Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home (19 page)

“You’ll be better off to let them go home. If you wait until their parents get here, this place will be a madhouse of hysterical parents and whatever lawyers they managed to bring along with them. There will be accusations and recriminations, and worst of all, the town will be full of rumors tomorrow morning that not only will do a great deal of harm to a lot of innocent people, but will make your investigation ten times as complicated and ten times as difficult.”

Lanigan shook his head stubbornly. “If one of those kids turned out to be guilty and I let him get away when I had him right here in my own station house –” He broke off to ask a patrolman who had entered and was trying to catch his eye, “What is it, Tony?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute, Chief?” The two withdrew to a corner of the room, where the patrolman whispered to him earnestly for several minutes. The chief asked him a question and got a muttered reply. Then, with a “Thanks, Tony, that’s a real help,” he rejoined the rabbi.

“All right, Rabbi, I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I’ll release them in your custody. You’ll have to give me your word that they’ll be available for questioning when I want them.”

For a moment the rabbi hesitated. Then he nodded. “Very well, I guess I can do that.”

They had been there almost an hour, and still there was no sign of agreement. Every now and then one of them would appeal to the rabbi – usually to support his position – but he was determined to be circumspect and refused to be drawn. When Lanigan first asked him to arrange for an informal meeting with all the youngsters who had been at the cookout, he had demurred. “I can’t just ask them; their parents would have to agree to it.”

“So ask the parents. Explain to them that all I want is information. I’m not trying to pin anything on anyone. No tricks. I just want to be sure I’m getting the complete story.”

“They’ll want their lawyers present.” the rabbi warned.

“Nothing doing. I’m not going to have a bunch of wise guys raising objections every time I ask a question. If one didn’t, another would.”

“How about if they all agreed on one lawyer?”

“That would be the day. Besides, even if by some miracle they did, he’d feel he had to be extra careful, and he wouldn’t let them volunteer anything.”

The rabbi smiled. “Then I don’t think you’re going to get your meeting.”

“Oh, I’ll get it sooner or later.” said Lanigan grimly. “I’ve got a clear case of breaking and entering against each and every one of those kids. I’ll admit that there were extenuating circumstances and that probably no judge would sentence them. But in connection with the fact that they were all material witnesses to a murder – believe me. I’d have no trouble confining them to the jurisdiction. And when school starts again, they and their parents, too, are going to begin to chafe.”

So, with great reluctance, the rabbi had agreed and called Mr. Jacobs to ask him to round up the others.

They met in his study, and after his preliminary remarks explaining the situation, he left the entire discussion to them. He sat teetering in his swivel chair behind his desk, following the argument as it shifted back and forth among the parents. Gorfinkle, for once, remained uncharacteristically silent, and the rabbi for his part tended to avoid looking in his direction.

“If he’s going to accuse my child of being mixed up in the murder of this – this football player, then he’s going to have to prove it.” cried Betty Marks’ mother. “The nerve of him to expect me to permit him to question her without a lawyer.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t suspect her, Mrs. Marks.” said Roger Epstein. “He just wants to clear this business up as fast as he can. If we don’t cooperate, he’ll get nowhere, sure, but the case will not be solved.”

“Well, that’s his lookout.” said Mrs. Marks.

“No, it’s ours, too. If the case isn’t solved and the murderer found, after a while suspicion may rest on our children, and that won’t do any of them any good.”

“Besides.” said Mr. Schulman, “the kids did break into that house. No question about it. If we don’t cooperate in this, he can bring a charge on the grounds of breaking and entering. Well, my Gladys has to get back to school; she has exams just as soon as she gets back. Am I going to let her kill a year just to be stubborn? Anyway, I trust my Gladys.”

“Do you mean that I don’t trust my Betty?”

“I’m sure you have every reason to. Mrs. Marks.” said Epstein quickly.

“I think Bill should be able to handle himself.” said Mr. Jacobs. “I’m willing to go along.”

“Yes, but Bill was one of those who discovered the body.” said Mr. Sussman. “His situation and your Stu’s, Ben, they’re different.”

“I don’t see that they’re so different.” said Gorfinkle. “After all, Stu never even entered the house until they went back for the other boy.”

“You mean he’s in the clear, and that’s why you’re so willing,” Mr. Sussman pointed out.

“We’ll be here all night if we keep on wrangling like this,” said Mr. Arons. “What’s it come down to? Chief Lanigan wants to question our kids all together on an informal basis. He’s certainly got a right to question them, and we’ve got a right to have a lawyer present. So if he questions them individually, don’t you think he’ll get the answers to any questions he wants to ask even if there is a lawyer present? If he doesn’t get it from one, he’ll get it from another. You know, folks. I get the impression that this Lanigan is a sincere guy. I think he’s on the level. I don’t think he’s trying to trap anybody.”

“It just occurred to me.” said Mr. Sussman. “If there’s no lawyer present, then none of what is said can be used as evidence in court. So maybe we’re better off without a lawyer.”

“That’s a good point.” said Schulman.

“That’s right. Maybe Lanigan outsmarted himself.”

“I still think one of us ought to be present, though.”

“I don’t know how Lanigan would feel about that.” said Jacobs. “Personally. I wouldn’t care to be the one. I wouldn’t care to be responsible to the rest of you for advising your kids. Suppose one of them said something damaging –”

“Suppose we got someone who is not involved, someone neutral.” Epstein offered.

“Like who?”

“Perhaps” – Mr. Arons turned – “the rabbi here –”

Lieutenant Jennings glanced through the typed sheets and handed them over to his chief. “There’s Paff s statement. Hugh. Nothing very interesting in it, although it struck me that he was kind of edgy.”

“Everybody’s edgy when they have to talk to the police,” said Lanigan. “That’s one of the troubles with being a cop.” He read from the statement:” ‘QUESTION: What is your interest in Hillson House? ANSWER: I’m thinking of buying it; that is, a group of us are. QUESTION: For what purpose? ANSWER: It’s a business venture.’ ” Lanigan looked up. “He never told you what it was?”

“No, Hugh, he acted pretty closed-mouthed about it, and I didn’t feel I had the right to pry, especially when I couldn’t see any connection. After all, if it’s some special deal he naturally wouldn’t want it to get out before he was ready.”

“Maybe you’re right. But did he say who the group was?”

“Yeah, later on he mentions at least some of the names. There’s a guy name of Arons who is the father of one of the kids, and there’s Dr. Edelstein – you know him – and there’s a man name of Kallen, Irving Kallen. He was supposed to meet them at the site, but none of them showed, so he drove off.”

“That’s a little funny,” said Lanigan. “If he got there early, you’d think he’d wait. And if he got there late, he might assume that someone else could be late, and you’d think he’d wait for a few minutes anyway.”

“Not if you read the statement, Hugh. Edelstein and Arons called earlier to tell him they wouldn’t make it. It was raining so hard he figured Kallen wouldn’t come out either.” He leaned over and pointed to a paragraph on the typescript.” ‘I slowed down, saw that no one was there and the house was dark, and drove on.’

“Hm – maybe. But still, there’s the business of his bowling alleys –”

“Gosh, Hugh, bowling is respectable these days. Some alleys have these little tables where you have a bite, and there are even some where women can bring the kids and leave them with a baby-sitter while they bowl. Pool and billiard parlors, the same way. You know that one over at the shopping center? I dropped in there one evening while the missus was shopping in the supermarket, and there was this gal in a mini-skirt stretched out on that table making a shot for the corner pocket. You could see her whole whatsis. I tell you. I just had to get up and leave.”

“I’ll bet.”

Jennings disregarded his chiefs sarcasm. “Say, do you suppose that’s the deal on Hillson House? He and his friends want to turn it into one of them fancy bowling alleys?”

“Could be. Still it’s funny about him.”

“What’s funny?”

“Well, there’s that call from Kevin O’Connor. Kevin is an idiot, but he’s also a cop. He wouldn’t go asking me about Paff just to gossip. I take it that the Lynn police are really suspicious of that bowling alley of his. Anyway, it’s a coincidence. And his having a key to Hillson House is another. And his driving by there that same night – that’s still another. It’s a lot of coincidences when you come to think of it.”

“Yeah, but he’s a big man in the community. What could the likes of him have to do with the likes of Moose

Carter?”

“Well, for one thing. Moose worked for him.”

“So?”

“So it’s a connection. Suppose, just suppose.” said Lanigan slowly. “Paff were distributing pot. Remember, a lot of kids come into his bowling alleys. Now suppose, just suppose, that after working there for a while, Moose tumbles onto it. You know the sort of kid he was. He wouldn’t notify the police. Oh no. he’d tell Paff and make him cough up for it. All right. Paff goes to Hillson House for this special deal. When his friends don’t show he figures while he’s here he might as well look the place over again. He goes from room to room, and then he sees Moose. Maybe so far the kid only hit him up for small change. Maybe for that package of pot we found on him. But he knows it’s not going to stop there. It’s going to get worse. And then he realizes that he can settle the whole business by just lifting up a corner of the sheet and tucking it in.”

“You mean he’d kill him to avoid being blackmailed? Seems to me he’d be more apt to wait until the kid actually bore down on him.”

“Maybe he did. Or look at it this way: Maybe he wouldn’t go out of his way to do anything drastic, but here an opportunity presents itself. All he has to do is tuck in a fold of plastic and walk away.”

“Beauty! But you’ve got to admit, Hugh, that it’s pretty fanciful. I wouldn’t want to put the arm on anybody on the basis of that kind of evidence.”

“Oh, I’m keeping an open mind on the subject. I haven’t written off those kids by a long shot. Remember, they all knew Moose. Any one of them could have done it, girls as well as boys. Maybe some of those girls were sweet on some of the boys and vice versa. And from what I can gather. Moose was cracking wise quite a bit. We know he fooled around with the girls, and maybe someone there didn’t like it. So when he passed out –”

“All right, so now you’ve got the eight kids – no, seven, because the Gorfinkle boy wasn’t there. Are you sure you can’t get him involved?”

Lanigan disregarded Jennings’ sarcasm. “No, I can’t come up with anything for him. I’d say he was in the clear.”

“Then I’ll give you one. How about old man Carter?”

“Carter, the boy’s father”

“Stepfather, Hugh.”

“That’s right. I forgot about that. What difference does it make, though? He adopted him. I suppose. Anyway he brought him up as his own. Who was the boy’s father?”

Jennings grinned. “He was born over the left. He wasn’t Carter’s boy, that’s for sure. And the old man could never forget it. Whenever he had trouble with him, and there was trouble with the police once or twice, he blamed it on the boy’s birth. He told me once when Moose was involved on a matter of vandalism that it was because he was a child of sin and came of bad seed.”

“Pretty rotten, that.”

“Oh, it’s what you’d expect from these religious types. Well, now, that night Carter wasn’t home. When we called, he was just coming in.”

“I suppose it might be worthwhile knowing where he was,” Lanigan admitted with no great interest. “Anyone else?”

“There’s the colored fellow, of course.”

“Well, naturally. He’s probably the one. Still, no harm in checking over the possibles.”

The manager of the Lynn alleys greeted Paff with, “Tough about the kid, huh?”

Paff shook his head regretfully. “It certainly is. A young fellow like that, a good-looking boy, an athlete –”

“You know. I called his house like you told me, to see why he hadn’t showed, and I spoke to his Ma. When I think that he was probably dead at the time – you know, it kind of gives you the shivers – I mean asking her what time she expects him back and all.”

“Yeah.”

“You got somebody else lined up to take his place, Mr. Paff? Because life got to go on, like they say, and I don’t mind working overtime a couple of nights to help you out, but –”

“I’ll get somebody to relieve you – tomorrow night for sure.”

“If you’re having trouble getting somebody, there’s this kid that lives right next door to me. He’s smart, knows how to handle himself.”

“Yeah? What’s he doing now?”

“Well, right now, he’s not doing much of anything, just sort of looking around.”

“Well –”

“I could have him come down tomorrow evening, and you could talk to him.”

“Right now. I’ve got things pretty well lined up.”

A customer tapped impatiently on the counter with a coin, and the manager hurried over to wait on him. As he came back he fished in his pocket and brought forth a bit of paper. “Say, I almost forgot. Did a Mr. Kallen get in touch with you the other night? He called right after you left. He said he was supposed to meet you” – he referred to the paper – “at Hillson House. He said he wouldn’t be able to make it. Say, wasn’t that the place that –”

“Yeah. I spoke to him. Look, er –” he nodded him down to the other end of the counter. “The other night I was kind of upset. I had a tough day, understand?”