Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue (30 page)

When they knocked at the door a minute later, it opened almost at once. Hattie smiled, although she looked tired. “Mr. Decker, Officer, it's so nice to see you.”

“Let them in, Hattie,” Una called from the parlor doorway.

Una looked tired, too, but she had a bright smile for Felix.

Hattie admitted them and took their coats. Una still waited in the parlor doorway. Did she seem anxious or concerned? Felix couldn't tell.

“This is a pleasant surprise, Mr. Decker. Please come in.” She didn't acknowledge Gino at all.

She led them into the parlor, and just as she was about to
close the door behind them, Gino said, “Hattie, would you send Eddie in to see us?”

“Why do you want to see Eddie?” Una asked. Her smile vanished.

“It's nothing very important. We'd just like to ask him something,” Mr. Decker said.

Una closed the door with a slam. “I can't imagine why you had to come here at this time of night to talk to my boot boy,” she said.

“We're sorry to bother you so late, Mrs. Pollock,” Felix said, ignoring her tone. “But we had something important to discuss with you.”

“If you're going to tell me how to get out of this mess, I'm perfectly willing to sit up all night. Please, sit down.”

The two men took the chairs, and Una perched warily on the sofa. Felix noticed a glass sitting on the table beside her with a trace of amber liquid in the bottom. If Una had indeed just found out the money was missing today, she had probably needed a stiff drink.

“What do you want to know?” she asked. “I've had a very long day and I'd like to retire soon.”

“Did you have a nice visit with your mother?” Mr. Decker asked.

Her face tightened. “Yes, thank you. Miss Smith was kind to bring her.”

“We understand you haven't been able to locate your husband's bank account,” he went on as he and Gino had agreed during the trip uptown. “I would be happy to assist you with that. It's easier if you know what bank he dealt with, of course.”

“I . . . I'm not sure. Randolph never discussed such things with me.”

“A mistake many men make, unfortunately,” Felix said.
“And you see where it leads. But I can make some inquiries. I can't believe Pollock left you penniless.”

Felix could see her trying to judge his motives. Was he sincere or was he tormenting her?

“You said you had something to discuss with me. I'm very tired.”

“Yes, I was concerned, you see, when Miss Smith said you were alarmed over some funds you felt were missing.”

She was wary now, taking care with every word. “Yes, as you said, I haven't found my husband's bank account.”

“Miss Smith understood that this was money you thought should have been here in the house. In Mr. Pollock's office, in fact, which confused me. When I told you about the robbery the other day, you weren't concerned at all. At that time you didn't think there had been anything of value that might have been taken.”

“I . . . I've since reconsidered. I've been under a lot of strain lately, as you know. First Randolph's violent death and then the time I spent in that horrible jail. I don't think you can hold me responsible for anything I might have said the very day I was released from that place.”

It was a good argument. Felix felt sure that gentlemen sitting on a jury would be happy to give her the benefit of the doubt. “Miss Smith was quite upset that you accused her of taking this missing money.”

“I did no such thing,” Una insisted. “If she thought so, then I'm sorry. I'm simply trying to find the truth.”

“So are we, Mrs. Pollock.”

Mercifully, someone tapped on the door, and Felix gave a sigh of relief. He didn't know how much longer he could keep circling the issue they really wanted to discuss.

Una told whoever it was to enter, and Eddie stepped in.
He looked absolutely terrified, his eyes wide in his handsome face and his hands clutched into fists by his sides.

“Don't be frightened,” Una said kindly, or was she really warning him? “You haven't done anything wrong. Mr. Decker just wants to ask you something.”

Eddie's gaze darted to Felix and away again. He hung his head and hunched his shoulders as if expecting a blow.

“Come closer, Eddie. We're not going to hurt you,” Felix said.

Eddie looked to Una for approval, and she nodded. He stepped forward on stiff legs until he stood at the end of the sofa where Una sat. His gaze kept darting to Una, who tried to smile reassuringly.

Felix glanced at Gino, giving him silent permission to begin. Felix's part had been to put them at ease, although he didn't think he had done a very good job of it. Gino's part was to question them.

“We know what happened to Pollock,” Gino said. Una stiffened slightly but Eddie's whole body gave a little jerk.

“Good,” Una tried. “I hope you will tell me, because I still have no memory of it.”

“I should go back a bit, to explain how we came to this knowledge. You see, we know Pollock used to hit you, Mrs. Pollock. You must have been terrified of him, and who could blame you? You must have been desperate to get away from him but afraid to leave. You knew as long as he was alive, he'd come after you and bring you back, so you enlisted the help of a young man who had fallen in love with you.” Gino glanced at Eddie, whose eyes seemed to glow with some intense emotion Felix didn't even want to name.

“This is a fascinating fairy tale,” Una said, not sounding the least bit fascinated. “I just hope it has a happy ending.”

Unfortunately, Felix knew it didn't. “You asked this young man to kill your husband, because that was the only
way to be free of him. I don't know what you promised him.” Gino watched Eddie carefully, but the boy still refused to meet his gaze. “Maybe it was money, but more likely it was other . . . favors.”

“Really, Officer, this is very distasteful.”

Gino ignored her protest. “You waited until the next time Pollock started hitting you, and then Eddie rushed to rescue you. That way he could claim he was only protecting your life. You decided not to take a chance, though, so afterward you claimed you were in shock and couldn't remember what happened. That way you wouldn't have to mention Eddie at all. Except you didn't expect the police to arrest
you
for the crime, did you?”

“That part is certainly true,” Una said with a little of her usual confidence. “Who would believe a lady could murder her husband in such a way? It's ridiculous.”

“But killing Pollock was only half the plan, wasn't it?” Gino continued. “The other half was to keep the money he'd cheated honest people out of for yourself.”

“What are you talking about? Randolph didn't cheat people, and as you already know, I haven't found any of his money at all.”

“But not because you didn't try, eh, Eddie?” Gino asked.

Eddie watched Gino the way you'd watch a poisonous snake slithering toward you. Felix almost felt sorry for him.

“Yes, Eddie followed your instructions to the letter, didn't he? He must have been scared when you got arrested, but he went ahead and set up the fake robbery just like you'd planned. He broke the basement window, then messed up the office and opened the safe, using the combination you'd given him.”

“Why would I do a thing like that?” Una asked. “I don't even know the combination to the safe.”

“The person who opened it did, though. How do you suppose they got it?”

“I have no idea!”

“Well, it doesn't matter now, does it, because you went to all that trouble for nothing. The money wasn't in the safe, was it?”

Una was looking a little frantic now. Her gaze darted around the room as if she were looking for a means of escape. “I told you, Mr. Decker,” she said, making Felix wonder why she'd chosen to appeal to him, “my husband kept his money in the bank.”

Felix just smiled, and Gino went on.

“Eddie, you must have been terrified when you saw the safe was empty. Then you remembered the package you'd taken to Mr. Truett the morning Pollock died, and you thought Pollock must have sent the money to him for some reason. You must have wanted to go to his hotel that very night, but you couldn't because I was here all night, guarding the house. Then, luckily, Mrs. Pollock was released from jail and came home. Did you tell her about the missing money? Is that why she didn't want me to stay the next night?”

Felix saw the hateful glance Una gave Eddie and the way he cringed. Yes, Una was furious about the missing money and blamed Eddie.

“I remember you couldn't wait for me to leave the house that night, Eddie. Then you went to Truett's hotel and snuck in the back door, which you knew wasn't locked because you'd been there many times before. Did you think you could search his rooms without waking Truett or did you plan to kill him all along?”

Eddie had no answer for that, of course, although Felix noticed beads of sweat had formed on his upper lip.

“But you didn't find the money there either, did you? The
package you'd taken to Truett was just a bunch of contracts. And when you told Mrs. Pollock this morning, she was furious.” Gino turned to Una. “But maybe you were so furious because that was the first you knew the money was missing at all. We can't blame Eddie for being afraid to tell you it wasn't in the safe, especially because he thought he could still get it from Truett and you'd never have to know.”

Felix had to give Una credit. She'd hardly batted an eye in the face of Gino's condemnation.

“This is all very interesting, Officer, but . . . Well, you're right about one thing. My husband was a violent man. He often let his temper get the best of him, and then he would strike me. He was always sorry for it afterward, of course. He didn't mean to hurt me, and I loved him, so I would always forgive him. And now you're saying that the morning he died was one of those times when Randolph . . .” She hesitated, her voice breaking a bit. “. . . when Randolph lost his temper and became violent? And Eddie here—dear, sweet Eddie who has been so devoted to me—decided to come to my defense?”

“Something like that.”

“Oh!” Una cried, raising a hand to her head dramatically. “I . . . I just remembered. I remember it all!” She looked wide-eyed at Gino. “You've brought it all back to me. Yes, it was just like you said. Randolph hit me and I was crying and Eddie rushed in. He picked up the Egyptian statue that Randolph loved so much and hit him with it. I was screaming for him to stop, but he wouldn't stop. He kept hitting him and hitting him until Randolph was dead. I crawled over to where my darling lay bleeding on the floor and took his head in my lap. I think I thought I could fix him somehow, but he was too broken. And”—she closed her eyes and sighed—“I'm afraid that's all I remember.”

“That's a beautiful story, Mrs. Pollock,” Gino said.

“Yes, it is,” Felix said. “But we can't help wondering why, if Pollock treated you so badly, you didn't just leave him.”

She smiled at that, a grotesque expression that held no trace of happiness. “I couldn't leave him, Mr. Decker, because he'd kill me if I did. Oh, I can see by your face that you don't believe me, but it's true. He told me that every time he beat me, and I believed him because he'd already killed one wife. That's right, little Cecelia. She'd tried to run away, but he caught her and brought her back, and then he choked the life out of her. He told me all about it, every gruesome little detail.”

“How could he get away with something like that?” Felix asked, horrified.

“Because nobody knew. He buried her in the cellar and moved out of the house. Her family tracked him down, wanting to know where she was, and he told them she died in childbirth. They didn't believe him, but they had to check anyway, and as soon as they were gone, he left Chicago and came to New York. He thought he'd never see them again, and then the brother showed up here one morning. I've never seen Randolph so angry, and he somehow blamed me for them finding him. He was going to kill me, I'm sure of it, and then Eddie came in and saved me.”

That really was a good story, and it might even be true, as far as it went. “Then why did he kill Truett?” Felix asked.

“Because he was yelling at her,” Eddie cried.

“Eddie, don't!” Una tried, but she couldn't stop him.

“He came here and started shouting at her. I couldn't let him treat her that way, not when . . .” His eyes widened again as he realized what he'd revealed.

“When what?” Gino asked softly. “When you loved her? When she was your woman?”

“Don't be absurd!” Una snapped.

“You had to go to his apartment anyway, to find the money,” Gino said. “You could've gone when he wasn't there, but you didn't. You went there when you knew he'd be home and fast asleep. You wanted to kill him, didn't you, Eddie? Or did she tell you to, like she told you to kill Pollock?”

“No, Mr. Truett was my idea,” Eddie said.

“Eddie, stop!” she cried.

“It's no use!” he said. “They already know everything. They even know about the money.” Eddie turned to Gino. “We were going to use it to run away. She knows a place that's far away from here where we can get married and no one will care that she's white and I'm not.”

“He's lying!” Una said, jumping to her feet. “I never told him any such thing. I can't help it if he fell in love with me. He's been moping around here for months. I felt sorry for him or I would've let him go. But he killed my husband and he killed Truett, and I can't forgive him for that. You need to arrest him and take him away before he harms someone else.”

Felix and Gino were on their feet now, too.

“You said you loved me,” Eddie said, his face twisting with the agony of her betrayal. “You said we'd get married!”