The Starry Night of Death

by Lawrence J Epstein

  “And what happened next?”

  “I’d rather not say.”

  “Why’s that? We’re not with the police. We’re not going to tell anyone what you say.”

  “I’m afraid I will get into trouble.”

  “How about we do this, Mr. Nelson. You tell us everything. If I think you’d get into trouble, I’ll tell you not to mention it. I know we won’t. You can’t get into trouble with us.”

  “You won’t tell the police?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “And you won’t tell Mr. Spring?”

  “Of course not. This stays between us.”

  “I suppose I owe you.”

  “It would be very helpful, Mr. Nelson.”

  Another drink. I tried to use my eyes to encourage him to have a few more slugs from the bottle to loosen his lips.

  Finally, he said, “All right. But I want your promise that this stays between us.”

  “You’ve got it, Mr. Nelson.”

  Another nod.

  “Okay. I was going to confront him. I mean he was standing there looking so content. Like he owned North America. Just smug. I wanted him to be as upset as I was. So I walked to the end of the fence to go on his property. But just as I got there he headed back inside.”

  “But you had already come that far. You weren’t going to stop, were you?”

  “No, Mr. Ryle, I wasn’t. I...”

  He paused and looked down.

  “This is embarrassing.”

  “It shouldn’t be. He hadn’t treated you right. You just wanted to tell him that, as you had every right to do.”

  That helped his determination.

  “I looked in the window of the house. I saw him walk into the room and discover his wife’s body.”

  “What?” I almost couldn’t talk. “Say that again.”

  “He didn’t kill her. Believe me. I wish he had. I so wanted him to. But I saw it. She was already dead.”

  “What did Spring do?”

  “He rushed over to her body and bent down. His back was to me then and I’m not sure. But I think he checked her pulse. It was just for a few seconds. Then he jumped up and went to the phone. He called. I guess it was the police. Then he sat on the couch and waited. When I saw a police car I left. I suppose the ambulance came after that.”

  “You’re sure about this, Mr. Nelson?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I’m so sure because I didn’t want it to be true.”

  I would ask Spring about how he reacted when he discovered the body. If the story jibed with Nelson’s story, then two suspects could be taken off the list.

  That seemed too easy.

  I sat for a minute finishing my lemonade.

  “Don’t forget to call about the code,” Nelson said.

  “I won’t.”

  Then Ari and I got up. I shook Nelson’s hand, and we said good-bye.

  I wanted to be riding an Indian pony in Montana. I wanted to be anywhere but where I was.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I needed to see Natalie Robbins. She said she’d be where she belonged, in the Congressional office.

  I walked inside and, matching the bad luck that usually walked in with me to that office, I first saw Ennis, the Chief of Staff.

  He sneered at me. “We’re not keeping you too busy, are we Mr. Ryle?”

  “I can cope,” I said.

  “Yes, but could you cope if you really had to do some work? It looks as though justice has caught up with your father. Maybe one day it will catch up with you as well.”

  “One day justice will catch up with us all, Mr. Ennis.”

  “I’m not worried. Go see your pupil. She seems smitten with you. The poor girl.”

  He turned and walked away, and I went over to Natalie’s desk.

  “We need to get out of here. It’s nice today. A perfect amount of breeze. A model collection of the sun’s rays.”

  “You talk funny,” she said.

  “It’s a burden from reading too many books.”

  “That’s a burden I do not bear. I just read what I need. Where shall we go? I don’t want coffee and it’s too early to eat.”

  I shrugged. “Let’s go see if the Long Island Sound looks good today.”

  “Done,” she said. Then she got up. We walked outside and went down to the water. There were a lot of boats there and so we walked up and down the docks admiring the vessels. Only once did I wish I owned a boat.

  Then we got off the docks and sat on a bench.

  “There is a nice place to eat not far from here. It’s really a bar, but the food is genuinely good. If we wait a while, I probably can find an appetite. You can always find an appetite, Danny.”

  “Let’s talk first.”

  She nodded.

  “You do look upset.”

  I shook my head.

  “It’s probably nothing. I’m allergic to coincidences, and in the case I’m investigating there’s a beaut.”

  “Ooh. Let me play Nancy Drew. Tell me about it. Is it the Spring killing?”

  “Yes, it is. I thought maybe Mr. Spring or his neighbor did it. I’m a little desperate. I need to find someone, almost anyone except my father.”

  “And what happened?”

  “That’s just it. This neighbor just happens to be outside when Mr. Spring is standing in his yard. Then this neighbor also happens to go around his fence and look in the window at the exact second that Mr. Spring supposedly finds his wife’s body.”

  “I admit it’s a coincidence, but that happens in real life. Besides, why in Heaven’s name would the neighbor lie? I thought you told me he didn’t like Spring. I would have thought he would have done just about anything to get Spring in trouble. So then why would he become a witness for him?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I’m confused. I hate coincidences, but there’s a logic to this one.”

  “You need some diversion in your life. I hereby volunteer.”

  “Our first date is moving pretty fast.”

  “And you didn’t even have to bribe me with food? You must be good at this.”

  “I do like the speed of the date.”

  “Maybe we can meet after I finish working.”

  “Done,” I said. “I was thinking about this. I never asked you. How did you get to work for Congressman Lucey?”

  “I think you know my dad knew him.”

  “Right. I did.”

  “After my mom...died, my father felt very responsible for me. I wasn’t a very good student. I’d take a course. Drop out of it. Try again. And go round and round. Finally, I thought I needed to get responsible. So I asked my dad if I could maybe get a job in a Congressman’s office.”

  “Your dad must have been surprised.”

  “He was more like shocked. I had never taken an interest in politics. I had never taken an interest in anything except drinking and boys. And sometimes in boys and drinking. But his shock was a good kind of shock. I think he told the Congressman not to give me hard work. Mr. Ennis is a mean man, but he has me answering phones and filing. Sometimes I try to help Janet D’Amaro helping someone. I didn’t know anything about how social security worked. But a lot of the older people who need help come especially to see me.”

  “These people wouldn’t be overwhelmingly male, would they?”

  “You think it’s looks, huh?”

  “I could be wrong. You might have a remarkable grasp of the social security system and an admirable way to explain that system to the confused.”

  “Sometimes I do catch them staring at me. Sometimes they tell me a joke. Or what they think of as a joke. The truth is the people who get to see me aren’t too bright themselves, so to them I must seem like an expert.”

  “A very attractive expert.”

  “Shoot me. I’m good-looking. I’m guessing you don’t mind it, Danny.”

  “Caught.”

  “I thought so.”

  I smiled at her. “Why me, Natalie? I suspect there ar
e a bunch of wealthy people in this town, lawyers, financial people, men with a lot of money to make themselves attractive. Why aren’t you going after them?”

  “Are you trying to talk me out of being with you? And on our first date. Those aren’t very good manners.”

  “I can’t believe my luck. You see, Natalie. Another coincidence. Why of the men you know do you find me, the son of a known killer currently in jail, a relatively poor guy with no very good prospects, to be a worthy partner?”

  “You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”

  “And that’s just how I’d expect you to judge men.”

  “Hey, Danny. Is that an insult?”

  “No. I’m sorry, Natalie. I should just shut up.”

  “And kiss me.”

  She leaned forward.

  The voice came from our left. “Go ahead. Do it. If you don’t I will.”

  I looked up. Al Flanagan from the D.A.’s office was there.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Flanagan. My kisses are being saved for Danny.”

  He shook his head.

  “What a shame. What a waste.”

  “How did you find us, Flanagan?”

  “I was looking for you, Ryle. Some big and disturbing news. I asked for you in the office and they told me that I could find you here.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’d like to speak to you in private.”

  Natalie stood up.

  “A girl can take a hint. I know. I’m not smart enough to hear this big news.”

  Flanagan didn’t even have the sense to answer her.

  Natalie walked back toward the office. The breeze blew across my face. Flanagan’s face was ignoring the breeze. His cheeks looked gray, as though they carried bad news inside them.

  “Okay, Flanagan, what’s going on?”

  “You know Spring’s law partner?”

  “Yeah. Buzzy Young. A really annoying guy.”

  “No more he isn’t. Buzzy Young was shot and killed this morning. He was in his garage getting ready to back out his car and drive to work. It took a while to discover the body because he was slumped down in the front seat.”

  “I’m afraid to ask, Flanagan. Any idea who did it?”

  “Are you kidding? Why should it be easy for us? I was going to ask you if you had any suspects in mind.”

  I sat in silence for a minute. My mind was really struggling to absorb the news of Young’s death.

  “I have no idea, Flanagan. About all I know is that I’m now just about out of suspects for Mrs. Spring’s death.”

  I told Flanagan about Nelson being in the yard and seeing Spring discover his wife’s body. I concluded with this: “So there’s this neighbor who tells us how Spring found the body.”

  “That’s exactly what Spring told us.”

  “Great. So that takes both of them out of the pool of suspects. I thought, all right, at least we have a good one in Buzzy Young, who flat-out lied to me. Only now he’s dead. I’m stuck.”

  “What about the paralegal?”

  I shrugged. “Joni Burns isn’t a killer. Much less a killer of two people. On the other hand, Flanagan, she’s the only suspect I have left.”

  “Except for your father.”

  “He’s not a suspect.”

  “He’s something.”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Oh, yeah, Ryle. I almost forgot. I heard that your father wants to see you. They put a bad guy in his cell with him. Maybe that’s it.”

  “Listen to me, Flanagan. You know me. You get my father into a cell by himself away from the other prisoners.”

  “Or else what?”

  “The Suffolk County police and the Suffolk County D.A.’s office will have made an enemy. An enemy who works for a Congressman. An enemy who knows his way around politics. An enemy who knows a lot of stories about a lot of people in law enforcement. You tell the people who can do this. You know me. I promise you I will stop at nothing. I know what he is, but he’s my father. I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect him. We understand each other?”

  “I guess so.”

  “I forgot to say how friendly I am with the reporters at Newsday. I’m very friendly. They just love written records.”

  “Don’t get excited. Everyone just wanted to get back at him a little for what he put law enforcement through. He’ll be in his own cell by tonight.”

  “Sooner.”

  “I’m not a miracle worker.”

  “You’d better become one.”

  “So should you, Ryle. You’ve got your father in jail with a confession and nobody else who could have done it. You’ll need a giant miracle.”

  The painful truth was that he was right.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  You can’t think about the danger. Any day someone could shoot at Congressman Lucey. Any day someone could have gone after my father in jail. Any day the person who killed Mrs. Spring could kill her husband or drop a safe onto Joni Burns.

  No one had tried to frame my father. No one could have forced my father to confess. If a person had tried, the person would have been found floating in a bay.

  I was thinking about all this in the seconds before a man came up to me as I stepped out of a coffee shop and stuck his knife into me. He was, I assume, aiming for my heart, but I turned at the last minute and he missed. Or I hoped he did. My knowledge of anatomy was limited to nothing.

  The man was small and round. He had on a thin blue raincoat although it was sunny. His face looked like an unpleasant animal, perhaps a particularly ugly gopher.

  He ran up, stabbed me, and ran away. My fellow Americans lived up to their reputation and turned away or stood aside or didn’t try to stop him.

  I was on the ground and looked up, but he was gone. Then people came over. A man ran into a store to call for an ambulance.

  It was curiosity more than empathy that drew people to me. I really don’t enjoy the sight of my own blood, especially when it refused to stay inside my body the way it was supposed to do.

  I tried to talk to a woman who seemed concerned. My voice was gravelly, but I think I made it a clear request that she call Congressman Lucey’s office and then my home. She ran off to do that. I’d have to get her name to thank her. Assuming she did it and didn’t just say she would and then go away.

  I didn’t realize it when I fainted.

  A guy in uniform was leaning over me when I opened my eyes.

  “You’re going to be okay, buddy. The ambulance is like a block away.”

  I tried, unsuccessfully, to nod.

  I thought the cop was going to ask me questions, but he was patient. Someone had brought over a cup of water and I drank it. I had the strangest feelings that I was drinking colors. The water wasn’t cold, but its journey down my throat was a good one.

  I heard but could not see the ambulance.

  One of the attendants came over and looked at the wound.

  He went back to the ambulance and got some supplies and then he started cleaning the wound.

  Ari was suddenly there.

  He put his hand on the attendant’s shoulder.

  “I’m trained in emergency treatment under war conditions. This man is my friend. Please let me look at him.”

  Ari had undergone extensive training in Israel. He started cleaning and I don’t know what else. But the bleeding stopped, and I actually felt better.

  “My God, you’re good,” the attendant said to Ari.

  Ari nodded. He didn’t take his eyes off me.

  “Okay,” I said, “You’ve made me a Zionist. You can stop now.”

  “I’ll stop when I meet the person who did this to you and stop him from ever doing it again. That’s what my kind of Zionist is.”

  I didn’t doubt that for a minute.

  They put me in an ambulance. Ari asked if he could drive the ambulance. I was ready to suggest that they not do that, but it turned out that was against the rules. Good for the rules, given Ari’s driving skills.

 
; I waited a while in the Emergency Room. A doctor who looked as though he would shortly celebrate his twelfth birthday came over to me.

  “Was there a doctor there to fix this?”

  I pointed to Ari.

  “Good job, mister. Expert job. You saved this man a lot of blood.”

  “My vessels appreciate that,” I said.

  “Maybe you should rest,” the twelve-year-old said.

  I didn’t argue.

  It turned out they weren’t going to admit me, but I had to wait to make sure I didn’t start bleeding again and that I wasn’t dizzy.

  Ari went over the story of the attack several times. Where did the man come from? Tell him again what the man looked like. Did he speak? If he had, Ari would have asked about an accent. Did the guy have any distinguishing marks? A tattoo maybe, the kind you get in prison?

  The cops had already asked me these kinds of questions. The shrug the cop made forced me to realize the guy would never be caught.

  “Why you, Danny? And why now?”

  “I really don’t know. I’m going to assume it wasn’t random but done on purpose. And done in relation to the murders. But we have nobody to look at any more. It wasn’t the paralegal who attacked me, and if that was her boyfriend, she’s got bigger problems than me. So no suspects and no reason to attack me. This case is beyond strange, Ari.”

  “Let me think. You get some rest.”

  “I never got so much rest before. The x-ray guy said it looked good in there. Nothing that didn’t belong.”

  It took a few more hours, but I was finally released. My trip to see my father was delayed.

  “I still have to get my car home.”

  “I’ll drive Betsy and she’ll take it home.”

  “I wonder if they were trying to stop me from seeing my father. But if they were I can’t understand that either. Motives are supposed to be easy. This guy wants his aunt’s money so he kills her. That guy loves a woman so he kills her husband. Simple as can be. Only the case I have to solve to free my father is confused beyond belief.”

  I think I wanted to say more, but I fell asleep before I could get it out.

  I woke up still in the car.