Lawrence Block: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 137, No. 2. Whole No. 834, February 2011

The officer taking the call was one of the ND72 patrols, Valerie Muntz. Powder arrived shortly after to back her up as well as to observe how she handled the call. On the job little more than a year, Muntz appeared to be a high-fives female officer — one who seemed more comfortable with rough-and-tumble calls requiring chases and searches than with mundane matters requiring sensitive dealing with the public. Since most calls about prowlers didn’t lead to shootouts Powder decided to see how patient Muntz would be this time.

The member of the public turned out to be perfect for the purpose. Mrs. Jacqueline Fredrick was in her early seventies and spoke slowly and carefully.

“So what exactly did you see, Mrs. Fredrick?” Muntz said.

“It’s not what I saw. It’s what I heard,” the woman said. “It was a man and he was mumbling to himself.”

“Mumbling?”

“Making low and threatening sounds that weren’t really words. I know everyone in this building, by name. I recognize their voices. There’s just nobody who sounds like that. And it wasn’t a visitor, because there are no cars parked in the visitors area outside. I can see it clearly from my living room.” Mrs. Fredrick nodded when she finally finished this statement, to punctuate and affirm it.

Powder stood well behind Muntz and said nothing.

“So you didn’t see anything,” Muntz said.

Mrs. Fredrick looked exasperated. “It’s what I heard. I just told you.”

“What about condo security?” Muntz asked.

“What about them?”

“Did you report your suspicions?”

“Tell them? All they do is play cards all night.”

“So you didn’t report what you heard to them?”

“Of course I did. The man I spoke to said I shouldn’t worry, they’d take care of it. Well, I can see their office from my kitchen window. Neither one of them left their building.”

“And how long ago was that?”

“Must be forty-five minutes now.”

“So you heard the prowler...?”

“A few minutes before that. Look, Officer, are you going to search the building for him or not?”

“Well, I certainly didn’t see anybody as I came into the building.” Muntz turned to Powder. “Did you, sir?” She raised her eyebrows, knowing that Mrs. Fredrick couldn’t see her do it.

“No one, Officer Muntz. Nor did I pass any doors that looked like they’d been forced open.”

“Me neither,” Muntz said, latching on to something she hadn’t thought of for herself. She turned back to Mrs. Fredrick. “So I’m not sure what I can do, ma’am. Would you like me to get someone to call you for an appointment to look over your apartment’s security?”

“I would not, young woman,” Mrs. Fredrick said. “What I want you to do is search this building and find the intruder.”

“That doesn’t seem appropriate to me, since you didn’t see anyone. But we’re happy to look around as we leave.”

“I think your attitude is highly cavalier and irresponsible.”

“ Excuse me?”

Powder could hear the frown on Muntz’s face, though he couldn’t see it.

“Very off-hand. How will you feel if you leave now and in an hour’s time you hear that somebody in this building has been robbed or murdered?”

Muntz paused before she answered this. “I would be upset, of course, ma’am. But you hear a strange sound that could have been somebody’s radio or maybe even from the TV next door. How much time am I meant to spend looking in shadows for that? Your own security people aren’t worried. If you don’t think they do the job, then complain to your condo committee. We’re here to help, but we’re not exactly going to call in the National Guard because you heard something.”

It was then that Powder got an idea about Barry Haller.

“Well!” Mrs. Fredrick said. “I’ve never been spoken to like that in my life.”

“No offense meant, ma’am,” Muntz said, “but if that’s the worst you’ve ever heard, you’ve had a pretty lucky time of it.”

Powder intervened. “Mrs. Fredrick, I’m sorry that Officer Muntz has been impolite.” He stepped forward.

“I wondered whether you were just along for the ride,” Mrs. Fredrick said to Powder. “Listening to all that... Outrageous. I pay your salaries.”

“Now just a—” Muntz began.

Powder put a hand on her shoulder. To Mrs. Fredrick he said, “Officer Muntz will be disciplined and I will see to it that she attends classes to help her learn how to be more polite in the future.”

“Well,” Mrs. Fredrick said, but her tone made it clear she liked this change of direction.

“Meanwhile, Officer Muntz and I will search through the public areas of the building. Before we leave, we’ll stop back and tell you what we’ve found, if anything.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Fredrick said. “Officer...?”

“Lieutenant Leroy Powder, ma’am.” He gave her a card. “Don’t be shy about calling again if you see, or hear, anything suspicious. We’ll knock on your door in a few minutes.”

When she and Powder were out of earshot down the hall, Muntz said, “I can’t believe you bending over like that for a time-waster like that old woman.”

“That time-wasting old woman pays for your salary, Muntz. And your pension. And for your sick days. And for your personal days, once you’ve been working long enough to get some.”

“Yeah, but...” Muntz wasn’t happy. “What if somebody’s out there getting shot just because we’re in here chasing shadows?”

“You’ve made a fundamental mistake, Valerie.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“You walked into this building and you came to this woman’s apartment. Right?”

“So?”

“And because you didn’t see anybody on the way, you act like you’ve searched the place.”

“I have.”

“Work it through. Nobody left the building after she heard what she heard. She watched from the window.”

“Right.”

“And when you came in, nobody was coming down as you were going up.”

“Exactly.”

“So tell me what happened if Mrs. Fredrick was right and she heard somebody in the hall. Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know.” Muntz felt her exasperation growing. She’d heard about the spots Powder put people in sometimes. She’d just never been on the receiving end before.

“Think about it,” Powder said insistently.

“Okay... then he went into one of the apartments. He lives here.”

“Reasonable. But Mrs. Fredrick says he doesn’t live here.”

“Then he vanished in a puff of smoke. I don’t know.”

“That’s true. You don’t.” He waited while Muntz stared at him. Finally he said, “What if the prowler went up instead of down?”

“There are only two floors, Lieutenant.”

“There’s a roof.”

“Why would a prowler go on the roof?”

“Why does a prowler prowl and mutter to himself? I don’t know. But I think we should go ask him, don’t you?”

And, as if to make the point as clearly as if it were a training exercise, Powder and Muntz did indeed find a man passed out at the top of a stairwell that led to the roof. From the smell of him he was almost certainly drunk. The empty bourbon bottle by his side was another clue.

How and why did he get into the building in the first place? Why did he go up as high as he could? There was no way to tell and they couldn’t ask him because his sleep was deep. But hey.

“You,” Powder said to Muntz, “will stay with this member of the public until the ambulance gets here.”

“Oh for—”

“When he is safely loaded aboard, you will go to Mrs. Fredrick. You’ll explain what happened, and apologize sincerely and profoundly to her. I will come back tomorrow to ask her how you presented yourself. What she says will have an effect on your future.”