up.
She went down three steps into the back room where she kept curtains and bedspreads, and snapped on another light. Off this room was her office, small but efficient. She opened the door and screamed.
'What are you doing here?' she said, heart knocking against her chest.
The last thing Ruth Cooper saw before he slit her throat was a glint of metal and his smile.
LOOKING BACK -50 YEARS AGO
The body of Dr. Peter Tuthill, the 68-year-old eccentric 'corn doctor,' was found on Saturday in a lonely wooded road near Mattituck. The beaten, bullet-ridden body was discovered in his antiquated old coupe. The old doctor was known to carry large sums of money on his person due to his distrust of banks. When found the body was stripped of $10,000 in cash, and the five revolvers which he carried were missing.
EIGHT
Phillip Nagle was a slight, dark man in his late thirties. A pointed nose and chin gave him a pinched look, as if he were in pain. His hair was thin and drifted over his forehead in separate strands. The glasses he wore were the aviator type, rose-tinted. Usually he dressed in finely tailored sports jackets and slacks, but on this day he was in worn jeans and a faded Ralph Lauren polo shirt. On his feet were worn Topsiders with no socks. He had a fairly successful insurance agency and had gotten himself elected to the Village Board the year before. Many people in Seaville called him a sleaze ball behind his back.
Colin sat across from the man, thinking he looked like a murderer and wondering why he'd never seen it before. Nagle hadn't said a word yet, but Colin was sure the guy was here to confess. He offered him a cigarette. Nagle took one with a shaking hand.
Colin settled back in his chair. 'So what about Gloria Danowski?'
'This is off the record, right?'
'Right.'
'I don't know how to start.'
'Did you kill her?'
Nagle's eyes widened behind the glasses. He looked like an owl. 'No. Hey, no. That's why I'm here. I don't want anybody thinking I did. I mean… see… shit!' He looked at his cigarette as if he didn't know how it had gotten into his hand, and put it in the black ashtray. 'Mind if I smoke a joint?'
'Yes.'
'Huh?'
'I mind if you smoke a joint.'
'How come?'
'I'm an old-fashioned guy. I don't like people smoking joints at my place of business.'
'What if I said I wanted a drink? You newspaper guys all drink. You wouldn't care if I wanted a drink, would you?'
'Yes.'
'No, you wouldn't, and it's the same thing.'
'Did you come here to debate the marijuana-liquor issue or do you want to tell me about Gloria Danowski?'
'Yeah, Gloria,' Nagle said, picking up the cigarette.
'Did you know her?'
Nagle nodded. 'I was fucking her.'
Colin knew Nagle was married and had three kids. 'Tell me about it.'
Nagle grinned stupidly. 'She gave good head.'
'Jesus. I didn't mean the sex, Nagle. I don't give a shit about that.' Colin pulled at his mustache, worked an end between his fingers. 'Tell me what you came in here to tell me, for Christ's sake.'
'Okay, okay. I thought you meant--I met her at Southampton College last fall. We were both taking a course in Advanced Accounting-she was thinking about going back to work. Anyway, we, you know, got to talking before and after class. I took her for a drink one night. She was a good-looking broad. Nice jugs.'
Colin hated guys who talked about women that way. 'Spare me the details, okay?' He wanted to bust Nagle in his weasel face.
'What's the matter, don't you like pussy?'
'I'm losing my patience, Nagle. Maybe you want me to call Chief Hallock, huh?'
'All right, all right.' He took a long drag of the cigarette, blew a stream of smoke in front of him. 'In the second semester we both pretend we're going to some class, but we don't. We start this thing. Every Tuesday night. I'd meet her in the parking lot, she'd leave her car, we'd go to a motel, fuck our brains out, then I'd take her back to her car. She'd go home, I'd go home. So everything goes along as usual, then about four weeks ago I read in the paper she disappeared. See, it was the night I'd seen her. The last I know I take her back to the car, we say goodnight. That's it. But sooner or later somebody's gonna remember we were real friendly in that class and maybe put two and two together, see?'
'What two and two?'
'That I knew her. That maybe I knew her pretty well. And then they're gonna be on my ass.'
'Did you see her drive off that night?'
'No. I saw her get in her car, but I left before she did. They found the car in the lot.'
'What do you think happened to her?'
'Beats me.'
'Did she ever mention anything to you about somebody hating her or wanting to kill her?'
'No.'
'How about her husband?'
'What about him?'
'What'd she say about him?'
'Not much. Just that he was a drag and couldn't get it up.'
'Did she ever say that her husband might suspect?'
'No.'
'Do you think he did?'
'How should I know?'
'Do you think he killed her?'
Nagle took some time, thinking what he should say. Colin knew the guy was weighing whether or not to put the finger on the husband.
'I don't know,' Nagle said.
'Did Gloria ever say that Danowski was violent?'
'No.'
'Did she have any other boyfriends?'
'She didn't need any,' he gloated.
'But did she have any?'
'No.'
'Not that you know of.'
'Right.'
'How about before you?'
'No. I was the first.'
'Are you sure?'
