Robert had been drowned at sea while on a cruise with Stephanie. Frank had fallen from the terrace of this very apartment while leaning out too far with his binoculars to observe the passage of an unusual breed of sea gull; Frank had been an amateur ornithologist.
And Leslie Hanford had fallen off a mountain in the Laurentians while on a Canadian ski holiday. Hanford was the husband before Bullock. Apparently, the first husband. Leslie’s insurance, in fact, had been the basis for the fortune Stephanie now enjoyed, supplemented when necessary or convenient by the insurance of her later husbands. After each accidental death, Stephanie changed insurance agents and accountants. And each husband had died just over a year after the policy had been taken out.
Just over a year. So that’s how long my bride expected to share my company, was it? Well, she was right about that, though not in the way she expected. I, too, could be decisive when called upon.
Whenever the weather was good, Stephanie took the sun on our terrace. Although it would be plagiarizing a bit from my bride, I could one day, having established an alibi at the office...
The current insurance agent was named Oliver Swerdluff. I went to see him. “I just wanted to be sure,” I said, “that the new policy on my life went through without a hitch. In case anything happened to me, I’d want to be certain Stephanie was cared for.”
“An admirable sentiment,” Swerdluff said. He was a puffy, sweaty man with tiny eyes, a man who would never let suspicion get between himself and a commission. Stephanie had chosen well.
I said, “Let me see, that was — half a million?”
“Oh, we felt a million would be better,” Swerdluff said with a well-fed smile. “Double indemnity.”
“Of course!” I exclaimed. “Excuse me, I get confused about these numbers. A million, of course. Double indemnity. And that’s exactly the amount we want for the new policy, to insure Stephanie’s life. If that’s what I’m worth to her, she’s certainly that valuable to me.”
Call me a fool, but I fell in love. Bruce was so different from the others, so confident, so self-reliant. And it was so clear he loved me, loved me, not my money, not the advantages I brought him. I tried to be practical, but my heart ruled my head. This was a husband I was going to have to keep.
Many’s the afternoon I spent sunbathing and brooding on the terrace while Bruce was downtown at the firm. On one hand, I would have financial security for at least a little while. On the other hand, I would have Bruce.
Ah, what this terrace could be! Duck-boarded, with wrought-iron furniture, a few potted hemlocks, a gaily striped awning...
Well, what of it? What was a row of hemlocks in the face of true love? Bruce and I could discuss our future together, our finances. A plan, shared with another person.
We would have to economize, of course, and the first place to do so was with that million-dollar policy. I wouldn’t be needing it now, so that was the first expense that could go. I went back to see Mr. Swerdluff. “I want to cancel that policy,” I said.
“If you wish,” he said. “Will you be canceling both of them?”
Last-Minute Shopping
When O’Brien answered the doorbell, it was Officer Keenan standing there. “Oh, no!” O’Brien cried. “Not on Christmas Eve! Besides, I didn’t do anything!”
“Take it easy, O’Brien,” Keenan said. “I’m not here to arrest you.”
“You’re not?”
“I’d like to come in,” Keenan said.
“You’re in,” O’Brien agreed, and shut the door behind him.
Keenan looked around the neat but sparse living room. “Huh,” he said. “Crime really doesn’t pay.”
“Is that why you came here, to tell me that?”
“No, O’Brien,” Keenan said. “We’ve known each other over the years.”
“You’ve arrested me over the years, you mean. And a lot of times it didn’t stick.”
“I do my job, you do yours.” Keenan shrugged, and said, “Now I need your help.”
“I don’t fink,” O’Brien said.
“Oh, you would, if the circumstance was right,” Keenan said, “but that’s not what I want. You may not know this, but I’ve had a steady lady friend for a few years now.”
“She hasn’t done much for your personality.”
“I guess not,” Keenan said, “because two weeks ago we had a major fight, we broke up, that was the end of it, and it was all my fault.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” O’Brien said.
“Fellow feeling. I’ve always liked that about you.” Keenan nodded and said, “An hour ago, ten P.M. on Christmas Eve, she calls me. She’s sorry we broke up, she’s been thinking about me, why don’t we try to get back together. Sure, that’d be great, I been miserable for two weeks, I didn’t know I’d ever get another chance. She’s a waitress at a place in midtown, she took the Christmas Eve shift because there wasn’t anybody for her to go home to, she’ll get off at eleven-thirty, she wants me to come to her place at midnight.”
“An hour from now.”
“That’s the problem,” Keenan said. “Laurie says — that’s her name, Laurie. Laurie says she’s been thinking about nothing but me for the last two weeks, but like a dope I’ve been trying to think about anything except her, making myself miserable. So what this means is, I know she’s gonna have a really thoughtful terrific Christmas present for me when I get to her place, but I got nothing for her, and everything’s closed, and I don’t want to look like a bum when we’re supposed to be making up and getting back together again.”
“Tough,” O’Brien said.
Keenan cleared his throat. “There’s a jewelry store,” he said, “called Henderson’s.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” O’Brien said, backing up. “We been getting along so well up to now.”
“Take it easy, take it easy. I believe you know this jewelry store.”
“Believe what you want,” O’Brien said.
“I believe you’ve made a number of unofficial visits to Henderson’s over the years,” Keenan said.
“Prove it.”
“I don’t want to prove it,” Keenan said. “Not now, not tonight. What I want is to get into Henderson’s in the next half hour.”
O’Brien looked at him.
“Not to steal anything,” Keenan said. “You can’t give a person stolen goods for a Christmas present.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Keenan said. “What I want to do, I want to go into Henderson’s, pick out something really nice, and leave the money for it.”
“And you want me to get you in.”
“Without busting anything. The kind of neat work you always do.”
“Keenan,” O’Brien said, “this is looking an awful lot like entrapment.”
“I wouldn’t set you up,” Keenan said. “Come on, O’Brien, you know me. I’ve always been straight with you, and you’ve always been crooked with me. I’m not gonna change now. And after this, I’ll owe you one. The time’ll come, down the road, I’ll take care of you.”
“Call the owner of the store, ask him to open up.”
“He’s away for the holidays. You’re my only hope.”
O’Brien pondered. “You want me to break into Henderson’s with you watching.”
“I’ll turn my back until the door’s open.”
“A cop standing right there, and I’m breaking into a jewelry store.”
“It’s my future happiness, O’Brien.”
“And I’ve got no choice, do I?”
“Sure you do.”
O’Brien brooded. Keenan said, “Don’t you have a lady friend?”