started carrying on.”
“How interesting that no one seems particularly upset the man is dead.”
“Not really. A lot of people who end up murdered aren’t well liked.”
“I don’t suppose she happened to mention that she’d stabbed him in the back before he left her that morning.”
“No, but she did admit they had an argument.”
“What about?”
“The maid said Miss English wanted to go out to the theater or something, and Devries wouldn’t allow it. But that’s just what the maid said. They could’ve been fighting about anything.”
“Do you think the girl might have done it? Even by accident?”
“I don’t know. Maybe by accident, but I didn’t ask her outright. She would’ve just denied it, and I would’ve lost my chance to surprise her with it. I think the maid could’ve done it, but the thing is …” Malloy shifted, obviously uncomfortable.
Sarah straightened in her chair. “What?”
“I’m starting to think Devries was naked when he got stabbed.”
“Why do you think that?”
“The medical examiner noticed there are no holes in the clothes he was wearing when we found him dead at the club, so he wasn’t wearing them when he got stabbed.”
“He could have been wearing different clothes or …” Sarah tried to imagine some possible scenarios. “You said he spent the night with his mistress. He would have taken off his clothes then, to sleep if nothing else. He might’ve been wearing a nightshirt, and…Would he have taken the nightshirt home with him?”
“I’ve never kept a mistress myself, but I doubt a man would carry a bag of nightclothes and a change of underwear when he went back and forth between her place and his house.”
“No, you’re right, he’d keep clothes there. But what about the clothes he wore home from her place? They might have been different from the clothes he wore later in the day.”
“His valet couldn’t find anything at the house that had holes in it.”
“If he was undressed when he got stabbed, it must have happened at the mistress’s house, then.”
“Not necessarily. He also happened to be naked when he had an argument with his son and then later with his wife.”
Sarah watched Malloy’s face slowly growing red. No matter how many times they discussed things like this, Malloy still got embarrassed. Her medical training had hardened her to such things, and she sometimes wondered if Malloy thought her unfeminine because of it. “I’m guessing you didn’t discuss any of this with my mother either.” From the expression on his face, he didn’t think that was funny. “So, I can understand why a man might be undressed when with his wife, but how did it happen with his son as well?”
“Apparently, Devries and his wife don’t spend much time together anymore, dressed or not, so it was unusual for the wife, too. According to the valet, Devries came home and took a bath, as he usually did when returning from visiting Miss English.”
Sarah bit her tongue to keep from making a remark that might embarrass Malloy further and simply nodded.
“He was in his room, waiting for his breakfast tray to be brought up, when Paul came in.”
“Mr. Devries was waiting in his room without any clothes on?”
“No, he wore a robe, but at some time during his argument with Paul, he removed it. Paul said he did it to make him feel inferior.”
“How would removing his robe make Paul feel inferior?”
“That’s not something I’m going to explain to you, but it doesn’t matter anyway. I think Devries had another purpose in mind.”
“What?”
“Nothing I’m prepared to tell you about, and don’t bother pouting because it won’t work.”
“I’m not pouting!”
“So Devries was naked when Paul left the room.”
Sarah sighed. “What did they argue about?”
“Paul said Devries had been cruel to Garnet, and he was telling him to stop.”
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“Why not?”
“You told me Garnet wanted to divorce Paul, and we know they weren’t particularly happy together. Why would he care if his father was mean to her?”
Malloy leaned back in his chair. “That’s a good question. Maybe because of the baby.”
“I don’t think he knows about the baby. His mother certainly doesn’t. She actually told us Garnet is barren, so
“Then I’ll have to find out why he was so anxious to defend his wife.”
“Find out what the father was doing to her, too. Maybe he made Garnet mad enough to stab him.”
Malloy grinned at that image. “I’d rather put my money on Mrs. Devries.”
“Oh, yes, how did she happen to visit her husband, since you said they don’t spend much time together?”
“Paul went straight to her to complain about his father, and she went to see Devries herself. According to the valet, Devries was not a modest man, and he made no move to cover himself when she came in.”
“Oh, dear, I can just imagine her reaction.”
“Yeah, well, she probably didn’t stay long, but she was there, so I have to consider her.”
“She didn’t like him much, either, and she probably knows about the mistress, so she’d be mad about that, too.” Sarah shook her head. “I don’t suppose anyone else was in the room with them.”
“The valet claims he withdrew and didn’t see or hear a thing.”
“He might not have seen, but I’ll bet he heard plenty.”
“I’m sure he did, but he’s not going to talk, at least not yet.”
Sarah considered what Malloy had told her. “So both the wife and the son could have done it.”
“Yes, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t have any idea what they could’ve stabbed him with.”
“I thought it was a stiletto.”
“What would either of them be doing with a stiletto? Besides, Doc Haynes says it was thinner than that. Something like an ice pick.”
“An ice pick? Where would they have gotten an ice pick?”
“Just what I was wondering.” Malloy glanced around the kitchen and pointed to the top of her icebox. “There’s yours, right where it’s handy if you want to chip off some ice for something.”
“Or if I wanted to stab someone with it.”
“But it would only be handy for that if you wanted to stab somebody in the kitchen.”
“Oh, I see what you mean.”
“And while you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, I doubt Paul or his mother ever go there.”
“And if one of them had decided to murder Mr. Devries with an ice pick, they would have had to go down to the kitchen and get it without anybody noticing or wondering about it and carry it upstairs and …” She shook her head. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know.” Malloy sighed.
“What about the Italian man Mr. Devries was going to see?”
“Oh, yes, Mr. Angotti. He was interesting.”
“You met him?”
“Gino Donatelli made the introduction.”
Sarah smiled. “How is Gino doing?”
For some reason, Malloy frowned. “He’s still with the department, at least so far, but I don’t know how much longer that will last.”
“Are things very different now that Theodore is gone?” Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt had
