Гарри Кемельман - Thursday The Rabbi Walked Out

"But she said the place was dark, and Stanley said it was dark."

"Jordon used only the first floor, and that's practically hidden by the trees. From the street he wouldn't be able to tell if there was a light on in the living room or not, as for Mrs. Mandell, what else is she going to say?"

"Yeah, Hugh, but what's her motive? Why would she want to kill Jordon?"

"I don't know. Why would she want to volunteer to deliver this report when it involved leaving her mother—"

"Mother-in-law."

"All right, so it was her husband's mother, she wouldn't go and watch her husband be a big shot over at the temple, because the old lady was not supposed to be left alone at night. Yet she volunteers to sneak out and deliver this report to Jordon, well, I don't know what there was between her and Jordon, but I got just the suspicion of a hint in going over the folder. When we questioned Gore, he said that Jordon had made a pass at his secretary. Now, that's what Mrs. Mandell is—his secretary, and what's it mean that he made a pass? It could be just a dirty old man giving a nice-looking young woman a pat on the behind. Or it could be that Gore spotted some hanky-panky between the two, and Mrs. Mandell covered it by saying Jordon made a pass at her."

Jennings screwed up his mouth and shook his head.

"I know it isn't much. I said it was just a hint. So what I want you to do is check around with the folks at the bank, every single one of them. Subtle like, you understand, and see what you can come up with. Rumors, gossip, anythina I can use as a starting point for a real interrogation of the lady."

"Sure, Hugh, but a lady who works in a bank, it's hard to see her as a killer."

"If it isn't a professional killing, Eban, then it's always somebody like Mrs. Mandell, an ordinary person like the corner grocer, or a schoolteacher, or even a cop. Sure, sometimes they turn themselves in right afterward. But it isn't remorse, usually. It's because they're sure they're going to be discovered. But sometimes they're smart, and the crime goes unsolved. Right?"

"Guess so."

"And another thing I want you to do. Eban. I want the Mandell house watched."

"You think she might make a run for it?"

"I doubt it. But when I go to see Clegg tomorrow and he says he'd like to talk to her, I don't want to find that she decided to visit an aunt in Canada. Just post someone near the house. It doesn't make any difference if she spots him. It would be even better if she does, there's nothing lika knowing you're being watched to get you nerved up and edgy. So arrange for it now, and then go on home. You can't start on the bank assignment until tomorrow anyway."

"You going home, too?"

"No. I think I'll go up to the Jordon place for another look around."

WHEN THE RABBI CALLED THE STATIONHOUSE, HE WAS TOLD that the chief was not there.

"Can you tell me where he is?"

The desk sergeant was evasive. "Gosh, Rabbi. I don't rightly know."

He called Lanigan's house and Mrs. Lanigan said. "No. Rabbi, he's not here. Is it important?"

"It's terribly important."

"Then I'll tell you where I think you can find him, he called to say he was going to have another look around at the Jordon house."

Lanigan was not too pleased when he opened the door and saw who his visitor was. "Oh, it's you." was the way he greeted him. But then he added. "Well, come on in. I owe you something for your help with Maltzman. I suppose."

The rabbi looked about curiously as he entered the living room, he pointed to the recliner. "That's where the body was found?"

"Uh-huh."

He pointed to the clock on the floor. "And the clock?"

"That's where we found it. Nothing has been moved except the body, of course. Originally, the clock was on the mantelpiece there. When it was hit by a bullet, naturally it skidded off onto the floor." He pointed about the room. "Another bullet hit that painting right in the mouth, and one hit the light, and another the finial on the lamp, and one hit the pill bottle over there on the floor, that was on the table there originally, according to Martha Peterson, the housekeeper. But if you want to talk, come in the dining room. I’ve been using it as my office."

Lanigan sat down at the table and, gathering the papers he had spread out before him, put them back into their folder, the rabbi sat down on the other side. Elbows on the table, his chin resting on his hands. Lanigan faced his visitor and said. "I suppose you're here about Mrs. Mandell."

"That's right. Is she suspect?"

Lanigan pursed his lips and then said. "No comment."

"Because if she is." the rabbi went on. "it puts me in a most awkward position. You see, she came to you on my advice. On my urging, in fact."

Lanigan considered, the rabbi was his friend, and as a fair-minded man, he could see some justice in his request for information, and what harm would it do? He could be relied on to keep confidential matters confidential.

"All right,” he said. "She's suspect." "Just because she was here that night?"

"That, and because she's a she." He smiled. "Come on back in the other room, and let me show you." He led the way and stopped about fifteen feet from the recliner. "Jordon was lying back in that armchair, dozing or asleep. Ballistics figures the person with the gun was standing right about here where I'm standing. Now, suppose he fires and misses, a twenty-two doesn't make much noise, but in a room like this, it would be enough to wake anyone, no matter how sound asleep he was. So Jordon wakes up. Is he going to just lie there with someone pointing a gun at him and shooting? Of course not, he'd try to get up, make a run for it, hide, anything but just lie there waiting for the next shot. Right?"

"Go on."

"So we figure it was the first shot that got him. But it was right in the head, in plain sight, the killer knew immediately that he'd hit him and that he was almost certainly dead. If he had any doubts and wanted to make sure, he would have come closer and fired another shot into him. But no, he stands right here and goes on shooting until the cylinder is empty. Why would he do that? One shot might go unnoticed, but half a dozen might very well be heard and noticed. It doesn't make sense. So we come up with a scenario, as they call it these days, of a woman grabbing up the gun, and shutting her eyes and firing away until there's a click and no more bullets, then she opens her eyes and sees that she has killed him. Of course, there's a possibility that the first shot didn't hit him, but that it gave him a heart attack and he either died of that or was unable to move. But it doesn't change anything, and the medical examiner said it was most unlikely, well, the only woman in the case, the only one we knew about, was Martha Peterson, the housekeeper, and we concentrated on her. But we backtracked her and came up with clear evidence that she couldn't have been

here at the time. So then we thought of Billy Green—"

"As someone who might shut his eyes tight while firing a gun?"

"Something like that. Or he might shoot the old man and then figure he might as well fire off the remaining bullets, we even considered Stanley Doble on the grounds that he might have been so drunk that night that he didn't really know what he was doing. But we weren't comfortable with either of those."

"And then I sent you Mrs. Mandell." "Right."

"But couldn't it be that after Jordon was killed with the first shot, the murderer went on firing for a good reason?" said the rabbi doggedly. "He might have shot out the lamp, for instance, because he didn't want to be seen."

Lanigan grinned. "It would have been a lot easier to just snap the switch, wouldn't it? Of course, you could dream up reasons for shooting all the items he hit, he shot the portrait because he hated the original, he shot the pill bottle because he's one of these nature food nuts and is opposed to medicines, he—"