Karen Tanner, regal and aloof (but the sky-at-sunset eyes spit venom at Soolpovar). Yes, I suppose I knew Bert Archer better than anyone else at Tolliver’s. I wouldn’t say we were engaged. Bert thought there was some kind of an understanding between us. I’d rather not answer that question. Well, all right. No, I don’t think we would have been married. Yes, I already told you that. Bert wanted to marry me. Certainly he was upset, but he wasn’t the kind of man who… Now, just a minute. I heard what Mr. Soolpovar said, too. He’d say Eisenhower was responsible if he thought it meant a clean bill of health for his steam rooms. No, I didn’t see Bert that morning at all. The night before, at closing time. We got my car at the parking lot across the street and I drove Bert to the Coney Island Avenue trolley. No, not particularly nervous. We didn’t talk much, I don’t remember about what. We were not arguing.
Gideon Frey, boy detective. That’s right, I served with Bert in Korea. I was his assistant platoon leader, a sergeant first class. Hell, no, I’m not making a career of the Army. He did a lot of talking about Miss Tanner, but I don’t see… Sure, it would have made him unhappy if Miss Tanner rejected him, but he was no kid. That’s right, twenty-six. I’m glad you mentioned that. It was a funny thing with Bert. He got a kick out of Coney Island and Tolliver’s, but the one thing he just couldn’t see was steam baths. It was a big joke with him. So it’s hardly evidence. All I know is this — Bert wouldn’t have taken a steam bath at Tolliver’s or anyplace else. Yeah, people change their minds. But not Bert, not that stubborn mule. I believe it was murder. (After that lack of evidence, whoever tried to kill me must have felt like seven different varieties of a damned fool.)
The Medical Examiner, dropping his bombshell. There were about the body of the deceased definite signs of a struggle. A laceration above the right cheekbone, a discoloration of the right eye. Contusions in the lumbar region on the left side. It has definitely been established that the injuries were sustained shortly prior to the time of death. Certainly no more than three hours and probably less.
Verdict: homicide.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“TAKE YOU BACK TO Coney, Gid?”
It was Karen. I shook my head and it surprised her. I wanted to see the Tollivers. Allison appeared in the hallway a moment later, face flushed an angry red. “Damn that dog, Gregory,” she said. “He tried to bite me. One of these days I’m going to kill that animal. Those places over in New Jersey with nice, tame German Shepherds weren’t good enough for you, oh, no. You needed a goddamned rabid boxer!”
“My dear, please. You and not Shamus are frothing at the mouth at the moment. You know Shamus is not rabid.”
“I swear, he’ll kill me some day when you’re not around. Or I’ll kill him.”
“There had better be signs that he attacked you first in that case. But, my dear, we are arguing like children.”
“I’m sorry, Greg… oh, there’s Gideon. Hi, Gid.”
“Hi,” I said.
“Have you decided to visit us, Mr. Frey?”
“Well, I don’t know. I’m pretty busy at my new job.”
“Then a quiet day in the country will certainly do you some good. We have our own dock and a forty-foot cabin cruiser and anything else you’d want.”
“Anything at all,” Allison said. “Incidentally, we had Bert Archer out once or twice, you know. You’d be surprised how you can relax and let yourself go once you get away from the city.”
I hadn’t expected that. I smiled at them. “You’re twisting my arm. In another minute you’ll have me saying yes.”
Allison did twist my arm. At least she took my hand in both of hers and squeezed it. “How about Sunday, Gid? You could come out early in the morning and make a day of it.”
“Well… all right.”
“Splendid,” Tolliver said. “We’ll look forward to it.”
Shamus chose that moment to growl and show Allison his teeth. Anger crossed her face so quickly you would have missed it entirely unless you were staring. I was staring. Then Allison whimpered. She wasn’t the whimpering type and Tolliver must have known it, but of course he couldn’t see what happened after that. I not only saw it, I felt it.
Allison flung herself against me sideways, retreating in mock-horror from the dog. It was about as convincing as one of those old silent movies where the heroine throws her hands up over her head and wails noiselessly while Simon Legree proceeds to foreclose the mortgage on the old homestead. Her hip jarred against my thighs and tried to grind a hole through me. Her face rolled against my chest and the copper hair tickled my chin. “I’m just a big baby,” she said while Tolliver fingered Shamus’ throat until the boxer stopped growling.
“We should apologize to Mr. Frey for this scene, Allison.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Gideon,” Allison said contritely, but she winked at me.
When I returned to Funland and told Karen I wanted Sunday off she said it was one of our busy days and anyway, I’d only started working this week.
I shrugged. “So fire me.”
“But I thought you…”
“I want to find out what happened to Bert. Having Sunday off is part of finding out.”
“What are you going to do?”
“When Sunday comes I’ll find out. You want a written report?”
“All right, Gideon. You can have your day, but I won’t pay you for it.”
“At the inquest you said you wouldn’t have married Bert. That’s not the way he saw it.”
Karen’s eyes widened and I thought she was going to holler and maybe start swinging again. “It’s none of your business, you realize. Whatever happened between Bert and me had nothing to do with the killing.”
“Maybe,” I said.
“Look, Gid. People change their minds. I met Bert before he got drafted and spent a lot of time with him after he went to OCS and became a second lieutenant. It gave Bert a great deal of free time, more than I had expected. We had some wonderful days together. Bert started getting ideas.
“Before he received his orders for Korea, he’d already proposed to me three or four times. I didn’t say yes. But I didn’t say no, either. I wasn’t sure. We only knew each other on our best behavior, I said. Always going out, always having a great time.”
“So while Bert was in Korea you changed your mind.”
“Will you listen to me? I’m telling you the whole story, once and for all… well, most of the story. Then do whatever you want about Bert, but leave me out of it.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“That’s my business. Anyway, I told Bert I didn’t know him well enough and suggested that we spend a weekend together. Maybe you think this is just too new-fangled to be decent, but I wouldn’t marry anyone until I saw what he was like when he woke up in the morning, among other things.
“It shocked Bert. You know what he was like, kind of a kid and very proper.”
“If you mean he was stuffy, he wasn’t.”
“Stop putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say stuffy. He had to grow up and get rid of some Victorian notions, that’s all.”
“I’m listening.”
“All right. Well, Bert asked me if… if I were a virgin. I’m twenty-seven, Gideon. I told Bert no, I wasn’t. I don’t think he commented on that. He just said we’d better not spend that weekend together. We’d both have time to think when he went to Korea. He’d already asked me to run the arcade while he was gone, though. We drew up partnership papers, fifty-fifty.” Karen lit a cigarette and abruptly asked a question. “Gid, do you know if Bert ever had a woman?”
“What kind of a crazy question is that? Are you trying to tell me he wasn’t normal?”