The KenKen Killings Part 30

Cora put up her hand. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Melvin came up here first? She came up and joined him?"

"That's right."

"How'd she get here?"

"Huh?"

"If they came up separately, why don't they have two cars?"

"She took a bus."

"Oh?"

"He picked her up in Danbury."

"When?"

"Day before the hearing."

Cora frowned. "I'm confused again. He picked her up the day before the hearing. But she wasn't here when he took the teller to dinner?"

"No, that was last week."

"Last week!"

"Yeah. He came up early to 'check out the witnesses.' He tried to check out Lilly Clemson, all right."

"Melvin's been in town since last week?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know?"

"How do you think?"

Cora frowned. "And all he did was romance the teller?"

"He didn't romance her."

"Whatever you want to call it. That's all he did?"

"He also had a talk with the other witness."

"What other witness?"

"The bank manager who testified."

"The one who got killed?"

"Yeah."

"Melvin had a talk with him?"

"That's right."

Cora had completely forgotten her cigarette. The ash was nearly two inches long. It fell to the floor. "Before or after he had dinner with the teller?"

"Both."

"Huh?"

"He talked to him in the bank. Right after he talked to the teller. He went from her window to his desk. That night he took her to dinner."

"Okay, that's before. You say he also talked to the bank manager after he took the teller to dinner?"

"That's right."

"The next day?"

"No. After he testified."

Cora's mouth fell open. "Melvin talked to the bank manager the same day he testified?"

"You know Melvin. He'd want to review the guy's performance."

"He talked to him right after court?"

"No. He saw him later."

"In the bank?"

"No."

"Where did he see him?"

"In his house."

CHAPTER.

39.

Melvin's smile was smug. "I knew you'd be back."

"I'm not back. I'm here because you're in trouble and you're too arrogant to know it."

Melvin chuckled. "And you're worried about me. That is so sweet."

Cora flushed. "I'm not worried about you. No, I am worried about you. I'm worried you'll get arrested for a crime you didn't do, and the real killer will get away."

"Worried is worried. I think it's sweet."

"Are you forgetting you taught me to shoot?"

"Probably a mistake. But you're the one woman who took a s.h.i.+ne to it."

"Where's Lolita?"

Cora had gone straight to Melvin's unit after talking to his wife. She took a perverse pleasure in doing so. The current Mrs. Crabtree didn't dare tag along for fear of letting Melvin know she was there.

"Bambi went shopping. You know women. They like to shop."

"Good. Let's talk turkey. You didn't just get here the day of the trial. You've been around for a while. You took the teller out to dinner, saw the banker in his house. Seeing as how he got killed, that puts you in a rather precarious position."

"How the h.e.l.l do you know all that?"

Cora shook her head pityingly. "Were you present at our divorce hearing? Our very first one, way back when. All that stuff I had on you. You think I hired a detective to get it? Those guys wanna be paid. The point being I'm pretty good at finding things out. I know you came up here ahead of Bambi, nosed around, made a play for the teller. What in the world were you thinking? I mean, the testimony's ice cold unless you make it look like it's concocted. The only way you can do that is by messing with the witnesses. But you just can't help running your game. You meet a halfway decent woman, you gotta turn on the charm. She buying it, by the way?"

"What do you care?"

"I don't. Except we got a crime that makes no sense, and you managed to stick yourself smack dab in the middle of it. It's a dreadful situation. Left alone, the police will take your actions at face value and arrest you for murder. And guess what? Becky Baldwin can't represent you, she's representing me. Which leaves you with that two-bit ambulance-chasing divorce lawyer, or sh.e.l.ling out an astronomical sum to hire some big-time defense attorney from New York. Either way, I wouldn't like to be you."

"You're crazy."

"Oh, yeah? Ignore what I'm saying, keep on what you're doing, and when they read you your rights, think before you talk."

"You really do care about me."

"I don't want you in jail doing time. I want you footloose and fancy free, chasing women and paying the alimony you're still going to owe me when I win the legal suit."

"What are you talking about? You're using a lot of words to say the simplest thing. That's what you used to do when you were fl.u.s.tered." He grinned. "Not just fl.u.s.tered. Hot and bothered. Remember?"

"No."

Melvin laughed. "Well, there's an overreaction. You're gonna give me one-word answers to prove you're not turned on?"

"You're despicable, you know it."

"Ah. A compromise." Melvin c.o.c.ked his head. "Wanna grab some lunch?"

"What about Bambi?"

"She can take care of herself."

"I was sure that was your att.i.tude. I just wanted to hear you say it."

"Shall we go?"

"You must be kidding."

"He, I'm a lot of things, but a kidder isn't one of them. You wanna go out with me?"

Cora took a breath. "No, Melvin. I don't want to go out with you. I just want to tell you where you stand. Right now you're an excellent candidate for a murder rap. I just hope they don't arrest you before you lose the alimony suit."

"I'm not going to lose the alimony suit."

"Sure you are. The witness blew up on the stand, couldn't ID the check. I don't think the shyster you hired has the guns to repair the damage."

Melvin scowled. "You let me worry about that."

"I certainly will. Not that it's going to matter. You might as well go home. If you go back to New York before anyone thinks to arrest you, you can fight extradition." Cora's smile was mocking. "If you stall long enough, maybe I can solve the crime before the Connecticut authorities manage to bring you back."

Cora got in the car and drove home. She was angry at herself for letting Melvin get to her. He'd done it so easily, too, with just the slightest innuendo and an offer of lunch. Rattled her completely. Maybe she could solve the crime, h.e.l.l. Talk about whistling in the dark.

If she couldn't hold herself together any better than this, it would be up to Chief Harper to solve the crime.

CHAPTER.

40.

The young man looked upset. He also looked familiar. Of course, everyone in Bakerhaven looked familiar. It was a small town. Even so, Chief Harper had trouble keeping them straight. The man looked like an O'Reilly or a Coopersmith, but the chief was d.a.m.ned if he knew which.

"What's the trouble?" Harper said.

The young man s.h.i.+fted from foot to foot. "You can tell, can't you? Boy. I was never good at hiding anything. Take it from Lilly. Sorry, I'm nervous. I'm Luke Haas, Lilly Clemson's boyfriend. Lilly called me last night, all upset. She's a witness and she wasn't very good. Becky got her rattled on the stand. That's Becky Baldwin, Cora Felton's attorney-"

"I know all about it," Harper said. "Go on."

"The man she was testifying for..." He grimaced. "That sounds like she was for him. She's not. The guy making all the trouble. Melvin something or other. He wasn't happy with the way she testified. He came to her room last night and told her so. Scared her silly. He didn't mean to. Quite the opposite. All oily and smiley and persuasive. Made her flesh crawl. Anyway, she was scared."

"So she called you."

"Yeah. I tried to get her to go to the police, but she wouldn't do it. And she told me not to say anything. She'd be mad if she knew I was here. If there's any way you can keep me out of it, I'd appreciate it."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Isn't there a law about intimidating a witness?"