happened, happened. Thank God that slob had left by the time I got back. Otherwise I would have been behind bars in Sioux City at this point.
K: How did you find out what had happened?
P: Roseanna. She always told the truth. I asked her why she had done it. She said, 'Now, Mary Jane, I
K: Would you still state that you and Miss McGraw were friends?
P: Yes, oddly enough. If Roseanna ever had a friend it was I. It was better after she moved and we didn't have to see each other day in and day out. When she first came here—from college—she was always alone. Her parents had just died in Denver at almost the same time. She didn't have any brothers or sisters or any other relatives or any friends. She was also short of money. There was something muddled about her inheritance and year after year went by without it being settled. Eventually she got the money, right after she took that apartment.
K: What was her character like?
P: I think that she suffered some kind of independence complex which had some unusual expression. One of her attitudes was to dress sloppily. She took a certain pride in looking horrible. At best she went around in slacks and a large, baggy sweater. It was hard for her to force herself to put on a dress to go to work. She had a lot of strange ideas. She almost never wore a bra and she needed to more than most of us. She hated to wear shoes. In general, she said she didn't like clothing. When she was at home she often ran around naked the entire day. She never wore a nightgown or pajamas. That irritated me terribly.
K: Was she messy?
P: Only with her appearance, but I am sure that was put on. She pretended that she never realized there were such things as cosmetics, hairdressers or nylon stockings. But with other things she was almost meticulous, above all with her books.
K: What kind of interests did she have?
P: She read a lot. Wrote a bit, but don't ask me what because I don't know. In the summer she was often out for hours. She said that she liked to walk. And then men. But she didn't have a lot of interests.
K: Was Miss McGraw an attractive woman?
P: Not at all. You ought to have understood that from what I've said. But she was man crazy and that goes a long way.
K: Did she have any steady man in her life?
P: When she moved out she did go around now and then with a man who worked for the Highway Department for a half a year. I met him a few times. Lord knows how often she cheated on
K: While you were living together, did she often bring men to the apartment?
P: Yes.
K: What do you mean by often?
P: What do
K: Did it happen several times a week?
P: Oh, no, there had to be some moderation.
K: How often did it happen? Answer!
P: Don't use that tone of voice.
K: I'll use any tone of voice I want to. How often did she bring men home to the apartment?
P: Once or twice a month.
K: Was it always different men?
P: I don't know. I didn't always see them. As a matter of fact I usually didn't see them. At times she kept pretty much to herself. Often she had people there when I was out dancing or someplace.
K: Didn't Miss McGraw go out with you?
P: Never. I don't even know if she could dance.
K: Can you give me the names of any of the men she went around with?
P: There was a German student whom we met at the library. I introduced them. I remember his name was Milden-berger. Uli Milden-berger. She brought him home three or four times.
K: During how long a period?
P: A month, possibly five weeks. But he telephoned her every day, and between times they certainly met somewhere else. He lived here in Lincoln for several years but went back to Europe last spring.
K: What did he look like?
P: Handsome. Tall, blond and broad-shouldered.
K: Did you have intimate relations with this Mildenberger?
P: What the hell business is that of yours?
K: How many different men do you think she brought home during the time you lived together?
P: Oh, six or seven.
K: Was Miss McGraw attracted to a certain type of man?
P: In this instance she was perfectly normal. She wanted to have good looking guys. The kind that at least looked like men.
K: What do you know about her trip?
P: Only that she had been planning it for a long time. She wanted to take the boat over and then travel around Europe for a month and see as much as possible. Then she thought she might stay in one place for the rest of the time, in Paris or Rome or someplace. Why are you asking about all this anyway? The police over there shot the man that murdered her.
K: That information was unfortunately incorrect. Due to a misunderstanding.
P: May I finally go now? , I actually have work to do.
K: How did you react when you learned what had happened to Miss McGraw?
P: At first it was a real shock but I wasn't terribly surprised.
K: Why not?
P: And you ask that? After you know how she lived?
K: That will be all now. Goodbye Miss Peterson.
P: And you won't forget what you've promised?
K: I haven't promised anything. You can shut off the tape recorder now, Jack.'
Martin Beck swung back in his chair, put his left hand to his mouth and bit on the knuckle of his index finger. Then he took the last remaining paper that he had received from Lincoln, Nebraska, and read through Kafka's explanation absentmindedly.
'Roseanna Beatrice McGraw. Born, May 18, 1937 in Denver, Colorado. Father, small-scale farmer. The farm was about twenty miles from Denver. Education: college in Denver and three years at the University of Colorado. Both parents died in the fall of 1960. Inheritance, about $20,000, paid out in July, 1962. Miss McGraw has not left a will and as far as one knows has no heirs.
'As far as the reliability of the witnesses: my impression was that in some way Mary Jane Peterson altered reality and that she held back certain details, obviously ones that might be disadvantageous to her. I have had a chance to check out Mulvaney's testimony on several points. The statement that R. McG. had only met one other man during the period from November 1962 to July 1963 seems to be correct. I got this from some kind of diary that I found in her apartment. The date was March 22 and the man's initials are U. M. (Uli Mildenberger?) She always made a note of her relationships in the same way, a sort of code with the date and the initials. I have not been able to find any untruths or direct lies in Mulvaney's story.
'Regarding the witnesses: Mulvaney is about 6 feet 2 inches tall, quite strong, blue eyed and has dark blond hair. Seems straightforward but a little naive. Mary Jane Peterson is quite a girl, attractive, stylishly dressed, strikingly slender and well developed. Neither of them have a police record, other than the ridiculous story about the trouble in the girls' apartment in 1962.
(signed)'
Martin Beck put on his jacket and set the lock on the door. Then he went back to his desk. He spread Kafka's papers out in front of him and sat completely still with his elbows on the desk arid his forehead in his hands.
