Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

Julie looked at me, and she shouldn't have. She was supposed to be collaborating. I widened my eyes a little, and she went back to Stella. "Your husband," she said. "He is Milton Thales. I said in that letter that Isabel told me everything, but the one thing she didn't tell me was the name of the man who was paying her bills, so I have to call him X. You're the only one she told his name to, and -"

"She didn't tell me his name."

"She told me she did tell you. Isabel wasn't a liar."

That was more like it. What a girl. She was going on. "So when X got a phone call from a man who knew all about it and told X to send him money, a thousand dollars a month, to mail it to Milton Thales, General Delivery, and X told Isabel, she knew Milton Thales must be your husband. Because no other man could know what Milton Thales knew. Isabel knew you must have told your husband, and he -"

"I didn't tell my husband."

"You must have, because if -"

I cut in. "It's no good, Mrs. Fleming. That's nailed down. Your husband got that letter Saturday morning. At one o'clock he phoned Miss Jaquette at her hotel. At half past two he came in person. I was there with Miss Jaquette. He told us he hadn't brought the five thousand dollars he had screwed out of X because the bank wasn't open. He said he would bring it Monday. Today. What time did he get home Saturday night?"

No answer. She was staring at me.

"I know he got home late, because at half past one he was behind the wall in Central Park with either a rifle or a revolver, shooting at Miss Jaquette across the street when we got out of a taxicab. I brought Miss Jaquette home with me, here, so we don't know if he has tried to get in touch with her today, and we don't care. The point is, you did tell him X's name, and he did blackmail X, and Isabel knew it. That's settled."

She was clawing, but not at me. Her hands were resting on her knees, with the fingers curled, and she was scraping at her palms with her nails. "I can't believe it," she said, so low that I barely heard. She said louder, "I can't believe it."