William Diehl - Seven ways to die

“Maybe it would help to lie down on the sofa.”

“No. I’ll be alright in a minute.” He paused and then added, “How do you do it? Seeing things like that all the time?”

“It goes with the territory. I don’t know how I’d handle it if the victim were a friend.”

Nevins sat up and wiped his face with the wet towel. Tears were streaming down his face which sagged with sorrow.

“Why? Why would anyone do such an abominable thing to Raymond? How could someone hate him that much?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”

“Are there suspects? Do you have any ideas?”

“I was hoping you could help us with that.”

“I can’t imagine Ray being involved in anything that tawdry. Perhaps he was victimized, kidnapped or forced into it.”

“I ran the crime scene with my boss, Mister Nevins. He’s the best there is. I can assure you, Handley knew what he was getting into. Our best guess is that he thought it was a game but whoever killed him went there with murder in mind.”

“Nobody I know who knew him well could possibly be capable of such a thing. He was a lovely young man. He was tough but he never intentionally hurt anyone.”

“ Quid pro quo. Tell me about the Yellow Door.”

“I will, just please tell me how it figures into this.”

“He stopped there on his way home from Cincinnati. Met a woman in one of its private rooms. She got there before him, he arrived about midnight, she left a few minutes later. He waited about fifteen minutes and left the back way. He got home in a cab about one. We are certain that a single person committed the crime. That person got there before Raymond. That person had his keys and set up the scene. That person planned to kill him and robbery was not a factor.”

“Any description of the woman?”

“Not much. Red designer dress, about five-five, five six, depending on the shoes. She was wearing a Dracula mask, the kind that goes down to the shoulders. She didn’t take a cab to Handley’s place, if she went there at all.”

“You think it could have been someone else? I mean, it sounds like…”

“The Yellow Door, Mister Nevins.”

“Please, just help me understand this. Was he tortured? Was he in great pain? Was there a struggle?”

“I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. At this point anybody who knew him is suspect.”

“Does that include Edgar and me?”

“You’re sixty-one, born in Haddonfield, N.J. Your dad was a veep at RCA. You’re a graduate of Harvard Law with an MB from the Wharton School. You’re Victor Stembler’s closest confidant, been with the firm for thirty-eight years, a senior partner and member of the Board with an enormous salary and all the accoutrements that go with it.”

“Huh,” said Nevins, sardonically. “You’re certainly thorough. What’s my shoe size?”

“Eleven C, you wear a forty long and your shirt size is sixteen/thirty-five. That was easy, I’m sitting here looking at you.”

Nevins smiled and nodded his head.

“Your point, Inspector,” he said ruefully. “Time to talk about the Yellow Door.”

The wolves started to howl at dusk. Charley heard them first. Cody saw his ears go up. The big white dog sat up and his ears turned like a radio antenna searching for a signal. He whined deep in his throat, barely audible.

“It’s okay,” Cody said and Charley looked at him and settled back down in the corner of the office but his ears were still tuned to the sound.

Out in the office Hue was taping the beginning of Bergman’s interview with Nevins.

Then she called. He recognized the number when it appeared on the caller I.D. on his private line. Cody picked up the receiver.

“This is Cody,” he said.

“Hi,” she said. “It’s Amelie Cluett. Remember me?”

“Of course.”

“I think I may have thought of something. Could you stop by?”

“Now?”

“I’m sorry. I know you must be busy…” There was a sense of urgency in her tone.

He was thinking while she spoke. The Wildlife Center was only a few blocks away from her.

In the background he could hear Bergman’s conversation with Nevins on the loudspeaker.

“That’s alright,” he said. “I was just heading up that way. I’ll swing by in a few minutes.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” He hung up without saying goodbye.

He grabbed his leather jacket and Charley started to get up.

“Stay, Charley, I’ll be back soon,” he said and the dog looked at him for a moment and whined again and lay back down.

As he walked out of his office he heard the end of Bergman’s conversation.

“His recorder just went dead,” Hue said.

“You heard, Nevins,” Cody said to him, “He said to put away the notebook. Erase what you taped so far.”

“Good call, Cody,” Kate Winters said and smiled.

Cody slipped his leather jacket on.

“Where you headed?” Si asked.

“Seventy-third Street,” Cody said. “The Cluett woman just called me.”

“She didn’t mention the Yellow Door in your Q and A.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“You going on tape?’ Hue asked as Cody headed for the door.

“Monitor me and see,” Cody said as he headed for the elevator to the garage. As he left he looked at the clock on the big board.

11:57.

Below it was the real time and date. It was 6:59 p.m., 10/26/08 and they were almost twelve hours into the case and were without any hard evidence except the corpse and had no suspects except an elusive woman in a red dress and a Dracula mask. Cody was getting edgy, the crew could tell.

He checked out one of the town cars and headed to Bowery, took a left to Third and a right to 73 ^ rd.

He parked in the alley next to the Handley brownstone. Then he heard the wolf again. It was a high-pitched, modulated howl, a lonely sound tinged with sadness. He pressed the mike button on the gear shift.

“Hue?” Cody said.

“It’s Si. Hue’s grabbing dinner.”

“Have we heard anything from Cal?”

“Not yet.”

“Who’s running recon?”

“Jonee on the south side, Butch on the north. Hue’ll relieve Butch at eleven, Wow will take the south. I’ll run the board here. At six a.m. it’ll be Frank and Annie, south, Cal and Kate on the north, and Hue’ll be back on the board.”

“Anybody planning to sleep?”

“We’ll all be cat-napping here until we get back to normal.”

“That’ll be the day,” Cody said and chuckled. “That’s a good plan, Si. Thanks.”

“Oh, your pal Dave called. He’ll be calling you on your cell.”

“Thanks. I’m going off the monitor now. You need me, call the cell. I’ve got it on the hummer.”

“Gotcha.”

Cody turned off the car, got out and locked the doors. The wolf bayed again as he walked toward the front door and dialed Amelie Cluett. It was very dark. The lights over the doorway were off.

“Hello?”

“It’s Cody. Want to buzz me in?”

“Wow, that was quick.”

The door buzzed and popped open and he entered the hallway. He looked to his left, noticed a light switch and clicked it. The lights outside flicked on.

Huh, he thought. Then he heard her door open and he looked up, and sucked in his breath.

She was standing at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a madras skirt cut four inches above the knee, a white frilly blouse and a red vest. He looked her over as he came up the stairs.

“Not working tonight?”

“I took the day off,” she said, leading him into the living room. The smell of strong coffee greeted him.

“I started to go to the gym this morning but I changed my mind and came home, canceled my appointments and cried for a while. Then I decided to clean the place. That’s what women do when they’re upset, they sanitize the nest and take a shower.”