Parnell Hall: The Innocent Woman

“You don’t like what I’m saying?” Steve said. “Well, that’s too bad. I don’t happen to like what you’re saying. Which makes us even. Except for one thing. I’m not about to be charged with murder.” He shrugged. “Though I don’t know. The way you play this game, I wouldn’t count it out.”

When Amy said nothing, Steve added, “What about the petty cash drawer.”

“What?”

“The petty cash drawer. The famous petty cash drawer. The one you didn’t rob. In the five to ten minutes before you found the body, did you happen to notice it?”

Amy glared at him a moment, then said, “Yes.”

“You did? How interesting. And what was the condition of the petty cash drawer?”

“It was open and the money was gone.”

“You didn’t open it?”

“No.”

“You didn’t take the money?”

“Of course not.”

“There’s no of course not about it. You say you went up there to clean out your desk. The only thing that got cleaned out of your desk is the petty cash.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Yes, I know,” Steve said. “You’re innocent.”

“Steve,” Tracy said again.

Steve ignored her. His eyes never left Amy Dearborn’s. “So,” he said, “you manage to figure out what you were doing in the five to ten minutes before you found the body?”

“I tell you, I was just looking around.”

“Not pilfering the petty cash drawer?”

“Do I have to answer that?”

Steve took a breath. “All right, look,” he said. “You’re in bad. I can’t tell how bad, because you won’t talk straight. And right now I haven’t time to twist the truth out of you. What I need to know now is if you’re going to play ball.”

Amy looked at him. “Huh?”

“I got two choices here.” Steve pointed to the phone. “I pick up the phone, call the cops, hand you over to ’em and tell ’em exactly what I know-which is going to look like shit.” He shrugged. “Or I don’t.”

Amy’s eyes were wide. “What if you don’t?”

“That depends on you. Whether you got the nerve to pull it off.”

“Pull what off?”

“Where do you live?”

“Huh?”

“Where’s your apartment? Where do you live.”

“Oh. A hundred and seventh and Broadway.”

“Fine. You leave here, you take the subway home. But you don’t go home. You go to the corner of Broadway and a hundred and seventh, hail a cab. Take the cab straight to F. L. Jewelry. Go in, find the body. Call the cops. Use the phone on your desk. Stay right there and wait for them to arrive.”

“What do I tell them?”

“That’s the thing. You don’t lie. Everything you tell ’em’s gotta be the truth. You went there to clean out your desk. You let yourself in with a key from when you worked there before. You came in, found the body and called the cops.”

“Then what?” Amy said.

Steve held up one finger. “Here’s the hard part. The cops aren’t going to let it go at that. They’re going to start asking questions. The first one you hear that sounds like they didn’t believe something you said, the first one that sounds like they’re cross-examining you, you take offense. Say, Just a minute here, if it’s going to be like that, I want to call my lawyer.”

Steve slowed down for emphasis. “Then,” he said, “you clam up and you…don’t…say…another…word. Anything they ask you, you either don’t answer, or you say I want to call my lawyer. Just make sure you got that in. The reason you’re not answering questions is you want to talk to your lawyer first.”

Steve looked her in the eye. “Can you do that?”

“Sure,” Amy said.

“Glad you think so,” Steve said. “Nine people out of ten would have a tough time doing that.”

“I can do it.”

“Good. Now, when you came here tonight, how did you come?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Did you take a taxi?”

“No. I came on the subway.”

“That’s a break. Did anyone see you go in?”

“I don’t know.”

“The music store downstairs was open. Did you walk by the window?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Well, you came from Seventh Avenue, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you had to walk by to get to the door.”

“Then I guess I did. I just don’t recall.”

“Okay. Anyway, this time you take a cab. From the upper West Side right to the door. Make sure the cabbie remembers you. Let him get a good look at you. And make sure you give him the exact address-not just the street, give him the number too. If it’s the kind of cab gives receipts, get one, shove it in your purse.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? Good. You got the number here?”

“Of course.”

“Good. That’s where you’re gonna call. You got it now? You find the body, call the cops. Start talking, take offense, clam up and say you want to call your lawyer. I’ll be here waiting for your call. You got all that?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Then get the hell out of here.”

The moment Amy was out the door, Steve wheeled on Tracy Garvin. “Okay,” he said. “What about you?”

Startled, Tracy said, “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. It’s one thing to have Amy Dearborn holding out on me. I expect that. But you’re something else.”

“I’m not holding out on you.”

“Oh no? What were you doing in that office?”

“I told you-”

“Right. You were looking for me. Tracy, don’t make me cross-examine you, but that story won’t hold up.”

“Why not?”

“Are you kidding me? You went up there because Amy told you she left a message on my machine asking me to meet her there. Even though in the same message she told me to forget it. Even though you left a message on my machine telling me to go to the office. So if I picked up my messages at all, my last instruction would be to come here. There’d be no reason to think I’d go anywhere else.”

“Yeah, but you did.”

“Yeah, but only because I happened to call while Amy was throwing up in the bathroom down the hall. Now, would you like to tell me how you deduced that might have happened, and decided to protect against that eventuality?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Fair?” Steve grabbed her by the shoulders. “Tracy, wake up. This is not a game. I think you went to that office for a reason. For something you forgot, or something you needed to do. Trouble is, you didn’t do it because you ran into me. I need to know what it was and I need to know now, because this is our last chance to fix it. While Amy’s on her way uptown. So forget the fact you think I’m going to be pissed, and just blurt out whatever the hell it is.”

“It’s not like that,” Tracy said.

Steve exhaled. “Aw, fuck. Then what is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s helpful.”

Tracy took off her glasses, pushed the hair out of her eyes, put them back on again. She held up her hand. “Okay,” she said. “The fact is, I don’t know.”

“You mind explaining that?”

“After Amy had hysterics, I got her into the office, I got her calmed down. But I had the feeling I forgot something. You ever have that? Nothing specific, just the feeling?”

“Can you cut to the chase?” Steve said. “If we’re going to take any action, it’s gotta be now.”

“Like what?” Tracy said. “That’s the whole thing. All I had was a general feeling I fucked up. That there was something I didn’t do that I should have done.”

“You mean like clean up?”

“No, I did that.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve said.

Tracy waved her hands. “No, no. It was nothing major. It’s just I didn’t know how you were going to play it, and I didn’t want to leave my fingerprints. That was one of the first things you asked me.”