The Innocent Woman

13

Amy Dearborn looked the worse for wear. Her eyes were red, her face was pale. She was so nervous she couldn’t sit still.

Steve Winslow was not feeling sympathetic. “Get a grip on yourself,” he said. “I need answers, and I need ’em fast. Now, to begin with, you knew the body was there before you called?”

Amy Dearborn said nothing. She looked down at her lap, where her hands were fiddling with her handkerchief.

“Hey, wake up,” Steve said. “You’re going to be charged with murder. What happens in the next ten minutes may determine whether you beat the rap.”

Amy looked up then. Her eyes were wide. “Murder?” she said.

“Yeah, murder. That’s what they call it when someone dies. Little more serious than petty theft. Little harder to get off. So snap out of it and clue me in.”

“Oh, my god.”

“How did you find the body?”

“I just did.”

“No, there’s no just about it. You got fired from your job, you haven’t been in the office in over a month and you go there tonight. Why?”

“To clean out my desk.”

“What?”

“I had stuff in my desk. I’d been afraid to go back and get it. What with being fired and being charged with a crime. I figured now that I was found innocent, it didn’t matter.”

Steve frowned. “You went up there tonight to clean out your desk?”

“That’s right.”

“What time?”

“What?”

“What time did you go?”

“Oh.”

“Thought of an answer?”

Amy stuck out her chin. “I don’t like your attitude.”

“I don’t like yours,” Steve said. “We’ve got a situation here where minutes count. I gotta decide if I’m going to report this thing, and how. And you’re playing games with me. Now listen. I’m your attorney. Anything you tell me is privileged. It can’t hurt you. So just tell me what you did, and stop trying to figure out what you want me to know. I’m not here to judge you, I’m here to help you. But you’re not making it easy.”

Amy’s lip trembled. “I’m doing the best I can.”

“Steve, take it easy,” Tracy said.

“Easy, hell,” Steve said. “This is murder. She’s got you involved, and now she’s involving me. So let’s see what we can do to get out from under.”

“I’m not involving you,” Amy said.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Steve said. “I bow to your superior legal knowledge. When they disbar me, I’ll tell the judge, no, no, it’s all right, Amy told me I wasn’t involved.”

“Steve,” Tracy said.

As Amy glared at him defiantly, Steve said, “I have your attention? Good. I wasn’t kidding about there being no time. I want you to stop stalling and answer questions, or I’m putting in a call to the cops. Got it? Good. Now, what time did you find the body?”

Amy took a breath. “I’m not sure. But it was just before I called her.”

“That would be just before eight o’clock,” Tracy said.

“Is that right?” Steve said.

“I guess so. I called right away.”

“From the office?”

“No, no. When I found the body I was scared, I got the hell out of there. I called from the street.”

“You mean from a pay phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s a break. So, as soon as you found the body you went out in the street and called?”

“That’s right.”

“And how long were you in the office before you found the body?”

“Oh.”

“Weren’t prepared for that one?”

“No. I’m just trying to think.”

“If the cops ask you questions you have to think before you answer, that makes them suspicious. Gives them the idea you’re not telling them the truth.”

“I’m telling the truth.”

“Maybe so. I’m just telling you how it looks. If we call the cops and report this, you gotta do a better job with them than you’re doing with me. So, let’s try it again. How long were you in the office before you found the body?”

“Not long. Five or ten minutes.”

“You went there to clean out your desk?”

“Right.”

“So Where’s your stuff?”

“Huh?”

“The stuff from your desk. Where is it?”

“Oh.”

“You don’t have it with you?”

“No.”

“You mean you left it there?”

“I …”

“Did you pack it up and then leave it? When the cops show up, will they find a shopping bag of your stuff in the middle of the floor?”

“No.”

“You didn’t pack up, then?”

“No. I didn’t.”

“You didn’t clean out your drawers?”

“No.”

“Why not? If you were there for five or ten minutes, what were you doing?”

“Looking around.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Just looking around.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? I worked there. It was a place I spent time.”

Steve made a loud buzzing sound, imitated a game show host. “Sorry, wrong answer. This is a job you were fired from over a month ago. Then you go to clean out your desk. But you don’t clean out your desk. You spend five to ten minutes just looking around. In an office where there just happens to be a dead body in the other room. Then, after five or ten minutes that you can’t account for, you go into an inner office where you have no business going and find the dead body.”

Steve shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s not right. So, Miss Dearborn, I’m sorry you didn’t win more, but we do have these lovely parting gifts for you.”

Half a dozen expressions struggled over Amy Dearborn’s face. Anger finally won out. “How could you,” she said.

“You don’t like what I’m saying?” Steve said. “Well, that’s too bad. I don’t happen to like what you’re saying. Which makes us even. Except for one thing. I’m not about to be charged with murder.” He shrugged. “Though I don’t know. The way you play this game, I wouldn’t count it out.”

When Amy said nothing, Steve added, “What about the petty cash drawer.”

“What?”

“The petty cash drawer. The famous petty cash drawer. The one you didn’t rob. In the five to ten minutes before you found the body, did you happen to notice it?”

Amy glared at him a moment, then said, “Yes.”

“You did? How interesting. And what was the condition of the petty cash drawer?”

“It was open and the money was gone.”

“You didn’t open it?”

“No.”

“You didn’t take the money?”

“Of course not.”

“There’s no of course not about it. You say you went up there to clean out your desk. The only thing that got cleaned out of your desk is the petty cash.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Yes, I know,” Steve said. “You’re innocent.”

“Steve,” Tracy said again.

Steve ignored her. His eyes never left Amy Dearborn’s. “So,” he said, “you manage to figure out what you were doing in the five to ten minutes before you found the body?”

“I tell you, I was just looking around.”

“Not pilfering the petty cash drawer?”

“Do I have to answer that?”

Steve took a breath. “All right, look,” he said. “You’re in bad. I can’t tell how bad, because you won’t talk straight. And right now I haven’t time to twist the truth out of you. What I need to know now is if you’re going to play ball.”

Amy looked at him. “Huh?”

“I got two choices here.” Steve pointed to the phone. “I pick up the phone, call the cops, hand you over to ’em and tell ’em exactly what I know-which is going to look like shit.” He shrugged. “Or I don’t.”

Amy’s eyes were wide. “What if you don’t?”

“That depends on you. Whether you got the nerve to pull it off.”

“Pull what off?”

“Where do you live?”

“Huh?”

“Where’s your apartment? Where do you live.”

“Oh. A hundred and seventh and Broadway.”

“Fine. You leave here, you take the subway home. But you don’t go home. You go to the corner of Broadway and a hundred and seventh, hail a cab. Take the cab straight to F. L. Jewelry. Go in, find the body. Call the cops. Use the phone on your desk. Stay right there and wait for them to arrive.”

“What do I tell them?”

“That’s the thing. You don’t lie. Everything you tell ’em’s gotta be the truth. You went there to clean out your desk. You let yourself in with a key from when you worked there before. You came in, found the body and called the cops.”

“Then what?” Amy said.

Steve held up one finger. “Here’s the hard part. The cops aren’t going to let it go at that. They’re going to start asking questions. The first one you hear that sounds like they didn’t believe something you said, the first one that sounds like they’re cross-examining you, you take offense. Say, Just a minute here, if it’s going to be like that, I want to call my lawyer.”

Steve slowed down for emphasis. “Then,” he said, “you clam up and you…don’t…say…another…word. Anything they ask you, you either don’t answer, or you say I want to call my lawyer. Just make sure you got that in. The reason you’re not answering questions is you want to talk to your lawyer first.”

Steve looked her in the eye. “Can you do that?”

“Sure,” Amy said.

“Glad you think so,” Steve said. “Nine people out of ten would have a tough time doing that.”

“I can do it.”

“Good. Now, when you came here tonight, how did you come?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Did you take a taxi?”

“No. I came on the subway.”

“That’s a break. Did anyone see you go in?”

“I don’t know.”

“The music store downstairs was open. Did you walk by the window?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Well, you came from Seventh Avenue, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you had to walk by to get to the door.”

“Then I guess I did. I just don’t recall.”

“Okay. Anyway, this time you take a cab. From the upper West Side right to the door. Make sure the cabbie remembers you. Let him get a good look at you. And make sure you give him the exact address-not just the street, give him the number too. If it’s the kind of cab gives receipts, get one, shove it in your purse.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? Good. You got the number here?”

“Of course.”

“Good. That’s where you’re gonna call. You got it now? You find the body, call the cops. Start talking, take offense, clam up and say you want to call your lawyer. I’ll be here waiting for your call. You got all that?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Then get the hell out of here.”