The Puzzled Heart (20 page)

“I don’t even remember her maiden name. That was thirty years ago, Kate, and she wasn’t exactly in the first flush of youth then. She might be sixty now. I wish you’d tell me what this is all about.”

Kate did not tell him, and she let the conversation drift in other directions. But as William was preparing to pay the bill he suddenly stopped, having thought of something. “I’ve just remembered,” he said. “Funny how memories come back like that, all of a sudden. I remember the last thing she said to me. I tried to be at least polite as she was getting ready to leave but she wasn’t having any of it. Well, I said, good luck anyway, or something equally foolish, and then she sort of snorted and said: ‘I bet your sister never marries, but if she does, I’m sorry for the guy. Very sorry.’ ”

“And what did you make of that?” Kate asked.

“What’s to make of it? I thought she was sorry for any man who married you. Sorry, dear, but that’s what I thought, and you did ask for every last memory. What else could she have meant?”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what she meant,” Kate said. They were by now outside on the sidewalk and Kate kissed William goodbye in a sisterly way and walked off in the opposite direction from him.

That evening, when Kate and Reed were both home from work and winding down, drink in hand and feet up, the telephone rang and Reed went to answer it.
Kate could tell from the look on his face when he returned that the news was bad.

“Toni has died,” he said. “That was Harriet. The police have asked to interview her. She’s down at the first precinct. I’ll be with her during the interview, unless she prefers to talk with them alone.”

“But I thought Toni was getting better—had come out of the coma and all,” Kate wailed.

“There was another clot. That’s all Harriet had time to say. I don’t think Harriet’s in real danger, but I’d better get over there.”

“I’ll come too.”

“Better not. The police get fussy in these cases, and it may look as though we’re ganging up on them.”

“We
are
ganging up on them. Will they let her out when they’re through interviewing her?”

“Of course. They’ve no reason to keep her. There’s no evidence against her, and no probable cause. They’re fishing. Anyway, they always like to question those nearest to the victim, which is usually family but also business associates. What I have to do is get her a lawyer. I know a good one I hope I can persuade to take this on.”

“Can’t you be her lawyer?”

“Not a good idea. I’ll consult, of course.” Reed was looking for his coat.

“I’m still coming,” Kate said. “I just want her to know I’m there, even if I have to wait outside on a bench or wherever.”

Reed shrugged, helped her into her coat, and they were off. Kate, thrown back in the taxi, realized that she was far more worried about Harriet than about Toni.

Toni was dead. Surely one should feel more sorrow for the dead. But Harriet meant a great deal to Kate, and the thought of her being convicted of murder could not be contemplated. What Kate felt was profound regret that Toni had ever got mixed up in this case, that she had ever allowed Harriet to bring Toni in. Kate had always, she now had to realize, felt deep reservations about Toni. But she was young, and dead, and would be mourned when Harriet was out of danger. Those thoughts, Kate knew, were harsh, and she did not intend to share them with anyone. Reed, she felt certain, would have guessed in any case.

As Reed had suspected, she was not allowed to go with him to see Harriet. Indeed, she sat, as she had anticipated, on a chair and waited. But Reed would tell Harriet that she, Kate, had come with him, and that was the important thing.

Reed emerged a relatively short time later. “I think she’s holding up,” he said, “though very upset about Toni’s death, for which, being Harriet, she naturally blames herself. I tried to shock her into understanding that she was the one who needs all of our efforts now, including her efforts; Toni was beyond our help. When people are in a state like Harriet’s, you have to
say the simplest things and keep repeating them. I told her she would have a lawyer tomorrow, with whom she could discuss the whole matter, and that they certainly wouldn’t hold her. She was babbling on about bail. I do often wonder at how little citizens, even private eyes, know about the penal law. Do you, Kate, know how long people can be kept after arrest?”

“Of course not,” Kate said.

“Six days, or one hundred and forty-four hours. I told her you had come with me, and that neither of us believed for a minute that she had killed Toni. Harriet is as bad as you; she didn’t seem to know that she was not being arrested, let alone that had she been, she would have been arraigned and then remanded without bail, which is set at a later date before a judge. I do find it a bit appalling that two of the most intelligent women I know are so ignorant of law.”

“Is that the truth?” Kate said. “I supposed it’s because we don’t expect to find ourselves in the hands of the police, and if we should, we would be able to hire a lawyer. Self-satisfaction leading to inexcusable ignorance, not to put too fine a point on it.”

They rode for a while in silence in the taxi taking them home, where Reed would make his call to the lawyer he hoped would take on Harriet’s case. “Do you really not believe for a minute that Harriet killed Toni?” Kate asked, after a time.

“I can imagine Harriet learning something about Toni she didn’t like, for instance, and resigning from the partnership in a huff, slamming the door behind her. I can’t see her hitting Toni, or anybody else, over the head with a blunt instrument. But I suspect there may be more than she’s told us about what she and Toni found out. You do realize, Kate, that Toni may have been killed because she was close to learning who was behind our little drama. And she may have told Harriet, or she may not.”

“Can you find out from Harriet?”

“I certainly hope so, if she is willing to be frank with us about Toni and their partnership, including its clients. She’ll be expecting us to question her, you can be sure of that. You know, Kate,” he went on, “I’m beginning to realize that I never much liked Toni and I’ve never stopped to face that fact or to ask myself why.”

“You mean, we should be sorrier than we are?”

“Well, sorrier in a more personal way. Death is always shocking and frightful, but some deaths rock us more than others. Had Harriet died …”

“I know what you mean. And Toni was young, which makes it worse. I realize I took it altogether for granted that she would recover, once she was out of the coma.”

“I don’t know that anyone can ever be said to have wholly recovered from traumatic head wounds. They lie in wait sometimes, those kinds of traumas.” He
took Kate’s hand, and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

In the end, it took several days for Reed to persuade the lawyer he wanted for Harriet to take the case. The man had a very overcrowded calendar. “As all successful defense lawyers do, don’t they?” Kate commented. “Either they’re too busy or no one wants them—the way of the world.” Reed and Kate had agreed to meet the lawyer’s fees. Harriet, of course, objected, saying she preferred to settle for someone assigned by the court. Reed pointed out that such a lawyer might be first-rate, but also might not, and that he and Kate would feel better with a known quantity of law experience on Harriet’s side.

“I’ll pay you back if it takes the rest of my life,” Harriet warned them.

“Of course you will,” Reed said. “If you don’t, we’ll take it out in labor. Let’s concentrate on what’s facing us at the moment.”

And so they sat together one evening to discuss the case: Archie Press, Harriet’s lawyer, Harriet, Kate, and Reed. Reed’s point, which he had persuaded Archie and Harriet at least to sit still for, was that they must prove that Harriet could not have committed the crime and that there was no probable cause the police could offer.

“It would help,” Archie pointed out, “if we could find the real murderer, if any.”

“Well,” Kate said, “she didn’t hit herself over the head.”

“Sorry,” Archie agreed. “I mean a murderer as opposed to a casual lunatic who happened into the office and decided that Toni was his enemy. That does, alas, happen in New York. You all read the papers, so I don’t have to offer examples.”

“Don’t they leave evidence most of the time?”

“No. Usually they are caught for one crime and end up confessing to the others. We’re speaking here of killers who know nothing of their victims who are unfortunate enough to get in the killer’s way, cross his path, be there when he wants to steal something.”

“And you think it would be hard to prove it was that kind of killing?” Kate asked.

“Hard to impossible. We have only two hopes. Of course we shall maintain Harriet didn’t do it; that is the path I suggest. One hope is that you discover who did, and that the murderer has some connection with the victim. That is the path I gather Harriet suggests. I think it’s worth following, but I’m going to have to leave that to the rest of you, unless you can offer me more than we have now. Our best hope at the moment,” Archie added, “lies in the papers in Toni’s office. They may turn out to be worthless, or they may already have been removed. The police locked off the premises, but they have to give me access. There may be something there that will lead us to the culprit. But I’m not betting on it.”

“You don’t sound very optimistic,” Harriet said, in the tone of one noticing the weather.

“It’s not my job to be optimistic,” Archie replied. “Let’s look at the facts, ignoring for the moment whatever evidence the papers in the office may provide. You had every opportunity to commit the crime. We can’t find the woman you met in the bathroom, although we’re trying. I’ve hired someone to follow up every lead from every office on that floor, but we’ve gotten nowhere. You had the key to the office door, which was locked and opened with a key. The police have no case as yet, but I can’t say I exactly like our situation.”

“Toni could have opened it from the inside to the visitor, whom she may have known,” Harriet said.

“True enough. Her fingerprints are on the door, naturally. But did she then just turn her back on the visitor, offering her head for a violent attack?”

“She might easily have turned away if it was someone she knew, or even if it wasn’t,” Kate insisted. “We don’t expect everyone who comes into our office to be planning mayhem. Whoever it was hit her and departed, taking the weapon with her or him.”

“Maybe,” Archie allowed. “At least I think we’re agreed in theory that Toni knew whoever it was who hit her, probably knew her well. Or him,” he added a bit belatedly.

“Why do we all think it’s a woman?” Kate asked. “I know I do.”

“It’s something about the way it happened,” Reed
said. “Toni would almost certainly have been more suspicious of a man, even if she knew him. We’ve learned enough of her life to know there was no man in it at the moment, no lover or other male attachment around. Harriet is pretty sure of that, and the police haven’t been able to uncover anyone at all likely. Also, and I know this sounds as though I’m pushing it,” Reed said, “but somehow I can’t see a man hitting her in quite that way. I know that’s not very persuasive. It’s just an impression.”

“And one which we all share,” Harriet agreed.

“Here’s what I suggest,” Reed said, nodding at Archie to indicate they had already discussed these suggestions. “I think that Kate, with Harriet’s help, should try to locate Muriel. Kate will tell you who Muriel is,” he added for Harriet’s benefit. “Archie and I will go over the papers left in the office, and arrange for some private detectives to follow up certain leads.”

“Don’t you think I could be a help with the papers?” Harriet asked. “I was her partner.”

“We’ll consult you if we need to,” Reed said. “Those papers will be documents available to the prosecution and the defense, and Archie had better deal with them in a formal way. You and Kate work from the other end. Kate might start with the right-wing characters we originally suspected; they might lead us somewhere. Harriet could try to track down Muriel. Or vice versa. Are we all set, then?”

Archie nodded. Kate and Harriet looked at him,
their vague uncertainty about the paths ahead evident. “Good,” Reed said, “let’s drink to that.” And he went off to get the fixings.

Later, when Harriet and Archie had gone, Kate again asked Reed if he was entirely convinced of Harriet’s innocence and really thought her working with Kate was a good idea.

“Aren’t
you
entirely convinced?”

“I asked you first.”

“I think I’m convinced, as you probably are, ninety-nine percent. If we’re wrong, you may pick up a clue to why we’re wrong if you work closely with her. I haven’t any fear of her doing you harm; I hope you haven’t. Because if you do, then we’d better make other arrangements.”

“No fear,” Kate said. “I’m just damn uneasy about the whole thing.”

“Which is simply a sign of intelligence,” Reed said.

“I wish Toni hadn’t died.”

“I too,” Reed said. “Dying made it murder.”

“In the first degree, I suppose,” Kate said, trying to sound intelligent about the law.

“No. Murder one since October 1995 is murder for hire or murder with torture and other defined atrocities. Sorry to have berated you for not knowing the penal law. Why on earth should you? Let’s go to bed; I’m bushed. Murder will always do that to you.”

“I wonder how Banny is,” Kate said. Reed, still a bit tetchy, responded by pleading with her not to mention that damn dog, whom he missed too, damn it.

“And we only had the beast for a few days, at least I did. We’re being foolish.”

“Always a good sign,” Kate assured him.

Fourteen