The Benson Murder Case (19 page)

One might have thought, from his tone and the self-righteous way he looked at Markham, that he had bribed the garage-man wholly out of consideration for the District Attorney and the police.

“Why didn't you continue on your trip?” asked Markham. “That would have made the discovery of the car even less likely.”

Pfyfe adopted an air of compassionate surprise.

“With my dearest friend foully murdered? How could one have the heart to seek diversion at such a sad moment? … I returned home, and informed Mrs. Pfyfe that my car had broken down.”

“You might have driven home in your car, it seems to me,” observed Markham.

Pfyfe offered a look of infinite forbearance for the other's inspection, and took a deep sigh, which conveyed the impression, that though he could not sharpen the world's perceptions, he at least could mourn for its deplorable lack of understanding.

“If I had been in the Catskills away from any source of information, where Mrs. Pfyfe believed me to be, how would I have heard of Alvin's death until, perhaps, days afterward? You see, unfortunately I had not mentioned it to Mrs. Pfyfe that I was stopping over in New York. The truth is, Mr. Markham, I had reason for not wishing my wife to know I was in the city. Consequently, if I had driven back at once, she would, I regret to say, have suspected me of breaking my journey. I therefore pursued the course which seemed simplest.”

Markham was becoming annoyed at the man's fluent hypocrisy. After a brief silence he asked abruptly:

“Did the presence of your car at Benson's house that night have anything to do with your apparent desire to implicate Captain Leacock in the affair?”

Pfyfe lifted his eyebrows in pained astonishment, and made a gesture of polite protestation.

“My dear sir!” His voice betokened profound resentment of the other's unjust imputation. “If yesterday you detected in my words an undercurrent of suspicion against Captain Leacock, I can account for it only by the fact that I actually saw the Captain in front of Alvin's house when I drove up that night.”

Markham shot a curious look at Vance; then said to Pfyfe:

“You are sure you saw Leacock?”

“I saw him quite distinctly. And I would have mentioned the fact yesterday had it not involved the tacit confession of my own presence there.”

“What if it had?” demanded Markham. “It was vital information, and I could have used it this morning. You were placing your comfort ahead of the legal demands of justice; and your attitude puts a very questionable aspect on your own alleged conduct that night.”

“You are pleased to be severe, sir,” said Pfyfe with self-pity. “But, having placed myself in a false position, I must accept your criticism.”

“Do you realise,” Markham went on, “that many a district attorney, if he knew what I now know about your movements, and had been treated the way you've treated me, would arrest you on suspicion?”

“Then I can only say,” was the suave response, “that I am most fortunate in my inquisitor.”

Markham rose.

“That will be all for to-day, Mr. Pfyfe. But you are to remain in New York until I give you permission to return home. Otherwise, I will have you held as a material witness.”

Pfyfe made a shocked gesture in deprecation of such acerbities, and bade us a ceremonious good afternoon.

When we were alone, Markham looked seriously at Vance.

“Your prophecy was fulfilled, though I didn't dare hope for such luck. Pfyfe's evidence puts the final link in the chain against the Captain.”

Vance smoked languidly.

“I'll admit your theory of the crime is most satisfyin'. But alas, the psychological objection remains. Everything fits, with the one exception of the Captain; and he doesn't fit at all…. Silly idea, I know. But he has no more business being cast as the murderer of Benson than the bisonic Tetrazzini had being cast as the phthisical
Mimi
.”
¹

“In any other circumstances,” Markham answered, “I might defer reverently to your charming theories. But with all the circumstantial and presumptive evidence I have against Leacock, it strikes my inferior legal mind as sheer nonsense to say, ‘He just couldn't be guilty because his hair is parted in the middle and he tucks his napkin in his collar.' There's too much logic against it.”

“I'll grant your logic is irrefutable—as all logic is, no doubt. You've prob'bly convinced many innocent persons by sheer reasoning that they were guilty.”

Vance stretched himself wearily.

“What do you say to a light repast on the roof? The unutt'rable Pfyfe has tired me.”

In the summer dining-room on the roof of the Stuyvesant Club we found Major Benson sitting alone, and Markham asked him to join us.

“I have good news for you, Major,” he said, when we had given our order. “I feel confident I have my man; everything points to him. To-morrow will see the end, I hope.”

The Major gave Markham a questioning frown.

“I don't understand exactly. From what you told me the other day, I got the impression there was a woman involved.”

Markham smiled awkwardly, and avoided Vance's eyes.

“A lot of water has run under the bridge since then,” he said. “The woman I had in mind was eliminated as soon as we began to check up on her. But in the process I was led to the man. There's little doubt of his guilt. I felt pretty sure about it this morning, and just now I learned that he was seen by a credible witness in front of your brother's house within a few minutes of the time the shot was fired.”

“Is there any objection to your telling me who it was?” The Major was still frowning.

“None whatever. The whole city will probably know it to-morrow…. It was Captain Leacock.”

Major Benson stared at him in unbelief.

“Impossible! I simply can't credit it. That boy was with me three years on the other side, and I got to know him pretty well. I can't help feeling there's a mistake somewhere…. The police,” he added quickly, “have got on the wrong track.”

“It's not the police,” Markham informed him. “It was my own investigations that turned up the Captain.”

The Major did not answer, but his silence bespoke his doubt.

“Y'know,” put in Vance, “I feel the same way about the Captain that you do, Major. It rather pleases me to have my impressions verified by one who has known him so long.”

“What, then, was Leacock doing in front of the house that night?” urged Markham acidulously.

“He might have been singing carols beneath Benson's window,” suggested Vance.

Before Markham could reply he was handed a card by the head waiter. When he glanced at it, he gave a grunt of satisfaction, and directed that the caller be sent up immediately. Then, turning back to us, he said:

“We may learn something more now. I've been expecting this man Higginbotham. He's the detective that followed Leacock from my office this morning.”

Higginbotham was a wiry, pale-faced youth with fishy eyes and a shifty manner. He slouched up to the table and stood hesitantly before the District Attorney.

“Sit down and report, Higginbotham,” Markham ordered. “These gentlemen are working with me on the case.”

“I picked up the bird while he was waiting for the elevator,” the man began, eyeing Markham craftily. “He went to the subway and rode up town to Seventy-ninth and Broadway. He walked through Eightieth to Riverside Drive and went in the apartment house at No. 94. Didn't give his name to the boy—got right in the elevator. He stayed Upstairs a coupla hours, come down at one-twenty, and hopped a taxi.
I picked up another one, and followed. He went down the Drive to Seventy-second, through Central Park, and east on Fifty-ninth. Got out at Avenue A, and walked out on the Queens borough Bridge. About half way to Blackwell's Island he stood leaning over the rail for five or six minutes. Then he took a small package out of his pocket, and dropped it in the river.”

“What size was the package?” There was repressed eagerness in Markham's question.

Higginbotham indicated the measurements with his hands.

“How thick was it?”

“Inch or so, maybe.”

Markham leaned forward.

“Could it have been a gun—a Colt automatic?”

“Sure it could. Just about the right size. And it was heavy, too—I could tell by the way he handled it, and by the way it hit the water.”

“All right.” Markham was pleased. “Anything else?”

“No, sir. After he'd ditched the gun, he went home and stayed. I left him there.”

When Higginbotham had gone, Markham nodded at Vance with melancholy elation.

“There's your criminal agent…. What more would you like?”

“Oh, lots,” drawled Vance.

Major Benson looked up, perplexed.

“I don't quite grasp the situation. Why did Leacock have to go to Riverside Drive for his gun?”

“I have reason to think,” said Markham, “that he took it to Miss St. Clair the day after the shooting—for safe-keeping probably. He wouldn't have wanted it found in his place.”

“Might he not have taken it to Miss St. Clair's before the shooting?”

“I know what you mean,” Markham answered. (I, too, recalled the Major's assertion the day before that Miss St. Clair was more capable of shooting his brother than was the Captain.) “I had the same idea myself. But certain evidential facts have eliminated her as a suspect.”

“You've doubtlessly satisfied yourself on the point,” returned the Major; but his tone was dubious. “However, I can't see Leacock as Alvin's murderer.”

He paused, and laid a hand on the District Attorney's arm.

“I don't want to appear presumptuous, or unappreciative of all you've done; but I really wish you'd wait a bit before clapping that boy into prison. The most careful and conscientious of us are liable to error: even facts sometimes lie damnably; and I can't help believing that the facts in this instance have deceived you.”

It was plain that Markham was touched by this request of his old friend; but his instinctive fidelity to duty helped him to resist the other's appeal.

“I must act according to my convictions, Major,” he said firmly, but with a great kindness.

“Pfyfe–Personal”

(
Tuesday
,
June
18
th
; 9
a.m.
)

The next day—the fourth of the investigation—was an important and, in some ways, a momentous one in the solution of the problem posed by Alvin Benson's murder. Nothing of a definite nature came to light, but a new element was injected into the case; and this new element eventually led to the guilty person.

Before we parted from Markham after our dinner with Major Benson, Vance had made the request that he be permitted to call at the District Attorney's office the next morning. Markham, both disconcerted and impressed by his unwonted earnestness, had complied; although, I think, he would rather have made his arrangements for Captain Leacock's arrest without the disturbing influence of the other's protesting presence. It was evident that, after Higginbotham's report, Markham had decided to place the Captain in custody, and to proceed with his preparation of data for the Grand Jury.

Although Vance and I arrived at the office at nine o'clock Markham was already there. As we entered the room, he picked up the telephone receiver, and asked to be put through to Sergeant Heath.

At that moment Vance did an amazing thing. He walked swiftly to the District Attorney's desk, and, snatching the receiver out of Markham's hand, clamped it down on the hook. Then he placed the telephone to one side, and laid both hands on the other's shoulders. Markham was too astonished and bewildered to protest; and before he could recover himself, Vance said in a low, firm voice, which was all the more impelling because of its softness:

“I'm not going to let you jail Leacock—that's what I came here for this morning. You're not going to order his arrest as long as I'm in this office and can prevent it by any means whatever. There's only one way you can accomplish this act of unmitigated folly, and that's by summoning your policemen and having me forcibly ejected. And I advise you to call a goodly number of 'em, because I'll give 'em the battle of their bellicose lives!”

The incredible part of this threat was that Vance meant it literally. And Markham knew he meant it.

“If you do call your henchmen,” he went on, “you'll be the laughing stock of the city inside of a week; for, by that time, it'll be known who really did shoot Benson. And I'll be a popular hero and a martyr—God save the mark!—for defying the District Attorney and offering up my sweet freedom on the altar of truth and justice and that sort of thing….”

The telephone rang, and Vance answered it.

“Not wanted,” he said, closing off immediately. Then he stepped back and folded his arms.

At the end of a brief silence, Markham spoke, his voice quavering with rage.

“If you don't go at once, Vance, and let me run this office myself, I'll have no choice but to call in those policemen.”

Vance smiled. He knew Markham would take no such extreme measures. After all, the issue between these two friends was an intellectual one, and though Vance's actions had placed it for a moment on a physical basis, there was no danger of its so continuing.

Markham's belligerent gaze slowly turned to one of profound perplexity.

“Why are you so damned interested in Leacock?” he
asked gruffly. “Why this irrational insistence that he remain at large?”

“You priceless, inexpressible ass!” Vance strove to keep all hint of affection out of his voice. “Do you think I care particularly what happens to a Southern army captain? There are hundreds of Leacocks, all alike—with their square shoulders and square chins, and their knobby clothes, and their totemistic codes of barbaric chivalry. Only a mother could tell 'em apart…. I'm int'rested in
you
, old chap. I don't want to see you make a mistake that's going to injure you more that it will Leacock.”