Murder in Black Letter
Copyright© 2025 by Poul Anderson
Chapter 17
Jimmy O’Hearn was still snuffling when the police unbound him and led him off to be booked. Inspector Harries went back into the yard with Yamamura and Guido. “All right, Trig,” he said, “now tell me just what did happen.”
“Dr. Kintyre, Mr. Lombardi’s sister, and I went to see Mr. Lombardi at the night club where he works,” answered Yamamura. “He was pretty worried. O’Hearn and another chap named Larkin had hired him to do a certain out-of-town job over the very weekend his brother was killed. He wondered if it was a coincidence.”
“O’Hearn babbled something about a package of dope,” said Inspector Harries grimly. Guido became busy lighting a cigarette.
“Sure,” said Yamamura. “Why not try to drag down the witnesses against him? Where is this package?”
“Suppose you tell me yourself what the job was, Mr. Lombardi,” said Harries without warmth.
“Well, they did want me to go to Tijuana and get some pod,” said Guido. Yamamura had briefed him in a moment’s stolen privacy. “I admit I went down—is uncompleted intent a crime? I changed my mind and didn’t actually get the stuff.” Impudence danced over his lips. “It’d have been illegal. And also, thinking it over, I saw that the errand didn’t make sense. There are enough places right here that carry the same line.”
“Hm. Any witnesses?”
Guido shrugged. “No. How could there be? I suppose you can prove I was in Tijuana and ate a few meals there.”
“I would think you’d have more important things to do than asking out the details of something which is contradicted only by the unsupported word of a gangster,” said Yamamura.
Harries considered him angrily. “You were my friend, Trig,” he said. “Don’t add insult to injury.”
“I had no choice,” said Yamamura, very low.
“The night before last,” said Guido, “Larkin showed up and got violent with Professor Kintyre, who was talking to me. Quite a brawl. Larkin got away, and Kintyre left too when I begged him. I admit I lied to the officers afterward, claiming I didn’t know either one of them, but by then I was scared.”
“Go on,” grunted Harries.
“So we had a conference of friends-and-relations last night,” said Yamamura. “We decided it was best to make a clean breast with the police. Ahem, that was my advice. But O’Hearn stopped us at gun point as we came out the back way. He was going to kidnap Mr. Lombardi. We got the upper hand, though. Yes, we took him over here, instead of turning him in to the San Francisco authorities as we should have. Why? First, Larkin might well be hanging around, and why should he be helped by seeing a lot of uniforms and realizing what had happened to his buddy? Second, we were afraid for our lives on that side and wanted to get the hell away from there.”
Harries gave him a thin look. “I know you. I don’t believe that.”
“A jury would,” said Yamamura. “Let me go on. Dr. Kintyre took Miss Lombardi home—she’s entirely innocent in all of this. When he finally arrived here, we were so bushed that none of us thought we could face all the questions without a little sleep. Sure, sure, Inspector, everything we did was foolish and mildly illegal, but consider how exhausted we were. Much too tired to think straight. We tied O’Hearn to the table—”
“Why the blindfold, for Pete’s sake?”
“It just seemed like a good idea. When we woke up, we found O’Hearn had the screaming meemies. Naturally we wouldn’t lose such a chance, it might not come again. We asked him some things. We talked it over. All of a sudden the significance dawned on Dr. Kintyre. You know the rest.”
“What I don’t yet know is what you’ll be charged with,” said Harries. “Among other things, some of the coldest-blooded lying I’ve heard all week.”
“Isn’t that a problem for the district attorney?” asked Yamamura, unruffled.
“Yes. And of course nothing will be done. You’re comic book heroes—for violating the Fifth Amendment!” Harries shook his head. “If it hadn’t been for all your shilly-shallying, Miss Towne might be alive this morning.”
“When was she killed?” asked Yamamura.
“The doctor thinks around midnight or one o’clock.”
“Nobody could have known,” said Yamamura. “Suppose we had turned O’Hearn in directly. He had no idea who was slated to die: not even what kind of job his associates were doing. He’s just a goon.”
“I suppose so.” As he watched, Yamamura saw the anger go out of Harries. “We’d still be interrogating him and getting no place. Whereas now, maybe the San Francisco force can take the others in that house.” The inspector hesitated. “Officially, I can only condemn your actions, including your concealment of facts. And you know I know fairly well what those facts are. I’ll have to report all this and—and hell, there’s no material evidence, and the D.A. has to consider public opinion, and why waste funds on petty charges which would never get past a jury? You’ll get away with it this time. And strictly unofficially, I’ve no right to say it, but I guess I’m not too damn mad at you.”
Yamamura did not smile. “I wish Bob could see it that way,” he answered.
“What’s the matter with him, anyhow?”
“A bad nervous spell. He gets them once in a while.”
“Just like that?” asked Guido.
“No,” said Yamamura. “It looks like a sudden collapse, but it isn’t. He worked hard through the academic year. It brought him close to the edge, he needed a vacation badly. Instead, all this strain and—He feels morbidly responsible. There are reasons for it. They lie in his past and don’t concern us.”
“How about a psychiatrist?” inquired Harries.
“He hasn’t got that kind of money. And we all have some such curse—don’t we now? Some people have dizzy spells. Some people are hypochondriacs. Once every couple of years, Kintyre spends a few days in hell.”
“But what made him realize Miss Towne was—?”
“He answered the riddle, of course. He knew who had hired the killers, and why. From that, it followed she was next.”
Harries caught his arm so tightly he winced. “What?”
“Uh-huh,” said Yamamura. “Wait, though. He didn’t tell me.”
“But he’s in there now and—come on!”
Yamamura caught Harries by the shoulder and spun him around. “No,” he said. “It isn’t right. Leave him alone.”
“Leave the murderers alone, too!” snapped Harries.
Yamamura rubbed his chin. They could see how he slumped.
“There is that,” he agreed. “Let me go in by myself, then, and talk to him.”
Kintyre thought he had carried it off very well. He had spoken coherently with Moffat. The policeman told him in a sick voice that blood had soaked through her mattress until the floor was clotted beneath her bed. Guido swayed on his feet. Kintyre’s face had remained like carved bone.
“Was jewelry lifted this time?” he asked. “Oh, yes, it was a professional job, all the earmarks,” said Moffat. “But did you see two long gray cardboard boxes with files of papers? They’d be in plain sight in the living room if they’re there at all,” said Kintyre. “No, no such thing, the burglars must have taken them in the hope of finding stowed cash,” said Moffat. “The jewelry was only to make you think that. Had she simply been murdered, or was she tied down first?” asked Kintyre. “Yes, tied down, blindfolded, mouth full of towel,” said Moffat. “The burglars came in and grabbed her while she slept, secured her so there would be no chance she could identify them,” said Kintyre. “That’s not unheard of, but then why did they kill her afterward?” asked Moffat. “Because the letter boxes were still open on the coffee table,” said Kintyre. “What?” said Moffat. “It proved she had been reading Bruce Lombardi’s mail; the burglars’ orders were to get rid of her if that was the case,” said Kintyre. “Hey, how do you know all this?” asked Moffat. But then Kintyre felt his control begin to crack, so he turned about and went back to his car with Guido.
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