Ed McBain - The Last Brief

I didn’t answer him. I looked at Donny, and Donny looked back at me, and then we turned our attention to the dead girl. Her left arm was stretched out across the top of the small desk, and her body was arched crookedly, with her head resting on the arm. Long black hair spilled over her face, but it could not hide the contorted, hideously locked grin on her mouth. She wore a tight silk dress, slit on either side in the Oriental fashion, buttoned to the throat. The dress had pulled back over a portion of her right thigh, revealing a roll-gartered stocking. The tight line of her panties was clearly visible through the thin silk of her dress. The dead girl was Chinese, but her lips and face were blue.

‘Suppose you tell us what happened, Mr. Godrow,’ I said.

‘Freddie can tell you,’ Godrow answered. ‘Freddie was sitting closer to her.’

‘Who’s Freddie?’

‘My boy,’ Godrow said.

‘Your son?’

‘No, I haven’t any children. My boy. He works for me.’

‘Where is he now, sir?’

‘I sent him down for some coffee. After I called you.’ Godrow paused, and then reluctantly said, ‘I didn’t think you’d get here so quickly.’

‘Score one for the Police Department,’ Donny murmured.

‘Well, you fill us in until he gets back, will you?’ I said.

‘All right,’ Godrow answered. He said everything grudgingly, as if he resented our presence in his office, as if this whole business of dead bodies lying around should never have been allowed to happen in his office. ‘What do you want to know?’

‘What did the girl do here?’ Donny asked.

‘She made telephone calls.’

‘Is that all?’

‘Yes. Freddie does that, too, but he also runs the addressing machine. Freddie...’

‘Maybe you’d better explain your operation a little,’ I said.

‘I sell lobsters,’ Godrow said.

‘From this office?’ Donny asked skeptically.

‘We take the orders from this office.’ Godrow explained, warming up a little. It was amazing the way they always warmed up when they began discussing their work. ‘My plant is in Boothbay Harbour, Maine.’

‘I see.’

‘We take the orders here, and then the lobsters are shipped down from Maine, alive of course.’

‘I like lobsters,’ Donny said. ‘Especially lobster tails.’

‘Those are not lobsters,’ Godrow said indignantly. ‘Those are crawfish. African rock lobster. There’s a big difference.’

‘Who do you sell to, Mr. Godrow?’ I asked.

‘Restaurants. That’s why Mary worked for me.’

‘Is that the girl’s name? Mary?’

‘Yes, Mary Chang. You see, we do a lot of business with Chinese restaurants. Lobster Cantonese, you know, like that. They buy the Jumbos usually, in half-barrel quantities for the most part. They’re good steady customers.’

‘And Miss Chang called these Chinese restaurants, is that right?’

‘Yes. I found it more effective that way. She spoke several Chinese dialects, and she inspired confidence, I suppose. At any rate, she got me more orders than any Occidental who ever held the job.’

‘And Freddie? What docs he do?’

‘He calls the American restaurants. We call them every morning. Not all of them each morning, of course, but those we feel are ready to reorder. We give them quotations, and we hope they’ll place orders. We try to keep our quotes low. For example, our Jumbos today were going for...’

‘How much did Miss Chang receive for her duties, Mr. Godrow?’

‘She got a good salary.’

‘How much?’

‘Why? What difference does it make?’

‘It might be important, Mr. Godrow. How much?’

‘A hundred and twenty-five a week, plus a dollar commission on each barrel order from a new customer.’ Godrow paused. ‘Those are good wages, Mr....’

‘Parker, Detective Ralph Parker.’

‘Those are good wages, Mr. Parker.’ He paused again. ‘Much more than my competitors are paying.’

‘I wouldn’t know about that, Mr. Godrow, but I’ll take your word for it. Now...’

A shadow fell across the floor, and Godrow looked up and said, ‘Ah, Freddie, it’s about time.’

I turned to the door, expecting to find a sixteen-year-old kid maybe. Freddie was not sixteen, nor was he twenty-six. He was closer to thirty-six, and he was a thin man with sparse hair and a narrow mouth. He wore a rumpled tweed suit and a stained knitted tie.

‘This is my boy,’ Godrow said. ‘Freddie, this is Detective Parker and...’

‘Katz,’ Donny said. ‘Donald Katz.’

‘How do you do?’ Freddie said.

‘Since you’re here,’ I said, ‘suppose you tell us what happened this morning, Freddie.’

‘Mr. Godrow’s coffee...’ Freddie started apologetically.

‘Yes, yes, my coffee,’ Godrow said. Freddie brought it to his desk, put it down, and then fished into his pocket for some silver which he deposited alongside the paper container. Godrow counted the change meticulously, and then took the lid from the container and dropped in one lump of sugar. He opened his top drawer and put the remaining lump of sugar into a small jar there.

‘What happened this morning, Freddie?’ I asked.

‘Well, I got in at about nine, or a little before,’ he said.

‘Were you here then, Mr. Godrow?’

‘No. I didn’t come in until nine-thirty or so.’

‘I see. Go on, Freddie.’

‘Mary... Miss Chang was here. I said good morning to her, and then we got down to work.’

‘I like my people to start work right away,’ Godrow said. ‘No nonsense.’

‘Was Miss Chang all right when you came in, Freddie?’

‘Yes. Well, that is... she was complaining of a stiff neck, and she seemed to be very jumpy, but she started making her phone calls, so I guess she was all right.’

‘Was she drinking anything?’

‘Sir?’

‘Was she drinking anything?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Did she drink anything all the while you were here?’

‘No, sir. I didn’t see her, at least.’

‘I see.’ I looked around the office and said, ‘Three phones here, is that right?’

‘Yes,’ Godrow answered. ‘One extension for each of us. You know how they work. You push a button on the face of the instrument, and that’s the line you’re on. We can all talk simultaneously that way, on different lines.’

‘I know how it works,’ I said. ‘What happened then, Freddie?’

‘We kept calling, that’s all. Mr. Godrow came in about nine-thirty, like he said, and we kept on calling while he changed to his office jacket.’

‘I like to wear this jacket in the office,’ Godrow explained. ‘Makes me feel as if I’m ready for the day’s work, you know.’

‘Also saves wear and tear on your suit jacket,’ Donny said.

Godrow seemed about to say something, but I beat him to the punch. ‘Did you notice anything unusual about Miss Chang’s behaviour, Mr. Godrow?’

‘Well, yes, as a matter of fact. As Freddie told you, she was quite jumpy. I dropped a book at one point, and she almost leaped out of her chair.’

‘Did you see her drink anything?’

‘No.’

‘All right, Freddie, what happened after Mr. Godrow came in?’

‘Well, Mary started making another phone call. This was at about nine-thirty-five. She was behaving very peculiarly by this time. She was twitching and well... she was having... well, like spasms. I asked her if she was all right, and she flinched when I spoke, and then she went right on with her call. I remember the time because I started a call at about the same time. You see, we have to get our orders in the morning if Boothbay is to deliver the next morning. That means we’re racing against the clock, sort of, so you learn to keep your eyes on it. Well, I picked up my phone and started dialing, and then Mary started talking Chinese to someone on her phone. She sits at the desk right next to mine, you see, and I can hear everything she says.’