Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

"Miss Jaquette. Miss Jackson to you, Julie to me. She's alive too, but it's not my fault. She was shot at this morning, at half past one, in front of her hotel, from behind the Central Park wall. The sniper was not seen. Fred got it in the leg and is in Roosevelt Hospital. He was asleep when I phoned this morning. I phoned his wife when I got home last night. I also phoned Saul and told him to stand by. I brought Julie home with me because, with Orrie in the coop and Fred in the hospital, we're short-handed, and anyway I got tired of hearing bullets go by. She eats breakfast in bed, and Fritz will cook it and I'll take it up around half past twelve. That seems to cover it."

"The sniper was not seen."

"No, sir, but it was Barry Fleming. He reacted to the letter by coming to see her yesterday afternoon. That tagged him for blackmail, and the gunplay tagged him for murder. So all we need now is a little evidence. But I suppose you want a full report."

He said yes, and we went to the office. The Saturday mail was on my desk, unopened. I don't know why he does that, but I suspect that it's because he wants to show me that he won't butt in on my routine if I won't butt in on his. Fritz hadn't butted in either; my desk top was dustier than it gets in one day. I put my copy of the Sunday Times on it and sat, and proceeded to report. I gave it verbatim only in spots, the few that might have a bearing, thinking it unnecessary for him to know that she had asked me if I realized it was a bed, or that I had called her snuggle bunny. Usually he opens his eyes and sits up when I finish, but that time he held it a full minute, and finally I spoke.

"If you're waiting for a comment, I have nothing to offer. I could say we know but can't prove we do, but that's obvious. As for last night, did he own a rifle, or did he get one, and if so where? Saul and I could dig up the answers, and then what? The first bullet either hit Fred's leg bone or went on through and hit the building, which is stone, and the second one presumably hit the building. Identifying them as coming from his rifle would take six experts, three on each side. If he had hit her and killed her that would be -"

"Pfui." He came erect. "That's mere futility. We have what we wanted, support for our surmise that he's a murderer. Is there any doubt now that we are going to extricate Orrie?"

"No."