A Dance at the Slaughter House

by Lawrence Block

Page 4

 

  "When was that?"

  "Eight years ago. When the will cleared probate Amanda and I each inherited slightly in excess of six hundred thousand dollars. I rather doubt that she spent it all. "

  BY the time we were through it was getting close to five oclock and the bar business was beginning to pick up as the first of the Happy Hour set arrived. I had filled several pages in my pocket notebook and had begun turning down coffee refills. Lyman Warriner had switched from tea to beer and was halfway through a tall glass of Prior dark.

  It was time to set a fee, and as always I didnt know how much to ask for. I gathered that he could afford whatever I charged him but that didnt really enter into my calculations. The number I settled on was $2500, and he didnt ask me how Id arrived there, just took out a checkbook and uncapped a fountain pen. I couldnt remember the last time Id seen one.

  He said, "Matthew Scudder? Two ts, two ds?" I nodded and he wrote out the check and waved it to dry the ink. I told him that he might have a refund coming if things went faster than I expected, or that I might ask for more money if it seemed appropriate. He nodded. He didnt seem terribly concerned about this.

  I took the check, and he said, "I just want to know, thats all. "

  "That might be the most you can hope for. Finding out that he did it and turning up something thatll stand up in court are two different things. You could wind up with your suspicions confirmed and your brother-in-law still getting away with it. "

  "You dont have to prove anything to a jury, Matthew. Just prove it to me. "

  I didnt feel that I could let that go. I said, "It sounds as though youre thinking of taking matters into your own hands. "

  "Ive already done that, havent I? Hiring a private detective. Not letting matters take their own course, not allowing the mills of God to grind in their traditionally slow fashion. "

  "I wouldnt want to be part of something that winds up with you on trial for Richard Thurmans murder. "

  He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I wont pretend it hasnt occurred to me. But I honestly dont think I would do it. I dont think its my style. "

  "Thats just as well. "

  "Is it? I wonder. " He motioned for the waitress, gave her twenty dollars and waved away change. Our check couldnt have come to more than a quarter of that, but wed taken up a table for three hours. He said, "If he killed her, he was exceedingly stupid. "

  "Murder is always stupid. "

  "Do you really think so? Im not sure I agree, but youre more the expert than I. No, my point is that he acted prematurely. He should have waited. "

  "Why?"

  "More money. Dont forget, I inherited the same amount Amanda did, and I can assure you I havent pissed it away. Amanda would have been my heir, and the beneficiary of my insurance. " He took out a cigarette, put it back in the pack. "I wouldnt have had anyone else to leave it to," he said. "My lover died a year and a half ago, of a four-letter disease. " He smiled thinly. "Not gout. The other one. "

  I didnt say anything.

  "Im HIV-positive," he said. "Ive known for several years. I lied to Amanda. I told her Id been tested and I was negative, so I had nothing to worry about. " His eyes sought mine. "That seemed like an ethical lie, dont you think? Since I wasnt about to have sex with her, why burden her with the truth?" He took out the cigarette but didnt light it. "Besides," he said, "there was a chance I might not get sick. Having the antibody may not necessarily mean having the virus. Well, scratch that. The first telltale purple blotch appeared this past August. KS. Thats Kaposis sarcoma. "

  "I know. "

  "Its not the short-term death sentence it was a year or two ago. I could live a long time. I could live ten years, even more. " He lit the cigarette. "But," he said, "somehow I have a feeling thats not going to happen. "

  He stood up, got his topcoat from the rack. I reached for mine and followed him out to the street. A cab came along right away and he hailed it. He opened the rear door, then turned to me once more.

  "I hadnt got around to telling Amanda," he said. "I thought Id tell her at Thanksgiving, but of course by then it was too late. So she didnt know, and of course he wouldnt have known, so he couldnt have realized the financial advantage in delaying her murder. " He threw his cigarette away. "Its ironic," he said, "isnt it? If Id told her I was dying, she might be alive today. "

  Chapter 3

  I got up the next morning and put Warriners check in the bank and drew some walking-around money while I was at it. Wed had a little snow over the weekend but most of it was gone now, with just a little gray residue left at the curbs. It was cold out, but there wasnt much wind and it wasnt a bad day for the middle of winter.

  I walked over to Midtown North on West Fifty-fourth, hoping to catch Joe Durkin, but he wasnt there. I left word for him to call me and walked on down to the main library at Forty-second and Fifth. I spent a couple of hours reading everything I could find about the murder of Amanda Warriner Thurman. While I was at it I looked for her and her husband in the New York Times Index over the past ten years. I read their wedding announcement, which had appeared four years ago September. She would already have come into her inheritance by then.

  I had already learned when they were married from Warriner, but it never hurts to confirm things a client tells you. The announcement furnished me with other information Warriner hadnt given me- the names of Thurmans parents and others in the wedding party, the schools hed attended, the jobs hed held before he went with Five Borough Cable.

  Nothing I turned up told me that he had or hadnt murdered his wife, but I hadnt figured to solve the case with two hours of library research.

  I called Midtown North from a pay phone on the corner. Joe hadnt come back. I had a Sabrett hot dog and a knish for lunch and walked over to the Swedish church on Forty-eighth, where theres a twelve-thirty meeting on weekdays. The speaker was a commuter who lived with his family on Long Island and worked for one of the Big Six accounting firms. Hed been sober ten months and couldnt get over how wonderful it was.

  "I got your message," Durkin said. "I tried you at your hotel but they said you were out. "

  "I was on my way there now," I said. "I thought Id take a chance, see if Id catch you in. "

  "Well, todays your lucky day, Matt. Have a seat. "

  "A fellow came to see me yesterday," I said. "Lyman Warriner. "

  "The brother. I figured hed call you. You gonna do something for him?"

  "If I can," I said. I had palmed a hundred-dollar bill and I tucked it between his fingers. "I appreciate the referral. "

  We were alone in the office, so he felt free to unfold the bill and look at it. "Its a good one," I assured him. "I was there when they printed it. "

  "Now I feel better," he said. "No, what I was just thinking is I shouldnt even take this from you. You want to know why? Because its not just a case of throwing a couple of bucks your way and keeping the citizen happy. Im glad you took the guy on. Id love to see you do him some good. "

  "You think Thurman did his wife?"

  "Do I think? I fucking know it. "

  "How?"

  He considered the question. "I dont know," he said. "Cop instinct. Hows that?"

  "It sounds good to me. Between your cop instinct and Lymans feminine intuition, I figure Thurmans lucky to be walking around free. "

  "Have you met the guy, Matt?"

  "No. "

  "See if you dont read him the same way I did. Hes one phony son of a bitch, I swear to God. I caught that case, I was the first person in there after the blues who responded to the 911 call. I saw him then, when he was still in shock and bleeding from a head wound and with his face red and raw from where hed worked the tape off of his mouth. I saw him I dont know how many times over the next couple of weeks. Matt, he never rang true. I just did not buy that he was sorry she was dead. "

  "That wouldnt necessarily mean he killed her. "

  "Thats a point. Ive known killers who were sorr
y their victim was dead and I suppose it works the other way around. And Im not setting myself up as Joseph Durkin the Human Polygraph. I cant always tell when somebodys lying. But with him its easy. If his lips are moving, hes feeding you a line of shit. "

  "All by himself?"

  He shook his head. "I dont see how. The woman was raped fore and aft with signs of forced entry. Semen deposited vaginally was definitely not from the husband. Different blood type. "

  "And in back?"

  "No semen deposited anally. Maybe the guy in back was practicing safe sex. "

  "Rape in the modern age," I said.

  "Well, its all those leaflets the Surgeon General mailed out, raising the level of public consciousness and all. Anyway, from the looks of it you got your two burglars just the way the husband told it. "

  "Any other physical evidence besides semen?"

  "Short and curlies. Seem to be two types, one thats definitely not the husbands, the other thats a possible. The thing is, you cant tell too much from pubic hair. You can tell both samples are from male Caucasians but thats about all you can get. Plus it doesnt prove anything if some of the hairs are Thurmans, because they were married, for Christs sake, and its not unheard of to carry your husbands pubic hair around in your bush for a day or two. "

  I thought for a moment. I said, "In order for Thurman to have done it solo-"

  "Couldnt happen. "

  "Sure it could. All he needed was some foreign semen and pubic hair. "

  "How would he come by that? Blow a sailor and spit in a Glad bag?"

  I thought fleetingly of Lyman Warriners perception of Thurman as a closet case. "I suppose thats as good a way as any," I said. "Im just running through whats remotely possible and what isnt. One way or another he obtained specimens of foreign semen and hair. He went to the party with his wife, came home-"

  "Climbed three flights of stairs and told her to wait a minute while he forced entry to the Gottschalk apartment. Look, honey, I learned this neat way to open doors without the key. "

  "The door was forced?"

  "Jimmied. "

  "That could have been done after. "

  "After what?"

  "After hed killed her and before he called 911. Say he had a key to the Gottschalk place. "

  "Thats not what the Gottschalks say. "

  "He could have had one without them knowing about it. "

  "They had a couple of locks on the door. "

  "He could have had a couple of keys. Hang on, honey, I promised Roy and Irma Id water the plants. "

  "Thats not their names. Alfred Gottschalk, thats the lawyer. I forget the wifes name. "

  " I promised Alfred and Whatsername Id water the plants. "

  "At one in the morning?"

  "Whats the difference? Maybe he says he wants to borrow a book from the Gottschalks, something hes been wanting to read. Maybe theyre both a little giddy from the party and he tells her theyll sneak into the Gottschalk apartment and screw in their bed. "