Ed McBain: Kiss

Marry all that money.

And the beauty part was that the inheritance would never be questioned because nobody would even guess that Emma had been involved in any way. Last night, while a burglar was killing her husband, she'd been nowhere near the apartment. She had in fact ...

"She told us she'd been out to dinner with a girlfriend," Carella said.

"Exactly," Denker said.

"Yes, we checked. An early dinner. Her alibi's a good one. She was nowhere near the apartment when you killed him.”

"Which is exactly the way we planned it. I told Bowles I wanted him out of town on Friday night, I was going to do it Friday night, tonight. But instead I did it last night.

He never expected to see me there in a million years. I think he realized what was happening a second before it happened. But by then it was too late, wasn't it?”

"It was too late, all right," Carella said.

"Do you know what else she told us when we got to the apartment last night? After she came home, and found her husband dead, and called the po ...”

"I know exactly what she ...”

"She told us, again, that she thought you'd already gone back to Chicago. Told us, again, that she'd said goodbye to you on Tuesday afternoon.”

"That's right. That was my alibi. I was gone, I was in Chicago, it was a burglar who killed her husband. That's what we worked out together. She was supposed to tell you ...”

"Well, she did. And she also said your relationship had been strictly business ...”

"Right ...”

“... and whereas she wasn't sorry her husband was dead, she couldn't see how you'd had anything to do with it.”

"She was supposed to say that, too.”

"Good, she did. And, of course, she'd had nothing to do with it, either. She was out having an early dinner with a girlfriend. How much money would you say was involved here, Denker?”

"In the will? A million-six.”

"That's a lot of money.”

"Sure. Well, that's the only reason I went into it. She kept talking about love, but I was counting all that money. It was a good plan.”

"Still is," Carella said.

Denker looked at him.

"But guess who'll end up with all of it,”

Carella said.

Denker kept looking at him.

"The recovered jewelry, the cash, the T-bills, the million-six in the will ...”

Denker was already shaking his head.

"Yes," Carella said, nodding.

"No.”

"She set you up, Denker.”

"No, she didn't.”

"Yes, she did. She used you.”

"You're wrong.”

"Just a few questions, Denker, set it straight.”

"Sure.”

"Did she ever once mention that we knew of your existence?”

"No, how could you ...?was "Because she told us all about you, you see. We began tracking you almost from minute one.”

Denker looked at him.

"Did she mention that we knew you'd bought a gun?”

"No, she never ...”

"Didn't mention that, either, huh?”

"No, but ...”

“Because she also knew that, you see. That you'd bought a gun. We'd given her that information.”

Silence.

"A Colt forty-five.”

Silence.

"She let you use a gun we knew about, Denker.”

Another silence. The silence lengthened. He was realizing that the gun was the only real thing that linked him to the murder. She'd known they were - onto the gun ... but she hadn't warned him.

"But ...”

He shook his head.

"She wanted to marry me," he said.

Carella said nothing.

"She told me she loved me," he said.

Carella still said nothing.

"For Christ's sake, we planned it together!”

Denker shouted.

"Can you prove that?" Carella asked.

"Well, no, but ...”

"Neither can we.”

It was six o'clock on Friday morning.

Dawn was yet almost half an hour away, but there was already a faint reddish stain on the horizon to the east. Denker had been taken away in handcuffs. Nellie Brand had all she needed, and now she and the two detectives sat in the squadroom drinking fresh coffee they'd ordered from the all-night deli on Culver. They were trying to figure how they could bring Emma Bowles into this. They couldn't see any way to do it.

"We can't use his confession to implicate her," Nellie said.

"No, we can't," Carella said.

"That's the law.”

"That's the law," Meyer said.

"Otherwise everybody and his brother'll say somebody else put him up to it.”

The squadroom was silent. The clock ticked loudly into the stillness.

"Can you see any way to charge her with anything?" Nellie asked.

"No," Carella said.

"No," Meyer said.

"So that's it," Nellie said, and drained her cup. She looked up at the clock, stretched, and said, "If I leave for home right this minute, I'll get half an hour's sleep before the alarm rings.”

The two detectives said nothing.

"Cheer up," she said.

Carella nodded.

Nellie shook hands with Meyer.

"Good night," she said. "I'll talk to you.”

"Good night," he said.

She extended her hand to Carella. He took it.

"Good night," she said. "Good night, Nellie.”

Their eyes met.

"Come on," she said. "Half a loaf is better than none.”

Carella nodded.

He was thinking that yesterday afternoon Samson Wilbur Cole had walked out of that courtroom a free man, and today Emma Katherine Bowles was walking, too. He was thinking that nowadays if you got anywhere near half a loaf you were lucky.

Most of the time, all you got were the crumbs left on the table.

"Come on, Steve," she said softly.

For an instant-but only an instant-it seemed as if she might lean in to kiss him gently and comfortingly on the cheek. The moment passed. She released his hand.

"See you guys," she said, and went out of the squadroom.

THE END