Murder on a Hot Tin Roof

Chapter 35

ABBY TACKLED THE CHEST OF DRAWERS and I took on the bedroom closet. Since it was the only closet in the tiny apartment, I expected it to be packed tight with lots of articles besides apparel. But I was wrong. Aside from the small collection of girlie magazines stacked in one corner of the shelf overhead, there was nothing inside but articles of clothing-and very few of those.

Only two hats occupied space on the shelf-a gray felt fedora and a blue and white Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap-and the closet floor sported just three pairs of shoes: black leather oxfords, brown leather loafers, and tan leather cowboy boots with green stitching on the sides. Spaced along the bar on hangers were two suits, one jacket, two pairs of slacks, one pair of dungarees, one coat, and seven or eight shirts. Some of the shirts had long sleeves, some short, and all but one were white or solid pastels. The only print had long sleeves and a maroon background with a pattern of yellow birds and palm trees.

But no discernible blood. Although I removed each item from the closet and examined it closely in the light-top to bottom, front and back, inside and out-there were no incriminating bloodstains to be found. No other kind of stains, either. Even the soles of the shoes were spotless.

“I give up!” I cried, backing away from the closet and plopping down on the edge of the bed. “Barnabas Kapinsky has to be the most immaculate man in Manhattan-except when he’s slashing people to pieces, that is. Jesus! How did he do it? How did he cover, or rather, erase his tracks so completely?” I turned to Abby and gave her a pleading look. “Did you find anything in his drawers or under the bed, Ab? Please, please say yes!”

“There’s nothing under the bed at all,” she said, “not even dust!” She made an angry face, crossed her arms over her chest, and stamped one ballet-slippered foot on the floor. “And there’s nothing in the damn dresser but the usual crap-undershirts, shorts, socks, handkerchiefs, a couple of sweaters. I unfolded and refolded every single thing in those drawers, and I didn’t find a sign of blood anywhere. Zip, zilch, zero.”

My dwindling hope fell to the floor with a thud. And my sorrow rose up to take its place. “I guess that’s it, then,” I said, in a voice so weak I could barely hear it myself. “We’re not going to find any evidence here today. Maybe we never will.” My throat tightened up and my heart slowed to a near standstill. “I can’t stand it, Abby. I really can’t. I’d bet every cent I have that Binky’s guilty, but I can’t prove it. So Flannagan’s going to pin the murder on Willy. I know he will. Just because he’s gay.” It was all I could do not to start bawling again.

“Not

just because he’s gay,” Abby contradicted. “There’s also the little matter of his blood type.”

“Yes, but that shouldn’t even be a factor!” I sputtered. “Willy doesn’t have any cuts or bruises or slashes on his body, either. We know that for a fact, remember? Yesterday, when he was modeling for you, he was wearing nothing but a skimpy toga, so we saw lots of bare, unmarked skin. He has a ton of freckles, but not a single scab. They may have found type A blood at the scene, but it definitely wasn’t Willy’s! Flannagan would know that,” I growled, “if he had ever bothered to check Willy’s body for wounds.”

“Okay, so Flannagan’s a lousy detective,” Abby said. “and maybe he

is looking to penalize Willy for being gay. But he’s the dick in charge of this case and we’ve got to go see him right away, Faye. I mean today! The only way we can help Willy now is by telling Flannagan everything we know about the murder.”

“But we don’t

know anything,” I said, with a heavy sigh. “All we have are worthless suspicions.”

“That’s not true,” Abby said. “We know a lot of things. We know that Aunt Doobie and Willy don’t have any flesh wounds. We know that Binky’s replacing Gray in the

Hot Tin Roof cast, and that he’s been wearing long sleeves in sweltering weather. We know that Blackie and Baldy are somehow involved, and that somebody-probably either Blackie or Aunt Doobie-has been following you.”

“But we don’t even know who Aunt Doobie and Blackie are! And I already told Flannagan about them the night I was assaulted, when he was grilling me in the car. I didn’t tell him about Binky, though. At that point there wasn’t anything to tell. You know Flannagan will think we’re nuts if we go to him with this whole crazy story. Binky, Blackie, Baldy, Aunt Doobie! Jeez, I think the whole thing’s crazy myself!”

Abby laughed. “You’re right about that, Pat. It’s crazy, man, crazy! But it’s also the truth,” she said, turning serious again, “and it’s all we’ve got, and we have to hand the information over to Flannagan

now.”

“I know we do, Ab,” I said, heaving another loud sigh. “I knew it before you said it. It’s just that I’m afraid Flannagan won’t believe a word we say unless we have some tangible proof. I wanted so much to be able to back up our story with some physical evidence, something that would force Flannagan to stop hounding Willy and start looking-”

“Oh, my god, Abby!” I cried, pulse quickening. “What’s the matter with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Mouth agape and eyes bulging, Abby was standing right in front of me, staring straight in my direction. But her gaze wasn’t focused on me. It was aimed, instead, at something above and

beyond me. I whipped my head around to see what she was looking at and found myself peering into the open closet.

“What is it, Abby?” I begged. “What do you see?”

“It

is a ghost,” she whispered. “The ghost of Gray Gordon.”

“Oh, come on, Ab!” I twisted back around to face her.

“That’s not funny. Stop fooling around. Now’s not the time to-”

“Hush, Paige!” she snapped, still staring straight ahead. “I’m not fooling around. I

have seen a ghost and, you won’t believe this, but he just brought us the physical evidence we’ve been looking for.” Abby stepped over to the closet and scraped some hangers to one side of the metal bar. Then she removed the hanger holding the maroon shirt with the yellow birds and palm trees and thrust it forward.

“This was Gray’s favorite shirt,” she said, looking sad and excited at the same time. “I saw him wear it lots of times. And I can prove it, too! I

painted him in this shirt when he modeled for an illustration I did for All Man magazine. The picture appeared-in full color-in the March 1955 edition.”

I thought my heart was going to leap right out of my chest. “Oh, my god, Abby! Is that true? Are you sure it’s the same shirt?”

“Of course it’s the same one. It’s a really weird print in a kooky color combination. How many like this could there be?” She took the shirt off the hanger and handed it to me. As she was putting the hanger back in the closet, she looked down at the floor and gasped, “

Oy vey iz mir! These belonged to Gray, too.” She picked up the cowboy boots and held them out at arm’s length. “He really loved these boots. He wore them all the time.”

I suddenly felt a little sick to my stomach. “So these must be the clothes Binky changed into after the murder,” I said, “after he’d stripped off his own bloody clothes and shoes and taken a shower.”

“Right,” Abby said, tenderly laying the boots down on the foot of the bed.

Every emotion known to man was churning in my chest. Fury, shock, pride, disgust, despair, relief, elation, horror-I was reeling with the intensity and insanity of it all. “There’s no shadow of a doubt now,” I said, voice quivering. “Barnabas Kapinsky murdered Gray Gordon.”

“And we can damn well prove it!” Abby added, all smiles.

“Should we take the evidence to Flannagan now?” I asked, still in shock that we’d solved the case and unsure what our next move should be.

“You bet your sweet tushy!” Abby crowed. “I can’t wait to see his face. Come on! Let’s stash Gray’s stuff in the bike basket and I’ll pedal straight over to the station. You can ride on the back.”

I WAS GATHERING THE SHIRT AND BOOTS together in my arms (and wondering how the heck I was supposed to straddle a bicycle in my extra-tight skirt and ultrahigh heels), when I heard Abby gasp again. Thinking she’d found another article of Gray’s clothing-a pair of pants, perhaps, or a belt-I turned around to see what had caused her sudden intake of air.

And then

I was the one who was gasping.

Binky was standing tall in the bedroom doorway with his left forearm clenched like a vise around Abby’s neck, and the fingers of his right hand wrapped so tight around the handle of the kitchen butcher knife that his knuckles were white. He was holding the knife up high, within slashing distance of Abby’s throat, and the expression on his face was so psychotic it made my blood run cold.

“You fucking, lying, scheming bitch!” he yelled at me. “How did you get into my apartment? I have to kill you now, you know! And your sexy little girlfriend, too!” He jerked his arm even tighter around Abby’s neck and stepped backward, cutting off her air supply and dragging her with him into the living room. Abby’s eyes popped wide in panic as she struggled in vain to pull his arm away from her wind-pipe.

“Wait, Binky! Stop!” I cried, dropping Gray’s shirt and boots on the floor and hurtling myself through the bedroom door after them. I wanted to kick him in the stomach and knee him in the groin and yank his arm away from Abby’s neck, but I didn’t dare try. The knife was too close to Abby’s throat. One wrong move and-

“Hold it right there!” Binky roared. “If you come any closer I’m going to slice your friend wide open. That’s what the slut deserves! Isn’t that right, baby?” he said to Abby, turning his head and biting her on the cheek. Hard. “You were a bad, bad girl in Sardi’s last night. Rubbing your leg up against mine and pretending to be somebody you’re not. I’ll have to punish you for that.”

Binky’s threats were both horrifying and offensive, but they actually served a worthy purpose. They distracted him for a few brief but essential seconds, causing him to loosen his clutch on Abby’s neck. Not by much, but enough for her to start breathing again.

“But you should punish me instead of her!” I blustered, hoping to distract Binky further-a whole lot further. “I’m the one who got her into this mess! I talked her into going to Sardi’s with me, and I sent her to your table to spy on you.”

Binky looked as though he might explode. “You’re gonna pay for that, you whore!” he seethed. “I can’t believe I trusted you. You said you wanted to be an actress, but all you really wanted to do was wreck

my career. And I know why! It’s because I’ve got talent! And you can’t handle it, can you? You’re just like all the other Studio shitheads-James Dean, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Gray Gordon! You’re all so fucking selfish and jealous and resentful you just can’t stand to see a fellow acting student succeed!”

Every cell in my body was screaming, but I kept my speaking voice down to a soothing purr. “You’ve got me all wrong, Binky,” I said, giving him the sweetest smile my trembling lips could form. “I think you’re a wonderful actor who deserves to be a big, big star. I watched you audition for Elia Kazan, remember, and I thought you were fabulous in the

Hot Tin Roof role. Much better than Ben Gazzara or Gray Gordon ever dreamed of being.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, wild eyes gleaming. “If Kazan had half a brain he would’ve given me the understudy role in the first place! I’ve got more talent in the wart on my little toe than Gray had in his whole stupid body. The only reason Gray got the job instead of me was because he was so goddamn handsome. Kazan figured his sexy good looks would make him a hit with the broads in the audience-which is pretty goddamn funny since Gray was as queer as a three-dollar bill.”

“Really?” I said, putting on a big show of surprise. “I didn’t think Gray was gay!” I wasn’t trying to squelch any rumors or change any minds, I just wanted to keep Binky talking, no matter what the subject happened to be (as long as it wasn’t murder). “In fact, I thought he had a steady girlfriend,” I stumbled on. “Somebody he really cared about. He bragged about her a lot, and he always called her Cupcake.”

Binky gave me a crooked grin. “Ha! If that pansy had a fucking girlfriend, she must have been a fairy!” Delighted by his own ugly joke, he threw his head back and laughed out loud.

And that was when I made my move.

Shooting Abby a quick wink of warning, I leapt forward and grabbed hold of Binky’s right arm with both hands, pulling it and the knife outward (i.e., away from Abby’s throat) with all my might. But all my might wasn’t enough. I was able to hold onto Binky’s arm for no more than two seconds before he shook me off, pushed me away, and-with a single squeeze of his powerful biceps-snapped the knife back into slashing position.

There was only one problem-for Binky, I mean: Abby’s throat was no longer in position! Somehow, during the course of the two seconds I’d spent wrestling with Binky’s arm, Abby had worked herself free from his other arm and propelled herself-coughing and wheezing-out of slashing range. Hallelujah! God was in his heaven and all was right with the world!

But not for long.

Enraged beyond endurance, Binky jerked the butcher knife up over his head and lunged toward me, swiping the blade downward in a blinding flash. Missed me, slit open the side of the couch. I tried to move away from him, but the apartment was so small there was no place to move

to. Binky grabbed me by the arm and reined me in, pulling me up hard against his chest in a sadistic lover’s embrace. Then, grunting like a pig and glaring down at me with his demon eyes, he yanked the blade of the knife up to a point just under my chin and-

“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” bellowed a taut male voice behind me. “Drop the knife on the floor and reach for the ceiling!”

Silence fell on the room like a bomb. Binky stopped grunting. Abby stopped wheezing. I stopped whimpering. Staring, openmouthed, at the person who was standing behind me, Binky released me from his crushing hold, let the knife fall to the floor, and raised his hands in the air without a word (or grunt) of protest.

I spun around on my heels and gazed at the man who had materialized-as if by magic-just in time to save my life. The dark-haired man with the gun in his hand. The tall, lean man dressed head to toe in dark clothing. The sly, sneaky, illusive man whose identity I had been unable to confirm until now. It was Blackie.