I said, “What’s it all about?”
“He’s coming home, Bill.”
“Murray?”
“Yes.”
“But—”
“His lawyer, Nester, was over here a few hours ago,” she said. “He was very pleased with himself. He managed to make a deal with the district attorney. The charge is being reduced to second-degree murder and Murray will be out on bail by Monday morning.”
“He’s copping a plea?”
“Not exactly. Murray will plead guilty by reason of temporary insanity. There will still be a trial. Nester thinks he can win it.”
I lit a cigarette. “I don’t understand,” I said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know.”
“Because he can’t plead guilty, damn it! He can’t tell what tax fraud he’s guilty of and he can’t explain what he did with Milani’s body. I don’t get it at all.”
“That’s why I’m worried, Wizard.”
She started to say something else, then stopped short. A door opened somewhere in the rear of the house. We listened to footsteps, and Jenny stepped into the room. She looked as though she had been crying, but she had herself under control now. She had changed to a black skirt and sweater and she had a book under her arm.
“I was thinking of going out for a little while,” she said. “You don’t mind, do you, Joyce?”
Joyce said she didn’t mind. The girl said goodbye to us and left. I thought how hard it must have been on her. Her circle would be giving her a rough time now. And everything would be just wild confusion, a parade of frightening events that could make no sense at all to her.
“Wizard? I don’t think he’s going to plead guilty.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know Murray,” she said. “I think he went along with Nester because he wanted to get out of jail. Murray can’t expect to get by with a plea without answering a lot of questions that he can’t answer. I think he’s got something planned.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. He might want to leave the country. He’s not young, you know. Even if he got off with a few years in jail, that would be too much for him. I don’t think he’d be willing to settle for even a short prison sentence.”
“Where would he go?”
“South America, probably. You can buy citizenship down there if you have the money. And he could raise the money in a day. He could get out of jail on Monday and catch a plane Tuesday.”
She knew him better than I did. Maybe she was right. Maybe he would run like that, make a quick dash for freedom. It didn’t seem too logical to me, didn’t seem in character with what I knew of Murray. And yet he was in a bind—maybe running was the only way open.
“Suppose he does that,” Joyce said. “Where does that leave me?”
“Sitting pretty.”
“Why?”
“Because when you divorce a fugitive you get every cent he has.”
She shook her head impatiently. “You don’t understand. He’ll want me to go with him, me and the girls. I don’t want to spend my life with him in Brazil.”
“You might like Brazil, Joyce.”
“Damn it—”
“Easy,” I said. “It’s no problem. You tell him to go by himself. He travels faster who travels alone, that old bit. You can always join him later. They can’t hold you, you know. Once he’s out of the country, you just forget about joining him. It’s that simple.”
She didn’t answer me. There was something on her mind that struck deeper than her husband’s possible plans for leaving the country. I sat down next to her, took hold of her shoulder.
“All right,” I said. “Tell me what it’s all about.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Give, Joyce.”
“He’s having me followed,” she said.
The rest of it was blurted out. Men had been following her, she was sure; men had been watching the house and keeping tabs on her, and she was so worried she thought she was going to go out of her mind.
So maybe he wasn’t going to Brazil, I thought. Maybe he wanted to get out on bail so that he could do a little spadework on his own. Maybe he had it all figured out already and he was coming home to wring her neck for her.
And maybe he had me tied into the picture, as far as that went. Hell, if he were thinking it out, he would hit the possibility of my involvement sooner or later. Everything connected with Milani started after my arrival in town. He might not write that off as coincidence. He might put two and two together until he came up with something.
I tried to remember if anyone had been following me lately. If they had been, I hadn’t noticed them—not that I had been looking too hard. But I hadn’t done anything suspicious. I was clear enough.
“Listen,” I told her. “It’s only natural, for God’s sake. You and I and Murray are the only ones in the world who know he’s being framed. You and I know because we did it. He knows because it was done to him. He’s going to be suspicious all over the place. He may have you tailed, but nobody can dig up anything that will make you look bad. Don’t worry about it.”
“I can’t help worrying, Wizard.”
I thought quickly. “He’s coming home Monday,” I said. “Tomorrow is Saturday. Can he have visitors?”
“Of course. I see him once a day.”
“Could I see him?”
“Certainly. I’m surprised you haven’t gone already. His other friends have been there. Most of them, anyway.”
“I think I’ll go, then. Tomorrow afternoon, say. I should be able to draw him out a little and find out what he’s planned. At least I can find out whether or not we’ve got anything to worry about.”
That seemed to reassure her a little. She asked me to make fresh drinks. I told her no, that if the house were being watched, it wouldn’t look good if I stuck around too long. A sympathy call was fine, but you couldn’t extend it for too long a period.
She came to me, wanting to be kissed. I didn’t want to kiss her. But she pressed herself against me and my arms circled her and our mouths met.
It was funny. I didn’t even like her anymore. She was my partner in a crime I was not proud of. I didn’t want to have anything to do with her. I wanted to finish things up, tie the ends neatly and never see her again.
But the electrical impulses still worked. The contact set us off again. Just as the contact had always done, and animal need came on like gangbusters. I fought with myself. And, for a change, I won. I pushed her away and left and strode quickly to the Ford. Once behind the wheel, I started the engine and pulled away. There were no cars with people in them parked on the block. If Murray were having her watched, it wasn’t on an around-the-clock basis.
Did Murray really suspect anything? I didn’t want to think about it. Joyce and I had one of those set-ups that was perfect until someone started to pick at it. As soon as anyone suspected us, we were through.
It was easier to agree that Murray was ready to run for Brazil, or that he was resigned to going to jail for the shortest time possible. I hoped Brazil was his answer. Jail would be bad for him. And despite all my previous attempts, I couldn’t make myself hate the guy, couldn’t even dislike him a little—even though he had irritated me with his smugness to begin with. But it’s no fun jobbing someone who has helped you. With luck you can make yourself despise your mark long enough to con him and get him out of the way.
But now the reverse was happening. The further the scene developed, the more I liked Murray Rogers.
And the less I liked myself.
13
They were holding Murray Rogers at the city jail along with the drunks and the sex criminals. I drove down there shortly after noon. The jail was a bulky old building, a massive structure as inviting as a Gothic novel. I walked up a flight of high stone steps and opened a heavy door. There was a big cop behind the desk. I told him who I was and what I wanted and he nodded. He called a guard and relayed the information to him, and the guard led me up creaking wooden stairs to the second floor.