Third man out

13

The three of us were in the kitchen the next morning at seven.

"I'll make a few calls while Timmy goes through his Donna Reed routine," I told Sandifer.

"Who's that?"

"She was one of the great chefs of the middle part of the century," Timmy said. "Would you like some eggs? That's what Donald eats."

"Sure."

"He used to drink them, blended with orange juice, but now they've all got salmonella and cleaning up the chicken industry would be communistic. Not that the Communists ever cleaned up theirs."

"I'd like mine fried on both sides with nothing runny anywhere."

"That's a good precaution to take."

I dragged the phone into the cubbyhole under the front stairs, shut the door, and phoned Bub Bailey. He was in his office early, as I expected he might be.

"I gave John Rutka your advice, Chief, but he didn't take it."

"No, I feel real bad for the boy. He had a hard life and he died in a way nobody should have to. It's a blessing Charlie and Doris are gone and don't have to see this."

"What do you mean, John had a hard life? I wouldn't have thought of it that way."

"I don't mean to say he was disadvantaged or he'd been abused. John was always just a big, odd, nice-looking kid who told tales and never fit in very well. His mom and dad never knew quite what to make of him. It was good when John went off to find himself in the city. I admired the boy for coming home when Charlie and Doris went into their decline, but after they died I could never figure out why John stayed on."

"Has the body been positively identified?"

"No, I should hear by noon, the M.E. says. I told him-I suggested he be extra certain on this one."

"That went through my mind, too."

"The circumstantial evidence was there, the wallet and the note. And a body that was the right size and sex- what was left of it.

It was a sickening sight. There was little left of John besides the chains that bound him."

"Chains?"

"At the wrists and ankles, and padlocked. There's no way that boy could have gotten loose. He wouldn't have suffered from the fire, though. The preliminary exam showed he'd been shot in the head. This will all be in the paper, by the way, so I'm not giving anything away here that I shouldn't. Though, come to think of it, maybe there's something you could help me out with."

"What's that, Chief?"

"I talked to a colleague on the Albany force last night who keeps his ear to the ground down there, and he says John was supposed to have kept files on all the people he wrote about or was planning to write about in his column, and these files were supposed to have all kinds of dope in them about who's gay in Albany. Do you know anything about this?"

"I've heard that story too."

"But you have no firsthand knowledge of these files?"

"I would hope that any such files would have gone up in flames with their keeper. It's an abominable thing to have created."

"That doesn't answer my question, Mr. Strachey. Do you know about the files and where they might be located? As you know, these files could be critical in investigating John's murder."

I grasped the receiver tightly and said, "John mentioned the files, Chief, but he never showed them to me or told me where he kept them. They're probably at his house. Have you searched it?"

"I'm heading over there soon, but I can't seem to get hold of Edward Sandifer. Do you know whether he's still in the Rutka house?"

"No, he's not. I picked him up last night and brought him into Albany."

"Yes, I saw your car."

"He's staying with a friend-on Washington Avenue, I think he said. I dropped him off at Johnny's Hot Dogs on Central around eleven-thirty."

"Well, this complicates matters. I asked him to be available and he hasn't done it. If you speak to Sandifer, tell him to phone me immediately. I'll need access to the house for a thorough search, and questions are bound to come up."

"Maybe Ann could let you into the house. She'd probably have a key, wouldn't she?"

"She may well. I'll check."

"Chief, I'd like to think that whoever killed John is not an immediate threat to other people, but I know that anybody who has killed once is capable of killing again. So good luck to you."

"You're not going to interfere with my investigation, are you, Mr. Strachey? When I mentioned your name, my colleague in Albany said you would probably interfere. He put it less politely than that."

"No, I'm not going to get in your way, Chief. I might ask around some, and if I come up with anything I'll certainly pass the information on to you."

"Well, I would certainly expect you to."

"I'll dig up what little I can," I said. "Have you checked Rutka's wallet for prints yet? And what about prints on the note left with the wallet?"

"Yes, that would be standard procedure in an investigation of this type. The note and the wallet are on their way to the state lab for analysis."

"The note seems to rule out any motive except revenge for Rutka's outing campaign. What was it the note said?"

" 'This is what happens to, uh, quote, assholes, unquote, who invade people's privacy.' Yes, the motive is clear enough. Unless the note was supposed to steer investigators away from the real motive. We have to remain alert to that possibility."

"True. Has any other motive suggested itself yet?"

"No. John seems to have made an awful lot of people mad enough to kill him. But they were all mad at him for the same reason.

That's why it's imperative that I get hold of those files he's supposed to have kept. My suspicion is that the files will turn out to be the key to the investigation. You're sure you know nothing about them?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Well, I believe you. You have the reputation of being an honest man, Mr. Strachey. And meeting you yesterday only confirmed that reputation in my mind."

"Thanks. Having your confidence is something I value, Chief."

"Let's stay in touch."

"We'll do that."

I hung up, grimacing, grateful no mirror was nearby to look into. Was I turning into John Rutka? "Ethically these things evened themselves out over the long run." Could you catch bad character from a client? Or had I done this before? It felt too familiar.

Now I had another call to make, and this one would be easier. Gay Albany-unlike, say, gay Istanbul-is composed largely of otherwise conventional middle-class male and female couples whose lives center around, not Queer Nation actions, but work, ordering from seed catalogs, and motoring over to Schenectady to see touring companies of Cats and Les Miz.

Like straight Albany, however, gay Albany has its racier underside, and as with straight Albany, there's a certain amount of traffic back and forth between respectable Albany and not-so-respectable Albany. I was among those who loved unrespectable gay Albany back in the years before it could kill you, and for both professional and nostalgic reasons I maintained connections to some of its more accomplished living practitioners. It was one of those I phoned now, to set up an appointment for later in the morning.

Back in the kitchen, Timmy was finishing up his porridge and tea and Sandifer his eggs. I ate mine cold.

"I spoke with Bub Bailey," I told Sandifer, "and he wants to get in touch with you. You might want to show up out at the house today. There's no need to mention you spent the night here. I told him you were with a friend on Washington Avenue."

"That's cool."

"He got wind of the files, or at least that such files exist. I said I'd heard that, too, but didn't know anything about them. How will you handle this when Bailey asks?"

"I don't know. What should I say? Should I lie?"

"You'll have to. We're stuck with that for now."

Timmy got up, flung his napkin on the table, and left the room.

"Is he pissed off?"

"He'll get over it. This is hard for him. It's not how he operates."

"He's strange."

"Maybe you could just tell Bailey the files used to be in the house but that John moved them after he was threatened and he didn't say where. How's that?"

"Okay."

The phone rang and I picked it up. It was Joel McClurg, editor of Cityscape, the paper Rutka wrote for until he started outing well-known non-ogres.

"Strachey, did you hear about John Rutka?"

"He died in a fire, I know. It's awful."

"I heard you were working for him and you might have some ideas on what's behind this. I'd like to send my reporter over to talk to you."

"Sure, but I won't be able to tell him much. The Handbag police know as much as I do."

"Sure they do. What kind of work were you doing for Rutka?"

"Well, that's confidential, Joel. I'm sure you understand that."

"Strachey, the bastard is dead. This would be on background. We wouldn't quote you."

I said, "Rutka had been threatened and shot in the foot, and yesterday his house was firebombed. He hired me to protect him."

"Nice job."

"Listen, you dealt with the guy. Did you believe half the things he said about himself?"

"No, maybe ten percent But he was careful with what he wrote; about other people. I did random checks of his Sources and they were good."

"He was also a true believer and ruthless con artist for the cause. I got some background on him and the way he operated. I concluded the attacks on him in Handbag were staged and I dropped him, and then somebody killed him. I made my choice according to the evidence I had and it turned out I was wrong."

"I'm sorry. That's all you know?"

"That's about it."

"What about his files? I know he kept dossiers on all these people he was after for their hypocritical ways. Where are the files now?"

"I don't know. Nobody seems to be able to locate them. The Handbag cops were asking me, but I was no help. Eddie Sandifer doesn't even know. You know how neurotic Rutka could be."

"Well, I'd hate to see all that garbage fall into the wrong hands."

"You said it. Now that I've been forthcoming with you, maybe you can help me out, Joel. I told Bub Bailey, the Handbag police chief, that I'd pass on any information I came across that might help in the investigation. Here's a question you might be able to answer without breaking any rules of journalistic ethics."

"Go ahead."

"When Rutka was writing for you, did he ever mention anybody he considered a lot worse than the other people he was outing?

Somebody he might have considered the biggest hypocrite of all?"

Without hesitation, McClurg said, "As a matter of fact, he did. I was going to mention it to you. As soon as I heard Rutka had been killed, I remembered this conversation we had last fall. We were sitting around in my office late one day after he brought his copy in. John told me there was somebody he wanted to get who was so evil-that's the word he used-so evil that he would do almost anything to expose this guy. But he was having trouble getting the goods on him, and he was feeling pretty frustrated."

"He gave you no clue at all who it was?"

"Just that it was someone who had connections with other people he said he was trying to out. He said he might be able to get this guy by way of the others. Not long after that we had our philosophical differences and parted company and I never heard any more about it. It might have been one of the local celebrities he did a job on later in Queerscreed, but I can't imagine who. The weatherman? The insurance agent? None of these people struck me as coming close to the epitome of evil. That's why we disagreed and I had to drop his column."

"But the evil one came back to you when you heard John had been killed."

"Maybe I'm just being melodramatic, but it was the first thing that hit me. One thing Rutka said did it. He said that if he somehow managed to nail this one, he didn't know what might happen."

"To him?"

"That's how I took it. He was always so cocky. But when he talked about this one, he seemed less sure of himself. He seemed scared. So maybe he was closing in on the guy and the evil one saw him coming and killed him."

"Are you going to put that in the paper?"

"I'm hoping my reporter will be smart enough to interview me. If he isn't, as his editor I'll suggest that he do so."

"When will your next edition be out?"

"Not for a week. Rutka's timing on this was poor for a weekly like ours. When the T-U calls to interview me, I won't bring this up if they don't ask. Or maybe even if they do. And the television bozos won't be interested.

They hate this. The whole thing cuts too close to the bone for them and could affect revenues. But pass it on to the Handbag cops if you want to. Or they can call me."

"I'll pass it on."

"You're not working on this on your own, are you, Strachey? That wouldn't be out of character."

"I'm helping out where I can, but that's all."

"I can imagine what that means. Well, when you're about to pounce on the killer, let me come along, will you? We've never had an exclusive on a homicide arrest before."

"Sure thing, Joel. But don't count on me. I'm way out on the periphery of this one."

He laughed and hung up. He doubted my word and I knew why. Temporarily I had become John Rutka, but after I solved the murder and destroyed the files I could become myself again. That was my plan. end user