Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

"That's hard," I said, "but there's harder. This isn't nailed down, but it can be. As it stands now, it's what Isabel told Miss Jaquette. She not only told her about the blackmailing, she also told her that she was going to tell your husband that she had decided to tell you about it. When I first heard that, from Miss Jaquette, I wondered why the police were holding Orrie Cather instead of your husband, but then Miss Jaquette told me she hadn't told the police about the blackmailing at all. You can ask her why; I think it was because she didn't realize what it might mean. The police would have realized it. If she had told them about the blackmailing, all that Isabel told her, your husband would now be in jail, either along with Orrie Cather or instead of him, as a murder suspect. And when we tell them about his coming to see Miss Jaquette Saturday afternoon, and his trying to kill her that night, that will settle that. They'll get the evidence, for instance his movements the morning Isabel was killed, and he'll be booked for murder, and tried, and probably convicted. I told you on the phone that I have found the right man, and I have. Barry Fleming."

She had stopped the clawing and made fists, and had nodded three times as I talked – little involuntary nods, without knowing she was doing it, like the shake of her head when I told her that Orrie Cather might have been the one who was paying the rent. Now she whispered to herself, "That's why."

I didn't ask her why what, because I wasn't after evidence. You want evidence in order to prove something to the District Attorney or a judge or a jury, and that wasn't the program. Her "why" was probably something, or things, he had said or done – for instance, where he had said he had been, but hadn't, the morning Isabel was killed. Whatever it was, it made it a lot simpler than I had thought it would be. I had expected her to throw at least three fits, especially after finding the toy in her bag, and there she was whispering to herself.

Julie said, "You don't have to club her."