Thursday The Rabbi Walked Out

49

"YOU SEE, RABBI, SHE'S SO LOYAL. WHEN SHE SENSED THAT Gore was upset that he wouldn't be able to get that report in the old man's hands on time, she offered to bring it over. I guess she thought Gore might lose the account. Jordan was that type of man." He laughed. "The funny part of the whole thing is that the report didn't even balance."

"Then what was the point of bringing it since it was incomplete?"

"That was my view, Rabbi. But Gore felt that what was important was to get it in on time."

"And she couldn't tell the detective that she had gone there because you were present during the interrogation?"

"That's right, she was planning to see him afterward and tell him, but you know how it is, she kept putting it off."

"Does she know that it was your mother who told you that she left the house?"

"Uh-uh, she thought it was Stanley, because I'd just coma from the temple, from the board meeting, you know—" "Why Stanley?"

"Well, she thought she'd seen his car just as she was turning into Jordon's driveway, and she assumed he saw her, and I let her think so. I mean. I didn't contradict her."

"I see. Now what do you want me to do?"

"Well, I thought where you and Chief Lanigan are supposed to be so friendly. I thought maybe you could explain it to him, just how it happened." He looked eagerly at the rabbi.

"No, Mr. Mandell. You must see that it wouldn't do. Chief Lanigan would still have to question your wife, that's his job, and the net effect of my trying to smooth the ground first would only make him suspicious."

"So what should we do?"

"My advice, Mr. Mandell, is that you and your wife go and see Chief Lanigan as soon as possible, this afternoon, or right now, if you can, and tell him the whole story just as you've told it to me, he may be annoyed with you foa waiting this long, but the longer you wait, the worse it will be, and if he finds out on his own, it could be very serious for you."

Later when Miriam noticed that the rabbi appeared to be unusually abstracted, she asked. "Are you bothered about the Mandells. David? Do you think Lanigan will give them a rough time?"

"Oh, I'm sure he will, if only to impress on them the seriousness of withholding evidence from the police in a capital case. But a lot of it will be put on, because he knows that people do it all the time, he's told me on more than one occasion that it's one of the facts of life as far as the police are concerned. What bothers me is that Mrs. Mandell's story tends to show that Stanley was near the Jordon house at the crucial time, and Lanigan might decide to follow that line and pull him in."

"But he's innocent—"

"Then he'll get off eventually. I suppose. But in the meantime they'd give him a hard time, they might reason that if she was able to identify his car, he should have been able to identify hers, and that in not telling them he was concealing information."

"But Mr. Mandell didn't find out from Stanley. It was his mother who told him that Molly had gone out."

"True. But Mr. Mandell won't dare say so, because his wife will be there and he doesn't want her to know. It seems terribly unfair to Stanley somehow."

A couple of hours later, however, the rabbi received a telephone call that proved his fears were groundless, or at least misplaced. It was from Herb Mandell, he was angry, perhaps a little frightened. It showed in the sarcasm of his tone. "I want to thank you for your advice, Rabbi, we did exactly as you suggested. Lanigan questioned Molly for over an hour, he had the poor girl crying before he was through. But that's not all, he told her he didn't want her leaving town. Thanks to your advice, she's now a suspect and will be followed everywhere she goes by cops."

"Oh, surely not—"

"No? Well a few minutes ago I looked out the window, and there's a car parked in our street, diagonally across from our house, and there are a couple of cops sitting in it, and I'll bet you everything you like there's one parked on Francis Street, too, so they can see if anyone comes out the back door."

"I'm sure you must be mistaken. Mr. Mandell. Chief Lanigan may want her to be available to give evidence. If you like. I'll get in touch with him and find out, if I can, just what the situation is."

"I'd like."