Ed McBain: Puss in Boots

“No, I was asleep in bed when they came to the house with their warrant. I was wearing pajamas.”

“When was this?”

“Four days after the murder.”

“They came to the house with an arrest warrant... ”

“Yes.”

“What time of night?”

“A little after eleven.”

“And you were in bed, wearing pajamas.”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

“I got dressed, and they took me downtown and questioned me.”

“Who was present at the questioning?”

“A detective named Sears, from the sheriff’s office, a police detective named Morris Bloom, and a man named Arthur Haggerty, from the state attorney’s office.”

“If they requested someone from the state attorney’s office, then they already thought they had real meat. Did they show you this clothing with bloodstains on it?”

“Yes. They asked me if I recognized it.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. It was mine. A jacket and a shirt and a pair of pants. And my shoes and socks.”

“The clothing belonged to you.”

“Yes.”

“And there was blood on it.”

“Yes. Well, dried blood. And a lot of dirt.”

“Dirt?”

“Earth.”

“Did they say where they’d got this clothing?”

“They dug it up in my backyard. They came to the house the day after the murder — with a search warrant. They began digging, and they found the clothes and the knife.”

“A knife? What do you mean? You didn’t mention a... ”

“A butcher knife. They said it was the knife I used on Prue.”

“Had you ever seen that knife before?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“In my kitchen.”

“It was your knife?”

“Well, our knife. It was a kitchen knife. A butcher knife. It hung on a rack in the kitchen.”

Matthew stared at him.

“Mr. Markham,” he said, “I guess you realize that’s pretty strong circumstantial evidence. Even if they’ve got nothing else... ”

“They know the clothes were stolen,” Markham said. “The knife, too.”

“Stolen?”

“Someone broke into the house and stole them. Took a lot of other things besides.”

“When?”

“Ten days before the murder.”

“Did you report the burglary?”

“I did.”

“To the police?”

“Well, of course to the police.”

“Did they investigate?”

“They sent some detectives around. Bloom and his partner, a black cop named Rawles.”

“And this burglary took place ten days before the murder?”

“Yes.”

“Where were you when it happened?”

“At a friend’s house. My wife was working, she’s a... ”

He hesitated, catching himself.

“She was a filmmaker,” he said, switching to the past tense. “She made commercials, industrials, an occasional documentary.”

“Here in Calusa?”

“Well, all over. But she rented studio facilities here. She was working out on Rancher Road the night of the burglary. And also on the night she was killed.”

“Working?”

“In the studio there.”

“Doing what?”

“Editing.”

“Editing a film?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of film?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, was it a documentary, a commer—”

“She didn’t tell me. She got that way sometimes.”

“What way?”

“Secretive about her work. Protective of it.”

“So... she was at the studio on the night of the burglary.”

“Yes.”

“And you were at a friend’s house.”

“Yes.”

“From what time to what time?”

“Oh, just for a few hours. We were planning a fishing trip. I got there at about nine, it must’ve been, and left at eleven.”

“Got home and found the house burglarized.”

“Yes. Around eleven-thirty.”

“Was your wife home yet?”

“No. She was still out at the studio. Didn’t get home till around one, one-thirty. The police had already left by then.”

“What else was stolen that night?”

“A clock-radio, and a camera, and a small television set.”

“In addition to the clothes they later found buried in your yard.”

“Some other clothes, too. Some of Prue’s clothes.”

“And the knife.”

“Yes.”

“Just the one knife?”

“Yes.”

“Did you list these missing items for the police?”

“Yes.”

“During the interrogation — after they arrested you — did anyone mention this burglary?”

“Yes, I did. I told them those clothes and that knife had been stolen from the house.”

“Did anyone make any comment about that?”

“Haggerty said, ‘That’s your contention, Mr. Markham.’ ”

“It’s more than just that,” Matthew said. “A burglary did take place, and you reported it to the police. If the clothes and the knife were stolen from your house ten days before the murder... ”

“They were.”

“Then what the hell are they hoping to prove?”

“That I killed her,” Markham said. “You see... I have no alibi for the night of the murder.”

“Where were you that night?”

“My wife had work to do. That’s what took her to the studio. I went to the movies alone.”

“Which theater?”

“Twin Plaza I. In the South Dixie Mall.”

“Meet anyone you know?”

“No one.”

“In the theater?”

“No.”

“In the mall?”

“No.”

“What time did the movie start?”

“Eight o’clock.”

“What time did it end?”

“Around ten-thirty.”

“Did you go directly home after the movie?”

“No. I wandered around the mall for a while, and then went to a bar named Harrigan’s.”

“What time did you get there?”

“Around ten to eleven.”

“How long did you stay there?”

“I just had one drink.”

“What’d you drink?”

“A Tanqueray martini. Straight up. Very dry. With two olives.”

“How long did it take you to drink that?”

“Well, I was watching television. There’s a television set over the bar.”

“So you left the bar when?”

“Around... twenty to twelve? A quarter to twelve?”

“And got home when?”

“Around midnight. The police got there about twenty minutes later.” Markham sighed deeply. “I know how it looks. I’ve got no real alibi for where I was when somebody was stabbing her, and the police have only my word for the burglary.” He shook his head. “So if you don’t take the case, I can’t blame you much. I can only tell you again, I didn’t kill her.”

“I believe you,” Matthew said.

Matthew’s demand for discovery listed twelve essentially boilerplate items — plus an added typewritten one for “any police reports made in connection with this case” — and concluded with the words, “WHEREFORE, said Demand for Discovery by the Defendant being material and relevant to the proper defense of Defendant under applicable rules, cases and constitutional provisions, Defendant requests that this demand be answered in all respects.”

The demand was delivered by hand to the state attorney’s office on the first day of December.

On Wednesday morning, December 3, Arthur Haggerty, the assistant state attorney who was handling the prosecution’s case, had his response delivered by hand to Matthew’s office.

It read:

Matthew had his work cut out for him.