“How do you know she didn't?” Lieutenant Smith asked.
“Well, she didn't have any extra change on her, if you know what I mean. When I met her she had already left the job, and was waiting for a boat. She didn't like the job, said the kid, this Joanie, was too smart and spoiled.”
“Why didn't you come forward and tell us all this when you read about the case?”
“I knew she had sailed and—”
“You see her off on the boat?”
“No, but she went for me. If she was around she would have looked me up. And she told me she was due to sail in a few days.”
“Why didn't you tell us about her before?”
Teddy smirked. He had bad teeth. “You know how it is, officer. I got a wife and kids—Hey, this ain't going to make the papers, is it?”
“That depends on how co-operative you are. Anderson, where were you at ten on Monday morning?”
“On the job. I come in at seven and knock off at... You think I did it?” There wasn't any fat smirk on his face now.
“Did Rose ever say anything about the nursery school?”
“Listen, I wouldn't do a lousy thing like take a baby girl. Check my time card. I haven't missed a day in months.”
“Answer my question.”
“I don't know. This was a long time ago.”
Smith glanced up at Doc. “Send the reporters in. And a couple of photographers.”
Teddy twisted in his chair as if it was the hot seat. “Wait a minute, officer. I'm doing all I can to help. I told you I got kids—I wouldn't want this to happen to mine. I'll do anything I can to help get Joanie back. Look, like I told you, this was a pickup. I saw her twice within a week; then she sailed. It was only bar wisecracks and jokes.... Well, come to think of it, she did tell me something about him—her boss—expecting her to do the girl's clothes while she was in this nursery school. Rose thought she should get extra pay for the laundry. That's all.”
Smith, Doc, and a few other guys sweated Teddy for the rest of the afternoon. I checked with the employment agency that got Rose the job. She'd only been in the country for a year. I talked to another couple she'd worked for. They thought she'd been a fine nursemaid, although they had let her go because she'd been a bit rough with their boy in horsing around, and anyway a younger sister of the wife had come to five with them, took care of their child. The Australian police cabled Rose had returned there over seven months ago, was married and hadn't any ideas on the kidnapping. A dozen men checked all of Teddy's movements, his family and friends. And by the end of the day it was all a fat zero.
The letdown really left me pooped. Although Lieutenant Smith complimented me for digging up Teddy, that was that. Doc knew Smith well enough to call him “Bill,” and while we were having supper in a delicatessen across from the station house, Doc stopped complaining about the food long enough to tell me, “Here's some news Bill let me in on. It seems poppa is a bed warmer. He might have made a pass at that pot, Rose. We know he was seeing a high-priced gal.”
“So what? He's a widower.”
“The gal happens to be your old friend Judy,” Doc said softly, smiling at me.
I jumped. “My God, she's greedy enough to be in on a deal like this!”
“I doubt it; she doesn't need money that badly. And they've questioned her; they're sure she's clean. Still holding Judy as a material witness.”
“Why?”
“Same reason they scared that slob Teddy with the reporters. Poppa wouldn't want it known he was seeing a call girl. We may hold it over his head to make him work with us.”
“That's a lousy thing to do.”
Doc shrugged, pushed his sandwich away. “We're the police. He isn't helping us.”
“Only because he wants his child back.”
“And if he gets away with it, it will set a pattern for future kidnappings, encourage them.”
We were awakened at eleven that night when the owner of a trailer camp outside town reported seeing a little redheaded girl and a thin man and woman in a new trailer. In less than twenty minutes we surrounded the trailer and scared the bejesus out of the guy and his wife. It was their own kid and they'd just driven into town.
I didn't get back to the dormitory before one thirty and I was really beat, hadn't changed my clothes for nearly three days. I felt dirty, tired, and I missed Betty. Also I was mad because nothing had come of my lead. I thought about Judy, wondering if she had talked about our relationship, if I should volunteer to question her. But how could I, without spilling the beans? And what could she tell me? I didn't believe she'd have anything to do with kidnapping. Still, it almost seemed as if she was part of my beat, that I should have been the one who lucked up on her knowing Wyckoff.
I was overtired, found it hard to sleep. There was a young guy hanging around, a sharp dresser who looked about seventeen. Doc was getting a last smoke and I nudged him, said, “Look at Junior. Must be looking for one of the women cleaning up, his mother, or—
“He's a detective, a hot rock, like you.”
“Him? He's too short, and he looks like a kid.”
“Made a couple of big collars. Don't let that baby face fool you. Name is Wintino. He's the one found out about Judy and poppa.”
That made me angry. I knew it was stupid, but I'd gone for the idea I was the youngest dick there, and this guy made me look like an old man. And he looked fresh, clean—and the little punk had beat me to Judy. I stretched out and told myself to stop being a jerk. I needed sleep. And I needed Betty. I dozed off thinking of her, the two of us on the beach at Miami.
The morning papers were calling for “action.” It was ridiculous; even the papers that had been yelling for us to keep off the case were now yapping about the kidnapping being three days old and the police department was still sitting on its badges.
We started making our usual rounds, asking and asking again about strangers, peddling our snapshots. Doc drove me to the house and I changed my underwear and took a fast shower while Elma was sleeping. I still felt tired and on edge, but at least clean. At noon we were called back to the squad room, where Bill Smith told us, “The kidnappers contacted Wyckoff early this morning. Same routine; he was told to be in a drugstore at Rye Plains, on the outskirts of the city. They gave him just enough minutes to get there—then the call on a public phone. They must have arranged the pay-off. Wyckoff admits he has the money ready. We don't know how he got it. We've agreed to leave him alone for a while. However, the Feds aren't talking. They may try to pull a fast one on us.”