Siegel laughed nervously. ‘Gee, I can’t imagine being in any trouble.’ He shifted quickly from one foot to the next. ‘You want to sit down? You want a glass of tea, maybe something stronger?’
‘No, thanks.’
‘Okay,’ Siegel said. He thrust his hands deep into his trouser pockets. ‘So what’s this all about?’
‘You were given a traffic ticket last Sunday, is that right?’ Ben asked.
‘Yeah,’ Siegel said. ‘I’ve already put the check in the mail.’
‘It’s not about the ticket,’ Ben said.
Siegel looked at him, puzzled. ‘What is it then?’
‘Well, not long after you were given the ticket, a little girl was seen walking in the ballfield, and not longer after that, somebody killed her.’
Siegel drew in a long, slow breath. A little girl? Well, that neighborhood’s –’
‘A colored girl,’ Ben said. ‘Twelve years old.’
Siegel’s eyes grew tense. ‘My God, you don’t think I had anything to do with that?’
‘Not at all,’ Ben told him quickly. ‘But I was wondering if you might have seen anything.’
‘When?’
‘While the ticket was being written.’
Siegel thought about it for a moment. ‘I usually keep my eyes right on the road when I go through that part of town,’ he said. ‘Normally, I wouldn’t go through it at all, but I have a toy factory on the other side of that neighborhood, and so if I’m in a hurry I sometimes take a shortcut down Collins Avenue. It ends up taking me through there.’
‘Is that what you were doing on Sunday afternoon?’
‘That’s right.’
‘You were headed for your factory?’
‘Yes,’ Siegel said. ‘I got to it at around five-thirty. Lots of people can vouch for that.’
‘Were you speeding?’
Siegel shrugged. ‘I guess. Lots of people speed m that neighborhood.’
‘Do you know about what time you were pulled over?’
‘It was five-fifteen on the dot,’ Siegel said. ‘I know, because I glanced at my watch as soon as I stopped. I was hoping to get it over with as quickly as possible and then head on over to the factory.’
Ben nodded.
‘And I know exactly when I left, too,’ Siegel said. ‘Because I looked at my watch again.’ He smiled sheepishly. ‘I’m sort of time-conscious, if you know what I mean.’
‘What time did you leave?’
‘Five twenty-two,’ Siegel told him. ‘Which means that the whole thing just took seven minutes.’
‘Did you see a little girl around the ballfield while you were parked?’ Ben asked.
Siegel shook his head. ‘No, I don’t – ’ He stopped himself. ‘Wait a minute, now. Well, yeah, I think I did. Way across the field. In a swing.’
‘How about in the ballfield?’ Ben asked insistently, realizing that the girl in the swing was Ramona Davies. ‘Maybe walking toward the swing?’
‘No, just the girl in the swing,’ Siegel said. That’s the only little girl I saw.’
Ben pulled out the picture of Bluto. ‘How about this man,’ he said as he handed the photograph to Siegel. ‘Does he look familiar?’
Siegel stared at the picture for a moment, then shook his head. ‘No.’
‘He’s a real big guy,’ Ben said. ‘Did you see a real big guy standing off somewhere? Maybe in the distance?’
Siegel handed the picture back to Ben. ‘No.’
‘Just the girl then?’ Ben asked. ‘The one in the swing?’
‘That’s all,’ Siegel said. He smiled. ‘Except for those two cops.’ He laughed lightly. ‘They seemed like two real by-the-book types. One comes around one side of the car, one comes around the other, just like on
Ben nodded silently. ‘Well, that’s just following regulations.’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Siegel said. ‘Then why’d they just do it to me?’
‘What?’
‘Yeah. The next guy they pulled over, they didn’t do any of that stuff.’
‘Next guy?’
‘Right after me.’
‘They pulled over someone else?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Siegel said loudly. ‘Right as I pulled away, they went after another car. I was still putting all my papers back in my wallet and they were after another one.’
‘You saw this?’ Ben asked.
‘I wasn’t more than a few yards away,’ Siegel said. ‘It was just at the other end of that old ballfield.’
‘What’d you see?’
‘I saw them pull this big car over, and the two of them get out,’ Siegel said. ‘I was going real slow, sort of feeling burned, you know, and I was just heading on toward the factory, and these same two guys had pulled over another car.’
‘What were they doing?’
‘They were going up to it,’ Siegel said. ‘To the driver, I mean. Only it was different this time. I guess they decided to forget the by-the-book stuff.’
Ben nodded.
‘Anyway, they were both heading toward the driver’s side of the car, and when the tall one got to it, he just leaned right in.’
‘He leaned in?’
Siegel chuckled. ‘He couldn’t have leaned in any further if he’d been a guy trying to kiss a girl.’
‘The driver – did you see him?’
‘No, he was turned toward the cop,’ Siegel said. ‘I could just see the back of his head. All I can say is that he had gray hair.’
‘What about the car?’
‘Oh, it was a nice one,’ Siegel said. ‘A Lincoln. Dark blue. A real slick deal. It didn’t look like it belonged in that neighborhood.’
‘Did you see the car drive away?’ Ben asked.
‘No.’
‘Did you see anyone else in the car?’
‘No.’
‘Did you see anybody get out?’
‘No, not a soul,’ Siegel told him. He wiped his forehead. ‘You sure you don’t want something to drink?’
‘No, thanks,’ Ben said.
‘This car, the Lincoln,’ Ben said. ‘Did you see a little girl in it?’
‘No.’
‘She would have been in the backseat.’
Siegel thought for a moment, then shook his head. ‘I didn’t see anybody but the cops.’
‘And the driver,’ Ben reminded him.
‘Well, sort of,’ Siegel replied. ‘But the ones who really got a good look were those two cops. They saw him face to face.’
TWENTY-NINE
The day’s heat felt as if it had dissipated very little during the first few hours of the night, and before walking up the broad semicircular stairs to the Davenport house, Ben took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and neck. He could feel his shirt, wet and sticky, at the back, and as he took off his hat, he noticed that a dark line of
