Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue (15 page)

“That is funny. What did she say when she found out Pollock's safe was empty? Or did you tell her you have the money?”

“I didn't tell her any of that. I asked Mrs. Decker to meet her at her house and break the news to her, so she'll tell us what happened this afternoon. Gino, Una isn't as . . . as nice as we thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she was mean to her mother after the poor woman got her bailed out of jail, and she wasn't very nice to me when she found out I had all her belongings.”

“Maybe she was out of sorts from being in jail. The Tombs isn't the nicest place to start with, and now there's all that construction noise going on . . .”

“I tried to make excuses for her, too, but . . . Well, even Mrs. Malloy said she was a sly one.”

“Mrs. Malloy doesn't like anybody.”

“That's not true. She likes me and Mrs. Brandt—”

“She's Mrs. Malloy now.”

“Mrs. Frank Malloy,” she corrected herself, “and Brian and Catherine, and she adores you.”

“She does not!”

“Of course she does. Why do you think she tries to feed you every time you walk in the door?”

Gino had no answer for that. Women were always trying to feed him. He'd never thought of it as a sign of adoration.

“Anyway,” Maeve said, “Una wasn't nice to me or her mother today, for whatever reason. She also told me she doesn't need a detective agency, even though Nicholson told her the only way to avoid a trial is to find out who really killed her husband.”

“So are we going to quit?”

“Una didn't hire us. Her mother did, so until Mrs. O'Neill fires us, I say we keep on working. Even if she isn't nice, Una shouldn't go to prison if she's innocent. Did you find out anything interesting last night?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the list of names he'd copied from the ledger. “I got addresses for all the men who invested in the Panama deal.”

“That's wonderful!” she said. “Where did you find them?”

He told her about spending the night in Pollock's bedroom.

“I should've thought to search it when I was there,” Maeve said, “but the maid was with me the whole time. Do you know Una warned me that she'd better find all her belongings in the trunk, as if I'd steal something from her?”

“No wonder you don't like her.”

She seemed pleased by that, although he couldn't be sure in the dark. “What else did you find out?”

“I found out Yorke really was at Pollock's house the morning he was killed. The maid Hattie told me.”

“And Una remembered that, too.”

“You mean she remembered what happened? Did she say who killed Pollock?”

“She still claims she doesn't remember what happened to Pollock, but at least we know for sure that Yorke was there that morning.”

He told her about his conversation with Broghan and the maids' descriptions of the murder weapon, and by then they were at the Decker house.

The maid took them right up to the Deckers' family parlor. Mr. Decker offered Gino a whiskey, which he accepted, and Maeve a sherry, which she declined.

When they were settled, Mr. Decker handed Gino a section of newspaper. “I happened to see this just now.” He pointed to a small headline on page three of the
World
: “Widow Released on Bond.”

As Gino scanned it, Maeve leaned over to read it, too. It said little beyond the fact that Una had been charged with murdering her husband, but they all knew what it meant.

“The reporters will be beating down her door tomorrow,” Gino said.

“And all the people who invested in Pollock's railroad scheme will know he's dead,” Maeve said.

Mrs. Decker said, “Then we need to make plans. Dinner will be ready shortly, so why don't we start sharing the information we have? Perhaps we should share it in the order in which we received it. That means, Gino, you go first, then Maeve, and then us.”

Gino didn't like being the center of attention, but he told them about meeting the Pollocks' servants.

“What did you think of the boy, Eddie?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“He's moony over Mrs. Pollock.”

Maeve made a disgusted noise, and Gino bit back a grin.

“You're right,” Mrs. Decker said. “She encourages it, too.”

“Does she?” he asked with interest. “I guess he'll never say a bad thing about her, then.”

“Or tell anyone if she killed Pollock,” Maeve said.

The Deckers gaped at her in surprise.

“Do you really think she did?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“Maeve doesn't like her,” Gino said.

“Neither does Elizabeth,” Mr. Decker confided, earning a swat from his wife.

“I can't wait to meet her,” Gino confided back, earning a glare from Maeve, which heartened him to no end.

“Tell them about the list,” Maeve said, sounding a little testy.

Gino explained how he'd toured the house and then searched the master bedroom. “I wrote down all the addresses for the men on our list. Those were the only names in the book except for Truett, so I wrote down his address, too.”

He pulled out the list and handed it to Mr. Decker.

“We already have Mr. Truett's address,” Mrs. Decker said. “He tried to get into the Pollock house, so the servants sent him here.”

“What did he want?”

The Deckers exchanged a glance. “He said he wanted some important papers from Pollock's house,” Mr. Decker said. “But we think he probably wants the money.”

“Did you tell him about the robbery?” Maeve asked.

“Yes, and he seemed very surprised to hear about it,” Mr. Decker said.

“Surprised and upset,” Mrs. Decker added, “so I'm sure he knew about the money.”

“Of course he did,” Maeve said. “He was Pollock's partner,
after all, which is why I thought he was most likely the one who broke into the house.”

“But he just found out Mr. Pollock was dead this morning when the servants told him,” Mrs. Decker said.

“That's what he told you,” Gino said, “but we don't know if that's the truth.”

“He seemed quite upset when I told him about the robbery, though,” Mr. Decker said. “I'd wager he didn't know about that until then.”

“If he's involved with a phony investment scheme, he knows how to be convincing,” Maeve said.

“Do you think he could have been the one who broke into the house?” Mr. Decker asked.

“It could've been anybody, as far as we know right now,” Gino said. “We can't rule anybody out yet.”

“Could he be the one who killed Mr. Pollock, too?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“If he was the one who broke into the house, then he certainly killed Pollock. How else would he have known Pollock was dead?” Maeve said.

“Maybe,” Gino said. “But somebody else might've killed Pollock, and if Truett found out somehow that Pollock was dead, he'd want to get the money out of the house as soon as possible.”

“And if he was the one who killed him, he'd still want to get the money,” Maeve argued.

“And maybe poor Mr. Truett really did just find out Pollock was dead today and just found out the money is missing,” Mrs. Decker said.

“So the truth is that we still don't have any idea who killed Pollock,” Mr. Decker said.

“Well, I also found out from the servants that Yorke did visit Pollock on the very morning he died,” Gino said.

“And Una said she remembered that when I mentioned it to her today. So he could have done it.”

“I can't believe he did,” Mrs. Decker said. “You didn't see his face when we told him Mr. Pollock was dead. He was devastated.”

“But he hated Pollock,” Gino said.

“I'm sure he did,” Mr. Decker said, “and I honestly think he might have wanted to murder Pollock himself, but not until he found out what happened to his sister. Oh, I just remembered, you were going to see him tonight, weren't you?”

“Yes, and now that we know he was there that morning, we need to at least ask him if he saw anybody else. But I guess that'll have to wait until tomorrow,” Gino said. “Do we have any other ideas about who could be the killer?”

Mr. Decker held up the paper Gino had given him. “It could also be anyone on this list.”

“Any of them who found out the scheme was a fraud, at least,” Mrs. Decker said.

“I see you found first names, too. That will help,” Mr. Decker said, scanning the list. Then he suddenly stiffened and his face went white.

“Felix, what is it?” his wife asked.

“One of these men . . . he's dead.”

“W
hat do you mean, he's dead?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“He killed himself,” Mr. Decker said. “Last week. He's a member of my club, and that's all anyone was talking about for days.”

Mrs. Decker took the list from him. “Oscar Norwalk?” she guessed. “I thought he had heart failure.”

“That's the story his family gave out, but the truth is that he hanged himself.”

“Good heavens!”

“His valet found him in his dressing room.”

“Why did he do it?”

“No one knows, or at least no one did know. Now I'm wondering if he found out he'd been cheated by Pollock.”

“How awful,” Maeve said.

“How much had he given Pollock?” Gino asked.

Mrs. Decker looked at the list again. “Five thousand.”

“Would that be enough to ruin him?” Gino asked.

“You wouldn't think so, unless it was the last in a long line of bad investments,” Mr. Decker said. “I'll have to see what I can find out.”

“We should call on his family,” Mrs. Decker said.

“That's a good idea,” Maeve said.

“Do you know anyone else on the list?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“Lawrence Zimmerman, although I only know him slightly. I think Oscar introduced us, as a matter of fact.”

“You should go see him, too,” Mrs. Decker said. “At the very least, you can suggest that he might get some of his investment back.”

“I would be happy to reassure all of these men of that very thing,” Mr. Decker said, gesturing to the list.

“Caroline Norwalk might be very grateful for that news,” Mrs. Decker said. She carefully laid the paper down on the table beside her, as if afraid of further damaging the men listed on it. “What else did you learn, Gino?”

Gino was only too happy to talk about something besides suicide. He told them what he'd learned from the servants and from Broghan.

“Do the police have the statue that killed him?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“Probably the district attorney has it by now.”

“I'd like to see it. It sounds like an interesting piece,” she said.

“Probably Egyptian,” Mr. Decker said.

“That's what Broghan said.”

“Many people like the Egyptian style, but I've never cared for it,” Mrs. Decker said.

“If the maids couldn't tell if it was a frog or a lizard,” Gino said, “I don't think I'd care for it either.”

“What else did you learn?” Mr. Decker asked.

“I think that's everything. Maeve had an interesting day, though.”

Maeve told them about her early-morning visit from Mrs. O'Neill and the bond hearing. “Nicholson was very interested to hear the story about Pollock's first wife disappearing and her brother coming to see Pollock. He thinks he can convince the jury that Mr. Yorke had more reason to kill Pollock than his wife did.”

“If the jury doesn't know that he beat her, Nicholson may be right,” Mr. Decker said.

“But you said you were sure Yorke didn't kill him,” Maeve said. “We couldn't let him be arrested if he didn't do it.”

“Just because Nicholson makes a jury think Yorke could have killed Pollock doesn't mean the police will charge him, even if Mrs. Pollock is acquitted,” Mr. Decker said.

“That's right,” Gino said. “If the police are sure she did it, they won't charge anyone else, no matter what the jury decides.”

“I felt so sorry for Una when you told me her husband beat her,” Mrs. Decker said. “But now . . .”

“We promised Mrs. O'Neill we'd help,” Maeve reminded her. “And if she really didn't kill her husband, she still needs that help.”

“I suppose you're right.”

“I guess she was pretty upset when she saw her husband's office,” Gino said.

“Not nearly as upset as I expected,” Mrs. Decker said.

“Yes,” her husband said. “She was more concerned about the damaged chairs than she was about the empty safe.”

“Really?” Maeve asked. “Do you think she didn't know what was in the safe?”

“She seemed to think her husband would have kept his money in a bank,” Mr. Decker said. “So we didn't correct her.”

“She didn't even have money for cab fare today,” Maeve
remembered, “but when I asked her how she intended to pay the servants, she said she'd manage.”

“Maybe Pollock did have money in a bank,” Gino said.

“We didn't find any record of that,” Mr. Decker said.

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Decker said. “I just happened to think that whoever broke in must have known about the money in the safe, even if Una didn't, so they must be wondering where it is, too.”

“And they might think Una knows where it is,” Gino said.

“And if they saw the article in the newspaper, they know she's at her house alone and unprotected . . . ,” Mrs. Decker said.

Gino sighed. “I guess I need to go back over there tonight.”

Maeve didn't look happy about that, he was gratified to note. “Is it really our job to protect her? She's not actually alone in the house, after all.”

“And you haven't had supper yet,” Mrs. Decker said.

“The Pollocks' cook will give me something to eat, and I don't think her servants will be much help if someone comes in looking for the money. I'd better go.” He rose.

“I should go with you,” Mr. Decker said, rising as well. “To introduce you to Mrs. Pollock.”

“Felix, dear, the servants know him,” Mrs. Decker said with some amusement. “And Gino is a police officer. He certainly doesn't need help protecting someone.”

Gino could see how much Mr. Decker wanted to take some action, but also how foolish his wife thought he was being to rush off to rescue Mrs. Pollock. “Is she really that beautiful?” he said, making it a joke.

Mr. Decker smiled. “Not beautiful enough to make a man forget himself entirely, I guess. I'll get the carriage for you.”

“I can get there faster on the El. Mrs. Decker, I'm very sorry to miss having supper with you.”

“And we're very sorry to miss your company. We'll make it up to you when this is all over.”

He glanced at Maeve and was happy to see her disgruntled frown. “I'll try to get away early in the morning so I can stop by and tell you what happened before I go on duty.”

“I'll be very interested to hear your opinion of Mrs. Pollock,” she said with just the slightest edge in her voice.

He gave her a wink that brought color to her cheeks and made Mrs. Decker cough to cover a laugh.

“Won't you need some things if you're going to spend the night there again?” Mrs. Decker asked.

“I still have my bag from last night. I left it in the carriage.”

“I'll send one of the maids for it. Let me see you out,” Mr. Decker said.

Gino caught Maeve's eye one last time and was relieved that she still looked very unhappy to see him go.

*   *   *

“D
o you think she's really in danger?” Maeve asked Mrs. Decker when the men were gone.

“I think she well may be. Someone was looking for the money from the investments, and they didn't find it. Whether Una knew it was there or not, she is the most logical person to know where else Pollock might have hidden it, and we're the only ones who know she doesn't.”

So many things about Una Pollock didn't make sense. “I really expected her to be upset when she found out the house had been robbed.”

“I did, too. Of course, if she didn't know the money was in the safe, she couldn't be upset to think it had been stolen, but the mere thought that someone had broken into my house would terrify me.”

“Me, too. And if she did know the money was in the safe, why wasn't she hysterical to find it was gone?”

“These are all very good questions, Maeve. How do you think Frank and Sarah would go about finding the answers if they were here?”

Maeve had been wondering that herself. “I think they would start by asking Una Pollock, but that would mean admitting that we knew about the money, too. I'm afraid to do that, because then she might figure out that you and I could have taken it. Now that I know Una better, she would probably have us arrested for stealing it.”

“I think you may be right, and since you actually do have it, that would look very bad. So how can we pretend to find out about the money in some other way?”

Maeve thought about this for a moment. “Mr. Decker seems awfully eager to help. Maybe he should go talk to some of the investors. He can tell them he discovered their names connected to Pollock somehow and wanted to let them know he was dead.”

“Felix is very clever. I'm sure he'll figure out a story to tell them.”

“Thank you, my dear,” he said, coming back into the room. “What story are you sure I'll figure out?”

“A story to tell the investors. We realized that we can't admit we know about the money because Una might figure out that we're the ones who took it.”

“How would she figure that out? Isn't she most likely to think whoever broke in stole it?”

“Yes,” Maeve said, “but she's acting like she doesn't know about it at all, so how would we unless we'd looked in the safe?”

“You're absolutely right. I hadn't thought of that. I do hate leaving that poor girl penniless, though.”

“She didn't seem too worried about it when I asked her how she was going to pay the servants,” Maeve said.

“And she did seem very certain that her husband kept his funds in a bank,” Mrs. Decker reminded him.

“And we certainly won't let her starve to death,” Maeve said.

“But if she figures out that we have Pollock's money, she might accuse poor Maeve of stealing it,” Mrs. Decker said.

“We can't have that,” Mr. Decker said.

A tap on the door was the maid telling them supper was ready. They spent the majority of the meal rehashing everything they had learned about Pollock's murder and realized they still had learned practically nothing of importance.

*   *   *

O
nce again, Harlem had settled down for the night by the time Gino arrived at the Pollock house. He'd decided to pretend he didn't know Mrs. Pollock had been released and was just planning to guard the house overnight as he had the night before.

Strangely, no one answered his first knock. He pounded the knocker a second time with much more enthusiasm. This time Hattie opened it just a crack until she saw it was Gino.

“Oh, Officer Donatelli, thank heaven you're here.” She threw open the door and ushered him inside.

He'd expected her to be happy to see him, but she looked harried instead. “Is something wrong?”

“That Mr. Truett is here. He's in with Mrs. Pollock, and we heard him shouting at her, but we didn't know what to do.”

“Mrs. Pollock is here?” he said with what he hoped sounded like genuine surprise.

“Oh yes, sir, she got released today and come home.”

Just then he heard a man's voice raised in anger. He couldn't make out the words, but the tone was enough.

“I'll take care of this.” He handed his bag to Hattie and hurried over to the parlor door. He was just about to open it when he noticed Eddie lurking in the hallway. He looked furious, and Gino could imagine his frustration at wanting to help his mistress but knowing he didn't dare.

Gino pushed the parlor door open, startling both occupants into silence. Mrs. Pollock sat on the sofa near the fire, and he saw instantly that Mr. Decker had been wrong. She
was
beautiful enough to make a man forget himself. She also looked as if she wanted to cry, which only made it worse. Truett, however, was a toad of a man, short and stocky and crammed into a checked suit that wouldn't have flattered anyone. His face was beet red, and Gino had surprised him in mid-shout. He closed his mouth with a snap, like a fish latching onto a hook.

Truett turned to her in outrage. “Did you send for the coppers?”

Gino had forgotten he was in uniform.

“Of course not. What are you doing here?” she asked Gino, rising to her feet. She looked even better standing up.

“I'm Officer Donatelli. Mr. Decker sent me to guard the house overnight. I didn't know you'd been released, Mrs. Pollock.”

Recognition flickered in her eyes. “Yes, Hattie told me about you.” She turned to Truett. “After the robbery, Mr. Decker thought the servants would feel safer if someone was here.”

Truett turned his wrath on Gino. “Since when does anybody feel safer with the cops around?”

Gino decided not to respond to that, since Truett was only too right. “Mrs. Pollock, is this gentleman annoying you?”

“Annoying her?” he snapped. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Mrs. Pollock totally ignored his question and rewarded
Gino with a small smile. “Mr. Truett was my husband's business partner. He tells me some . . . important papers are missing, and he won't believe I don't know anything about it.”

“Very
valuable
papers,” Truett said, glaring at her.

Gino supposed that greenbacks could be called “valuable papers.” “Mrs. Pollock was in the Tombs when the house was robbed,” Gino said, giving her a pretty good alibi.

Several emotions flickered across Truett's fleshy face, with anger being the most prominent. “I didn't say she did it.”

“Thank you for that, at least,” she said. Even her voice was beautiful. Most men could probably listen to her all day.

“If you have any ideas about who
did
rob the house, I'd be happy to hear them,” Gino told him.

“Why? So you could steal the stuff back for yourself?” Truett asked.

Gino had to admit that the reputation of the police could be embarrassing at times. He also noticed that Truett didn't seem the least bit interested in figuring out who had robbed the house, just as Una Pollock hadn't been. That seemed strange, unless Truett was the one who had done it. If so, he would still be looking for the money, which he apparently was. Very interesting.