There's a houseboat registered to a Mister Godfrey Knurr.
Not reverend, but mister. It's a fifty-foot fibreglass Gibson, and the guy I talked to told me it's a floating palace. All the comforts of home and then some.'
I sighed.
'It makes sense,' I said. 'It doesn't make sense to think a man like Knurr would be content to live in the back room of a dingy store down on Carmine Street.'
Percy was silent, and I glanced nervously at my watch.
We only had a few more minutes.
'Something bothering you?' I asked.
'Do you really think Knurr burned Kipper and Stonehouse?' he asked tonelessly.
'Kipper certainly,' I said. 'Probably Stonehouse.'
'That's how I see it,' he said, nodding sombrely.
'What's bothering me is this: we know of two. How many more are there we don't know about?'
I gathered up my notes and files and we took the elevator up to the library. Neither of us spoke during the ascent.
There was a note Scotch-taped to the library door:
'Closed from 2.00 to 3.00 p.m.' An effective notice to me 328
that I would be allotted one hour, no more. Stilton and I went in and took adjoining leather-padded captain's chairs at the centre of one of the table's long sides.
'Perce, can you get through this without smoking?' I asked him.
'Sure.'
'Try,' I said.
I arranged my files and papers in front of me. I went over my presentation notes. Then we sat in silence.
When Ignatz Teitelbaum and Leopold Tabatchnick entered together, at precisely 2.00 p.m., Stilton and I rose to our feet. I thought wildly that there should have been a fanfare of trumpets.
Both senior partners were wearing earth-coloured vested suits, with shirts and ties of no particular style or distinction. But there the resemblance ended. Tabatchnick, with his brooding simian posture, towered over Teitelbaum, who appeared especially frail and shrunken in comparison.
I realized with a shock that these two men had lived a total of almost a century and a half, and shared a century of legal experience. It was a daunting perception, and it took me a few seconds to gather my courage and plunge ahead.
'Mr Tabatchnick,' I said, 'I believe you've already met Detective Percy Stilton of the New York Police Department. Detective Stilton was involved in the initial inquiry into the death of Solomon Kipper.'
Tabatchnick gave Percy a cold nod and me an angry glare as he realized I had disobeyed his injunction against sharing the results of my investigation with the police.
I introduced Percy to Mr Teitelbaum. Again, there was an exchange of frosty nods. Neither of the partners had made any effort to sit down. My longed-for conference was getting off to a rocky start.
'Detective Stilton,' Mr Tabatchnick said in his most 329
orotund voice, 'are we to understand that you are present in an official capacity?'
'No, sir, I am not,' the detective said steadily. 'I am here as an interested observer, and perhaps to contribute what I can to the solution of a dilemma confronting you gentlemen.'
I could have kissed him. Their eyebrows went up; they glanced at each other. Obviously they hadn't been aware they were confronted by a dilemma, and just as obviously wanted to hear more about it. They drew up chairs opposite us. I waited until everyone was seated and still.
'Gentlemen,' I started, 'it would save us all a great deal of time if you could tell me if each of you is aware of my investigation into the other's case. That is, Mr Teitelbaum, have you been informed of the circumstances surrounding the death of Sol Kipper? And, Mr Tabatchnick, are you -'
'Get on with it,' Tabatchnick interrupted testily. 'We're both aware of what's been going on.'
'As of your last reports,' Mr Teitelbaum added, his leather hands lying motionless on the table before him. 'I presume you have something to add?'
'A great deal, sir,' I said, and I began, using short declarative sentences and speaking as briskly as possible without garbling my words.
I was gratified to discover that I could speak extemporaneously and forcefully without consulting my notes. So I was able to meet the eyes of both men as I spoke, shifting my gaze from one to the other; depending on whether I was discussing matters relating to Kipper or Stonehouse.
It was like addressing two stone monoliths, as brooding and inexplicable as the Easter Island heads. Never once did they stir or change expression. Mr Teitelbaum sat back in his chair, seemingly propped erect with stiff, spindly arms thrust out, splayed hands flat on the tabletop. Mr Tabatchnick leaned forward, looming, his hunched shoulders over the table, heavy head half-lowered, the usual fierce 330
scowl on his rubbery lips.
Up through my account of recognizing one of Knurr's street Arabs among my attackers, neither of the attorneys had asked any questions or indeed shown any great interest in my recital. But my telling of the meeting I had seen at the 66th Street garage changed all that.
First of all, both men switched positions suddenly: Tabatchnick leaned back, almost fell back into his chair as if with disbelief, and Teitelbaum suddenly jerked forward, leaning over the table.
'You're certain of that, Mr Bigg?' he barked sharply.
'The Reverend Godfrey Knurr met Glynis Stonehouse? No doubt about it at all?'
'None whatsoever, sir,' I said decisively.
I explained that I had then requested a meeting with Detective Percy Stilton and told him everything that had occurred.
'It was necessary, gentlemen,' I said earnestly, 'because I needed Detective Stilton's co-operation to determine if anyone involved had prior criminal records. Detective Stilton will tell you the results of that investigation. To get back to your question, Mr Teitelbaum — was I certain that Knurr met Glynis Stonehouse? Yes, I am certain, because I saw them together again two nights ago.'
I then told them how I had shadowed Glynis Stonehouse to a rendezvous with Knurr and had tailed both of them to a houseboat at the 79th Street boat basin.
'Perce,' I said, 'will you take it from here?'
His recital was much shorter than mine, and delivered in toneless police officialese: 'the alleged perpetrator' and
'the suspect' and so forth. It was courtroom testimony, and both lawyers seemed completely familiar with the phrases and impressed by them.
He told them that he had never been completely satisfied with the suicide verdict in the Kipper case, and gave his reasons why. So, he explained, he had welcomed my in-331
dependent inquiry and co-operated every way he could, especially since he was impressed by the thoroughness and imaginative skill of my investigation.
I ducked my head to stare at the table as he continued.
He said his hope was that I would uncover enough evidence so that the NYPD would be justified in reopening the Kipper case. To that end, he had run the names of Godfrey Knurr and Tippi Kipper through the computer and discovered Tippi's arrest record. He told them about our interview with Bishop Harley Oxman and the revelation of Knurr's prior offence in Chicago.
He had also, he said, after I had furnished the lead, determined what was probably the source of the arsenic used to poison Professor Stonehouse: a medical research laboratory where Glynis Stonehouse had been employed less than a year ago.
Finally, he had discovered that Godfrey Knurr owned a houseboat moored at the 79th Street boat basin.
Then Stilton turned to me and I told them that a cabdriver had come forward that morning who remembered driving Professor Stonehouse to the boat basin on the night he disappeared.
I slid Baum's statement across the table to the senior partners, but neither reached for it. Both men were staring at Percy.
'Detective Stilton,' Mr Tabatchnick boomed in his magisterial voice, 'as a police officer with many years'
experience, do you believe that Godfrey Knurr murdered Solomon Kipper?'
'Yes, sir, I do. With premeditation.'
'But how?' Mr Teitelbaum a
sked in a mild, dreamy tone.
'I'll let Josh tell you that,' Percy said.
So I told them.
Mr Tabatchnick was the first to turn back to me.
'And the suicide note?' he asked.
332
'No, sir,' I said regretfully. 'I haven't yet accounted for that. But I'm sure you'll admit, sir, that the wording of the note is subject to several interpretations. It is not necessarily a suicide note.'
'And assuming the homicide occurred in the manner you suggest, you further assume that Tippi Kipper and the Reverend Godfrey Knurr were joined in criminal conspiracy? You assume that they planned and carried out the murder of Solomon Kipper because he had discovered, through the employment of Martin Reape, that his wife had been unfaithful to him with Godfrey Knurr and had decided to change his will to disinherit her to the extent allowed by law? You assume all that?'
'Yes, sir,' I said finally.
But now it was Mr Teitelbaum's turn.
'Do you further assume,' he said in a silky voice, 'that Professor Stonehouse, having discovered that his daughter had attempted to poison him, futhermore discovered that she was having an affair with Godfrey Knurr. And you assume that Stonehouse learned of the existence of Knurr's houseboat, by what means we know not, and resolved to confront his daughter and her paramour on the night he disappeared. And you suspect, with no evidence, that he may very well have been killed on that night. Is that your assumption?'
'Yes, sir,' I said, fainter than before. 'It is.'
We all sat in silence. The quiet seemed to go on forever, although I suppose it was only a minute or two before Mr Teitelbaum pushed himself from the table and leaned back in his chair.
'And what, precisely,' he said in an unexpectedly strong voice, 'do you suggest be done next in this unpleasant matter?'
'As far as I'm concerned,' Percy Stilton said, 'I'm going to tell my lieutenant the whole story and see if I can get the Kipper case reopened. You gentlemen might help me there 333
- if you have any influence that can be brought to bear.'
'What would be the advantage of reopening the case?'
Leopold Tabatchnick asked.
'I would hope to get assigned to it full time,' the detective said. 'With more personnel assigned as needed.
To keep a stakeout on that houseboat so Knurr doesn't take off. To dig deeper into the backgrounds and relationships of the people involved. To check Knurr's bank account, and so forth. All the things that would be done in a homicide investigation.'
The two senior partners looked at each other again, and again I had the sense of communication between them.
'We are not totally without some influence,' Ignatz Teitelbaum said cautiously. 'We will do what we can to assist you in getting the Kipper case reopened. But I must tell you in all honesty that I am not optimistic about bringing this whole affair to a successful solution, even with the most rigorous homicide investigation.'
'I concur,' Mr Tabatchnick rumbled.
Mr Teitelbaum scraped his chair farther back from the table and, not without some difficulty, crossed his knees.
He sat there a moment, staring into space between Percy and me, not really seeing us. He was, I thought, composing his summation to the jury.
'First of all,' he said finally, 'I would like to compliment you gentlemen — and especially you, Mr Bigg — on your intelligence and persistence in this investigation.'
'Imaginative,' Mr Tabatchnick said, nodding.
'Creative.'
'Exactly,' Teitelbaum said. 'You have offered a hypothesis that accounts for all known important facts.'
'It may be accurate,' Tabatchnick admitted almost grudgingly.
'It may very well be. Frankly, I believe it is. I believe your assumptions are correct,' Teitelbaum concurred.
'But they are still assumptions,' Tabatchnick persisted.
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'You have little that is provable in a court of law,'
Teitelbaum persevered.
'Certainly nothing that might justify legal action.'
Tabatchnick was firm.
'No eyewitness, obviously. No weapons. In fact, no hard evidence of legal value.' Teitelbaum was firmer.
'Merely thin circumstantial evidence in support of what is, essentially, a theory.' Tabatchnick.
'We don't wish to be unduly pessimistic, but you have told us nothing to indicate that continued investigation would uncover evidence to justify a criminal indictment.'
Teitelbaum.
'You are dealing here with a criminal conspiracy.' The judgment was from Tabatchnick, but the coup de grace was delivered by Teitelbaum as follows:
'Really two criminal conspiracies with one individual, Knurr, common to both.'
Perce looked at them dazedly. I was shattered. I thought their rapid dialogue was a prelude to ordering me to drop the investigation. I glanced at Percy Stilton. He was staring intently at the two attorneys. He seemed entranced, as if he were hearing something I couldn't hear, as if he enjoyed being a tennis ball in the Jurisprudential Open.
'It is an unusual problem,' Mr Tabatchnick intoned, inspecting the spotted backs of his clumpy hands.
'Sometimes unusual problems require unusual remedies.'
'When more than one person is involved in a major criminal enterprise,' Mr Teitelbaum said, uncrossing his knees and carefully pinching the crease back into his trousers, 'it is sometimes possible...'
His voice trailed away.
'You have shown such initiative thus far,' Mr Tabatchnick said, 'surely the possibility exists t h a t . . . '
His voice, too, faded into silence.
Then, to my astonishment, the lawyers glanced at each other, a signal was apparently passed, and they rose 335
simultaneously to their feet. Percy and I stood up. They reached across the table and the two of us shook hands with both of them.
'I shall look forward to your progress,' Tabatchnick said sternly.
'I have every confidence,' Teitelbaum said in a more kindly tone.
Still stunned, I watched them move to the door. I was bewildered because I was sure they had told us something.
What it was I did not know.
Mr Teitelbaum had already opened the door to the corridor when he turned back to address me.
'Mr Bigg,' he said softly, 'is Tippi Kipper older than Glynis Stonehouse?'
'What?' I croaked. 'Oh yes, sir,' I said, nodding madly.
'By at least ten years. Probably more.'
'That might be a possibility,' he said pleasantly.
Then they were gone.
We sank back into our chairs. I waited as Percy lighted a cigarette, took two deep drags, and slumped down in his armchair. Clerks and paralegal assistants began to straggle into the library, heading for the stacks of law books.
I leaned towards Stilton. I spoke in a low voice.
'What,' I asked him, still puzzled, 'was that all about?
Those last things they said? I didn't understand that at all, I'm lost.'
Percy put his head far back and blew a perfect smoke ring towards the ceiling. Then, to demonstrate his expertise, he blew a large ring and puffed a smaller one within it.
'They're not lawyers,' he said, almost dreamily, 'they're pirates. Pi-rates! '
'What are you talking about?' I said.
'Incredible,' he said, shaking his head.
'Infuckingcredible. Teitelbaum and Tabatchnick. T and T.
T'nt. TNT. They're TNT all right. If I ever get racked up, I 336
want those pirates on my side.'
'Perce, will you please tell me what's going on?'
He straightened up in his chair, then hunched over towards me so our heads were close together.
'Josh, I think they're right. That's a hell of a plot you came up with about how Knurr offed Sol Kipper. Probably right on. But how are we going to prove it? Never. Unless we break Knurr or Tippi Kipper. Get one to spill on the other. And what have we got on Glynis Stonehouse? We
can't even prove she tried to poison her father. She shacks up with Knurr on a houseboat. So what? It's not an indictable offence. Your bosses saw right away that the only way we're going to snap this thing is to get one of the main characters to sing.'
'And how are we going to do that?'
'Oh, T and T were so cute! ' he said, grinning and lighting another cigarette. 'You notice that not once did either of them say anything that could be construed as an order or instructions to do anything illegal. All they did was pass out a few vague hints.'
'But what did they say?' I cried desperately.
'Shh. Keep your voice down. They want us to run a game on Knurr. A scam. A con.'
I looked at him, startled.
'How are we going to do that?'
'Spook him. Him and the ladies. Stir them up. Let them know they're suspects and are being watched. Play one against the other. Work on their nerves. Wear them down.
Push them into making some stupid move. Guerilla warfare. Mousetrap them. You think Knurr and Tippi and Glynis are smarter than we are? I don't. They got some nice games running, and so far they've worked. Well, we can run plots just as clever. More. That's what T and T
were telling us. Run a game on these people and split them.
They were right; it's the only way.'
'I get it,' I said. 'Take the offensive.'
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'Right!'
'And that last thing Teitelbaum said about Tippi Kipper being older than Glynis Stonehouse?'
'He was suggesting that we let Tippi know about Glynis.'
Before Perce and I took our leave of each other, we had decided on at least the first play of our revised game plan. I set about implementing it as soon as I got back to my office.
Mrs Kletz and I sat down to compose a letter which Mrs Kletz would then copy in her handwriting on plain paper.
The finished missive reads as follows:
Dear Mrs Kipper,
We have met casually several times, but I believe I know more about your private life than you are aware.
You'll see that I am not signing this letter. Names are not important, and I don't wish to become further involved. I am writing only with the best of intentions, because I don't want you to know the pain I suffered in a comparable situation.
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