Murder in the Library (17 page)

We’d been gone from
Johnson’s duplex only a few minutes when I had an epiphany. I felt so strongly
about the feeling I had, it could’ve come only from God. I think I scared Lou
when I yanked the wheel to one side and pulled over to the curb.

“Are you having a
chocolate attack, Cy?”

“No, Lou, I having an
inspiration so strong I feel we’re about to end this case.”

“You serious?”

“No, I just wanted to
see if you were paying attention to what I’m saying. Of course I’m serious. Hear
me out. I have an idea, an idea where I think we can bring our murderer to
justice in a matter of days. All we need is the cooperation of the Chief.”

“Well, he’s usually gone
along with what we’ve wanted to do.”

“I know, but this time
I’ll have to yank so many chains, there’ll be some angry people out there.
Plus, more than likely, I’ll need Judge Heller’s help.”

“You’ve gotten that
before, too. Cy, why don’t you just tell me what you have in mind?”

“Okay, Tonto. We have a
murderer, probably in disguise, since we haven’t run into anyone who looks like
the man in the picture. But what’s the one thing that no one is able to
disguise?”

“You’ve got me.”

“Come on, Lou. How long
you been a cop? What is the one way where we can identify someone?”

“Well, I can think of
three. There’s fingerprints, dental records, and DNA. How’d I do?”

“You did well, my
friend. I just needed to jiggle your brain. Here’s what we have right now. We
have all of our suspects in house, so to speak, except for two. I think we can
locate fingerprints for both of those two. I want to set the ball in motion. A
man spends time in a duplex. True, he might not have spent a lot of time there,
but I think he spent enough time there to leave some prints behind. I want to
get a crew to that duplex and see what we can find. I want to be there too, in
case we find something other than prints. Also, I want to call Sam. I want Sam
to get on the phone to Olive Grove, where that Bauerman girl lived, and see if
he can locate any of Carl Bauerman’s prints at that high school. Some schools
require prints. Some don’t. I also want Sam to see if he can find any of
Bauerman’s prints in New York, and do the same in California. I’m hoping that
somewhere he can find some of Bauerman’s prints. If he can find prints each
place, that’s even better. At least we’ll know if Bauerman was everywhere we
think he was. So, when Sam and our local print crew are finished, we should
have prints for our two missing men and live bodies of everyone else. Then, and
here’s where everyone will raise a stink, I want to round up all of our
suspects, corral our three witnesses, and yank everyone downtown and have a
lineup. To make things easier, I want a crew to make up each of our suspects
and dress them in an outfit like our long-haired guy wore when he murdered the
Colonel. So, now you have it? What do you think?”

“I think you've come up
with a fine way for us to be permanently retired. I just hope we don't lose our
pensions, but if we do, I’ve first dibs on Terloff's camping gear.”

“Now that we've heard
from the attorney for the defense, what does my friend Lou Murdock the cop
think? Oh, and if you should some day go camping, I want to find someone to
teach me how to use the Colonel's camera equipment. Now, once again, what do
you think?”

“Oh, I think that some
of our suspects will raise a ruckus when they have to go downtown and be part
of a lineup.”

“Suspects? I don't think
our witnesses will want to participate, either.”

“You mean because
they’re lying?”

“I mean because they’ll
say what they’ve said so far. Well, I didn’t get that good of a look, and I
wouldn’t want to cause any harm to an innocent person. Nobody’s gonna like
this, Lou. But something tells me that when all is said and done, you and I
will be on our way back to the Scene of the Crime, and I don’t mean the
Colonel’s house. I mean the bookstore.”

“What about a trial, Cy?
Won’t we have to testify?”

“I don’t think so, Lou.
I think we’ll be able to come up with strong enough evidence that our murderer
will confess.”

“So, do you think you
know who it is?”

“I don’t have a clue,
Lou. That’s the reason why I’m trying to bring this off. I think if we have a
cattle call and make everyone play a part, then we’ll get our murderer.”

“Who do you mean by
‘everyone?’”

“Everyone. Men and women.
I mean the widow, the granddaughters, the grandson-in-law, the boarder, the
maid, the handyman, the best friend, the man who threatened him who seems to
have gotten over it, the man who threatened him who doesn’t seem to have gotten
over it. I even mean the plumber, whom we haven’t even considered. And I plan
to have all three witnesses there; the next-door neighbor, the college student
who delivered pizza, and the old man on the next street who almost ran over
him. And if I could find them, I’d bring in the pest control tech and the actor
whose daughter died. Some of these people are going to be hot. Some of them are
going to be inconvenienced. But one of them is going to confess, if we do this
thing right. So, are you with me on this?”

“Right beside you.”

“Mind eating a late
lunch? I want to nibble on the Chief’s ear.”

“Remember, Cy, you got
some candy in your pocket.”

“Very funny. But since
you mentioned it, we might as well gather enough strength to bend the Chief’s
ear.”

“I thought you were
going to nibble on it.”

I ignored my friend and
partner and grabbed the Hershey bar in my pocket. I was so worked up I ate
three bites before we got to the station.

+++

“Okay, Cy, what’s so
important that you’re willing to miss lunch to tell me about it?”

“I don’t plan to miss
lunch, Chief. Just postpone it a little.”

“Just go ahead. I’m
missing my lunch, too.”

“So, it’s okay if I go
ahead?”

“How does Patrolman
Dekker sound?”

“Okay, Chief. I forgot. I’ve
a better sense of humor than you do. Here’s where we are. We have a photo
identifying the murderer, only no one we’ve met looks like the man in the
photo. So, we figure that someone donned a disguise.”

“I know all that, Cy.”

“There’s more. All of
our suspects are in town except for two. One of them, an actor, hasn’t been
seen in this area in over ten years, but he’s one of our strongest suspects.
The other one, a pest control tech, has skipped town, said he’s gone to be with
his ailing mother. The second guy has rented a duplex. Since I’ve never seen
him I want to get a warrant to search the duplex, see what we can find. I
suspect we’ll find prints if nothing else. In the end, I think those prints
will help us. I don’t want to go into detail, yet. Things need to fall into
place first. I want Sam to locate prints for our missing suspect, something I
think Sam will be able to do without too much trouble. Now, that’s the first
part.”

“I don’t see any problem
so far, only you might be able to save yourself time spent getting a warrant if
the landlord agrees to let us search the place. Now, what else do you have?”

“I want to bring
everyone in and put them in a lineup. We’ve got three witnesses who’ve seen our
murderer in his or her costume. I want our experts to make up and dress each of
our suspects in an outfit similar to what our murderer wore. I want to get
everyone’s prints, and if we get a match of the prints we already have, I want
Judge Heller to give us a warrant, while we hold our murderer to see if we can
come up with any evidence he or she might have hidden somewhere at home.”

“Are any of these people
liable to throw a fit?”

“I’d say most of them,
Chief. But I think if we do this the way I’ve mapped out, we’ll get a
confession that day.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then, I’m willing to
let things play out.”

“Are you sure about
that, Cy? Remember, we’re talking about your friend here.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong.
It’ll be hard. But I think it’s going to work. Just give me a chance, Chief.”

“Are we talking about
bringing in any important people?”

I ran down the list of
everyone I planned to bring in. The Chief seemed satisfied with it.

“Do you know how many
people it will take to make this happen, Cy?”

“A lot, but a solved
murder will make it worth it.”

“You really think you
have a shot at pulling this off, don’t you?”

“I do, Chief, but it
won’t work unless we involve everyone.”

“Okay, I’ll stick my
neck out. You’ve never failed us yet. Take whoever you want. There doesn’t seem
to be too much going on right now. How do you feel about talking to the owner
of that duplex first?”

“That’s fine, as long as
it’s a go if he or she says ‘no.’”

“I think I can handle
Judge Heller. It doesn’t seem like anything too outlandish.”

Lou and I shook hands
with the Chief, left to go to an abandoned phone to call Sam. Sam, like the two
of us, worked from his home, and he could usually be found.

“Sam, old buddy.”

“Oh-oh, I don’t like
your tone, Cy.”

“Guess where I am? At
the station.”

“Don’t tell me they’ve
finally arrested you?”

“No, I think we’re about
to break our murder case, but I need your help.”

“What do you need this
time?”

I told Sam about the
prints we needed, and the three places I wanted him to look to find them. He
seemed relieved that it wasn’t something worse.

“I’ll see what I can do,
Cy. I might have them this afternoon. I might not have them until tomorrow.
Either way, I’ll do what I can to get them for you.

“So, you think you’ve
about cracked this thing. Does that mean you won’t need my help any more?”

“I don’t know about any
more, and I’m not making any promises, but I’m feeling good about this, even
though all I’m holding right now is a pair of deuces.

“There is one other
thing I need right now. Look up in your records and give me the name and phone
number of whoever owns that duplex Tom Johnson lives in.”

I wasn’t going to ask
Sam where he kept his information. Then we’d get into a discussion about how
Lou and I should step out of the dark ages and get a computer. A few seconds
later, he gave me the information I needed, including an address, if I needed
to go there.

“Well, good luck, Cy.
I’ll get busy on this. Where will you be?”

“I’ll probably have to
get back to you, Sam. I’ve got to grab some lunch and then get to a house here
in town to see what we can find.”

“Never too busy to eat,
huh, Cy?”

“A man has to live.
Later, Sam.”

I called Margie Burton,
the woman who owned the duplex, found her at home, explained who I was, and
what I needed. I arranged to meet her there at 2:30. She was willing to let us in, as long as I could prove that I worked for the police department.

I hung up with only one
thing left to do. I ran downstairs to get a print crew lined up for the
afternoon. Things were in place. Our operation had begun. It was time to grab
something to eat and try to end the investigation.

We pulled Lightning behind
a large dark-colored sedan, the kind of car old people drive. I rechecked my
shirt for stains, cut the ignition, and stepped from the car. As we did so, a
short, stout, elderly woman stepped from the car in front of us.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t
show the duplex today. It’s not for rent, anyway.”

“I assume you’re Mrs.
Burton.”

“That’s right.”

“I’m Lt. Dekker with the
Hilldale Police Department. I talked to you earlier.”

“What’s the matter,
Lieutenant? Your real car break down?”

“I beg your pardon. This
is my real car.”

I was about to whip out
my credentials when the lab boys pulled up.

I waved at them, then
waved my credentials at a woman who thought I should drive a tank, just like
the rest of the department. She seemed satisfied, but I wondered how much of
her satisfaction had to do with my credentials, and how much had to do with the
other men who joined us, none of whom were in uniform.

“If you don’t mind,
Lieutenant, I’m going to let you in, then leave. I have another appointment.
I’ll show you how to lock up.”

I was surprised. I’d
already suspected Mrs. Burton as a woman who would stand with her nose as
closely to our work as possible. I’d misjudged her, just as she’d misjudged me.

“That’ll be fine, Mrs.
Burton. I’m not sure how long this’ll take. I won’t know until we get inside.”

Once inside, I wondered
why we were there. Johnson had removed just about everything from the duplex. I
could tell Mrs. Burton was surprised.

“Has Mr. Johnson given his
notice, Mrs. Burton?”

“No, as a matter of
fact, he’s paid through next month.”

She shook her head and
left. I waited until she did and then told the lab crew what we wanted. What we
wanted was anything that would help us learn more about Johnson, but we wanted
prints more than anything.

Lou and I wandered around,
touching nothing. As if there was anything to touch.

“Kept an immaculate
house, wouldn’t you say, Lou?”

“Impeccable.”

A quick sweep through
the four-room duplex told me there wasn’t enough stuff to have a garage sale. I
doubted if we could sweep up enough dust to make someone sneeze. Even an empty
house gathers dust. At least that’s what I had always heard.

Lou and I decided to
wait in the car until the lab boys finished. There were two slices of pie left.

If either neighbor was
home he, next door, and she, on the other side of the duplex, were keeping out
of sight. I remembered that the woman said she worked long hours, but Mr.
Simons, in the house next door, always seemed to be home. I checked the
driveway. His car was gone. At least we’d been able to find him when we needed
him.

Some time later, after a
thorough going over inside, three men emerged. One motioned to me. Lou and I
stepped from the car. We’d already removed any evidence of pie from the
premises, including our premises.

“Find anything?”

“Not much. It seems like
this joker didn’t want us to. We found two prints and three partials that he
missed. That’s all. Still, that should be enough to identify your bird.”

“Thanks. We’ll check in
later.”

+++

We were closer to Lou’s
place than mine. We went inside. I called Sam.

“Just got off the phone,
Cy. I should have what you want by in the morning. How’d it go where you were?”

“Ran into a cleaning
freak. Even did his best to clean his own prints.”

“Rather thoughtful of
him.”

“Yeah, but not
thoughtful enough. He missed a couple of places.”

“Well, that’s best for
all of us. Leaves the place clean, yet leaves us what we need.”

“Yeah, everything except
who he really is. I hope we’re able to know real soon. Say, Sam, would you
happen to know if we have any prints on file for Tom Johnson?”

“We have something on
file for a couple of Tom Johnson’s, but I’m not sure if either is your Tom
Johnson. Is that the guy whose prints you lifted?”

“It is. Maybe we’ll have
prints on file for three Tom Johnsons.”

I hung up from talking
to Sam, wondered what to do next. It was a little early to eat supper, yet
there wasn’t enough time for a nap.

+++

Lou and I went over the
case, discussed our suspects, and tried to see if we’d forgotten anything we
needed to do before bringing the case to a close. Of course, much of that
depended upon things falling into place the way I thought they would. I
wondered if I was losing my mind. Many said I already had. If so, this was
another move that would add to the evidence.

On the surface it seemed
ridiculous to proceed in the manner I proposed, without any idea who our
murderer was. But in another way, under the circumstances, it seemed like the
best way to proceed. Maybe we’d know more when we found out something about the
fingerprints, but I doubted if that alone would lead us to our murderer. My
guess was that the prints in the duplex, and those in Olive Grove, New York
City, and California wouldn’t be prints we’d have on file, prints of a
convicted felon, or a fugitive from justice. Still, in my way of thinking, the
more we knew, the less we still had to find out.

We hadn’t set a time yet
to round up the unusual suspects. We didn’t want to rush things. Our mass
roundup might seem like overkill, but something told me it was the best way to
proceed.

Lou knew me like a book,
and he knew never to interrupt me when I was deep in thought. I mulled over the
case and the steps I planned to take. When I’d convinced myself that more
thought would add nothing, I turned to Lou.

“Well, did you have time
to read a book while I was gathering my thoughts?”

“Is that what you were
doing, Cy? Why did it take you so long? Word around the department is that you
don’t have to travel far to gather your thoughts.”

“I know, Lou. Jealousy
is a terrible thing. One of thee days, I’ll retire for sure, and four people
can replace me.”

“What about me?”

“Oh, we can find someone
to replace you, too.”

“Very funny. Haven’t you
heard about us strong silent types?”

“Funny, I’ve never known
you to be strong or silent. You hide both well.”

+++

I deposited Lou in front
of his apartment building, watched him waddle up to his front door and headed
for home. I thought of hanging around and watching him do his exercises, but I
was in too much of a hurry to get home. There were no dogs waiting for me when
I arrived. No witches, vultures, or vermin anywhere in sight. Maybe I was about
to embark on a weekend I’d remember for some time.

I put on my slippers,
leaned back in my recliner, and cuddled up with Henrie O. Well, not in the physical
sense. As far as I could tell, Henrie O. had a few years on me. If I were going
to step out, I’d do so with a woman so young and beautiful that it’d make the
other guys in the department jealous. If only I could find someone young,
beautiful, and stupid. I smiled as I remembered things some friends had told
me, but refrained from looking up Blondes Dating Service in the phone book, nor
did I check any local sorority.