Howard Fast - The Case of the Kidnapped Angel

“For Christ’s sake, what am I, a platoon? I was in the front hall. There’s an outside entrance to this place, and whoever killed him must have used a silencer. The ladies didn’t hear anything, so why are you leaning on me?”

“All right, Voorhis,” Masuto said. “Go back to the station and write out your report.” And to Beckman, “The ladies heard nothing?”

“Nothing. And the walls and doors in this servants’ wing are paper thin. So he must have used a silencer.”

“I suppose so.”

“That’s a steady hand. A gun with a silencer and pop-right between the eyes. That’s very professional shooting, Masao, and cool too. It wouldn’t be a contract, would it?”

“Not likely. There just hasn’t been time enough to set something up. This is the result of what happened yesterday.” Masuto peered closely at Kelly. “No powder burns. He probably stood across the room. Sy,” he said, turning to Beckman, “I want you to go out to Malibu and search the Barton place. You’ll have to sweet-talk Cominsky to get in there, but I don’t think he’ll mind.”

“He searched it, you know.”

“But he wasn’t looking for something.”

“What am I looking for? The million dollars?”

“No, it’s not there.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know,” Masuto said.

“But not like Cominsky, I’m looking for something. Only I don’t know what.”

“That’s right.”

“If you say so.”

“And one more thing. After that, Sy, I want the war records, if any, of McCarthy, Goldberg, Ranier, and Hennesy. I want to know what they were in the service-rank, division, job, whatever you can come up with.”

“And who took commendations for pistol marksmanship?”

“That would help.”

“And where will you be?”

“Here, I suppose. Or at the station.”

Only a few moments after Beckman left, Captain Wainwright stalked in, followed by Sweeney with his fingerprint kit, Amos Silver, the police photographer, and Dr. Baxter, who said cheerfully, “Live in Beverly Hills. A short life but a merry one. What goodie do you have for me now?”

Masuto pointed to Kelly’s corpse, visible through the door to the next room.

“Went out with a smile,” Baxter said. “Few of them do.”

“You’re a damned ghoul,” Wainwright muttered.

“Pathology, dear Captain, is a ghoulish business. Let’s have a look at him. Would it surprise you if I said he died of severe trauma of the brain? No, it would not. No powder marks. I’d say the shot was fired from at least ten feet. Took the back off the skull, perhaps a thirty-eight. And of course you whiz kids are waiting for me to tell you when he died. Not easy. Not easy at all,” Baxter complained, flexing Kelly’s fingers and feeling his cheeks. “At least six hours. That’s the best I can do.”

“Which would put it back to four o’clock in the morning.”

“Give or take an hour.”

“And when you autopsy,” Masuto asked, “you can certainly pin it down more closely?”

“Ah, the autopsy. Just happen to be in the midst of an utterly fascinating autopsy-one Angel Barton.”

“What have you got?” Wainwright demanded. “What killed her?”

“Ah, there’s a question,” Baxter said, smiling impishly. “But, you see, I am not quite through, and not one word until I finish. I’ll have some surprises, depend on it. Tell you what, send our Oriental wizard over to the hospital in an hour or so, and I’ll give him chapter and verse. Now I’m on my way-unless there are any other questions about the deceased?”

When Baxter had departed, Wainwright asked, “Why do I hate that man?”

“He’s a good pathologist,” Masuto said. “I suppose it’s just his nature to be nasty.”

“Have you searched the place?”

“Nothing that means anything. As Beckman said, the poor devil’s a loser-all his life. This gun was in a drawer of the chest.”

“This gun can’t be fired. Why do you suppose he hung on to an old piece of junk?”

“It probably gave him a sense of security.”

The photographer finished his work, telling them, “I’ll have prints in an hour or two.” The ambulance men arrived as the photographer left, straightened Kelly’s body with difficulty, and carried him out.

“I hate this,” Wainwright muttered. “I hate this whole case. Is there any hope of winding it up, Masao?”

“Tonight perhaps.”

“You got to be kidding.”

“No. I know who killed Barton-”

“His wife? How the hell do you ever prove that? She’s dead.”

“You’re right. I don’t think we’ll ever prove it, and if she weren’t dead, I don’t think we could ever convict her. I’m not sure we could convict the other two-”

“Two of them?”

“I think so. One killed Angel, and someone else killed Kelly. We have three murders, three murderers.”

“Beautiful-that’s just beautiful.” He stared at Masuto. “I never know when you’re telling me something you know or handing me a line of crap. You think you can clean this up tonight?”

“I think so, yes.”

“All right, who killed Angel and who killed Kelly?”

“I think I know who killed Angel. Kelly …” He shook his head. “But if you can get them here tonight, I think I can give it to you. Kelly and Angel both.”

“Who? Get who here? How do you get people here? Are you indulging in some goddamn literary detective fantasy?”

“McCarthy, Ranier, the Goldbergs, Mrs. Cooper, Miss Newman, and Hennesy.”

“Masao, have you lost your bearings. You don’t do such things.”

“It can be done.”

“How? Do I arrest them? Do I kidnap them?”

“Have someone reach each one of them and tell them that tonight we are going to expose the killers. You can’t force them to come, but they’ll come.”

“You read that in a book.”

“I don’t read murder mysteries,” Masuto said with some annoyance. “It’s bad enough that I live with it. Do you want me to read about it as well?”

“I read them,” Sweeney said. “You put them in one room and you get the killer. It’s pure bullshit. Every time I read one of them, I ask myself why those clowns don’t take a look at the way ordinary cops work. Like crawling around this place looking for fingerprints. From what I see, this Kelly never had a visitor. All the prints match up.”

“With what?” Wainwright demanded. “How the hell do you know that they match up?”

“Because,” Sweeney replied, smiling thinly, “when you tell me this joker has a record, which was yesterday, I pull a set of prints from the Los Angeles cops and I got it right here with me.”

“Yeah, you’re a real smartass cop,” Wainwright said and, turning to Masuto, “I don’t like it. Anyway, how can you be sure they’ll come?”

“I’m not sure. But look at it this way, Captain. There are two draws-curiosity and guilt. These people like to talk, and this is something to talk about, something to make them shine at a dinner party or whatever. On the other hand, the guilty ones will feel they’re pointing to themselves if they don’t show.”

“And how about this Angel business, Masao? Do you really think you know who killed her?”

“I’m guessing. I could be wrong.”

“And when you get them here, what then?”

“I think I know a way.”

“You’re sure it’s one of them?”

“Two of them,” Masuto said. “Will you give it a try?”

“All right. But I’ll be going way out on a limb, and so help me God, Masao, if you leave me hanging there, I’ll take it out of your hide. What time?”

“Let’s say nine o’clock. And I’ll need some money.”

“What do you mean, you’ll need some money?”