King Coral - Honey Bare

I leaned on the doorbell, waiting a couple of seconds, then I leaned on it again. I was getting ready to do it the third time. The door swung open.

Lee Harmon was wearing Bermuda shorts. No shoes. He got a surprised look on his face when he recognized me. It was even more surprised when I tossed my trench coat at his face.

He whipped his hands up to catch it and while it blocked his view, I slammed my right fist into his gut. It was a bit fleshy but there was a lot of. give. By that time he’d shoved the trench coat away from the front of his face. His hands were down and his rugged jaw was unprotected.

I felt the pain in my fist as it connected with his chin. His eyes blurred and he was beginning to sink as his knees buckled. I fed my left into his gut. As he toppled forward my knee came up; and as it crashed against his chin his head shot backwards.

Because my trench coat was lying on the floor near Lee Harmon I picked it up and tossed it over the back of a chair. And then I waited for Lee Harmon to make his next move. He stirred around a bit, shoved himself upwards on his hands as though he were starting a push-up.

My right foot swiped viciously and I knocked the props out from under him. His face thumped loudly against the rug. I waited.

Finally Lee Harmon turned his head so that he could look at me. He was stretched out on his stomach, the blood was seeping from his nose.

“What the hell is this?” he asked.

“This is getting-even-time, Harmon,” I told him “But I’ve still got a few licks coming.”

“What for? I didn’t make a massacre out of you!”

“Didn’t you?”

“Hell, no! I wrapped you up real quick and let you sleep it off down in the garage.”

“How about the two guys you sent around to take care of me later?”

Harmon was blinking at me as he sat up. The back of his right forearm slid across his upper lip, and it came away, striped a brilliant red. Finally he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lincoln.”

I knew he was lying. I was positive. In two quick steps I was within range. My right foot slashed upwards and the heel of my shoe caught him on the point of the chin, flipping him backwards.

“Damnit!” he yelled. “What do you want from me?”

Harmon was having problems pushing his shoulders off the rug. I stood nearby and watched him struggling until he was sitting upright again. This time he used both hands to keep himself propped up. The blood was seeping from his nose, oozing over his lips and beginning to drip off the point of his chin.

I asked, “Did you kill Sarah Leighton?”

He blinked rapidly. His mouth fell open a bit and the blood was now staining his front teeth. “Sarah – she was murdered?”

“She was.”

He was shaking his head and his eyes were clouded. This guy was no actor. I was certain that this was the first time he’d heard about Sarah’s death.

I extended my hand. “Grab it,” I said. “Why don’t you get off the floor, sit down, and let’s talk.”

He was staring at me, as though deciding whether he should trust me. Finally his hand came forward and I pulled him up. A moment later he was sitting in a chair. I tossed him my handkerchief and he used it to blot the blood streaming out of his nose. And then I waited. Until he’d gotten everything under control.

“You all right now, Harmon?”

He nodded.

I asked, “Where were you, Saturday morning, between the hours of six and ten?”

His eyes tightened. “That’s none of your damned business.”

“Then you killed her.”

I got up and walked across the room. I picked up the phone and started dialing.

“The police will be happy to talk to you.”

“No! Wait a minute, Lincoln!” I ignored him.

“Let me explain it to you! Dammit, I had a good reason for doing what I did.”

“Alright.” I dropped the phone into the cradle. I figured I had a confession.

As it turned out, I didn’t have anything.

I had a long story from Lee Harmon; and when he’d finished his story made a lot of sense, and I believed him. When I’d dropped by to see him the first time he was leaving for the airport. He was taking a plane to San Francisco to finalize a big real estate deal. Because it was very touchy, and he and his partners were trying to pull it out secretly, Harmon had thought I’d been sent by the competitors to detain him. That’s why he’d jumped me. He swore he hadn’t hired the two guys to beat up on me.

He also swore that he hadn’t killed Sarah Leighton. He admitted that he owed her a lot of back alimony; but he honestly intended to pay it, the moment the real estate deal had been consummated. At the time Sarah had been murdered he insisted he’d been meeting with the silent partners on the deal they were frying to close. And now he was silent, watching me and waiting for my reaction to his story.

I said, “If you didn’t kill Sarah, do you know who did?”

He was shaking his head.

“Don’t you suspect anyone?”

He was staring thoughtfully at the rug, while his hand with the red-tinged handkerchief swabbed erratically at his nose. Finally he said, “Unless it was Nora.”

I made sure the surprise didn’t show in my face. It was funny, but Nora’s name continually came up. First of all, she’d been at the restaurant while Sarah and I were having dinner. Nancy pulled her name out of the blue and she had just happened to know where Nora lived. And now Lee Harmon was offering her name.

“Why?”

Harmon straightened up, and his hand slid suavely along the side of his head, smoothing out his hair. “Sarah was a close friend of Nora’s. The moment I started dating Sarah, Nora started pitching me. She had it bad for me. She wanted me so badly she wet her pants every time she found out I was with Sarah.

When I married Sarah, Nora was the sore loser.”

Some of the confidence had returned to Lee Harmon. He grinned happily. “Nora was eating her heart out because I never made a pass at her. When Sarah and I got married, Nora went out of her mind. She never forgot it. She packed the grudge. Even I didn’t realize it until now. But Nora killed Sarah. I’m sure of it.”

I tried to shake him. “You’re a goddamned egotist, Harmon. You’re just trying to build yourself up by tossing out Nora’s name.”

I didn’t shake him. “No,” he said very seriously, “it’s true. Nora was a sore loser.”

“Did you ever sleep with her?”

“Are you kidding? She was a bitch, every time she got near me. A hell of a body. I was tempted, believe me. But I didn’t go for it. Only because I was planning to marry Sarah at the time.”

He’d called it. He’d characterized Nora beautifully. Now as I sat there, staring at him and thinking about everything he’d told me I was beginning to believe him. At the same time I was thinking about Nora and the key to her house that was in the pocket of my trench coat.

I got out of my chair, walked across the room and picked up my trench coat. As I slipped into it I said, “If I find out that you hired the two guys, I’m coming back to see you, Harmon.”

“What is it?” he was asking. “Why does that bug you, Lincoln?”

I didn’t tell him about the warning to stay away from Honey and Bonnie. I merely said, “I don’t like to be used as a punching bag, and then end up face down in the mud.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That figures.”

“Another thing,” I said. “If the police don’t hear from me by Monday morning, they are coming by and they will be looking for you.”

“I’ll be here,” Harmon said.

“If you aren’t, they’ll find you.”

I walked to the door, stepped outside, then slammed it shut after me. While I was riding down the elevator I was already thinking about the ride out to Malibu.