Jed Rubenfeld - The Interpretation of Murder

Nora remembered being shocked by the audacity of the plan. She asked if Clara really thought it possible.

No, Clara said. She could never ask anyone to play the part of Banwell's mistress and victim. She (Clara) must simply endure her fate.

It was then that Nora said she would do it.

Clara reacted with apparent shock. Absolutely not, she replied. The girl who played the part of the victim would have to allow herself to be hurt. Nora asked Clara if, by hurt, she meant raped. Of course not, Clara said, but the victim would have to let herself be bound, with a cord or rope around her neck, and Clara might even have to leave a mark or two. Nora insisted that she would do it. At last Clara gave in, and they went forward with the plot. Nora was unsure exactly what happened at the Balmoral on Sunday night, undoubtedly because of the coroner's catalepsy-inducing drug. Nora did remember Clara telling her not to scream, and she remembered she kept forgetting her false name. The rest, however, was indistinct. I explained all this to Littlemore.

'I know what happened next,' he said. 'When Nora wakes up Monday morning, she's with Hugel in the morgue. He tells her the bad news: the tie he was supposed to find at the murder scene, the silk tie with Banwell's monogram, which was going to prove Banwell did it, wasn't there. That's because Banwell went in through the passage as soon as he found out about the "murder." He had to get his own clothes out of there, so we didn't connect him to Miss Riverford.'

'But Banwell was out of town Sunday night, with the mayor,' I said. 'Hugel didn't know?'

'None of them knew. Banwell was supposed to be having dinner in the city. Banwell's thing with the mayor in Saranac came up at the last minute. All very hush-hush. There was no way for Clara to find out about it either, because there's no phone at the Banwells' country place. So Clara sneaks in from Tarry Town that night, does her business to Nora around nine or so, and drives back. She told Hugel to put the time of death between midnight and two, because Banwell was supposed to have been home by then.'

'But Banwell saw his tie there the next morning and took it away before Hugel arrived.'

'Right. Without the tie, Hugel's in trouble. He can't reach Clara. So he decides he's got to stage another fake attack, this one at Nora's house, where they'll leave another piece of evidence. He needs to convict Banwell, see? That's his deal with Clara. She had given him ten thousand dollars up front, and he was going to get another thirty thousand if Banwell was convicted. But something went wrong the second time too, I don't know what. Hugel clammed up.'

Again, I could fill in the blanks. Nora had gone along with the second attack both because she still thought she was rescuing Clara and because she didn't know how else she would explain all the wounds she had woken up with. In the second 'attack,' the coroner would merely tie her up and leave her. She was not to be hurt again at all. And she wasn't. (That was why she hadn't been able to answer my questions yesterday. I asked her whether any man had whipped her. She was afraid to tell me the truth, because Clara had sworn that Banwell would kill her — Clara — if he ever found out.) But when the coroner tied Nora up, he had grown unstable. He kept staring at her. He was sweating and seemed to be having trouble swallowing, Nora said. He never threatened her; nor did he molest her. But he kept adjusting the rope around her wrists. He wouldn't leave. Then he brushed up against her.

'Apparently your coroner lost control of himself,' I said, without further detail. 'Nora screamed.'

'And Hugel panicked, right?' said Littlemore. 'He runs out the back way. He's got Banwell's tiepin; he meant to leave it in the bedroom. But he's so panicked he forgot. So he throws it into the garden, figuring we'll find it when we search the grounds.'

After the coroner ran away, Nora didn't know what to do. The coroner was supposed to have rendered her unconscious, but he had run out without giving her the narcotic. At a loss, Nora pretended she couldn't speak or remember anything about what had happened. Her real voice loss from three years earlier, and her real — although quite limited — amnesia from the night before gave her the idea.

'Why did Banwell put the trunk in the river?' I asked.

'The guy was in a tight spot,' said Littlemore. 'Think about it. If he let us go through all the stuff in the apartment, he knew we'd trace it and bag him for the murder. But he couldn't just tell us that Elizabeth was Nora. Even if we believed him, he'd have a huge scandal on his hands, and he'd probably go to jail for corrupting a minor. So he told the mayor he was sending Miss Riverford's things back to Chicago. He loaded them into a trunk and took it down to the caisson. Figured it's the perfect place — until he ran into Malley.'

'He almost fooled us,' I said.

'With Malley?'

'No. When he — when he burned Nora.' The thought of it made me feel I had killed the wrong Banwell.

'Yup,' said Littlemore. 'He wanted us to think Nora was crazy and did everything to herself. He figures if he can pull that off, he can beat the whole rap. Doesn't matter what Nora says; no one will believe her.'

'What made him go back to kill her last night?' I asked.

'Nora sent Clara a letter,' he answered. 'It said she was going to tell the police about everything Banwell did to Clara and to the other girls, the immigrant girls. Apparently Banwell saw it.'

'I wonder if Clara let him see it,' I said.

'Could be. But then Hugel pays a visit. Banwell's in the apartment when Hugel gets there, and he starts to put two and two together. That night, he ties Clara up to keep her out of the way and heads downtown to the Actons'. That's when I stumble onto the secret passage at the Balmoral. Boy, Clara was good. She tells me her husband's gone to kill Nora, but she made it seem like I was dragging it out of her. I don't think she realized then that Nora wasn't in her house at all. How did Clara find out Nora was at the hotel?'

'Nora called her,' I said. 'What about the Chinaman?'

'Leon? They'll never find him,' Littlemore answered. 'I had a long talk today with Mr Chong. Seems that Cousin Leon comes to him a month ago, says there's a rich guy who will pay them to take a trunk off his hands. That night, the two of them go to the Balmoral and bring the trunk back to Leon's room by cab. Next day, Leon's packing up. Where you going? Chong asks him. Washington, says Leon, then back to China. Chong's getting nervous. What's in the trunk? he asks. Look for yourself, says Leon. So Chong opens it, and he sees one of Leon's girlfriends dead inside. Chong gets upset; he says the police are going to think Leon killed her. Leon laughs and says that's exactly what the police are supposed to think. Leon also tells Chong to show up at the Balmoral the next day, and they'll give him a real good job. Chong's mad about that. He figures Leon got paid off big; otherwise he couldn't be going back to China. So, being a Chinaman, Chong asks for two jobs as his reward, not one, and Leon fixes it up for him.'

We pulled up at the hotel, each in our own thoughts.

Littlemore said, 'There's just one thing. Why does Clara work so hard to get Nora for Banwell if Clara is so jealous of her? That doesn't make sense.'

'Oh, I don't know,' I replied, getting out of the car. 'Some people feel a need to bring about the very thing that will most torment them.'

'They do?'

'Yes.'

'Why?' asked Littlemore.

'I have no idea, Detective. It's an unsolved mystery.'

'That reminds me: I'm not a detective anymore,' he said. 'The mayor's making me a lieutenant.'

A torrential rain poured down on our entire party — Freud, a visibly uncomfortable Jung, Brill, Ferenczi, Jones, and myself — at the South Street harbor Saturday evening. As their luggage was loaded onto the overnight boat from New York to Fall River, Freud pulled me to one side.