Triple Jeopardy (22 page)

Finally I had the player in position and connected, and the wheel of tape, taken from the carton, in place.

All right'I asked Wolfe.

Go ahead.

I flipped the switch. There was a crackle and a little spitting, and then Wolfes voice came:

Its not that, Mr. Koven, not at all. I only doubt if its worth it to you,

considering the size of my minimum fee, to hire me for anything so trivial as finding a stolen gun, or even discovering the thief. I should think -

No! Wolfe bellowed.

I switched it off. I was flustered. Excuse it, I said. The wrong one.

Must I do it myself'Wolfe asked sarcastically.

I muttered something, turning the wheel to rewind. I removed it, pawed among the cartons, picked one, took out the wheel, put it on, and turned the switch. This time the voice that came on was not Wolfes but Kovens - loud and clear.

This time you cant cook up a fancy lie with Goodwin. There are witnesses.

Then Wolfes: We wont get anywhere that way, Mr. Koven. Were all tangled up,

and it will take more than blather to get us loose. You dont want to pay me a million dollars. I dont want to lose my license. The police dont want to add another unsolved murder to the long list. The central and dominant factor is the violent death of Mr. Getz, and I propose to deal with that at length. If we can get that settled Kovens: You told Miss Lowell you know who killed him. If so, why dont you tell the police'That ought to settle it.

Wolfe: You dont mean that, Mr. Koven -

Koven: Youre damn right I mean it!

Wolfe: Then theres a misunderstanding. I heard Miss Lowells talk with you on the phone, both ends of it. 1 got the impression that my threat to inform the police -

Thats enough! Wolfe called. I turned it off. Wolfe looked at Koven. I would call that, he said dryly, a suggestion that I take my information to the police. Wouldnt you'

Koven wasnt saying. Wolfes eyes moved. Wouldnt you, Miss Lowell'

She shook her head. Im not an expert on suggestions.

Wolfe left her. We wont quarrel over terms, Mr. Koven. You heard it.

Incidentally, about the other tape you heard the start of through Mr. Goodwins clumsiness, you may wonder why I havent given it to the police to refute you.

Monday evening, when Inspector Cramer came to see me, I still considered you as my client and I didnt want to discomfit you until I heard what you had to say.

Before Mr. Cramer left he had made himself so offensive that I was disinclined to tell him anything whatever. Now you are no longer my client. Well discuss this matter realistically or not at all. I dont care to badger you into an explicit statement that you lied to the police; Ill leave that to you and them;

I merely insist that we proceed on the basis of what we both know to be the truth. With that understood -

Wait a minute, Pat Lowell put in. The gun was in the drawer Sunday morning. I saw it.

I know you did. Thats one of the knots in the tangle, and well come to it.

His eyes swept the arc. We want to know who killed Adrian Getz. Lets get at it. What do we know about him or her'We know a lot.

First, he took Kovens gun from the drawer sometime previous to last Friday and kept it somewhere. For that gun was put back in the drawer when Goodwins was removed shortly before Getz was killed, and cartridges from it were placed in Goodwins gun.

Second, the thought of Getz continuing to live was for some reason so repugnant to him as to be intolerable.

Third, he knew the purpose of Kovens visit here Saturday evening, and of Goodwins errand at the Koven house on Monday, and he knew the details of the procedure planned by Koven and Goodwin. Only with -

I dont know them even yet, Hildebrand squeaked.

Neither do I, Pete Jordan declared.

The innocent can afford ignorance, Wolfe told them.

Enjoy it if you have it. Only with that knowledge could he have devised his intricate scheme and carried it out.

Fourth, his mental processes are devious but defective. His deliberate and spectacular plan to make it appear that Goodwin had killed Getz, while ingenious in some respects, was in others witless. Going to Kovens office to get Goodwins gun from the drawer and placing Kovens gun there, transferring the cartridges from Kovens gun to Goodwins, proceeding to the room below to find Getz asleep, shooting him in the head, using a pillow to muffle the sound - all that was well enough, competently conceived and daringly executed, but then what'Wanting to make sure that the gun would be quickly found on the spot, a quite unnecessary precaution, he slipped it into the monkeys cage. That was probably improvisation and utterly brainless. Mr. Goodwin couldnt possibly be such a vapid fool.

Fifth, he hated the monkey deeply and bitterly, either on its own account or because of its association with Getz. Having just killed a man, and needing to leave the spot with all possible speed, he went and opened a window, from only one conceivable motive. That took a peculiar, indeed an unexampled, malevolence.

I admit it was effective. Miss Lowell tells me the monkey is dying.

Sixth, he placed Kovens gun in the drawer Sunday morning and, after it had been seen there, took it out again. That was the most remarkable stratagem of all. Since there was no point in putting it there unless it was to be seen, he arranged that it should be seen. Why'It could only have been that he already knew what was to happen on Monday when Mr. Goodwin came, he had already conceived his scheme for framing Goodwin for the homicide, and he thought he was arranging in advance to discredit Goodwins story. So he not only put the gun in the drawer Sunday morning, he also made sure its presence would be noted - and not, of course, by Mr. Koven.

Wolfe focused on one of them. You saw the gun in the drawer Sunday morning, Mr.

Hildebrand'

Yes. The squeak was off pitch. But I didnt put it there!

I didnt say you did. Your claim to innocence has not yet been challenged. You were in the workroom, went up to consult Mr. Koven, encountered Mrs. Koven one flight up, were told by her that Mr. Koven was still in bed, ascended to the office, found Miss Lowell there, and you pulled the drawer open and both of you saw the gun there. Is that correct'

I didnt go up there to look in that drawer. We just -

Stop meeting accusations that havent been made. Its a bad habit. Had you been upstairs earlier that morning'

No!

Had he, Miss Lowell'

Not that I know of. She spoke slowly, with a drag, as if she had only so many words and had to count them. Our looking into the drawer was only incidental.

Had he, Mrs. Koven'

The wife jerked her head up. Had what'she demanded.

Had Mr. Hildebrand been upstairs earlier that morning'

She looked bewildered. Earlier than what'

You met him in the second-floor hall and told him that your husband was still in bed and that Miss Lowell was up in the office. Had he been upstairs before that'That morning'

I havent the slightest idea.

Then you dont say that he had been'

I know nothing about it.

Theres nothing as safe as ignorance - or as dangerous.

Wolfe spread his gaze again. To complete the list of what we know about the murderer. Seventh and last, his repugnance to Getz was so extreme that he even scorned the risk that by killing Getz he might be killing Dazzle Dan. How essential Getz was to Dazzle Dan -

I make Dazzle Dan! Harry Koven roared. Dazzle Dan is mine! He was glaring at everybody. I am Dazzle Dan!

For Gods sake shut up, Harry! Pat Lowell said sharply.

Kovens chin was quivering. He needed three drinks.

I was saying, Wolfe went on, that I do not know how essential Getz was to Dazzle Dan. The testimony conflicts. In any case the murderer wanted him dead.

Ive identified the murderer for you by now, surely'

You have not, Pat Lowell said aggressively.

Then Ill specify. Wolfe leaned forward at them. But first let me say a word for the police, particularly Mr. Cramer. He is quite capable of unraveling a tangle like this, with its superficial complexities. What flummoxed him was Mr.

Kovens elaborate lie, apparently corroborated by Miss Lowell and Mr.

Hildebrand. If he had had the gumption to proceed on the assumption that Mr.

Goodwin and I were telling the truth and all of it, he would have found it simple. This should be a lesson to him.

Wolfe considered a moment. It might be better to specify by elimination. If you recall my list of seven facts about the murderer, that is childs play. Mr.

Jordan, for instance, is eliminated by Number Six; he wasnt there Sunday morning.

Mr. Hildebrand is eliminated by three or four of them, especially Number Six again; he had made no earlier trip upstairs. Miss Lowell is eliminated, for me,

by Numbers Four and Five; and I am convinced that none of the three I have named can meet the requirements of Number Three. I do not believe that Mr. Koven would have confided in any of them so intimately. Nor do I -

Hold it! The gruff voice came from the doorway.

Heads jerked around. Cramer advanced and stopped at Kovens left, between him and his wife. There was dead silence. Koven had his neck twisted to stare up at Cramer, then suddenly he fell apart and buried his face in his hands.

Cramer, scowling at Wolfe, boiling with rage, spoke.

Damn you, if you had given it to us! You and your numbers game!

I cant give you what you wont take, Wolfe said bitingly. You can have her now. Do you want more help'Mr. Koven was still in bed Sunday morning when two of them saw the gun in the drawer. More'Spend the night with Mr. Hildebrand.

Ill stake my license against your badge that hell remember that when he spoke with Mrs. Koven in the hall she said something that caused him to open the drawer and look at the gun. Still more'Take all the contents of her room to your laboratory. She must have hid the gun among her intimate things, and you should find evidence. You cant put him on the stand and ask him if and when he told her what he was doing; he cant testify against his wife; but surely -

Mrs. Koven stood up. She was pale but under control, perfectly steady. She looked down at the back of her husbands bent head.

Take me home, Harry, she said.

Cramer, in one short step, was at her elbow.

Harry! she said, softly insistent. Take me home.

His head lifted and turned to look at her. I couldnt see his face. Sit down,

Marcy, he said. Ill handle this. He looked at Wolfe. If youve got a record of what I said here Saturday, all right. I lied to the cops. So what'I didnt want -

Be quiet, Harry, Pat Lowell blurted at him. Get a lawyer and let him talk.

Dont say anything.

Wolfe nodded. Thats good advice. Especially, Mr. Koven, since I hadnt quite finished. It is a matter of record that Mr. Getz not only owned the house you live in but also that he owned Dazzle Dan and permitted you to take only ten per cent of the proceeds.

Mrs. Koven dropped back into the chair and froze, staring at him. Wolfe spoke to her. I suppose, madam, that after you killed him you went to his room to look for documents and possibly found some and destroyed them. That must have been part of your plan last week when you first took the gun from the drawer - to destroy all evidence of his ownership of Dazzle Dan after killing him. That was foolish, since a man like Mr. Getz would surely not leave invaluable papers in so accessible a spot, and they will certainly be found; we can leave that to Mr.

Cramer. When I said it is a matter of record I meant a record that I have inspected and have in my possession.

Wolfe pointed. That stack of stuff on that table is Dazzle Dan for the past three years. In one episode, repeated annually with variations, he buys peaches from two characters named Aggie Ghool and Haggie Krool, and Aggie Ghool, saying that she owns the tree, gives Haggie Krool ten per cent of the amount received and pockets the rest. A.G. are the initials of Adrian Getz; H.K. are the initials of Harry Koven. It is not credible that that is coincidence or merely a prank, especially since the episode was repeated annually. Mr. Getz must have had a singularly contorted psyche, taking delight as he did in hiding the fact of his ownership and control of that monster, but compelling the nominal owner to publish it each year in a childish allegory. For a meager ten per cent -

Not of the net, Koven objected. Ten per cent of the gross. Over four hundred a week clear, and I -

He stopped. His wife had said, You worm. Leaving her chair, she stood looking down at him, stiff and towering, overwhelming, small as she was.

You worm! she said in bitter contempt. Not even a worm. Worms have guts,

dont they'

She whirled to face Wolfe. All right, youve got him. The one time he ever acted like a man, and he didnt have the guts to see it through. Getz owned Dazzle Dan, thats right. When he got the idea and sold it, years ago, and took Harry in to draw it and front it, Harry should have insisted on an even split right then and didnt. He never had it in him to insist on anything, and never would, and Getz knew it. When Dazzle Dan caught on, and the years went by and it kept getting bigger and bigger, Getz didnt mind Harry having the name and the fame as long as he owned it and got the money. You said he had a contorted psyche, maybe that was it, only thats not what Id call it. Getz was a vampire.

Ill accept that, Wolfe murmured.

Thats the way it was when I met Harry, but I didnt know it until we were married, two years ago. I admit Getz might not have got killed if it hadnt been for me. When I found out how it was I tried to talk sense into Harry. I told him his name had been connected with Dazzle Dan so long that Getz would have to give him a bigger share, at least half, if he demanded it. He claimed he tried, but he just wasnt man enough. I told him his name was so well known that he could cut loose and start another one on his own, but he wasnt man enough for that either. Hes not a man, hes a worm. I didnt let up. I kept after him, I admit that. Ill admit it on the witness stand if I have to. And I admit I didnt know him as well as I thought I did. I didnt know there was any danger of making him desperate enough to commit murder. I didnt know he had it in him. Of course hell break down, but if he says I knew that he had decided to kill Getz Ill have to deny it because its not true. I didnt.