4 Murder at Breakfast

by Steve Demaree

  “Come on, Lou. I guess you’re right. Let’s go back to that organic place.”

  I looked down and saw something bounce off my circumference, had Lou pick it up and hand it to me, so I could throw it back at Rosie. Then, I pulled myself up onto my stool. I didn’t look in Lou’s direction. I didn’t want to know how easily he mounted the stool. In a few minutes I was in hog heaven. Bacon, sausage, ham, eggs, biscuits, gravy, pancakes and syrup. It took three plates to hold it all. But it took only one body to do the same.

  After I had finished eating my breakfast and was giving it time to take up residence somewhere, Rosie came over grinning from ear to ear.

  “Okay, what is it this time?”

  “Just want to make sure you come back for lunch. I want you to know that I’m fixing something special just for you.”

  “The world’s largest pie, all mine.”

  “I’m not telling what it is. Just make sure you’re back for lunch.”

  There was no way I was going to miss lunch. Rosie had piqued my interest. I had to come back.

  I allowed a sufficient amount of time for my food to settle into whatever cavity of my body it felt comfortable in, then turned to Lou to let him know that I had finished, an hour and two minutes after he finished. Or did he ever begin?

  I had no idea what the day held for us, but I looked forward to getting comfortable in Mrs. Higgins’ apartment and seeing where we went from there.

  I drove into the Parkway Arms parking lot, parked, then opened the door and heard the commotion. Actually, I knew something was up when I spotted an officer standing in the middle of the driveway, hollering and waving frantically to a woman at a window above him. I looked up and recognized Hilda Winters, but not the rope ladder hanging from her window.

  “What’s the problem, Officer?”

  “I caught this woman trying to escape. Not more than a minute ago she threw this rope ladder out the window, then threw one foot out, trying to make contact with the rope ladder.”

  Other than two somewhat-out-of-control people, the day was calm. I silenced both of them enough that I heard birds in the backyard trees. Then I hollered at the woman at the window.

  “Miss Winters, go back inside. I’m on my way up.”

  Then I whispered to the officer to remain there until he saw Lou or me at the window.

  I hurried around the house more quickly than my breakfast preferred and mounted a slight incline toward the front door. Once inside, I said “hello” to the officer inside, but told him we were in a hurry. For once, the elevator wasn’t on the first floor. I pushed the button, waited a day or two for the door to open. As I waited, I hoped that Hilda Winters hadn’t thrown herself from the window and into the officer’s arms. If so, the chances were that two people wouldn’t live through that endeavor.

  A couple of days later I rounded the corner to the apartments. I was thankful that Hilda Winters had left her door open, but I could hear the frightened officer below, afraid that he had lost his quarry, but obediently he stuck to his post. Quickly, I passed her and hurried to the window to let him know that all was well, or at least it wasn’t any worse.

  I soon noticed that Miss Winters’ apartment wasn’t a carbon copy of the one next to it. I hadn’t noticed that on my first visit, because I was never in the woman’s bedroom. Because her bedroom was on the extreme left-hand side of the building, looking from the street, there were windows in her bedroom. Mrs. Higgins’ bedroom was closer to the middle of the building, thus no windows on the side, or end, depending upon how you looked at the apartment.

  “Miss Winters, what in the world were you trying to do?”

  Somehow I didn’t think she was a murderer escaping from capture. She could have escaped either of the previous two nights without being seen. Of course, it would have been hard to navigate a rope ladder in the dark.

  “I was testing my rope ladder, seeing how much of a help it would be in case of a fire.”

  “And why didn’t you test it before now?”

  “I just received it last night, after supper.”

  “And where did you get it?”

  “If I tell you, can you keep it a secret?”

  “And why should I do that?”

  “I can’t tell you unless you keep my secret.”

  “Okay, as long as this rope ladder has nothing to do with Mrs. Higgins’ murder.”

  “Well, if it did, you can’t blame me. Like I said, I just received it last night.”

  “I guess someone merely knocked on your door and asked you if you’d like a rope ladder.”

  “Something like that.”

  “I think you need to be a little more specific.”

  “Okay, last night, just after Jeopardy went off, I heard a knock at the door. I went to the door and Wally was there. He motioned for me to be quiet and asked if he could come in. Well, since I knew Wally, and he’s never caused any problems for anyone before, I let him in. I noticed at the time he had a large bag, but I didn’t know what was in it.”

  “And it was this ladder?”

  “That’s right.”

  “And what reason did he give you for giving you the ladder?”

  “He said that because the building didn’t have suitable exits on the second floor in case there was a fire, that all the residents would be getting a rope ladder. He went on to say that the order got messed up and not all of the ladders came in, so he couldn’t hand out all of them. He told me he knew how scared I was of a potential fire, so he let me have one of the first ones. He told me someone might get jealous of me or mad at him if they learned that I got one and they didn’t, so he asked me to keep it a secret for the time being. I asked him how long the time being was, and he said he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure when the rest of the shipment would come in. Anyway, I wanted to make sure it would reach all the way to the ground, so I was trying it out when that officer ran around the building and started hollering at me. He almost made me fall.”

  “Well, let me apologize. I asked him to keep an eye on the place while we were gone, and I guess he got a little carried away.”

  “Well, I think he ought to come up here and apologize.”

  “Just let me apologize for him. Miss Winters, I have a favor I need to ask of you.”

  “What’s that, Lieutenant?”

  “I’d like to borrow your rope ladder, just for a while. I’ll make sure I return it today or tomorrow.”

  “I think I understand, Lieutenant. You’re a little afraid of fires, too. You want to know if it’s strong enough to hold someone as big as you.”

  “And you must promise to keep my secret.”

  The elderly woman held up her hand and said “I do.”

  “Have you still got the sack? Naturally, I don’t want anyone to see me carrying it out of here.”

  Hilda Winters hurried to the closet and pulled out a large plastic bag.

  “I believe this is the one, Lieutenant.”

  “Oh, one other thing, Miss Winters. Someone told me that you have a key to Mrs. Higgins’ apartment.”

  “Who told you that? Well, it doesn’t matter. A lot of us have keys to each other’s apartments. That way, if one of us gets locked out we don’t have to go all the way downstairs to get back in.”

  “Are you saying that you weren’t the only one who had a key to her apartment?”

  “No, I know Elaine Jewell has one, too, and keep this quiet, but Katherine told me a while back she’d given one to Russell, just in case he needed it sometime.”

  “Anyone else that you know of?”

  “Well, some of the ones who work here, but I’m not sure who all has one or if Margaret Draper holds on to the keys unless someone needs one. Oh, I know that Margie Washburn, our maid, has a key to each of the apartments on this floor, but I’m not sure who else does.”

  I retrieved the ladder from the window sill. I noticed that the ladder had left scratch marks on the sill.

  “I see you see the mark, Lieutenant.
That’s one thing bad about one of these, but if the building’s on fire, who cares about leaving a mark.”

  I stuffed the rope ladder into the bag, thanked Miss Winters for her time, looked out the door to see that the coast was clear, and then hustled next door and inserted the key in the lock. Lou and I sat down for a few minutes and discussed what the rope ladder could mean.

  30

  “Lou, I have no idea if this ladder has anything to do with the murder or not, but if it does, that brings someone else into the suspect category, although technically, everyone was a suspect, anyway.”

  “Who’s that, Cy?”

  “Ginny Adams, the upstairs maid. While she didn’t have a key to Mrs. Higgins’ apartment, she certainly had one to the apartment above, and that woman is out of town.”

  “And more than likely it includes someone else?”

  “Who’s that, Lou?”

  “My guess is the woman who lives upstairs gave someone her key while she was gone, just in case something happened.”

  “That’s definitely a possibility, Lou, but we don’t know who. Once we see if this rope ladder will reach from that apartment window to the roof, we’ll know whether or not anyone could’ve gotten into this apartment that way. Of course, this could be something else that doesn’t enter into the case. I’m sure all of these things don’t. We just have to find out which ones do.”

  “Come on, Lou. Let’s go see Wally, find out if his story agrees with Miss Winters.”

  We had no idea where the handyman would be working, so our best bet would be to head to the office. Once again, Margaret Draper didn’t seem too excited to see us, but did her best to hide it.

  “And what can I do for you this time, Lieutenant? Lunch reservations?”

  “No, we don’t want to trouble you any more than we have to. I just need to see Wally, ask him a question.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, Lieutenant. Wally’s out right now, went to run some errands. He should be back soon, though.”

  I made a mental note that neither officer informed me that they had let the handyman run errands. Their job was to see that no one left the premises.

  “Oh, one other thing, Miss Draper. I noticed that this building doesn’t have any exits from the second or third floor. Could you tell me how many of the apartments have some type of ladder to get out their windows.”

  “The only ladder is the one that’s either in storage, or, as it is right now, propped up to Russell Cochran’s window.”

  “And that’s the only ladder?”

  “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, it is. This building was built before the codes required exits. I’ve talked to the owners about it, but, just between you and me, they keep dragging their feet.”

  I turned, walked out of the office, found the officer watching the front and back doors, and motioned for him to follow me outside. We located the other officer, walked back to the concrete bench to have a confab.

  “Can either of you two tell me why you let the handyman leave the premises? Your orders were to keep everyone here.”

  “But, Lieutenant, we didn’t realize that meant the people who work here weren’t allowed to run their errands. He showed me what he had to do, said he’d be back well before lunch.”

  “Well, I hope so. From now on, before you let anyone leave, check with me. Now, both of you can get back to your posts, such as they are.”

  I don’t usually get upset, but I expect any officer to do what he or she is told.

  Lou and I waited a couple of minutes before walking up the driveway and going back into the house. Just as we got up to leave, Wally Gentry drove a truck into the driveway and parked. I sent Lou to get him. I wanted to talk to him without anyone else around.

  “Wally, come here a minute. I need to check with you about something. Do you know anything about a rope ladder in Miss Winters’ apartment?”

  “It was supposed to be our secret.”

  “Well, I’m the only one she told. Can you tell me how it got to be there?”

  “The truth, or what she thinks?”

  “Let’s try the truth.”

  “Okay, I got a note in the mail a couple of days ago from Vera Davis, one of the women who lives on the third floor who’s away.”

  “Is she the one who lives above Mrs. Higgins?”

  “No, that’s Imogene Ingram.”

  “Okay, carry on.”

  “Well, like I was saying, I got a note in the mail the other day. It was from Vera Davis. The note said that she had a rope ladder in her storage area in the basement, and she asked me if I’d retrieve it and take it to Hilda Winters. See, Miss Winters is afraid of being burned alive in her apartment, and Mrs. Davis is not. She wanted me to take the rope ladder to Miss Winters, but be quiet about it. She didn’t even want Miss Winters to know where it came from. That’s the reason I made up the story about everyone getting one.”

  “Do you still have the note?”

  “No, Lieutenant, I threw it away. I can tell you about it, if you like.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Well, first of all it was on stationery. At the top it said ‘From the desk of Vera Davis.’ The note was typed, like on a computer, and then folded and put in an envelope.”

  “Do you have any idea why she’d send it to you?”

  “Maybe she thought that would be the best way to handle it without too many people finding out.”

  I thanked Wally for his time. He left to get back to work.

  “Lou, I want to double check this story. Plus, I want to learn a little more about these two women who are away. Here’s the plan. If we don’t run into Wally, I want to go to the office to see Margaret Draper. I want to know the phone numbers where I can get hold of the two women who are away. Also, I want to get a key to each apartment. I want Miss Draper to call both women while we are there, but I don’t want to talk to them from her office. I don’t want her to know what I’m asking them. I just want her to tell them that a policeman will be calling them shortly about a matter having to do with Parkway Arms, and it’s okay for them to answer any questions I have. Now, what I don’t want her to do is turn around and call them back just after we’ve left, so I want you to hang around her office, small talk with her for a few minutes, until I’ve had a chance to talk to both women. Okay?”

  Lou and I walked into the building and didn’t see Wally, so we hurried to Miss Draper’s office. Thankfully, no one was in the office except Miss Draper.”

  “Something else I can do for you gentlemen?”

  “Yes, Miss Draper. I need the keys to both of the apartments where the women are out of town. Also, I want you to give me the phone numbers where these two women can be reached. So that each woman will talk to me when I call, I want you to call them and tell them that a policeman will be calling them shortly about a matter having to do with Parkway Arms, and let them know that it’s okay to answer any questions I might have.”

  “I don’t suppose that you can let me know what this has to do with.”

  “Not right now. Everything has to remain confidential for the time being. Now can you look up those numbers and make the calls?”

  The manager clicked her computer mouse and within seconds picked up the desk phone to make the first call. Before she dialed, she jotted down the names and numbers of the two women. As soon as she handed them to me, I turned and left the office. I think she was surprised to see that Lou didn’t follow me. I hurried to the elevator, went back to the apartment to make the calls.

  I dialed the first number. A woman answered on the second ring.

  “Is this Vera Davis?”

  “It is.”

  “This is Lt. Dekker of the Hilldale Police Department.”

  “Is something wrong? Did someone break into my apartment? Has there been a robbery?”

  “As far as I know there has been no robbery. I need to ask you a couple of questions. Do you or did you own a rope ladder?”

  “No, not me.”

  “Do you h
ave stationery with the heading ‘From the desk of Vera Davis, and have you sent a note using that stationery to anyone at Parkway Arms?”

  “I do have a note pad with that heading, but I haven’t sent a note using it while I’ve been gone. As a matter of fact, the note pad is in the apartment.”

  “Can you tell me which of the residents at Parkway Arms has a key to your apartment?”

  “Hilda Winters has a key. So does Russell Cochran and Imogene Ingram. I think I gave one to Elaine Jewell, too. See, we have keys to each other’s apartments in case someone gets locked out and doesn’t want to go all the way to the office to get back in. Are you sure nothing of mine has been stolen?”

  “I’ll go up to your apartment and check, but I don’t believe so. Can you tell me when you might be returning?”

  “I’m not sure exactly. More than likely I’ll be back in another week.”

  “And how long have you been away?”

  “I left about a week and a half ago, on a Monday.”

  “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Davis.”

  I was sure the woman wondered why a policeman had called her, if there was no breakin, but I wasn’t going to stay on the line and let her pump me. I made the second call, and asked the same questions, minus anything about a rope ladder. Mrs. Ingram had given keys to Christine Hunt, Vera Davis, and Joanne Moberly. She left a couple of days before Mrs. Davis and planned to be back in about nine more days. I wondered if anyone knew how long each one would be gone, but I didn’t plan to call back to find out.

  Lou returned just as I was hanging up from the second call, looking a little worse for wear.

  “I think the manager realized why I stayed down there. I was having trouble coming up with enough things to talk about. I’m not as good with that stuff as you are, Cy.”

  Our clue of the day was Chutes and Ladders. I could think of only one chute, the laundry chute, and two ladders that might apply. Could it be that one or the other had something to do with the murder? It was time to call George and ask him for another favor.

  “George, Cy. I need another favor.”

  “I’m not going to give you another one of my men, Cy. It’s time you did a little work yourself.”