Lawrence Sanders - Tenth Commandment

There was a banging of phones, voices in the background, then Stilton came on the line.

'Josh?' he said. 'How are you doing?'

'Just fine. Sorry to disturb you.'

'I'm glad you did. Lousy dinner. Dull broad.'

'Up yours,' Maybelle Hawks said on the extension.

'Got some good news for you, Josh. They reopened the Kipper case. Your bosses swung some heavy clout.'

'Good,' I said happily. 'Glad to hear it. Now listen to what I've g o t. . '

I kept my report as short and succinct as I could. I told him Goldie Knurr really was Godfrey's sister. I gave a brief account of my meeting with Jesse Karp and what he had told me of the boyhood of Godfrey Knurr. I went into more detail in describing the interviews with the Reverend Ludwig Stokes and Sylvia Wiesenfeld. I told Stilton I had returned with the original marriage licence. I did not mention the letter from the Mexican attorney.

They didn't interrupt my report, except once when I was describing Knurr's physical abuse of Sylvia Wiesenfeld, which I exaggerated. Maybelle Hawks broke in with a furious 'That bastard!'

When I finished, I waited for Stilton's questions. They came rapidly.

'Let's take it from the top,' he said. 'This priest — he's how old?'

'About seventy-five. Around there.'

'And Knurr has been blackmailing him for twenty-five years?'

'About.'

'Why didn't he blow the whistle before this?'

'Personal shame. And what it would do to his church.'

'What did Knurr take him for?'

'I don't know the exact dollar amount. A lot of money.

Plus getting Knurr into the seminary. And performing the marriage ceremony, probably without the bride's father's knowledge.'

'And you say this Stokes is willing to bring charges now?'

'He says so. He says he's an old man and wants to make his peace with God.'

'Uh-huh. What kind of a guy is he? Got all his marbles?'

'Oh yes,' I said, and found myself crossing my fingers, a childish gesture. 'He's a dignified old gentleman, very scholarly, who lives alone and has plenty of time to think about his past life. He says he wants to atone for his sins.'

'He may get a chance. All right, now about the w i f e. .

The marriage licence is legit?'

'Absolutely.'

'No record of a divorce, legal separation — nothing like that?'

'She says no. She's living on a trust fund her father left 414

her. After the way Knurr treated her, she was glad to get rid of him and assume her maiden name.'

'He deserted her?'

'Right,' I said definitely. 'She was happy to find out where he is. I don't think it would take much to convince her to bring charges. The reasons are economic. That trust fund that seemed like a lot of money twenty years ago doesn't amount to much now. She's hurting.'

'And what kind of a woman is she? A whacko?'

'Oh no,' I protested. 'A very mature, intelligent woman.'

There was silence awhile. Then Detective Stilton said:

'What we've got are two out-of-state possibles. Charges would have to be brought in Indiana, then we have extradition. If that goes through, we've lost him on the homicides.'

'Correct,' I agreed. 'The blackmail and desertion charges are just small ammunition. But the big guns are that marriage licence — and his affair with Glynis Stonehouse.'

He knew at once what I meant.

'You want to brace Tippi Kipper?' he said.

'That's right, Perce. Be absolutely honest with her. Lay out all we've got. Show her the marriage licence. I think she'll make a deal.'

'Mmm,' he said. 'Maybe. Belle, what do you think? Will it work?'

'A good chance,' she said on the extension. 'I'll bet my left tit he never told her he was married. A guy like him wouldn't be that stupid. And when you tell her about Glynis Stonehouse, it'll just confirm what she read in that poison-pen letter Josh sent her. She'll be burning. He played her for a sucker. She's a woman who's been around the block twice. Her ego's not going to let him make her a patsy. I'm betting she'll pull the rug on him.'

'Yeah,' Stilton said slowly. 'And we can always try the 415

publicity angle on her, just happen to mention we know about her prostitution arrest. She's a grand lady now; she'd die if that got in the papers.'

'Let's go after her,' I urged. 'Really twist.'

He made up his mind.

'Right,' he said, 'we'll do it. Go in early before she's had a chance to put herself together. Josh, I'll meet you outside the Kipper place at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Got that? Bring all the paper, especially that marriage licence.'

'I'll be there,' I promised.

'We'll break her,' he said, beginning to get exited by the prospect. 'No rough stuff. Kid gloves. Very sincere and low-key. Treat a whore like a lady and a lady like a whore.

Who said that, Josh?'

'I'm not sure. It sounds like Lord Chesterfield.'

'Whoever,' he said.

'If you believe that, Perce,' Maybelle Hawks said, 'it makes me a lady.'

We all laughed, talked for a moment of how we should dress for our confrontation with Tippi Kipper, and then said goodnight.

I went immediately to my kitchen and began to eat ravenously. I cleaned out the refrigerator. I had three fried eggs, a sardine and onion sandwich, almost a quart of milk, a pint of chocolate ice cream. Then, still hungry, I heated up a can of noodle soup and had that with two vanilla cupcakes and half a cucumber.

Belching, I undressed and went into the shower. The water was blessedly hot. I soaped and rinsed three times, washed my hair, shaved, and doused myself with cologne.

Groaning with contentment, I rolled into bed about 1.00

a. m. It may have been my excitement, or perhaps that sardine and onion sandwich, but I did not fall asleep immediately. I lay on my back, thinking of what we would do in the morning, what we would say to Tippi Kipper, how important it was that we should break her.

I did not pray to God because, although I am a religious man, I did not much believe in prayer. What was the point — since God must know what is in our hearts? But I felt my lies and low cunning would be pardoned if they succeeded in bringing down Godfrey Knurr.

He was an abomination. As Jesse Karp had said, Knurr went bulling his way through life, all shoulders and elbows. He just didn't care; that was what I could not forgive. He exemplified brute force and brute morality. I felt no guilt for what I was trying to do to him.

Just before I fell asleep, I remembered Cleo Hufnagel. I realized, groaning that she had been out of my thoughts for days. I felt guilt about that.

On Saturday, the March sky was hard, an icy blue whitened by a blurry sun, and in the west a faded wedge of morning moon. Not a cloud. But an angry wind came steadily and swirled the streets.

I took a cab uptown and marvelled at how sharp the city looked, chopped out, everything standing clear. The air was washed clean, and pierced.

I was wearing my good pinstripe suit, vested, with a white shirt and dull tie. Stilton and I had agreed to dress like undertakers: conservative, solemn, but sympathetic.

Men to be trusted.

A dusty-blue Plymouth was parked in front of the Kipper townhouse. Behind the wheel was a carelessly dressed giant of a man with a scraggly blond moustache that covered his mouth. Percy sat beside him, looking like 417

a judge. He motioned me into the back seat. I climbed in, closed the door. I held my scruffy briefcase on my lap.

'Josh,' Perce said, 'this slob is Lou, my partner.'

'Good morning, Lou,' I said.

'Got all the paper?' Stilton asked.

'Everything,' I said, feeling slightly ill.

'Good,' he said. 'When we get inside, let me do the spiel.

You follow my lead. Just nod. You're the shill. Got that?'

'I understand.'