Ed McBain: The House That Jack Built

“So,” Henderson said, “who died?”

“Jonathan Parrish,” Warren said, and watched his eyes.

Nothing flashed there. Not a glimmer of recognition.

“I don’t know the name,” he said. “Are you sure you’ve got the right beneficiary?”

“Do the name Ishtar Kabul ring a familiar note?” Warren said.

Instant spark in the eyes.

Then immediate recovery.

“Who?”

“Ishtar Kabul.”

“I don’t know that name, either,” Henderson said. “What is this?”

“It’s not insurance. And it’s not blackmail, if that’s what you think.”

“No, what I think is I’d better call the police.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Who are you?”

“Warren Chambers.”

“You said…”

“Only so I could talk to you.”

“About what?”

“About where you were on the morning of January thirtieth.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“I asked a question.”

“So did I.”

“This sounds like Pinter.”

“Who’s Pinter?” Warren said.

Henderson stared at him.

“Are you a policeman?”

Warren shook his head. “Private investigator,” he said.

“Investigating what?”

“Investigating for a law firm.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“My grandfather always told me if I didn’t like any particular question I should just answer a different question.”

“I was in Savannah, Georgia,” Henderson said.

“On the thirtieth?”

“No, on the seventh. I’m following your grandfather’s advice.”

“Oh? Didn’t you like my particular question, Mr. Henderson?”

“What was the question?”

“The question was about the thirtieth of January. A Saturday morning. Seven o’clock last Saturday morning, the thirtieth of January. Where were you?”

“ If that’s the question, you’re right. I don’t like it. In fact, I don’t like any of this. You come here under false pretenses…”

“Yes.”

“Mention names of people I don’t know…”

“You don’t know Ishtar Kabul?”

“Never heard of him.”

“Then how do you know he’s a he? Ishtar could be a woman’s name.”

“Male, female, or three-eyed pig, I have no knowledge of anyone named Ishtar Kabul.”

“Not even carnal knowledge?”

Watch the eyes.

Wary now.

“I’m a married man,” Henderson said. “If you’re suggesting…”

“I know you’re married.”

“How do you…? Oh, of course, the photograph.”

“No, Ishtar told me.”

“I have two children…”

“Yes, I know.”

“Ishtar again?”

“No, the photograph.”

“Are we back to Pinter?”

“Who’s Pinter?” Warren said again.

“What is this law firm looking for? The firm you represent?”

“A murderer,” Warren said.

“Did this Kabul person murder someone?”

“Our client saw someone in black running from the scene of the crime.”

“This Kabul person?”

“Ishtar was wearing black at a party on the night before the murder.”

“Has he no other clothing, this Kabul person?”

“I’m going to level with you, Mr. Henderson. I gave Ishtar a lot of bullshit about our client maybe identifying him, but the truth is our client never saw the person’s face and wouldn’t know Ishtar from a hole in the ground.”

“Then surely this Kabul person has nothing to worry about.”

“Not so. We can take a sworn deposition from him. If he sticks to his alibi, and if you deny the alibi, then he’s hiding something. And the State Attorney would be duty bound to find out what he’s hiding.”

“And what alibi is that, Mr. Chambers?”

“You tell me.”

“I assume this Kabul person said he was with me.”

“Why do you assume that?”

“You mentioned carnal knowledge…”

“I did.”

“So I have to assume…”

“You assume correctly.”

“This Kabul person said he was with me, is that it?”

“Yes, this Kabul person said you were in bed together on the morning of the thirtieth, is what this Kabul person said.”

“And if I say we weren’t?”

“We take it from there.”

“To where?”

“To the deposition. Under oath.”

“Then take it from there, Mr. Chambers. This Kabul person wasn’t with me, and I wasn’t with him. Neither of us was with each other, the man is lying, it was nice meeting you.”

“You recognize…”

“Of course.”

“His alibi…”

“I’m married.”

“If he can’t prove…”

“Entirely his problem.”

“The State Attorney will…”

“Let him.”

“He loves you.”

“The State Attorney?”

“Are we doing Pinter again?” Warren asked.

“Who’s Pinter?” Henderson said.

Silence.

“Gee,” Warren said. “I forgot to tell you the next step.”

“The next step is you get out of here.”

“The next step, if Ishtar decides to save his own ass by naming you in his deposition, the next step is we go to the S.A….”

“So go to him.”

“I see you want to play hardball, huh?”

“What do you call this? Softball?”

“So far, it’s just you and me. Your wife is home cooking dinner for you and your darling little daughters…”

“We have a housekeeper who prepares dinner.”

“Terrific, but hear me out. We go to the S.A. and say here’s a deposition in which Ishtar swears he was with you on the morning of the thirtieth. So now the S.A. calls in Ishtar who tells him, Yes, that’s who I was with, and the S.A. comes to you to hear your side of it, just in case Ishtar is lying. Would you like to explain to your wife why the S.A. suddenly wants to talk to her straight-arrow husband? Would you like to explain why Ishtar Kabul thinks he was in bed with you that morning? It can get very messy, Mr. Henderson.”

“How would it be any less messy if I tell you here and now that we were, in fact, together that morning?”

“It’d be less messy because the buck stops here.”

“How do I know that?”

“Here’s the way I figure this, Mr. Henderson. Kabul got Christie Hewes to alibi him…”

“ That cunt,” Henderson said, and rolled his eyes.

“Be that as it may, she’s sworn to his whereabouts on the morning of the murder. So I have to figure Ishtar got her to lie for one of two reasons. One, he committed the murder. Two, he was protecting you. If he was, in fact, protecting you, then we’ve got no reason to pursue this any further. We’re looking for whoever ran away from that house on the morning of the thirtieth. We’re not looking to persecute two consenting adults doing their thing in private.”

“How do you know I won’t lie to protect him? The way Christie did.”

“Because you’d have done it already, instead of my having to pull teeth here.”

Henderson was silent for what seemed like a long time.

Then he said, “We were together.”

“Good. From when to when?”

“Two in the morning to twelve noon. I was waiting for him when he left the party. My wife thought I was in Tampa on business.”

“Where were you waiting?”

“A friend’s house. ”

“His name, please.”

“Her.”

“Who?”

“Annie Lowell.”

“Her address, please.”

“1220 Beach Road.”

“On Fatback Key?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll check this, you realize.”

“I thought you told me the buck stopped here.”

“I was lying,” Warren said.