The Starry Night of Death

by Lawrence J Epstein

  “Don’t you think such a person would have appeared to me by now?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” I didn’t want to tell him but I was trying to add the threat of my clearing my father and turning the spotlight back on him. I thought that might annoy him so that he stopped cooperating and convinced others to do the same. And then I couldn’t stop myself.

  “We both know why my father confessed. He feels he owes your father and is paying through you. But I’m going to get him off. And I’m going to do it by finding the real killer. If I can’t find the real killer, I’m going to find someone the police will think is the killer.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “It’s a promise.”

  “I think you’d better go, Mr. Ryle. And don’t come back to see me. Don’t bother the people in my office. Maybe you should do what the police are doing and just accept that your father has confessed and that the case is closed.”

  With that he got up and walked out of the bar.

  I sat there for a few minutes.

  Then it was time to slip back into reality.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ari Eilat, Betsy Revere, and I were in the Mall. I ordered a drink that would have caused my doctor to faint. It almost did the same to me after I drank it.

  We sat by one of the big department stores on a bench. Betsy had gotten a call from her parents and was filling us in on the latest news.

  Then we walked into a bookstore filled with what everyone else was reading. The experience was more a sociological study of the American reader than a chance to find an interesting book. Betsy compulsively read mysteries, so she bought two books by Robert B. Parker. Ari tended toward non-fiction, especially about his native country, Israel. But he couldn’t find a new book that he hadn’t already borrowed from the library. I read all I could and bought a book Betsy recommended to me.

  We then went down to the food court. Ari volunteered to get us a variety of foods. We sat down and waited.

  Betsy said, “You look like you’ve met someone, Danny.”

  “Now how can you possibly see that?”

  “There’s a rosy glow to your face.”

  “Maybe it’s a disease.”

  “You find it so easy to talk about romance. Now, come on, have you met someone?”

  “I don’t know if I have. Maybe.”

  “Ooh. Promise me you’ll keep me up to date.”

  “I don’t have to. Take a look at me, and you’ll know before I do.”

  Ari came with the food, and we ate. Or Ari and Betsy ate. I looked at the food, felt my stomach rocking back and forth from my drink, and sat for a few minutes.

  Ari said, “So is there a way for us to help your father?”

  “There has to be,” I said. “Only I don’t know for sure what it is.”

  “We have the facts, Danny. We have the victim. We have the means. We have the time and place. We’re doing great.”

  “Sure,” I said. Then I began eating and quickly stopped.

  “Remind me never to have that drink again.”

  “I’m sure your memory will kick in if you’re ever tempted.”

  “Or I’ll always feel like this and not have to rely on my memory.”

  “You’ll be better, Danny. Just sit for a few minutes. You’re a young man. You’re tough.”

  I nodded, none too happy.

  Then I said, “We’re not doing that great. We have all of what you said, Betsy. But we don’t have motive. And I’ve spoken to most of the suspects.”

  “Any clues?” Ari asked.

  I shrugged. “Buzzy Young, who is Jesse Spring’s law partner, lied to me about where he was the night of the murder. He said he was with Joni Burns, the paralegal, but she said she was alone in her apartment.”

  “She’s the one with the crush on Spring, right?” Betsy asked.

  “Wait a minute, Danny. Is this the case we’re working on or are you telling us about a soap opera you’re watching?” Ari asked.

  “Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between life and melodrama,” I said. “But in this case it’s real life. And, yes, Joni is the one with the crush.”

  “He’ll say he misspoke. He’ll say he got the dates confused. It’s not enough to hang him,” Betsy said.

  “I know.”

  Ari ate some more. Ari was always eating some more and yet he never gained weight. I thought about giving him up as a friend.

  “Look, Danny. Betsy knows the world you’re in better than I do. Go over the suspects for me, please.”

  “All right, Ari. I’m first of all not letting Jesse Spring off the list. He may have killed his wife.”

  “And then there’s Young, the law partner. Just lying puts him on the list. But obviously he gets control of the law firm if Spring is convicted of murder. Buzzy Young has a lot to gain. He’s suspect number two.”

  “And this Joni Burns?”

  “All I’ve got on that is she likes Jesse Spring.”

  “And conveniently his wife is now dead.”

  “But she wouldn’t have framed him by using his own weapon, Betsy.”

  “She doesn’t sound as though she owns her own arsenal. Maybe that was the only weapon to which she had access. The weapon was in his car that afternoon. The door was unlocked. Anybody could have gotten to it.”

  “So is she on our suspect list or not, Danny?”

  I sighed. “What do you think, Betsy?”

  “I don’t think anybody goes out now. In fact, I like her for this. I take it she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

  “We’ll have to check.”

  “Assume she doesn’t. She’s getting older. No boyfriend. It gets lonely at night. She’s lying down under the cover. She reaches over to the other side of the bed and the sheet is cold. She shudders at the shock of loneliness. And, what do you know? There is a man she loves. She sees him every day. Only her Sir Galahad went and got married to a woman who doesn’t deserve him, to a woman who doesn’t understand him the way she does. Oh, she decides, she’ll know how to keep care of him and how to appreciate his legal genius. She decides under that cover that she deserved him. And then the answer is as bright as a vision. She gets rid of the wife. Bang. Bang. The only weapon she knows about is in her boss’ car that afternoon. She doesn’t want to take it when it’s in the office because that limits the number of suspects. But if it’s stolen on a day he does practice shooting, and it’s in the car, why any thief walking along could have taken it.”

  Betsy took a sip of her drink.

  “Why would she frame him?” I asked.

  Betsy said, “Maybe she doesn’t know she’s framing him. I know it’s naïve but maybe she thinks he’s so smart and so good that no one would accuse him. Everyone, she decides, will think some thief stole the gun and killed the wife for maybe jewels. I don’t know.”

  “But Spring is right outside in the yard. Wouldn’t she worry that he’d walk in and see her?”

  “She doesn’t know where he is, Danny. She goes to the front door and knocks. The wife says her husband isn’t there. She thinks of Joni Burns as a distasteful little pest. The wife probably understands that this creature cares about her husband. Meanwhile outside Spring can’t hear them. Maybe there’s music playing or he’s far from the house or whatever, but he can’t hear. Our little paralegal reaches into her purse and pulls out the stolen weapon. She’s never shot any weapon before. She’s beyond nervous. But she aims. She’s shaking badly. Maybe she doesn’t even plan to shoot. Maybe she’s ready to cry, drop the weapon, and run out of the house.”

  “I like it, Betsy,” Ari said.

  I remained quiet. Then I said, “Go on.”

  Betsy nodded. “But whether she plans to or not, there’s the shot. She stands there as Mrs. Spring collapses on the floor. There’s real blood. More than Joni Burns knew was in the human body. She drops the weapon and she runs. Then, eventually at least, Jesse Spring returns and his adventure begins.”

  She looked at
us. “What do you guys think?”

  “I’m sold,” Ari said.

  “What about you, Danny?”

  “So she’s half-hysterical but has enough of her wits about her to wipe off her fingerprints. And while she’s dreaming in her bed, how does she know that Spring will marry her? She knows she’s no beauty contest winner. Or runner-up. Or contestant. I’m not trying to be cruel, but just to be honest. I spoke to her. She’s very smart. She must have known a lot of women would want to marry a successful lawyer. It’s a lot to kill someone on a flimsy hope.”

  “But she’s just the type of person to have such a hope, Danny.”

  “Maybe, Betsy. That’s why I keep saying how smart she is. I’m just not convinced.”

  Ari said, “Have we run through the suspects? They’re all in one office. It seems like a small world.”

  “It does,” I said. “There is one other possibility, equally flimsy. There was a neighbor named Lou Nelson. He and Spring got into some kind of fight.”

  “Do we know anything about Nelson’s background, Danny?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’ll check that,” Betsy said.

  “Thanks.”

  Ari cleared his throat. “I apologize for this, Danny. But do we eliminate your father?”

  I forced myself to remain calm.

  “Yes, we do. My father didn’t do it.”

  “The D.A. is going to remind the jury of his past, not to mention his confession.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “All right. There must be other suspects.”

  “Sure,” I said. “We have a random, passing stranger who opens the car door looking for a weapon. Then our mysterious stranger goes over to the Spring house and kills the wife.”

  “Now that’s good for the soap opera,” Betsy said.

  I shook my head. “Not even for that. You know when I look at it as clearly as I can, there is only one good explanation.”

  “That Jesse Spring murdered his wife for an as yet unknown motive.”

  I nodded.

  “That’s right, Betsy. While you’re searching the neighbor’s past, also look for a possible motive for Spring. One of those I said before. One of the couple had a romance outside the marriage. Do a background on Spring. Look for alcohol and drugs.”

  “What do we do next?”

  I shook my head. “I will talk to the neighbor Lou Nelson. And we’ve got to find other possible suspects. Because if we don’t, my father is in trouble. The police aren’t looking for a killer, and if I bring one forward with as weak a set of facts as I now have, we’ll be laughed out of the courtroom if it ever gets that far.”

  I was feeling a little better, so we walked out into the air. The sun was shining, but all I could see were thick clouds of gloom and crowds cheering when my father went to the electric chair.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ari and I drove over to Lou Nelson’s house. Ari steeled himself, focusing on driving as much as he could like a law-abiding human being. Once in a while the driving maniac inside him came through and he went around a driver and got back into the lane a good five feet before a Mack truck crushed us.

  He asked me how he was doing. When I was recovered enough to respond, I told him that he was making great progress. I didn’t mention my faltering heart.

  The Nelson home was a Colonial, two floors with a well-manicured lawn. It was in a good neighborhood, but I expected that a neighbor of Jesse Spring would live well.

  We walked into the hallway. The stairs were on the right. We went into the living room.

  “Thank you for agreeing to see us, Mr. Nelson.”

  He nodded. “This is for Mrs. Spring. You know what I think of her husband.”

  “I do,” I said. “I’m here to see that Mrs. Spring has some well-deserved justice.”

  “Then you’ll make sure your father gets out of jail and Mr. Spring gets right back in that cell.”

  “We may have similar goals, Mr. Nelson. I know we do about getting my father out.”

  “You boys want a drink?”

  Ari took a beer. I stuck with lemonade. Nelson looked at me as though I hadn’t yet attained manhood but he got us the drinks and settled back down.

  “Mr. Nelson, I asked Mr. Spring, but he didn’t want to get too specific about the nature of your dispute.”

  “I bet he didn’t.”

  “It would be very helpful if you could explain.”

  “I’ll talk about the dispute. But that’s all. It started with a real legal matter and then involved my building onto the house. But that was just anger.”

  I looked at him. He was hiding something. I would have to work on that.

  “The real legal dispute started with my daughter Abigail. She’s very enthusiastic about gymnastics. Abby is quite young, just nine, but she’s very interested especially in the vault, the uneven bars, and the balance beam. And of course floor exercises.”

  I nodded to encourage him.

  “We found the Waterbend Gymnastics Academy to be very good for her. It was run by a woman and her two daughters. The daughters were the teachers. All went fine for a year. And then my wife got two bills for the same month. My wife is very anxious. She pays a bill the day she gets it. That provides her with a sense of accomplishment. So, as you’ve already guessed, Mr. Ryle, she paid them both.”

  He took a drink from his bottle of beer.

  “When I discovered this I was naturally upset. I went to the owner. She swore up and down that she was sorry for the mistake and of course she would refund our extra payment. But months went by. I never got the money. I called. I went there with Abby to complain. No refund and my wife kept paying the monthly bills because Abby enjoyed the place. One of the daughters was especially nice.”

  “So you wanted the money back and you went to Mr. Spring.”

  “I sure did. He said it was a waste of time and effort. He said I should just wait. That got me angry, Mr. Ryle. We argued about it. And because we were neighbors we argued about other things, about my building for example.”

  He hesitated.

  “Can you guess where I’m from?”

  “I’d have trouble guessing you were from London if you spoke with a Cockney accent, Mr. Nelson. I’m not good with that stuff.”

  “That’s okay. I’m from Wyoming. We’re the Cowboy State, the state with the least population, and the most beautiful mountains. I especially like the spruce, and pines, and fir trees.”

  He cleared his throat as an announcement to me that he was going to say something important.

  “I don’t like fences. I don’t know how I ended up on Long Island. It’s too crowded here. You’re all too close together. We didn’t have fences on my property. We had big wide-open spaces. I used to take my Indian pony and ride. I’d look at the trees. At night I’d stare at the moon until I forgot who I was. You can’t do that on Long Island, Mr. Ryle, and the more’s the pity.”

  “You got angry at Mr. Spring’s fence?” I tried to keep the disbelief out of my voice.

  “I know how it sounds. But, yes, I did. I might have put a dent or two in that fence. I came out at night sometimes and kicked it. Laugh at me if you will, but that’s how I got my anger out. I...” He suddenly stopped talking.

  I’d go back to the fence in a minute. But first I wanted to get him on my side.

  “So did you ever get your double-payment back, Mr. Nelson?”

  “I did not.”

  “Maybe I can help.”

  “How’s that, Mr. Ryle?”

  “You’re in the town of Southampton...”

  “This is Waterbend.”

  “I understand. You’re in the Village of Waterbend but legally you’re in the Town of Southampton which is bigger than the Village of Southampton. Suffolk County has ten Towns.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “And each business in Waterbend must follow a code or else their business license is taken away.”

  “I like where this is
going, Mr. Ryle.”

  I smiled. I’d need his liking it for where I was going.

  “I’m sure someone as smart as you are, Mr. Nelson, would like it. In fact, I know the guy who does code enforcement in Southampton. He’s a good friend of mine. I might be able to get him to visit the gym.”

  “And threaten them.”

  “Remind them of their legal obligations.”

  “You’d do that for me? I’d pay you a percentage of what I get back.”

  “It’s all done for free, Mr. Nelson. We’re just making sure the law is followed. We’re not trying to trick or cheat anyone.”

  “That’s right. That’s just what I’ve been saying. I just want what’s fair.”

  “I’ll call him tomorrow morning, Mr. Nelson. I bet you get your money back within the week.” I wasn’t sure if that was possible but I was playing my own game here and I wanted him in a particular kind of mood.

  “That’s great, Mr. Ryle. You’re wonderful. I...I’m sorry about what I said when you asked for lemonade.”

  “I’m in politics, Mr. Nelson. You should see what I’ve been called.”

  We all had a pleasant laugh.

  And then I was ready.

  “Might I ask you a question, Mr. Nelson?”

  “Of course. Anything.”

  I nodded and topped it with a smile. I don’t have a winning smile, but at least it’s a gesture.

  “You mentioned you went out some nights to kick the fence.”

  “Yes.” There was a lot of hesitation in his voice. Nothing could have encouraged me more.

  “And who can blame you?”

  Silence. He knew what was coming and was trying to decide what to do.

  “Mr. Spring went out into his yard the evening his wife was killed. I was wondering if that was one of the nights that you were outside. Did you see him, Mr. Nelson?”

  He could have lied. But then he had to consider that maybe Spring had seen him and he’d get into trouble. And not get his double-payment back.

  “I was there. There were a lot of stars above. And, yes, before you ask, I saw him. He was smoking and staring into the night sky. There were an enormous number of twinkling stars. It was quite a sight.”