Гарри Кемельман - Tuesday The Rabbi Saw Red

QUERY: Where'd you get the bomb?

ANSWER: Where'd I— Look, get this, we had nothing to do with the bombing.

QUERY: Then who did?

ANSWER: How do I know? Maybe the guy that tossed the last one.

QUERY: And who was that?

ANSWER: How would I know?

QUERY: Look, Abner, if you cooperate with us—ANSWER: I'm not saying another word, not another goddam word.

He had tried it on each of them, a series of innocuous questions followed by the sudden accusation, not in any real hope of getting them to confess but on the chance of upsetting them enough so he could bore in, he could have saved his breath. Yance Allworth said, "Man, I wouldn't know what a bomb looks like." O'Brien said. "You got the wrong picture. Sergeant, we're just a bunch of do-gooding liberals." Judy's response had been. "Why don't you get off the jerk, copper?" And when he asked who could have done it if not her group, she had said. "Maybe the dean laid an egg and it exploded."

The last sheet in his folder was a time chart based on the testimonies of those he had questioned:

1:00-1:15: Hendryx leaves apartment and goes to his office. (Mrs. O'Rourke's statement. No corroboration.)

2:01-2:03: Rabbi enters his office. (Class runs from 1:00-2:00.)

2:10: Rabbi leaves building. (His statement.)

2:30: Committee arrives at dean's office. (Statements of all members of committee and dean.)

2:40-2:50: Dean leaves meeting and starts for home. (Statements of committee and dean. Earlier time probable on basis of time of her arrival home.)

2:45-2:55: Mrs. O'Rourke leaves to catch 3:00 bus. (Her statement, not corroborated.)

3:00: Committee leaves building. (Their statements. N.B.: Selzer looked at his watch.)

3:05: Bomb explodes. (Statement of Lt. Hawkins, Station 15.)

He remembered he did not as yet have the report of the medical examiner. It was not particularly important in this situation with the cause and time of death known. On the other hand, not having it would mean sloppy preparation, something Ames would never permit.

He called the receptionist and asked whether the medical examiner's report had come in yet.

"About half an hour ago. I put it in your box."

"Jennie, be a good kid and get it for me.»

He slit the envelope and ran an expert eye over the report. Cause of death was given as a blow from an object weighing approximately sixty pounds."...skull crushed.., fragments of cranial bones embedded in brain..." Death was practically instantaneous. "Time of death: between 2:10 P.M, and 2:40 P.M., November 13.»

He spotted the mistake immediately, the good doctor had no doubt meant between 2:40 and 3:10. Probably his secretary had transcribed her notes incorrectly.

He called the receptionist and asked her to get him Dr. Lagrange. He waited impatiently, gnawing on his lower lip in vexation, then the phone rang, but it was Jennie. "He's not in, he's gone away for a few days, and won't be back until Monday."

"Where'd he go? Did they say?"

"On a camping trip."

"Well, doesn't he call in or keep in touch?"

"I asked, but his girl said he hasn't so far. I told her to have him contact us when he does."

"Call her again and let me talk to her. «When he was put through, he said. "Oh look, miss. I’ve got Dr. Lagrange's report in front of me. Did he dictate his notes to you?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, I think you must have transcribed them wrong. It says here that time of death was between two-ten and two-forty. I'm sure he reversed the figures and meant between two-forty and three-ten."

"Just a minute. Sergeant. I'll check my notes." There was a pause while she got her notes. "Here it is. Sergeant. 'Time of death: between 2:10 P.M, and 2:40 P.M....’ I remember his remarking that he was able to pinpoint it so closely because the examination was made so close to the time of death. I'm sorry, Sergeant, the report is correct."

"Schroeder is a good man." Matthew Rogers said as he glanced through the bulging folder. "You can always depend on him to do a thorough job.

"Bradford Ames chuckled and told him to take another look at the medical examiner's report.

"Why?" But he picked up the sheet again and this time saw the time of death. "Obviously a clerical error. Call Dr. Lagrange."

"I did. Matt, he says it's correct as he gave it in his report."

"Then he made a mistake, he's new at this. This was his first time, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but Dr. Slocumbe says that if Lagrange pinpointed it that close, then that's when it occurred."

"But. Brad." Rogers was exasperated, "it just doesn't make any sense. I don't know what buggered up his analysis, but something did. It may have been something ridiculous, like his watch stopped, but this is one case where the medical examiner's analysis of the time isn't important because we have other and better evidence of when death occurred."

"It's no good. Matt, the other side would raise the question the minute they saw we didn't introduce it, then you'd have to offer it and we'd catch hell from the judge, and the papers too, for having suppressed evidence. No, you'll just have to let the kids go."

"What do you mean, let them go?" the district attorney asked belligerently.

«Because according to the evidence of our own expert, the medical examiner, Hendryx was killed before the bomb went off, we can't hold them responsible for his death."

"And he can't make a mistake? How about the time the corpse was locked in the freezer and it threw off all of Doc Slocumbe's calculations?"

"Put it this way. Matt, if I had presented the medical examiner's report when they were arraigned before Judge Visconte, would he have withheld bail?"

"Maybe not, but—"

"They're college kids. If the grand jury should refuse to bring in a true bill against them and charges are dismissed, they still will have served time and their lives will be messed up."

"Something you're forgetting. Brad, there's no doubt in my mind, and I guess there was none in Judge Visconte's, that they planted the bomb."

"They deny it."

"Of course."

"Maybe it was the missing one. Ekko, who did it." said Ames doggedly. "The others might not know anything about it."

"That's hard to believe."

"Why is it? He was the only one who skipped."

"Oh, I'm willing to admit that he may have been the actual perpetrator, but what grounds do you have for thinking the others didn't know about it?"

"Because he's different from the others, he's a lot older, for one thing. If the defense had taken this line. I think the judge might very well have gone along and set bail and they'd be out and back at school right now."

"School!" the district attorney echoed scornfully. "What the hell does that bunch of hippies care about school, except to cause trouble? Check it out and you'll find they never go to class, they just hang around and smoke pot and start riots and sit-ins, and when they're not doing that they're busy screwing, that Ekko guy was living with that girl. Ballantine, just as open and free as you please, the hell with them!"

"You're judging their life-styles. Matt, not their guilt."

"Sure. I'm taking their life-styles into account in making up my mind about their guilt, just as every jury does in deciding on the credibility of every witness they see on the stand, and every judge does the same. What's wrong with that?" demanded Rogers. "If we couldn't judge on things like that, then the only people we'd ever find guilty would be those who confessed. What are you getting at. Brad? Do you want me to appoint somebody else, maybe Hogan, to this case?"

"I don't know." said Ames soberly, he shifted unhappily in his seat, then decided to make one last try. "Let's just say, as a kind of exercise in logic, that Dr. Lagrange is absolutely on target."