100 Malicious Little Mysteries

Over the Borderline by Jeff Sweet

“Don’t you see? He had to be stopped.”

“Stopped, Mrs. Sutherland? Stopped from doing what?”

“If I hadn’t acted she would have died. He would have killed her.”

“Who, Mrs. Sutherland? Who would he have killed?”

“You’re looking at me like you don’t believe me. Lieutenant Foley. You think I’m just a batty old lady, don’t you? An old lady who’s lost her marbles.”

“No, I don’t. Really, I don’t.”

“Like crazy Mrs. Jessup who’s always calling the police or the F.B.I, about enemy agents hiding under her bed. I’m right, aren’t I? That’s what you think.”

“I swear, Mrs. Sutherland, I don’t think that at all.”

“Then why don’t you believe me?”

“Well, I’ll tell you, Mrs. Sutherland, it isn’t that I don’t believe you. It’s just that I... well, I guess I really don’t understand. I mean, I don’t have the full picture.”

“I’ve tried to answer all your questions. Lieutenant.”

“Yes, and I appreciate that, Mrs. Sutherland. But still—”

“What?”

“Look, I have an idea. Why don’t you tell me about it again, from start to finish? I promise you I won’t interrupt.”

“From start to finish? Yes, maybe that would be best, and I suppose the best place to start would be with Cora and Jim. Cora and Jim Franklin. Such a nice couple. They remind me of the late Mr. Sutherland and myself when we were young. A very nice couple, the Franklins. Of course, they have their problems. More than their share. She was pregnant when they got married, you know. That’s not always the best way to start a marriage, especially since the baby wasn’t Jim’s. That awful Harrington Furth.”

“Uh, Mrs. Sutherland—”

“Lieutenant, you promised you wouldn’t interrupt.”

“I know, Mrs. Sutherland, but I’m afraid I’m a little lost. Who is Harrington Furth?”

“Lieutenant, if you will hold your horses I’ll get to that, I promise you. All in good time. But you mustn’t interrupt.”

“Yes, Mrs. Sutherland.”

“Where was I?”

“Harrington Furth.”

“Oh, yes, Harrington. A very rich, very irresponsible young man. His father is the president of Furth Electronics, you know — a very distinguished man. But Harrington, I’m afraid, doesn’t take after his father. Or should I say Harrington didn’t take after his father? Oh, well, you understand my meaning, I’m sure. It must have been very hard on old Mrs. Furth, having a son like Harrington. Always racing around in his fancy cars, always getting into trouble. And his father always coming to the rescue. I swear, if it had been me, I would have let that young man stew in his own juice! It might have taught him a sense of responsibility. And the way he drank!

“Anyway, there was poor Cora. She hadn’t married Jim yet, you know. Jim was going with the Stanton girl then — the one with the big false eyelashes and all the teeth. What Jim saw in her I don’t know. But like I say, there was poor Cora. Her mother had just died on the operating table and Cora was all alone. She was scared and vulnerable. And that awful Harrington saw this and — well, he took advantage of the situation, and when he’d gotten what he wanted he left Cora flat. Not too long after she found out she was pregnant.”

“You mean with Furth’s child?”

“That’s what I said, didn’t I? Really, Lieutenant, you must learn to listen. Anyway, around this time the Stanton girl left Jim and took up with young Harrington, which in my opinion served them both right. Meanwhile, Jim was desperate, almost suicidal, and then, one day, in came Cora. Did I tell you Jim was an obstetrician?”

“No.”

“Well, he was, and all the girls on the staff at the hospital thought he was the handsomest doctor around. But he didn’t pay any attention to them. And then, as I said, in came Cora and he told her she was pregnant and she just stood there, very bravely, fighting back the tears. But, of course, it wasn’t any use. Before you could blink an eye she was in his arms, crying like a little girl. And he was holding her so tenderly. It was love from that first moment, I could tell. I could tell right off because it was just like that when Mr. Sutherland and I met. Except I wasn’t pregnant and Mr. Sutherland wasn’t an obstetrician.

“What I’m talking about is the way you — well, you know in your heart when someone’s just right for you. You don’t think about it, you just know. That’s the way it was with Mr. Sutherland and me. And that’s the way it was with Cora and Jim.

“I’ll never forget the day Jim proposed. She was in her eighth month then and he’d been seeing a lot of her. ‘Marry me,’ he said. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t make you part of my shame,’ she said. I remember how difficult it was for me to keep from shouting out to her, ‘Don’t be a fool, Cora! He loves you! Don’t give up this chance for happiness!’

“But I needn’t have worried because that’s just what he said to her himself. ‘I love you,’ he said. ‘You give my life purpose. If you don’t say yes, I don’t know what I’ll do.’ To make a long story short, she did say yes and they were married soon after. He even delivered the baby.”

“Mrs. Sutherland, what has this got to do with—”

“Lieutenant, please!”

“Sorry, Mrs. Sutherland.”

“As I said, they were married and were so happy, and the baby didn’t look a bit like Harrington. But I could tell they weren’t over the worst of it. I knew in my bones that tragedy was going to strike, but for the longest time I didn’t know how.

“To tell you the truth, I was having an awful time sleeping. I finally had to go to Dr. Sumroy and get a prescription for sleeping pills. I’d never used them before because I’ve heard so many stories of old people accidentally taking an overdose. And not just old people. Young people, too. It’s supposed to be especially bad if you take them when you’ve been drinking, though in my case that was no problem. But I was having so much trouble sleeping because of all my worrying about Cora and Jim that I just knew something tragic was going to happen even though I didn’t know what.

“Then, suddenly, it came to me. I can’t tell you how it came to me because I honestly don’t know how to explain such things. Call it woman’s intuition, if you like, but I knew what was going to happen. Harrington was going to kill Cora in an automobile accident! It was inevitable. He’d just bought a new sports car — one of those fancy foreign things that makes a lot of noise, and it was common knowledge he was speeding recklessly all over town. So you see, it was logical.

“Of course, I couldn’t let it happen. I remember how heartbroken I was when Mr. Sutherland died in an accident, only he wasn’t killed by a foreign car. I was so miserable, I nearly died. So what was I supposed to do? I knew what would happen if something weren’t done, and I couldn’t just sit quiet and let it happen. I had to do something. But what?

“Then, today, an amazing coincidence brought me the answer. I came into the city to shop on Fifth Avenue for my nephew’s birthday, and I stopped into a restaurant on Forty-Seventh Street. Not too far away from Radio City and Rockefeller Center, you know the area? And who was in the restaurant but young Harrington!

“I went up to him, and I said, ‘Mr. Furth?’ He smiled. I’ll say that for him, he had a nice smile. ‘Mr. Furth,’ I said, ‘I want to talk to you.’ He stood up, a little woozy from all the liquor he’d been drinking, and offered me a seat, which I accepted. ‘Mr. Furth,’ I said, ‘I’m going to speak plainly. I know what’s going to happen.’ ‘What’s going to happen?’ he said, still smiling. ‘I know you’re going to kill Cora Franklin with that fancy foreign car,’ I answered.

“ ‘How did you find out?’ he asked, obviously surprised. ‘Never you mind how I found out,’ I said. ‘What I’m saying is so, isn’t it? You’re going to kill her with your sports car, aren’t you?’

“ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘that’s so.’

“He admitted it! With a smile! There wasn’t a trace of regret anywhere on his devilish face. He actually seemed happy about it! I knew I was in the presence of great evil.

“He excused himself and went to the men’s room. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I opened my handbag and took out the sleeping pills I had got from Dr. Sumroy, and I dropped something like two dozen of them into his coffee. I left, waited until I was sure it was all over, then came here to turn myself in. And that, Lieutenant, is my confession.”

“I see.”

“Do you believe me?”

“Yes, I believe you, Mrs. Sutherland.”

“One thing you have to know — I did this for them, Lieutenant. For Jim and Cora and the baby. You have to realize that it was the only way. You do understand, don’t you?”

“Yes, Mrs. Sutherland, I think I do.”

A few minutes later, after Mrs. Sutherland had been led away. Lieutenant Foley turned to Sergeant Warren, who was standing a few feet away. “Well, that settles that,” he said.

“Lieutenant, maybe I’m some kind of an idiot,” said the sergeant, “but I don’t see that it settles anything. Her story about the overdose in Maxwell’s coffee jibes, and she matches the waiter’s description, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out why she kept calling Taylor Maxwell by the name Harrington Furth.”

“Sergeant, Taylor Maxwell was an actor.”

“I still don’t get it, sir.”

“I’ve just been looking at his resume. For the past few years he’s been a regular on an afternoon TV soap opera called The Will To Live,” explained the lieutenant. “The name of the character he played was Harrington Furth.”