The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries Part 39

"I'll need to see tapes going back two weeks. Can you get them for me?"

"It will not be a problem."

Mortimer Hughes came out of the bathroom. He was holding a closed set of tweezers in one hand, his other hand cupped beneath it.

"I dug a fiber out of the victim's neck. Red, looks synthetic."

"From a rope?" I asked.

Hughes nodded.

"Mr Patel, we'll be down shortly for those tapes. Coursey, Johnson, help Herb and I search the apartment. Let's see if we can find the murder weapon."

We did a thorough toss, but couldn't find any rope. Herb, however, found a pair of needle nose pliers in a closet. Pliers with pink handles.

"They were neighbors," Herb reasoned. "Janet could have lent them to her."

"Could have. But we both doubt it. Call base to see if they found anything on Hale."

Herb dialed, talked for a minute, then hung up.

"Glenn Hale has been arrested three times, all a.s.sault charges. Did three months in Joliet."

I wasn't surprised. All evidence pointed to the boyfriend, except for the d.a.m.ned locked room. Maybe Herb was right and the killer just slipped under the door and . . .

Epiphany.

"Call the lab team. I want the whole apartment dusted. Then get an address and a place of work on Hale and send cars. Tell them to wait for the warrant."

Herb raised an eyebrow. "A warrant? Shouldn't we question the guy first?"

"No need," I said. "He did it, and I know how."

Feeling, a bit foolishly, like Sherlock Holmes, I took everyone back into Janet's apartment. They began hurling questions at me, but I held up my hand for order.

"Here's how it went," I began. "Janet finds out Glenn is cheating, dumps him. He comes over, wanting to get her back. She won't let him in. He uses his key, but the safety chain is on. So he busts in and breaks the chain."

"But the chain was on when we came in the first time," Coursey complained.

Herb hushed him, saving me the trouble.

"They argue," I went on. "Glenn grabs her arm, hits her. She falls to the floor, unconscious. Who knows what's going through his mind? Maybe he's afraid she'll call the police, and he'll go to jail he has a record and this state has zero tolerance for repeat offenders. Maybe he's so mad at her he thinks she deserves to die. Whatever the case, he finds Janet's toolkit and takes out the utility knife. He slits her wrist and puts the knife in her other hand."

Five inquisitive faces hung on my every word. It was a heady experience.

"Glenn has to know he'd be a suspect," I raised my voice, just a touch for dramatic effect. "He's got a history with Janet, and a criminal record. The only way to throw off suspicion is to make it look like no one else could have been in the room to show the police that it had to be a suicide."

"Jack," Herb admonished. "You're dragging it out."

"If you figured it out, then you'd have the right to drag it out too."

"Are you really single?" Patel asked. He grinned again, showing more spinach.

"If she keeps stalling," Herb told him, "I'll personally give you her number."

I shot Herb with my eyes, then continued.

"Okay, so Glenn goes into Janet's closet and gets a length of climbing rope. He also grabs the needle nose pliers from her toolbox and heads back to the front door. The safety chain has been ripped out of the frame, and the mounting is dangling on the end. He takes a single screw," I pointed at the screw sticking in the door frame, "and puts it back in the doorframe about halfway."

Herb nodded, getting it. "When the mounting ripped out, it had to pull out all four screws. So the only way one could still be in the doorframe is if someone put it there."

"Right. Then he takes the rope and loops it under a sofa leg. He goes out into the hall with the rope, and closes the door, still holding both ends of the rope. He tugs the rope through the crack under the door, and pulls the sofa right up to the door from the other side."

"Clever," Johnson said.

"I must insist you meet my mother," Patel said.

"But the chain . . ." Coursey whined.

I smiled at Coursey. "He opens the door a few inches, and grabs the chain with the needle nose pliers. He swings the loose end over to the door frame, where it catches and rests on the screw he put in halfway."

I watched the light finally go on in Coursey's eyes. "When Mr Patel opened the door, it looked like the chain was on, but it really wasn't. It was just hanging on the screw. The thing that kept the door from opening was the sofa."

"Right. So when you burst into the room, you weren't the one that broke the safety chain. It was already broken."

Coursey nodded rapidly. "The perp just lets go of one end of the rope and pulls in the other end, freeing it from the sofa leg. Then he locks the door with his own key."

"But poor Mrs Flagstone," I continued, "must have seen him in the hallway. She has her safety chain on, maybe asks him what he's doing. So he bursts into her room and strangles her with the climbing rope. The rope was red-right, Herb?"

Herb grinned. "Naturally. How did you know that?"

"I guessed. Then Glenn ditches the pliers in the closet, makes a half-a.s.sed attempt to stage Mrs Flagstone's death like a drowning, and leaves with the rope. I bet the security tapes will concur."

"What if he isn't seen carrying the rope?"

No problem. I was on a roll.

"Then he either ditched it in a hall, or wrapped it around his waist under his s.h.i.+rt before leaving."

"I'm gonna go check the tapes," Johnson said, hurrying out.

"I'm going to call my mother," Patel said, hurrying out.

Herb got on the phone to get a warrant, and Mortimer Hughes dropped to his hands and knees and began to search the carpeting, ostensibly for red fibers even though that wasn't his job.

I was feeling pretty smug, something I rarely a.s.sociated with my line of work, when I noticed Officer Coursey staring at me. His face was projecting such unabashed admiration that I almost blushed.

"Lieutenant that was just . . . amazing."

"Simple detective work. You could have figured it out if you thought about it."

"I never would have figured that out." He glanced at his shoes, then back at me, and then he turned and left.

Herb pocketed his cell and offered me a sly grin.

"We can swing by the DA's office, pick up the warrant in an hour. Tell me, Jack. How'd you put it all together?"

"Actually, you gave me the idea. You said the only way the killer could have gotten out of the room was by slipping under the door. In a way, that's what he did."

Herb clapped his hand on my shoulder.

"Nice job, Lieutenant. Don't get a big head. You wanna come over for supper tonight? Bernice is making pot roast. I'll let you invite Mr Patel."

"He'd have to call his mother first. Speaking of mothers . . ."

I glanced at the body of Janet h.e.l.lerman, and again felt the emotional punch. The Caller ID in the kitchen gave me the number for Janet's mom. It took some time to tell the whole story, and she cried through most of it. By the end, she was crying so much that she couldn't talk anymore.

I gave her my home number so she could call me later.

The lab team finally arrived, headed by a Detective named Perkins. Soon both apartments were swarming with tech heads vacuuming fibers, taking samples, spraying chemicals, s.h.i.+ning ALS, snapping pictures and shooting video.

I filled in Detective Perkins on what went down, and left him in charge of the scene.

Then Herb and I went off to get the warrant.

Eternally Yours H. Edward Hunsburger Harry Edward Hunsburger (b. 1947) has written a variety of westerns and mystery novels, some under pen names, but he is probably best known for Death Signs (1987), about the murder of a deaf man who leaves a clue in sign language as he dies. It was adapted for the TV series Hunter in 1988. I only know of one short mystery story by Mr Hunsburger and fortunately for us it's also a locked-room puzzle with an added impossibility.

My name is Jeff Winsor and I'd like to say straight off and for the record that I don't believe in ghosts. I never have believed in them. I never will. And I can't think of one good reason why I should.

The whole notion of restless, prowling spirits strikes me as a waste of time. Even in the afterlife there must be better things to do than wander around moaning and wailing, frightening poor mortals out of a good night's sleep. Messages from the recently departed are an even sillier idea. Let's face it, most people say far too much in one lifetime to have anything worthwhile left over for broadcasting from The Great Beyond. And as for things that go b.u.mp in the night, all I can say is that they never b.u.mp into me.

I figure it's over when it's over. You total up a life's credits and debits, rise quietly from the table, and cash in your chips. Maybe there's an after-life. Maybe there isn't. But either way, there are no such things as ghosts.

Now what I do believe in is the scarcity of good apartments in New York City. The kind of elegant, s.p.a.cious apartments you find in those old but beautifully maintained buildings surrounding Gramercy Park. The kind of apartment I finally got to move into when Admiral Miles Penny tripped on the carpet and fractured his skull.

I'd like to be more sympathetic, but I never met the man. From everything I've heard, he'd led a long, full, if somewhat tempestuous life. Not to mention all the trouble he caused me after he died. But up until I moved in, the only connection between us was that I got his apartment. I'm not even going to go into what I had to do to get it or how much the rent is. Let's just say that wretched excess pretty well covers it all.

I moved into the place on October first, a week to the day after they moved Penny out to a less s.p.a.cious but far more permanent address. I wanted to concentrate on unpacking, but I had an a.s.signment due. I decided the cardboard carton obstacle course would have to wait for a while.

As it turned out, both projects got sidetracked. Because that was the day the first postcard arrived.

It was jammed in the apartment door mail slot along with some catalogues from a shoe company, a bookseller, and one of those Vermont cheese and smoked ham places. It was an old postcard, yellowed at the edges, with a view of a few ragged palms and a seedy looking pink stucco hotel. All that was on one side. The following brief message was on the other.

Miles, You were right about that adaptation of the Krimsky book. It stank. I didn't like the lizard scene either. Knight to C-3.

Fraternally yours, Charles Nothing unsettling there, nothing ghostly. Right? Just a chess-by-mail crony of Penny's who hadn't yet heard of his demise. That's what I thought too. The incongruity of it didn't hit me until later that afternoon when I was hard at work at my easel.

The adaptation that Charles had referred to was Cold Moon. It was a blockbuster novel that had recently been made into a TV movie. It was the recently part that bothered me. The film had had its world premiere just five days ago. So how in the world could Miles Penny have an opinion about a movie televised after his death? I felt something like a chill along my spine. Inside my head a tiny voice started humming the theme from The Twilight Zone. Was the late admiral carrying on a correspondence from beyond the grave? Was heaven a seedy resort hotel? And was I, Jeff Winsor, nonbeliever in ghosts, being haunted, indirectly, by means of the US mail?

A ringing phone cut short my crazed speculations. For a wild moment I thought it might be Admiral Penny trying to reach me direct. But as it turned out it was the earthy, and earthly, voice of Karen Hunter, the lady in my life.

"You sound a little fl.u.s.tered," she said after the usual preliminaries. "Anything wrong?"

I told her about the postcard. I heard a suppressed giggle, but at least she didn't laugh out loud.

"There has to be a rational explanation," Karen insisted. "You should try to contact this Charles guy who sent the card. Is there a return address? What about the postmark?"

I looked at the card again. "There's no return address and the postmark's too blurred to be legible."

"Well," Karen sighed, "that's all I can think of. You've roused my curiosity about Admiral Penny, though. I remember you told me he died of a fall. Is there any possibility of foul play?" Her rich, contralto voice gave the last two words a lot of dramatic emphasis.

"Give me a break," I said. "The authorities p.r.o.nounced it accidental death. He was going to get his mail when he tripped on the little rug in front of the door, fell, and fractured his skull. The realtor told me Penny was in his eighties. The bones get thin and brittle at that age. Any kind of bad fall can be fatal. There's no way it could be murder. The door was locked and bolted from the inside. They had a locksmith take the whole door off just to get into the apartment."

"He died on the way to get his mail," Karen said thoughtfully. "Doesn't that strike you as a strange coincidence? And now he's sending you messages, messages that come to the exact spot where the crime occurred."

"What crime?" I practically shouted. "Penny's death was accidental. And he isn't sending me any messages. He's writing to some guy named Charlie who's sending his replies here. What the h.e.l.l am I talking about? Penny isn't writing anyone. Penny is dead."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. "Forget about the locked door," Karen said finally. "It doesn't prove anything. People are always getting murdered behind locked doors in mysteries. All of this," she said solemnly, "can only mean one thing."

"What?" I demanded irritably.

"That Admiral Penny was murdered. His restless spirit is calling upon you to bring his killer to justice. The poor man won't be able to rest in peace until you've solved this murder."

"I don't believe in ghosts," I shouted.

"See you tonight at eight," Karen cheerfully ignored me. "You'd better get busy on this. Painting book jacket ill.u.s.trations for mysteries is one thing. Actually solving one might not be so easy."

Before I could get another word in, she hung up on me. I replaced the receiver and swore for a while. Karen's a terrific lady with more than her share of intelligence, beauty, and charm. The only thing she has too much of is imagination. She not only believed that there was a murder and a ghost involved in this. She really did expect me to solve the mystery. And I knew I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't at least go through the motions.

Slightly dazed by my sudden elevation to amateur sleuth, I threaded my way through the cardboard-box jungle and went back to work. I make a comfortable living painting dust jacket ill.u.s.trations for mystery and suspense books. I did all kinds of commercial art up until a few years ago when the cover I painted for Death Is My Interior Decorator won all the big awards in the field. Now I specialize in the crime stuff, which is fine with me because I like to read mysteries, too.

I'd barely gotten back into the painting when the doorbell rang. If this was the late admiral calling in person, I wasn't even going to bother unpacking. The apartment was nice but not that nice. As it turned out, it was only Tom Banks, the doorman.

"Getting settled in?" he asked with a friendly smile. A tall, broad-shouldered man in his early sixties, he has one of those open, expressive faces, the kind that seem readymade for smiles and laughter. I figured him for one of those rare people, a man who actually enjoys his work.

"Settled in," I answered. "I'll be lucky if I get everything unpacked before the two year lease is up."

Banks laughed and handed me a stack of mail. More catalogues, from the look of it, and perched on top of them, you guessed it . . . a neat little pile of postcards. "I've been holding them downstairs," he explained. "Drayton, the postman, asked me to. He didn't want the moving or cleaning people tampering with the mail."

Better them than me, I thought.

"Very conscientious," I said aloud. "I've never been in an apartment building before where they deliver the mail right to your door."

"That's Drayton," Banks nodded. "Very dedicated to the job, he is. Never taken a sick day in twenty years. The perfect postman, I call him. He told me just the other day that he was being considered for mail carrier of the year."

"How about that." Just my luck. If he'd been a little less zealous, I might not have ever seen the d.a.m.ned postcard.

"Do the rugs look okay?" Banks asked. "They spent all afternoon on them. I guess they got all the blood out of that one," he added, peering down at the faded two by three Oriental I was standing on. It was the very same rug on which the admiral's sea legs had a fatal loss of footing.