hard. So Ruth took the pill, along with a few of her regular sleeping pills, and died. All the autopsy will show is an overdose of barbiturates.”
“Brilliant!” Jose exclaimed. “Not the kind of thing I could do myself, but it shows a certain warped intelligence.”
Shayne waited, his eyes on Hallam’s. Now he would see if the long night’s preparation had paid off. Hallam had to be forced to justify himself. The atmosphere was beginning to affect him. This was a room where a half dozen people had spent the night speaking the truth. His jaw muscles flickered.
Jose gave his idiotic half giggle. “His wife betrays him and he shoots the man. Naturally. But twenty-five years later! And a birth-control pill. Jesus God. Hallam, everybody always knew you were nothing but a twerp.”
Veins stood out on Hallam’s forehead. The unexpected mildness of Jose’s condemnation had an odd result. Some of his tension left him. His eyes had closed, but now he opened them and looked at Shayne mildly.
Jose said, “I always did like murder trials. I surely expect to enjoy this one because I’m going to be in it. I never would have thought of it without your inspiration, Shayne-you’re a wizard, man, I mean it-but I stayed late one night to catch up on my correspondence-no, to tell you the truth I had a date later-and I saw him.”
“Hallam?” Shayne said quietly.
“Who else? In the laboratory. With the pill mold.”
Hallam broke his connection with Shayne with a twitch. He looked at his son. His lips parted in a terrible drawn smile.
“Well, I’m sorry he stayed late. I’m sorry about Ruthie. She was better than everybody. If you want to be a literary man, Forbes, go ahead and be one. If you hate businessmen, you have no right to live off dividends. Do you understand? I didn’t change my will. Too many things to do. Offer Perkins eight million for his company. No more than eight. He has to accept. Don’t let the Despards-”
He whirled and broke for the terrace, moving fast. Shayne, who was nearest, reacted slowly. He collided with Perkins in the doorway, and Hallam was over the railing by the time the detective reached it.
Shayne swiped at him awkwardly with his hook, but missed. Hallam fell away, face up, arms and legs splayed outward, an expression of astonishment on his face. A girl screamed in the room. Shayne turned without waiting to see Hallam hit the concrete twelve floors below. Jose, rubbing his mouth, was watching him.
Shayne said, “Did you really see him in the lab?”
Jose snorted. “Don’t get high and mighty with me, Shayne. You know as well as I do you couldn’t get a conviction. You were a little slow there, I thought. I’ve seen you move, man. You move like a rattlesnake-when you want to.”
After a moment Shayne said heavily. “It’s been a hard night. Now it’s time for the cops.”
