fitzgerald was sitting on a couch, sobbing softly. Katie and Dr. Highley sat down beside her as Richard went into the dinette to examine the dead woman.

Gertrude tried to talk to them. 'Oh, Dr. Highley, Mrs. DeMaio, isn't this just terrible?' The words brought a fresh burst of sobs. 'She was always such fun. She always made me laugh. Maybe she had that little weakness, but she never bothered anyone with it. Oh, Dr. Highley, you'll miss her too.'

'I surely will, Mrs. Fitzgerald.'

'Doctor,' Gertrude blurted out, 'I told them you've been here, that you knew about Edna's little problem. It's just silly to say she didn't fall. Why would anyone want to hurt her?'

Dr. Highley looked at Katie. 'Edna suffered from sciatica, and a few times when she was laid up I dropped off work for her to do at home. On one occasion I came unexpectedly. It was then I realized that she had a drinking problem.'

Katie nodded, looking past him. Richard had completed examining the body. Getting up, she walked over to him and asked what he had found.

He shrugged. 'I'll have to see how bad the fracture is. Certainly it was a hell of a smash. But she might have stumbled when she tried to get up.'

'Any sign of forced entry?' Katie asked Charley.

'None. But you could spring these locks with a credit card. If she was as drunk as we think, anyone could have walked in.' 'What were you telling me on the phone about Chris Lewis?' 'The superintendent's wife-name's Gana Krupshak-was a buddy of Edna Burns. She was with Mrs. Fitzgerald when the body was found. We let her go to her own apartment just before you came. She's shook up bad. Anyhow, last night she came over here around eight o'clock. She said Edna already had a bag on. She stayed till eight thirty, then put out the ham, hoping Edna would eat something and sober up. Edna told her about Vangie's suicide. Then, when Mrs. Krupshak went into the kitchen, she heard Edna on the phone. She swears Edna called whoever she was talking to 'Captain Lewis,' and told him she had to talk to the police tomorrow. And get this. Krupshak swears she heard Edna give Lewis directions for driving here. Then Edna said something about Prince Charming.'

'Prince Charming?' Charley shrugged. 'Your guess is as good as mine.' Richard said, 'Obviously we'll treat