Аврам Дэвидсон - Ellery Queen’s Double Dozen

“What makes you think so?” he said in a respectful voice.

I relaxed. “He’s got a good story,” I said. “A pretty good story. Told me how he got the money and the watch. He found Peanuts Morgan drunk and he rolled him.”

“How do you know it was Peanuts?”

“Described him to a T. You couldn’t mistake him for anybody else.”

The Chief sat still for a moment in thought. Peanuts Morgan was the town character. An alcoholic, he was dim-witted in an amiable sort of way. He lived in an old shack out across the railroad tracks, making his living and his drinking money by shining shoes on the Square, by running errands, and by begging. Once in a while we had to pick him up and dry him out People remembered when he was a star basketball player — that was a lot of years ago — and once in a while they’d give him enough money or whiskey to really tie one on.

“Peanuts isn’t exactly an upright citizen,” the Chief said. “But he’s always been as harmless as they come.”

“He murdered Miss Millie,” I said violently.

“How do you figure that? Just because the kid... Why, that kid would lie in his teeth to get out of this rap.”

I was breathing hard. “He wasn’t lying,” I said. “And it would be easy for Peanuts. You know Miss Millie fed him now and then because she taught him in school. She wouldn’t pay any attention to him. Maybe while he was eating she took the money out of the sugar bowl for some reason. He took one look and went crazy in the head, thinking about how much liquor all that money would buy.”

The Chief sighed. “All right,” he said. “We’ll pick him up.”

“I’ll pick him up,” I said. “And when I get him I’m going to learn the truth.”

“Sure,” the Chief said soothingly. “We’ll work the same game.”

I stopped at the door. “You can’t scare Peanuts,” I said. “He’s not bright enough.” I could feel the grimness in my mind. “But I’ll get the truth. The only way there is to get it.”

I didn’t bother to look for him downtown. I headed out across the railroad tracks toward his shack. I was driving fast when I bounced across the high railroad grade and went down the other side. I could feel the conviction riding me hard and I couldn’t wait to prove that me and the boy were right. It’s crazy when you think about it. A tough cop like me, who’s heard it all, the way I began believing that boy the minute I looked at him.

It wasn’t anything I could put my finger on. But I’ve listened to men lying for years. Most people just automatically lie to a cop. And you get to where you can feel the guilt inside of them, no matter what their face or their voice is saying. But that kind was as open as a book.

I banged on the door of the shack, then I shoved it open. Peanuts was lying on his broken-down bed, snoring. I went over to him, grabbed him by the shoulder, jerked him off the bed. He came up thrashing and yelling. I jammed him back against the wall and put the cuffs on him. I fanned him but he didn’t have a thing except a nearly empty pint of Cabin Hollow com in his front overalls pocket. I looked at it, tossed it on the bed.

“What... what’s the trouble, Mr. John?” Peanuts said in a shaking voice.

I put my face close to his. “Why did you kill Miss Millie?”

He collapsed. I could see the collapse inside his raddled face. I shoved him toward the door without waiting for an answer, stooping to pick up the pint bottle, and hustled him to the car.

In five minutes we were back in the jail. I led him into and through the Chief’s office, shaking my head when he started to rise from his desk to follow us. I put him into a chair in the Interrogation Room.

He was shaking all over. “My God, Mr. John,” he said. “Whatever makes you think I killed Miss Millie? Why, she fed me, she...”

I stared down at him. He was a wreck of a man. He’d been a star basketball center on the high school team many years ago. He’d been tall enough for the job, fast enough. For two seasons, mostly because of him, the local team was undefeated. Now he was a raddled, half-witted bum, no use to himself or anybody else.

“Where did you get the whiskey?” I said.

He brightened. “A kid gave it to me. Took it right out of his suitcase and told me I could have it. He had two whole pints and he...”

I could feel myself getting mad. He was dim-witted, all right, but not so he couldn’t think of something. They can all think of something when it’s murder.

“You’re going to confess,” I told him. I could feel the hardness in my voice. “Before I leave this room you’re going to sign a statement.”

He looked into my ugly face and shrank back into his chair from what he saw.

Forty-five minutes later I walked into the Chief’s office. I was sweating and shaking in a way I’d never been before. I’d done things I’d never done before, too.

“Go on in and take it down,” I said to the patrolman. “Tell him I said word for word, or I’m coming back in there.”

The patrolman went out with his shorthand pad. The Chief stared at me. “You mean he confessed?”

“He confessed,” I said. “It was him, just like I told you.”

I stood up, then, and picked up the key ring. I went back down the corridor to the boy’s cell. I unlocked the door and opened it.

“All right,” I said. “I got it out of him.”

I watched his face. It lit up from inside and it came all the way out, the way he was feeling. I guess my face was trying to show something, too. He stood up from the bunk and for the first time he was really shook.

“You mean... you mean I can go now? I don’t have to...”

“Not yet,” I said. “There’ll be a trial and you’ll be the principal witness. About him having the whiskey and the money and the watch. That, together with his confession... It’ll be next week, because court session starts then and this town won’t want to wait a year to see justice done.”

“Do I have to stay in jail until then?”

I thought about it. “If you won’t leave town...”

His shoulders slumped. “How can I stay?” he said. “No place to live, no money to eat on. I guess I’ll have to stay in jail.”

“You can come out to my place,” I said then. “If you want to do that.”

He looked at me and for the first time he smiled. It was a good kind of smile, that warmed you all the way through and made you grateful you’d been able to do something to bring it out.

He stayed at my place on the lake for three days. I was glad to have him because it’s lonesome out there sometimes. Besides, I liked the kid the minute I laid eyes on him. He was grateful to me for saving his neck, too, and that’s not hard to take, even when you’re a tough cop. Maybe especially when you’re a tough cop.

I took him fishing a couple of times. He liked that We talked a lot, when I was off-duty and could spend time out there. He was nervous about the trial, but I assured him. I told him he wouldn’t even need a court-appointed attorney, because there wouldn’t be any charges against him for rolling Peanuts. I’d see to that.

I’d never had a visitor before. I keep pretty much to myself, anyway. I never could find a woman who could stand my ugly face and my rough ways, and most people don’t trust a cop enough to like him. So off-duty I read a good bit and I fished a lot, a lonely kind of life but all right for the likes of me.

I enjoyed having the boy around. I might as well admit it. He softened me, maybe, had from the very first, but maybe a guy needs softening once in a while. If I’d ever had a son, I’d have wanted him to be like Billy Roberts. But then if I’d had a son he’d have probably looked just like me.

On the third day Peanuts Morgan hung himself in his cell. I found out about it when I checked in. I went right back to the cabin. Billy was sitting on the screened porch when I drove up. I got out of the car and went up the steps, opened the screen door.