“I can’t go out there again, Miss Plummer! It’s way past midnight. I don’t like to go down these halls alone, I never did, even before. And I wouldn’t go up to seventh for love or money. I’m sorry.”
Miss Plummer said nothing, but her hands drew the blankets closer.
“I wouldn’t even go back to my own room.” Agnes went on. “Two doors away, but I wouldn’t go. Clara’s in there with her head covered… What does Mrs Fister think about the policemen?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Did you know there was one of them outside that door? He’s got a camp chair. I don’t see why he’s there, with Mrs Fister inside, and April. They ought to move April. She’s too young for things like this. But she won’t go. I heard Dr Kloppel try to make her go, but she won’t leave Miss Harris… Did you hear something then, Miss Plummer?”
“No, no.”
“I thought I did. Like a voice, preaching. Or maybe praying. Up and down, like in a church. It could be Miss Mainwaring. I’ve heard she sometimes has a vision. She’s a holy girl.”
Dot Mainwaring crept along the second-floor hall from the elevator to the packroom, hugging the walls. She did that twice, stopping each time to listen at the same door. Someone was coughing inside; Agnes or Clara, she told herself, Agnes or Clara, but I don’t know which one. Lying in bed while a soul is in torment, warming her body with sleep. Agnes or Clara, two old women, and I don’t know which one.
She made the trip again, stopping at Miss Plummer’s door, at Jewel’s, at Kitty’s. Then she returned to the head of the stairs.
The policeman in the lobby was walking up and down, she could see the top of his head. A dark head with thick black hair. She watched him for a full minute, timing her breathing to his slow, deliberate pace. What will he do if I scream? she wondered. What will he do? The scream was piling up in her throat, strangling, choking. She circled her throat with her hands and knew she could feel the scream growing there. I’m going to have a vision, she told herself, I’m going to see a lady, but I don’t know what she’ll look like. She’ll come from the third floor, down the steps, above the steps, not touching the steps. In blue and white, in white and blue, with one hand beckoning. She’ll try to tell me something, and I don’t know what it will be. I don’t know yet. I’m going to see a lady coming down the stairs and I see her now. She’s whispering, whispering, whispering, telling me things. I’ve got to scream. I’ve got to tell them what I see. They’ll all come running, they’ll think I’m dead or dying. They’ll take me in their arms and beg and plead, they’ll take me in their arms—
She sat on the top step and buried her face in her hands. Be careful, she warned herself, be careful. You’re all right now, you’re all right. Be quiet and still. Be careful.
Jewel came out of her single room on the second floor and closed the door. She had no definite plan. The room behind her was better than any she had ever owned, but for the past half hour she had taken it apart with her eyes and counted its faults.
It had no extra lamps with pretty shades, no pictures, no pottery bowls; the dark brown scarf on the bureau was the one they had given her when she came. I like nice things, too, she told herself, but I don’t know how to pick them out. If I went in a store and paid out my good money, I’d get the wrong thing. I’d get it too dressy or not dressy enough. I wouldn’t know… Jewel come here, Jewel go there, Jewel run me up to sixth I’m going to a coffee party, take me down to fifth, wait for whoosis on seventh, take me up to fourth and come right back again… I’d like to know what would happen if I asked any of them to help me make my place look nice. If I asked them what to buy. I could talk myself hoarse, I could be talking to myself. They’d drop dead before they’d help me, they’d give me the big ha-ha. They got to have a laugh and I’m the easiest one.
She heard someone at the front of the hall and moved quietly forward. A girl was huddled on the top step, head on knees, arms limp and trailing. A smile twisted her mouth. Mainwaring, picking the best place for somebody to fall over her. Picking a place where Miss Brady and Miss Small would be certain to see her and say, “Come along to bed, dear, and I’ll tuck you up and kiss you goodnight, because you’re a fine religious type and we love girls like you.” Rats. Ha-ha. Rats.
The smile was still on her face when she touched Dot’s shoulder.
Dot raised tearful eyes. “Who—oh Jewel, I’m so frightened!”
“Don’t waste that on me,” Jewel said. “Go down and try it on the cop.” She nudged Dot with her foot, lightly at first and then harder. When she turned to climb the stairs she was humming. Frightened? Rats. Who wasn’t in one way or another? She climbed to the fourth floor.
Minnie May’s door was unlocked. Minnie May was in bed, alone, and every lamp in the room was lighted. There was a box of candy on the bed and a thermos jug of cocoa on the table. Minnie May had pottery bowls and flowers and a lace bureau scarf. On Dot’s side of the room there were more bowls and flowers. Minnie May’s negligee was trimmed with pink swans-down, but she was crying.
“Do you care if I come in for a while?” Jewel asked. “Seeing as you’re alone.”
Minnie May sat up. “Dot walked out on me and she had orders not to leave me by myself.” Her voice rose. “That detective said so, but she walked out! She’s supposed to watch me and I know what for! She’s to watch me on the sly so I can’t sneak off and kill somebody else! They’re not taking chances. Why don’t they put a cop outside my door like Harris?”
“Don’t upset yourself,” Jewel advised.
“Walked out on me and I know why. So if anybody shows up dead tomorrow, she can run around confessing how it happened. All her fault, all her fault, God have mercy on her poor little soul. Had to go to the bathroom, and Minnie May got out… I wouldn’t leave this room if the house burned down.”
Jewel sat on the bed. “I’ll stay. I’d like to.”
“Aren’t you afraid? No, you’re too dumb. Listen. Down home my grandpa was a good lawyer, so I know what they’re doing to me. Making me the goat. They don’t know anything else to do, so they’re making me the goat. I’ve seen that happen lots of times down home. If my skin was black I’d be hanging from a tree this minute… Jewel?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you see me dancing with Miller? I mean the second time, around ten. Didn’t you know it was Miller and me, Jewel? Didn’t they ask you that?”
“Everybody asks me that. I don’t know, I can’t remember.”
“I did, I did! That was the time I had my face on backwards! And it was Miller, I know it! Everybody saw us but nobody says so. Can’t remember, can’t remember, that’s all I get... I don’t remember seeing you, either, if it comes to that. But if anybody asked me, I’d say I did. I know how to be a pal.”
“Oh, sure you do.” Jewel grinned. “What are they going to do to you, did they say?”
“No. No, and that’s where they’re smart. Why don’t they take me to jail? Why don’t they lock me up safe? Then I could sue their pants off.”
Jewel took a caramel from the box on the bed. It was Schrafft’s. Everything Minnie May had was the best. “I guess you didn’t have much company tonight,” she said pensively.
“Nobody. Only you. Why?”
“I thought I heard them say your door was kept locked. I was surprised it wasn’t. I thought they gave that order.”
“I don’t want it locked. What for?”
“I guess they were afraid somebody might—I don’t know.”
“Somebody might what? What are you getting at? You mean somebody might come in?”
“Yeah.”
“Well what’s wrong with that? You’re here, aren’t you? What’s wrong with that?” Minnie May read something in Jewel’s eyes. She wasn’t sure what it was. It could be one of two things. It could be—
“You don’t need to stare at me like that,” Jewel said heavily.
They looked carefully away from each other, shifted their bodies slowly, quietly
, drew apart. Jewel concentrated on the box of candy and the jug of cocoa.
“Have some cocoa.” Minnie May’s voice held a tremor. “I’m sorry it’s all I’ve got. There’s the candy, too. I don’t care for it. You help yourself, take all you want, you’re welcome to anything you like.”
“Yeah? Thanks.”
After a while Minnie May said, “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, Jewel. You must be tired.”
“I’m not tired. I’ll stay till somebody comes.”
Kitty Brice crossed the roof, feeling her way in the dark. She skirted the pile of deck chairs and came to a stop before the wire fence. The mesh was as wide as her hand. She tested its strength with hand and body; it was strong enough to climb on. She left that side of the roof and went to the front, where she leaned over the parapet that faced the street. The street was empty and dark except for the lamps at the corners and the single light by the courtyard gate. It was too late even for Mrs Cashman and Brother.
She went back to the courtyard side and tested the wire again, gripping the mesh above her head and pulling herself up. For a few seconds she clung there, panting and frowning. When she went downstairs to her room, she was breathing heavily and talking to herself. That cop that went up there, he told the other one he didn’t have any luck. No break in the wire, no cigarette butts, no nothing. No signs of a struggle, nothing. I could have told him that myself. I could have told him he was wasting his time. Cops! They make me laugh!... But I had to see for myself. I wanted to see.
Miss Brady was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, chain-smoking.
“Look at me,” Miss Small said. “Tell me what worries you, and I’ll take care of it. I can do that with you, you know. Everybody thinks you’re the strong one, but I am. Tell me what worries you.”
Miss Brady laughed shortly. “Suppose Lillian dies too?”
“That’s morbid, Monny! She’s coming along beautifully. Who’s been talking to you?”
“Nobody. I’m just thinking again… That cop won’t let me in her room.”
“He’s doing that for your own good, darling. He won’t let anybody in. She probably looks dreadful… I feel pretty low myself, it’s been a bad night. Too much happening and all of it horrid—that man East, and your little box turning up the way it did, and police tramping all over the place… Monny, you’re shivering! Stop it this instant!”
“I wish we were away from here,” Miss Brady whispered. “I wish it were all over.”
“Soon, soon,” Miss Small said softly. “You’ve done everything you could, Monny, everything. And soon we’ll both be free, with no more worries, with nothing but our own lives ahead. Beautiful lives… Monny—”
The night crept on, taking too long to die. Miss Plummer held a lonely wake, watching the window and waiting for the end. When morning came at last, it had a clear white light; snow, soft and clean, dropped gently from a dove-grey sky, the Christmas snow. But it gave her no pleasure.
At eight-thirty Agnes came in, her face twisted in a false, bright smile. She bent over the bed. “The doctor’s out in the hall with Miss Brady and the detective. To see you.”
“Detective!”
“Hush. He wants to talk to you, it’s what we both hoped for, and it’s nothing to be afraid of. With the doctor here, it’s safe.”
“But my sister—Agnes—if my sister—”
“Upstairs all night, having her breakfast now. You know what to do. If you have trouble, if you don’t feel free to tell—” The door opened.
“I’ll leave you now,” Agnes said brightly.
Miss Plummer’s eyes found Miss Brady’s. Miss Brady looked as if she hadn’t slept herself. “Miss Brady,” she said, “I’m sick, I really am. I can’t really order my thoughts. If I make any mistakes, I hope you’ll forgive me.” She looked from Miss Brady to the doctor, and then, fearfully, to the detective.
He was smiling down at her, in a nice way, as if he understood how she felt. Almost as if he understood what she wanted to say and knew some of it already. He reminded her of a minister, only ministers never looked like that. It was something in his eyes; it said he knew what the world was like, but he wanted to live in it just the same. East, his name was, East.
“Mr East,” she said, “I want to do my part, but I’ll have to ask you to be quick. I haven’t got much time.” She hoped he wouldn’t ask her what she meant, and he didn’t.
“I haven’t much either,” he said gravely. “So suppose we let you decide what you want to tell me. You do want to tell me something, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” She turned heavily in the bed and faced the door. “If you’ll stand right here, sir, where I can see you. Mr East, I have it on my mind that Ruth Miller was murdered.”
No one spoke until he said, “Why, Miss Plummer?”
“I have it on my mind, that’s all I can say. And I think the one that did it knows how I feel.”
“Do you know who did it, Miss Plummer?”
“No.” They had left the door open, and the hall was quiet. She could hear the elevator in the distance. If it stopped at her floor, she’d know. “But I am responsible in a way. I sent her to her death.”
He sat beside her on the bed. “You say you haven’t much time,” he said. “Maybe I can guess what you mean. How’s this? Nothing will happen to you because you are talking to me. Your job, your life, they’ll go on just the same. Miss Brady and Dr Kloppel are my witnesses. Nothing will happen. Now tell me what you mean when you say you sent Ruth to her death.”
She found her hand creeping over the covers to take his. It didn’t surprise her when his own closed over hers. Even his next words didn’t surprise her.
“It’s about the night of the party, isn’t it? You sent Ruth upstairs to get the bandages when the chef was hurt.”
Miss Brady said, “Ruth? You sent Ruth?”
She answered painfully. “Yes, Miss Brady. Yes, Mr East. I know it was Ruth. She spoke to me, I knew her voice, and she said she didn’t know where Miss Brady’s room—” She stopped and wet her lips.
“Go on, Ethel,” Miss Brady said sharply. “What are you stopping for? You sent her to my room. So what? I wasn’t there.”
“I know,” she said humbly. “You were down in the kitchen with Miss Small. I didn’t mean anything, Miss Brady, I’m only trying to straighten myself out.” She turned to Mark. “Maybe I better start at the beginning, and then you can ask me about the things you don’t understand. It was when the chef cut his hand. It was Clara that told us. Clara thought he was dying but Miss Small said more likely he was drunk but we should call the doctor to be on the safe side. In case he tried to sue. And if the doctor wasn’t in, to send one of the girls upstairs for iodine and bandages. And she said she’d go down to the kitchen and see for herself. Then Miss Brady came over and said she’d go down, too, and I wasn’t to worry. And I didn’t worry, not then. But I couldn’t get the doctor, we’d forgotten it was his club night, and that upset me. So I tried to find a girl who’d go upstairs for the bandages and I had a dreadful time.”
He nodded. “You had trouble finding a girl, didn’t you?”
He knew, he understood. “Yes, sir. You wouldn’t believe the trouble I had. Nobody wanted to go, and for all I knew the poor man could be dying. I’d just about given up when I got hold of Ruth. She spoke to me, she answered me. I know it was her. And even if I hadn’t known for certain, I’d have guessed. Because she walked up. She was the only one who did that. She was afraid of the automatic elevator.”
The elevator. She could hear it running now. It had been quiet for perhaps a minute, but now it was running again. She could see the shaft in her mind, see the way it looked from the inside when you were a passenger. She could count the whitewashed bricks that showed through the grille. Not many bricks between the first and second floors… Mr East put his other hand over hers.
“What time was that, Miss Plummer? Between eight and eight-thirty, wasn’t it?”
“
Nearer eight-thirty.”
“She didn’t come back?”
The elevator was stopping. She heard the big metal door slide back with a muffled clang. She couldn’t hear the little safety door, but she could see it in her mind, folding into itself without a sound. She had less than a minute. “I never saw her again, never, never. Somebody brought me the iodine and bandages, but I don’t know who, I don’t, I don’t. I found them on the desk a long time later, but I didn’t see who put them there. She didn’t, I know that, she didn’t. I never saw her again. She was dead. Murdered.”
Footsteps, coming down the hall, coming to the door. She closed her eyes and waited.
Dr Kloppel was the first to speak, and his voice was mild and natural. “Good morning,” he said. “It looks like a white Christmas, doesn’t it? You know Mr East? Mr East, Mrs Fister.”
Ella didn’t answer. She heard Mr East say, “How do you do, Mrs Fister. I wonder if you’ll get me a glass of water?” She heard the rattle of the glass in the coaster as he took it from the bed table, heard Ella’s heavy tread crossing the room, going back to the door, going down the hall without a word. Heard Miss Brady say, “I’m leaving, you don’t need me now.”
When she was sure they were alone, she put out her hand, blindly. “Agnes,” she whispered. “Agnes. Room 206. Talk to Agnes, she knows.”
Ella returned, still silent, but she couldn’t mistake that tread.
Mr East said, “Mrs Fister, the doctor and I think Miss Plummer needs complete rest and quiet. No callers. Not even you, although that may sound harsh. It might be a good idea to lock the door and give us the key. We’ll be dropping in again before we go. After we see Agnes and Miss Harris.”
Ella said, “I’ll go along with you. It’s customary.”
Mr East said, “Thank you, but this is police work.”
The key turned in the lock and Miss Plummer was alone. She opened her eyes then. There was nothing she could do. She watched the snow.
Agnes was expecting them. Mark knew that before they reached her door. He had stopped at the hall telephone to call Foy’s man on the seventh floor. A new man, Jones, had relieved Bessemer. He told Jones that no one was to enter Miss Harris’s room and added that “no one” meant anything in human form regardless of how it dressed and talked. When he turned from the phone he saw the door of 206 standing open. Agnes was waiting.
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