The Way We Die Now (25 page)

"If you've come to arrest my husband, Sergeant Moseley, you're too late. He's gone."

"I know that," Hoke said. "He's on his way to Seattle, but the sheriff'll meet the plane. We want to ask you a few questions, however--"

"I didn't know Leo did it--not until tonight, when he told me."

"That was one of my questions."

"When Leo came home this evening, he was irritable. Something was bothering him, and he could hardly eat dinner. Mrs. Burger, his nurse at the clinic, told him in confidence this afternoon that the police knew who the killer was and would soon be making an arrest. I told him the same thing, what you told me. I know you told me not to, but he knew already, so I went ahead and told him. All he said at dinner was that he wondered who it was. But then he had three drinks after dinner. Brandy. He sometimes has one brandy, but when he poured the third one, I knew that he was worried about something. When I pointed out to him that this was his third drink, he got mad and said he didn't need a woman around to count his drinks for him. He went into his den and closed the door. I thought he'd be out in a few minutes to apologize, but then, when he didn't come out, I went upstairs and got ready for bed--" She smiled at Gonzalez. "You look very nice, Lieutenant."

Gonzalez smiled, looking up from his notebook. "I'm not a lieutenant. I'm just an investigator. Sergeant Mosely here is in charge."

"You still look very nice."

"Perhaps if we sat down..." Hoke suggested.

"I have coffee in the kitchen," Mrs. Schwartz said. "I could bring it out here, or we could go back to the breakfast room."

"Sure."

They followed her down the hallway to the kitchen, and she seated them in the breakfast room. One wall was open to the kitchen, and the other three walls, mostly glass jalousies, were surrounded by a patio. She switched on the lights outside. Hoke looked out and saw a leering stone gnome with a wooden wheelbarrow in the bushes encircling the patio. There was a large green metal frog inside the wheelbarrow. She brought cups and saucers to the table and poured the coffee before seating herself. Hoke put a half spoon of sugar into his coffee, and noticed that the creamer held real cream, not milk or half-and-half. He also realized that Mrs. Schwartz had used some delaying tactics, just as she had been about to tell all. But perhaps she was merely trying to organize her thoughts.

"How long have you known that Dr. Schwartz killed your husband?"

She studied the tablecloth for a moment and nibbled her thin lower lip. There was a triangle of flesh-colored adhesive tape plastered between her eyes. This patch was supposed to minimize or reduce frown lines between the twin arches of her eyebrows, but the frown lines were under the tape all the same, Hoke thought.

"Not till tonight," she said finally, with a shake of her head. "I'm still trying to take it all in, what Leo told me, and it seems unreal."

"Perhaps I can help you, Mrs. Schwartz. Were you and Leo having an affair before Dr. Russell was killed, or did it begin afterward?"

"Afterward. And it wasn't any -affair-, as you put it, because I was a widow then. I don't like the word -affair-. The implication in that word is that something sordid was going on, and that wasn't the case at all."

"I'm not implying anything. I need information. I'm trying to determine what Dr. Schwartz's motivation was, that's all. In their partnership arrangement Dr. Farris and Dr. Schwartz, after Dr. Russell's death, had a fifty-fifty split of the clinic, so it wasn't necessary for Leo Schwartz to marry you in order to profit."

"I also share in the profits, Sergeant. Not as much, but I still get a five percent profit until the clinic is sold or their partnership is dissolved. The thing is, as Leo told me, my husband was bringing in most of the money. He had the most patients, and he brought in more than half the money, and they were barely making up the second half. My husband, you see, had threatened to leave, to sell out his third interest to another doctor. If he'd done that, they would've been in trouble. That was Leo's motivation. It wasn't for me. I didn't know anything about the business side of the clinic. I got my insurance, of course, but then I turned to Leo for help. I didn't know how to invest my money or run my affairs, and he was very helpful. We saw a lot of each other, and then one thing led to another. It wasn't a mad love affair, and there was no triangle--I want you to understand that. We're mature people, and it seemed like a sensible arrangement to get married. It was easier for me, and it seemed foolish for Leo to keep a separate apartment when he was spending most of his nights here anyway." She sipped her coffee but held the cup with both hands. "But I didn't know that Leo had killed my husband. The idea never occurred to me. And I still can't believe it, even though he told me so tonight before he left. Taking lives is not something doctors do. They -save- lives, not take them, and Leo and Max Farris would still have made lots of money, even if my husband had sold out his third of the practice."

"Some people never have enough money, Mrs. Schwartz. Look at Ivan Boesky. Greed was Leo's motivation. This is not a community property state, so Dr. Schwartz also got you, your house, the white Mercedes, and Dr. Russell's ring. He also made a handsome profit, I suppose, when he sold his condo and moved in here with you. You'd better see a lawyer sometime tomorrow, Mrs. Schwartz, even though it's Sunday. Salvage as much as you can before we bring Dr. Schwartz back here for trial. Otherwise, he'll try to spend all your money, as well as his, for lawyer's fees. So get a good lawyer, and close your joint accounts."

"I still can't believe that Leo would do such a thing."

"He did it, all right. Detective Gonzalez will be over here in the morning with a statement for you to sign. Try to get some sleep, and if you remember any pertinent de tails, give them to Detective Gonzalez. The state's attorney will contact you by Monday or Tuesday."

"Will I have to testify against Leo in court? I thought a wife wasn't allowed to testify against her husband."

Hoke laughed. "That isn't true, although a lot of people think it is. in your case your testimony will be necessary for you to avoid being considered an accomplice, you see. You'll have to clear yourself, which will be easy enough because you were out of town at the time of the murder. You see what I mean?"

She nodded. "I guess so. Leo has a lawyer on retainer. Should I contact him or get another?"

"Get another. You can't ask Leo's lawyer to help you hide money and assets now, can you? I'm not allowed to recommend anyone, but call some of your women friends-- preferably a woman who got a decent divorce settlement-- and use her lawyer."

Hoke got to his feet, and so did Gonzalez. Hoke took his cup and saucer over to the sink, but Gonzalez didn't.

"I have one more question, Mrs. Schwartz," Hoke said as he turned at the sink. "How do you get your garage door open?"

"I--I just unlock it and lift it with one hand. Why?"

"You don't have electronic garage openers then?"

She nodded. "We have two. Leo keeps one in his car, but I leave the other one here in the house. I had to order replacements when you kept Paul's opener as evidence, but the new ones don't work very well at times. Is this important?"

Hoke shrugged. "Not any longer. Just a loose end. Let's go, Gonzalez."

"Thanks for the coffee, Mrs. Schwartz," Gonzalez said.

She led the way to the front door to let them out. She opened the front door but blocked it with her body. "One more thing, Sergeant. Leo took his pistol with him. In his suitcase. I'm afraid he might do something foolish with it. He was very distraught when he left."

"Thanks for telling me this."

After she closed the door, Hoke told Gonzalez to meet him back at the office.

"This is Sunday morning already," Gonzalez protested. "I'm supposed to take my mom to the nine o'clock mass."

"If you get the statement typed, and then I edit it, and then you retype it without any mistakes, and then you get Mrs. Schwartz to sign it before nine, then you can go to mass. Otherwise, phone your mother and tell her to make other plans. Our work is just beginning on this case. Now get moving."

When he got back to the station, Hoke called the sheriff in Seattle and arranged for him to pick up Leo Schwartz, traveling under the name L. Black, when the plane landed at the airport.

"He'll have the murder weapon in his baggage, so it'll have to be returned as well. Even though he's a murder suspect, Schwartz isn't a dangerous man, and he likes high living. So if you can, Sheriff, make jail uncomfortable for him. Don't isolate him, but shove him into the drunk tank. I want him to suffer enough discomfort so he won't fight extradition."

"I know what you mean, Sergeant. Two deputies will meet him at the airport."

"It'll probably be Monday before I can wire you a confirmation order, but the weapon alone will be enough to hold him without bail till we get the extradition order."

"No problem. How's the weather down there in Miami?"

"It was about eighty-five today--maybe a little higher than that."

"It's cold and wet here. I've never been to Miami, but I'd like to come down there on a vacation sometime."

"If you ever do, call me, and I'll show you a few high spots."

"I might just take you up on that some day. How far's Miami from Disney World?"

"Hell, you don't want to go there, Sheriff. Orlando's a high-crime area, but if you come to Miami, I'll get you a permit to carry your weapon while you're here."

The sheriff laughed. "Okay, Sergeant Moseley. Leo Schwartz traveling as L. Black."

"Right."

It was almost 7:00 A.M. before Gonzalez had a statement typed well enough to satisfy Hoke. Hoke made three photocopies and gave all four copies to Gonzalez to take to Mrs. Schwartz to sign.

"She'll probably be asleep now," Gonzalez said. "Perhaps if I went over after the nine o'clock mass, she'd be awake."

"You'll go now, before she changes her mind and before she talks to a lawyer who'll advise her not to sign anything. Then come back and put the statements in the safe. I'll probably still be here because I've got to write my notes for the file and a memo to Major Brownley. I want you to type up your notes, too, but you can come back and do it after you go to mass. I'll want to talk to Brownley first thing tomorrow to see how we should handle this thing with the state attorney. Here we are, with a solved case handed to us on a silver fucking platter, and all you can think about is taking your mother to mass."

After Gonzalez left the office, Hoke typed a redline memo to Major Brownley and put it in his box. He tried to phone Lieutenant Vitale in Traffic but couldn't get a line on his whereabouts. He then typed another redline to Vitale, telling him to call off the surveillance and commending Officer Brown for his alertness and initiative. Then he drove home.

Hoke wanted to be awake when Ellita and the girls got home, so he didn't undress and go to bed. He removed his shoes and sat back in his recliner, so he would awaken when they came through the door. As soon as he levered the seat back, his mind began to race, thinking of all the things he still had to do. Then, with an effort, and using a trick that had worked for him before, he imagined a heavy black blind in his mind. His fingers grasped the pull cord, and he slowly lowered the black mental blind. When it was down, all the way down, and completely dark, he fell into a heavy sleep.

CHAPTER 16

Hoke awoke with a groan at ten-thirty. His neck, still bruised and sore, had developed a crick in it from his position in the chair. Shooting pains pulsed tiny darts into the backs of his eyes. Hoke showered and shaved, scrubbed his teeth, and rinsed his dentures in Listerine before adjusting them in his mouth. He made coffee, took three Tylenol, and was on his third cup of coffee when the phone rang. It was Major Brownley.

"Did I wake you?" Brownley asked.

"No, I was awake. Did you read my redliner?"

"Yes, I'm in my office now. That's one of the things I want to talk about. I'm taking you off the Dr. Russell homicide. I gave it to Sergeant Quevedo to finish up."

"There's still a lot to do, Willie," Hoke protested. "I've got to interview Dr. Max Farris, and I want to talk to Mrs. Burger again at some length. I told her something in confidence, and she could hardly wait to pass it on to Schwartz. The nurse knows a lot more than she ever let on when I first talked to her. Then I--"

"Never mind, Hoke. Quevedo's taken over. I've already given him the file, and Gonzalez can fill him in on any other stuff he needs to know."

"Gonzalez doesn't know everything, Willie. He doesn't know about the garage door."

"What garage door?"

"Mrs. Schwartz's garage door. Sometimes it opens with the electronic opener, and sometimes it doesn't."

"Hell, they're all like that at times, Hoke. Mine doesn't always work either. I think it's the humidity. Why is it so important?"

Hoke thought for a moment and then laughed. "It isn't important, not any longer. It's just a loose end I wanted to tie up. If Dr. Schwartz still has the murder weapon, it won't be an issue."

"He's in jail now in Seattle, and the weapon--or a weapon--was recovered. I've already had word on that. Later on, Quevedo has a few questions, he can talk to you, but I don't think you'll have much time for him."

"Even if you take me off the case, I'll have to testify at the trial."

"That'll be two or three months from now. I'll say it slow: You are officially off the case."

"I don't understand this, Willie. What--"

"I'm trying to tell you. Do you know where Molly's Coffee Shop is, on the Trail?"

"Not exactly. Although I remember passing by it."

"It's at Eighth Street and Third Avenue. At the end of a new little shopping center there. Molly's the new chief's sister-in-law, so he likes to eat breakfast there two or three times a week. Anyway, you're to meet the new chief there tomorrow morning at eight o'clock."

"What about? This isn't another weird undercover job like that Immokalee fiasco, is it? If it is, forget it. I'd rather go back into uniform and turn with the signals on Flagler."