Murder in the Winter (25 page)

“I have a couple of other aces, too. I figure if I exaggerate
the truth on one hand, and tell an outright lie on the other, I can get him to
confess.”

“You think so? He’s been so cool to this point.”

“Well, if I learn what I expect to learn tomorrow, I
think you’re gonna see our guy sweat.”

+++

I took Lou home after dinner and drove back to my
place. It was time to put work aside for one night. I wanted to see what
Hogan’s
Heroes
were up to. Soon, I would transform myself into Col. Hogan and my
adversary into Col. Klink.

32

I awoke on Monday morning the way God intended for us
to awaken. Without the aid of any electronic device. I rubbed the sleep from my
eyes and realized where we were in the case. I smiled. Not because I like
arresting people for murder. I don’t. But because I like to see justice done.
Still, it’s not an easy job. Sometimes murderers are truly bad people. Other
times, they are people who find themselves in certain circumstances and don’t
make good decisions. I feel sorry for those people, and truly have no idea if I
would’ve acted any differently if faced with the same situation.

I had two phone calls to make, but both could wait until
after I’d showered and spent my time with God. I wouldn’t hurry. Other than Ray
Phelps, no one in this case had beaten a path out of town. There was no reason
to think our guy would, especially when he had no idea we were coming.

+++

I picked up my black monstrosity, and made my calls.
One gave me the answer I wanted. The other I’d have to call back. Only one duck
left, and then one sitting duck. My third call was to Lou to let him know
things were progressing, and I was on my way to pick him up for breakfast.

+++

We opened the door to the Blue Moon and stepped inside.

“Boy, do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary,”
Rosie called out.

“Duck, Rosie. Not canary.”

“So is someone’s goose about to be cooked?”

“No, I’m more in the mood for bacon, sausage, scrambled
eggs, biscuits with gravy, and blueberry pancakes.”

“Anything else?”

“It depends on whether you have any pie ready when we
get through.”

“And what about you, Sergeant?”

“You’d better bring me the same as him. That way neither
of us will try to stab anything on the other guy’s plate.”

“Just make sure I get out of the way before either of
you stab.”

“Don’t worry, Rosie. We’d never hurt you. You’re our favorite
girl.”

“You mean you dropped those other ones?”

“There never was anyone but you, Rosie. Those others
were the figment of his imagination.”

It was more than Lou could take.

“Some day, Rosie, when I can get rid of this guy, I’ll
bring these figments in here and let you see what you think of my imagination.”

“I think I’ll stay out of this one. Let me put your
order in.”

+++

After breakfast and dessert, I walked over to the
phone and called Sam. All of my ducks were now lined up. It was time to pay
someone a visit. A last visit.

The two of us left the Blue Moon, and drove to confront
our murderer in silence. I pulled up in front, got out and walked toward the
door, not sure if we had been spotted, or not.

We opened the door, and stepped inside. Tony McArthur
stood in front of us, checking his mail. He looked up, but didn’t smile.

“Is this it, Lieutenant?”

“I’m afraid it is, Tony.”

“I didn’t want it to end like this.”

“Neither did we, but when someone is murdered, someone
else has to pay for it.”

“It’s a rotten job, isn’t it, Lieutenant?”

“Sometimes it is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got
a job to do. Please stay in your apartment until all of this is over.” 

We waited for McArthur to shut the door to his apartment,
then walked over to Martin Mulroney’s door and knocked.

He opened quickly, a frightened look on his face. It
seemed like he frightened easily when he wasn’t in costume. He invited us in.
Once he had hit a few buttons, he handed me the phone so I could listen to a
message.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant. I didn’t want it to end like
this.”

“Neither did we. We’re just doing our jobs. Please
show a little respect and keep your door shut until after we’ve left. Let him
keep what little dignity he has.”

“I understand, and I will.”

It was time for our confrontation. Lou and I walked
across the hall and knocked at Arthur Rothschild’s door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and walked in. Lou followed me, and
shut the door.

“Back again, Lieutenant.”

“Yeah, but this will be the last time.”

“So, you’ve solved your case.”

“That’s right. It turned out that the boots that made
the footprints at my house belonged to Tony McArthur. Also, his SUV was used.”

“So, this was all about someone visiting your place?”

“No, but that’s where the murderer made his mistake.”

“Murderer? I can’t believe that Tony McArthur would
murder someone. He seems like a nice, young man.”

“What makes it even harder is that he was out of town
when the murders took place.”

“So, there was more than one?”

“That’s right.”

“But how could McArthur have killed someone if he was
out of town?”

“He didn’t.”

“But I thought you said it was his boots and his SUV.”

“I did. It turns out the killer had a duplicate key to
McArthur’s apartment.”

“No way. Only, Mrs. Crouch has a key to McArthur’s
apartment, and she wouldn’t kill anyone.”

“I have no idea whether or not Mrs. Crouch has killed
anyone, but in this case she didn’t.”

“You’re speaking in riddles, Lieutenant.”

“And I thought you liked games, Mr. Rothschild.”

“Not too much. I don’t do much of anything. Just sit
around and pass the time. It’s all I can do these days.”

“McArthur told us about the keys.”

“What keys, Lieutenant?”

“The keys that fell out of his pants pocket one day
when he was visiting you.”

“I’d forgotten all about that. That was quite a while
back. I gave the keys back to him.”

“Was that right after you made wax impressions of
them?”

“Always the jokester, right, Lieutenant?”

“It probably wouldn’t be hard to track down who made
those keys for you. It’s a small town. Men in wheelchairs are easily
remembered. Since you don’t like to drive, maybe you had someone come here and
pick up the wax impressions. Or did you have someone drop off the impression
and pick up the keys for you?”

“You’re not joking, are you, Lieutenant?”

“I wish I were. More people would be alive then. But
let’s forget about the keys. That’s not what gave you away.”

“Okay, I’ll play along, Lieutenant. What gave me
away?”

“It would’ve been much harder to nail you if you
hadn’t come to my house.”

“You’re going to have to tell me what you’re getting
at.”

“First, there are the footprints.”

“You mean McArthur’s boots?”

“Yeah, but McArthur doesn’t limp. I wondered why one
foot dug in deeper than the other as it left a vehicle at the street, but
didn’t when the person who left them returned to his vehicle, and then I
realized I was dealing with a smart cookie. Most people would’ve taken the
medication just before they left home, but you wanted to make sure you could
make your getaway. You knew no one in your building gets up early, so you
waited until you got to my place to take the medication, only it took a minute
or so to take effect, so you were limping the first few steps.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Remember, Lieutenant,
I can’t walk.”

“That’s not what the witness said.”

“What witness?”

“The one who saw you get out of McArthur’s SUV. He
said you sprang from the vehicle and ran as fast as you could to the door. Then
you hurried inside and went straight to McArthur’s apartment to drop off the
boots and whatever else of his you had taken. Then you got in your chair you’d
left in McArthur’s apartment and wheeled yourself back to your apartment, and
if anyone had seen you they wouldn’t have thought anything about it other than
you were up earlier than usual.”

“You said there were murders. So far nothing you’ve
told me has anything to do with murder.”

“Not directly, but I’m coming to that. When you found
out the inn was reopening and would offer plays again, it became too much for
you. You were fine as long as no one else could perform there, but soon that
would no longer be the case. You made a decision to get rid of everyone in the
building who had acted there with you. You planned to invite everyone to your
apartment, only McArthur was out of town, and Mulroney was out that morning.”

“Are you basing this on that note I left on Mulroney’s
door that said I wanted to talk with him?”

“There was no note. Mulroney says you called him and invited
him over, the same way you invited the others, only all of them were home and
could come right away to hear the good news. That’s how you phrased it, wasn’t
it, Mr. Rothschild? Good news.”

“I went over and left Mulroney a note.”

“Do you have that note, Mr. Rothschild?”

“No, why would I have it?”

“Well, guess what Mr. Mulroney has. The message you
left on his phone. It’s still there. I just got through listening to it.”

“So, what does that prove? Maybe I did call. I can’t remember
everything.”

“Guess what else I found out? The three men who died
died from the same poison that the doctor gave you to help you walk. One dose
helped you to walk. A larger dose in something to drink ended the lives of
three of your neighbors.”

“You can’t prove that.”

“Oh, but I can. Carter Thornton talked to the mailman
on Thursday. Talked about the celebration the four of you had. Also, I have a
search warrant. My guess is you still have some of that solution around the
apartment. It shouldn’t take us long to find it.”

Arthur Rothschild knew he had been defeated. Actually,
he had been defeated when he lost his ability to walk. It’s just that nothing
that happened before that caused him to snap.

A tear ran down Rothschild’s cheek.

“You don’t know what it’s like to have to sit in a
chair everyday, never able to do anything normal people do. I had nothing
against any of those people, but I couldn’t stand all of them getting to go
back to work when I couldn’t. You win, Lieutenant. You’re smarter than I
thought you were. I never thought you would suspect a man who couldn’t even
walk.”

Rothschild reached into his pocket and brought out a
vial.

“Here’s what you’re looking for, Lieutenant. At least
what’s left of it. I thought about using the last of it on myself, but, no,
that wouldn’t be right. Who knows? Maybe a doctor at the prison hospital has
come up with some new procedure to fix my leg. If I can walk again, it will be
worth it to go to prison.”

I called for a black-and-white to come and take Rothschild.
I had solved the case, but I wasn’t a happy man. If only I’d been there the day
Rothschild fell and broke his leg. Maybe things would’ve been different.
Possibly they would’ve been different if someone had befriended him. But then
some had befriended him. Or had they? Were any of his neighbors really his
friends, or did they just run errands for him when it was convenient?

I felt sorry for him, but no more so than the sorrow I
felt for those whose lives he took. Those I would never meet. Those who would
never have another chance to pursue their dreams. As I thought about him and
what he had done, I asked God to never let me get so obsessed with something
that I would do something wrong to hold on to it, or to try to get it back.

Lou and I waited until the black-and-white came and
took Rothschild away. Then, we walked out. I closed the door behind us, not
knowing that our next case would trouble us even more. It would be the case
that would affect us more than any other had in all our years on the force.