Take Stock in Murder (4 page)

Carrie heard voices coming her way. She stood up and fixed her robe. She was straightening her hair in the mirror when Charles arrived with their guests.

“Carrie, there are some policemen here to see us. This is Detective…I’m sorry. I’ve already forgotten your names.”

“I’m Detective Jenco, and this is Detective McCall, ma’am.”

It wasn’t like Charles to forget people’s names. Carrie wondered if Charles felt nervous. She didn’t feel nervous at all as she put on her best hostess manners.

“Would you gentlemen like some coffee?” she asked while refilling her own cup at the sideboard.

“Yes, that would be very nice, Mrs. Faraday,” Detective Jenco said. “Black would be fine.”

“And you, Detective McCall?” Carrie had no problem remembering their names.

“No, thank you, ma’am.” With that McCall faded into the background of the room. Carrie retrieved a cup and brought Jenco his coffee. She returned to her seat on the sofa and Charles settled in next to her. Detective Jenco took possession of the second sofa.

He seemed to be in no hurry to reveal his reasons for interrupting their Sunday reverie. He sipped his coffee slowly. “Mmm. This coffee is very good. I do thank you. Is it a special blend?”

“We blended different coffees to find a taste we liked,” Charles said. “And of course we grind fresh coffee beans when we make the coffee. However, I think the real secret is using bottled water. It takes out any water impurities.”

Carrie gently touched his arm in an effort to get Charles to stop talking about coffee.

“Sorry, I’m rambling. I’m sure you’re not here to talk about coffee.”

“Detective Jenco, are you canvassing the neighborhood for police donations, or have you come to our home on a Sunday for a special reason?” asked Carrie.

Once again Detective Jenco took his time as he carefully placed his cup and saucer on the table. “No, Mrs. Faraday, we’re not here for a donation,” he responded with slight annoyance in his voice. “Let me get to the point.”

Carrie noticed that as if on cue, Detective McCall took out a small notebook and a click pen.

“I’d like to inquire about the fight that occurred between you, Mrs. Faraday, and Mr. Todd Barrington at the Tri-County Country Club last evening.”

“Fight!” Charles and Carrie said the word together. It was a couple of seconds before Charles recovered himself. “Detective, surely Todd Barrington hasn’t called the police about that schoolboy incident last night.”

“Oh, Charles, he’s probably just trying to save face with his father,” Carrie said.

Carrie was in no mood for any more of Todd’s silly games. She wanted to get this interview over and these policemen out of her home.

“I’m sure there’s no need to drag this out. Charles, you explain what happened last night so these gentlemen can file their report and get on to more important things.”

“It’s really quite a simple story,” said Charles. “Todd drinks entirely too much. Carrie was looking for me last night at the dance. Todd told her he knew where I was. He led my wife to the library. He didn’t know I was actually sitting in the library. His drunkenness caused him to make some foolish advances.” Charles stopped. He wasn’t sure if his story was protecting Carrie.

“Then what happened?” Jenco prodded.

“I punched him in the nose.”

“Was there a lot of blood?”

“Blood!” Charles seemed surprised by the question. “I guess there was. When you pop someone in the nose, it tends to bleed out.”

“Mrs. Faraday, is that how you remember the event?”

“About the blood?” she asked. Charles squeezed her hand hard, reminding her not to be cute.

Detective Jenco smiled as he politely clarified, “Well, either the blood or the entire incident.”

“That’s about it. I think Charles covered everything. Other than that, Mr. Heathrow and Mr. Albright came into the library. I’m sure they could tell you more about the blood. They helped to clean Todd up after we left.”

“Actually, we already talked to Mr. Heathrow and Mr. Albright,” said Jenco. “We also talked to Mrs. Heathrow and Mrs. Spinner.”

“What do they have to do with this?” Charles asked.

“It seems they passed your wife and Mr. Barrington in the hallway. They indicated…” Jenco turned to McCall.

McCall flipped back a couple of pages in his notebook and then quoted, “
They both appeared to be intoxicated and having a bit of a lovers’ spat
.”

Now Charles was the one who was annoyed. “Look here, Jenco. I’ve had about enough of this. Is Barrington filing a charge over his bloody nose? If he is, serve whatever paperwork you need to serve and get out. My lawyer will deal with it tomorrow.”

“No, Mr. Faraday. Mr. Todd Barrington won’t be filing any charges against anyone. He was found dead on the floor of the Club’s library early this morning!”

odd is
dead
? It can’t be. I mean, last night he was so alive. Oh, Charles, this is awful.” Carrie leaned over and put her head on Charles’s shoulder. Charles stretched his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

“Carrie’s right. This is awful, Jenco,” Charles said, dropping the formality. “Why didn’t you tell me this when you first arrived?”

“To be honest, Mr. Faraday, we wanted to get your perspective on the fight and anything else that happened before we divulged…” Jenco let the sentence trail off.

“I get it! You’re not here to question us about Todd’s silly prank. You think we had something to do with Todd’s murder,” Charles said, pointing a finger at Jenco. “You’re trying to trap us into saying something.”

“Actually, I never said Todd was murdered. Why did you think he was murdered, Mr. Faraday?”

“You said he was found dead on the floor of the Club. If it was a car accident or something like that, he wouldn’t be on the Club’s floor. And detectives don’t normally come out to interview people if death is by natural causes.”

“Ah, very good,” answered Jenco.

“When did it happen?” Carrie’s voice was barely audible.

McCall spoke for the second time. “We believe death occurred sometime between midnight and six a.m., when the body was discovered by a Mr. Shipley from the Club maintenance staff.”

“That’s a rather large time frame, isn’t it?” asked Charles.

“We hope we’ll be able to narrow down the time of death once we receive the coroner’s report,” Jenco added.

“Do you know the cause of death?” Charles decided to get as much information as he could from the detectives. There was a gnawing little voice in his head that warned him to find out everything possible.

“He was shot in the chest at close range with a small-caliber pistol.”

“Shot at close range,” Charles repeated the information. “How was that accomplished? Didn’t he resist?”

“We believe he may have been sleeping off his drunkenness. As a result, the murderer was able to get very close.”

Charles’s train of thought was interrupted, as Carrie was suddenly on her feet and over at the sideboard, pouring more coffee. Charles looked at Carrie’s face but could read nothing in the expression.

“Does anyone want more coffee?” Carrie asked.

Both Charles and Jenco accepted additional cups.

“Why would anyone shoot Todd if he was passed out? Being shot like that makes it sound like it was…” Charles’s sentence drifted off.

“You were about to say, Mr. Faraday, that it sounds like the murder was premeditated?”

“Yes,” he responded.

“We tend to agree with you, Mr. Faraday. If you and your wife don’t mind, we do have a few more questions for you. I’ll try to make them brief.”

Charles watched as Carrie returned with a fresh cup of coffee and a silver box from the mantel.

“Cigarette, Detective Jenco?” Carrie asked as she opened the box.

“No, thank you,” he responded. “Coffee is my vice.”

Charles took the lighter from Carrie and lit her cigarette. He knew the news of Todd’s murder was upsetting her. She’d stopped smoking several months ago but had kept a few cigarettes around for guests or emergencies. Did she view Todd’s death as an emergency?

“Mrs. Faraday, could you tell us what occurred prior to you and Mr. Barrington arriving at the library?”

Carrie explained that Todd had attached himself to her outside the dining room while she was looking for Charles. She described how they passed Mrs. Heathrow and Mrs. Spinner while Todd was acting like a juvenile.

“Mrs. Faraday, when it became clear that Mr. Barrington didn’t know where Mr. Faraday was, why didn’t you get away from him?”

“That is easier said than done with Todd. He was quite intoxicated, and he insisted on tagging along. Every time I tried to break away from him, he became louder. I was trying to avoid a scene. I was sure that once I found Charles, Todd would go his own way.”

“You mean, Mr. Faraday would take care of him.”

“No, Detective, that isn’t what I mean,” Carrie replied as she lit her second cigarette, then noticed her first one still burning in the ashtray. Charles took the second one from her as if she were lighting it for him.

Carrie gave Charles a grateful smile, and then continued. “Todd Barrington flirted with most of the women at the Club. Some even encouraged him, but once their husbands were around, Todd would wander off, and nothing ever happened.”

“Were you one of the women who encouraged him or flirted with him?”

“Absolutely not! I’m happily married to my husband.” She paused on the words “happily married” for emphasis.

“What made last night different?”

“Different? What do you mean?” Carrie asked.

“Todd didn’t just wander off. Your husband punched him in the nose, and later in the evening, someone murdered him.”

“Oh, I see what you mean.” Carrie’s glance at Charles said,
Jump in here and help me out
.

“Perhaps I can help,” Charles said. “One difference in last night’s scenario was that Todd didn’t know I was in the library. Todd was also more intoxicated than I’ve ever seen him. I’m sure that had Todd seen me when he entered the library, he would have left, and nothing would have happened.”

“Exactly what was he doing when you punched him?”

Charles saw Carrie stiffen for the second time that morning, but he answered calmly. “He was attempting to force a kiss upon my wife. I felt a good pop in the nose would bring him to his senses.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Faraday, I know this is difficult for you. I’m almost finished. According to Mr. Heathrow and Mr. Albright, the strap on your wife’s gown was broken. Are you sure Mr. Barrington was only attempting to kiss your wife?”

There was silence as Charles thought rapidly of how to answer this question.

Instead Carrie spoke. “Detective Jenco, I attempted to resist Todd’s advances. In doing so, I leaned too far back, putting pressure on the strap on my gown. It wasn’t torn by Todd. It simply snapped.”

“Detectives, I think we’ve been more than helpful in answering your questions. It’s unfortunate that Todd’s juvenile behavior with my wife occurred on the same night as his murder. But other than that coincidence, there’s no relationship between the murder and my punching Todd in the nose. I’m very sorry that Todd was killed.”

Detective Jenco ignored Charles’s hint that the interview was at a close by asking another question. “Then you didn’t threaten Mr. Barrington that if he—and I quote—‘acted this way again, he would get more than a pop in the nose’?”

“Perhaps I did say something like that, but I wasn’t thinking of punishing Todd. I was thinking of saying something to his father. Believe me, telling Todd’s father was a far greater threat to that young man than any physical threat. Now, again,
I think we’ve answered all of your questions.” Charles stubbed out the cigarette.

“But you didn’t add that piece of information when you were threatening him, did you? I mean, the piece about telling his father.”

“To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember.”

“Mr. Heathrow and Mr. Albright don’t remember that part of your statement either.” Detective Jenco remained still for a moment before he asked the next question. “Could you tell me where you both were from the time you left the dance?”

“We left right after the incident with Todd,” Carrie said. “He ruined the evening for us as well as my dress. We came straight home and went to bed.”