Lullaby

Hammond refused to say a word.

Advised his wife to remain silent as well.

But alone in the Interrogation Room with Nellie Brand and the detectives, Melissa finally burst into tears and told them everything they wanted to know. The time was a quarter past six. Until that moment, they'd been nervously watching the clock, aware of Miranda-Escobeda, knowing that time was running off down the drain. They figured Melissa's sudden outpouring was prompted by the presence of another woman, but they didn't give a damn about the why of it. All they wanted was a case that would stick; Nellie asked all the questions.

'Mrs Hammond,' she said, 'do you now remember where your husband was between one-forty-five and two-thirty a.m. on the first day of January?'

'I don't know about the exact times,' Melissa said. 'But he left the apartment at . . .'

'By the apartment, do you mean . . . ?'

'Our apartment. In Calm's Point.'

'Left it at what time?'

'Midnight. We toasted the New Year, and then he left.'

'To go where?'

'To kill the baby.'

The way she said those words sent a chill up the detectives' backs. Emotionless, unadorned, the naked words seemed to hover on the air. To kill the baby. They had drunk a midnight toast. He had left the apartment. To kill the baby.

'By the baby, do you mean Susan Hodding?' Nellie asked softly.

'Yes. My sister's baby.'

'Susan Hodding.'

'We didn't know what they'd named her.'

'But you did know the adopting couple was named Hodding. Mr and Mrs Peter Hodding.'

'Yes.'

'How did you know that?'

'My husband found out.'

'How?'

'Someone at the agency told him.'

'By the agency . . .'

'Cooper-Anderson.'

'The adoption agency.'

'Yes.'

'Someone at the agency revealed this information to him.'

'Yes. He paid someone to get this information. Because, you see, the name of the people adopting the baby was only in two places. In the court records and in the agency records. The court records are sealed, you know, in an adoption, so Dick had to get the name through the agency.'

'And, as I understand this, cash was given to . . .'

'Yes. Five thousand dollars.'

'To someone in the agency.'

'Yes.'

'Who? Would you remember?'

Planning down the line. Getting her ducks in a row for when she had to prosecute this thing. Get the name of the agency person. Call him or her as a witness.

'You'll have to ask Dick,' Melissa said.

'So once your husband had the name . . .'

'And address.'

'Name and address of the Hoddings, he knew where to find the baby.'

'Yes.'

'And he went there on New Year's Eve

'Yes.'

'. . . to kill this infant.'

'Yes.'

'Specifically to kill this infant.'

'Yes.'

'How did he happen to kill Annie Flynn?'

'Well, I only know what he told me.'

'What did he tell you, Mrs Hammond?'

'He told me he was in the baby's room when . . . you see, what it was, he had the floor plans of the building. It's a new building, he went there pretending he was interested in buying an apartment. So he knew the layout of the apartment the Hoddings were in, do you see? There's a fire escape off the second bedroom, which he knew would be the baby's room, it's only a two-bedroom apartment. So he knew if he came down the fire escape from the roof, he could get right into the baby's room. And smother her. With her pillow. But the night he was there . . .'

'Why did he pick New Year's Eve?'

'He figured New Year's Eve would be a good time.'

'Why? Did he say why?'

'No. He never told me why.'

'Just figured it would be a good time.'

'Well, yes. You'll have to ask him. Anyway, he was in there, and the girl . . .'

'Annie Flynn?'

'Yes, the sitter. You see, what he figured was that he'd just go in the baby's room, put the pillow over her face, and go right out again. I mean, this was a baby. There wouldn't be any resistance or anything, no noise, no yelling, he'd just go in and go out again. If the Hoddings were home . . . well, this was New Year's Eve, they probably would've had a few drinks, and anyway it was very late, they'd be sound asleep, he'd go in very quietly, do what he had to do and get out without them hearing a thing. This was a baby, you see. And if they were still out celebrating, there'd probably be a sitter, and if she wasn't asleep . . .'

'There was a sitter, as it turned out, wasn't there?'

'Well, yes, but Dick knew where the living room was, and the baby's room was all the way down the hall from it. So ... what he figured, you see, was that either way it would be ... well, easy. This was a baby. He wasn't expecting any problem at all.'

'But there was a problem.'

'Yes.'

'What was the problem, Mrs Hammond?'

'The mobile.'

'The what?'

'The mobile. Over the crib. He was leaning in over the crib when he hit the mobile. It was one of these . . . almost like wind chimes, do you know? Except it didn't depend on wind. What it was, if you hit it, it would make these chime sounds. It was hanging over where the baby's hands would be, so the baby could reach up and hit it and make the chime sounds. But Dick didn't know it was there, he'd never actually been in the apartment, and when he leaned in over the crib, his head hit the mobile, and it went off like an alarm.'

'What happened then?'

'He yanked the mobile loose from the ceiling, but it had already woken up the baby, the baby was screaming. And the sitter heard her crying, and that's when all the trouble started. Otherwise it would've gone smoothly. If it hadn't been for the mobile.'

'So when Annie heard the baby crying . . .'

'Yes. Well, you have to understand we didn't know either of their names. Not the baby's and not the sitter's. Until we heard them on television.'

'What happened when she heard the baby crying?'

'She yelled from the living room, wanted to know who was there, and then she . . . she just appeared in the doorway to the room. With a knife in her hand. A very big knife, in fact. And she came at Dick with it. So he had to defend himself. It was self-defense, really. With the sitter, that's what it was. She was really coming at him with that knife. He struggled with her for maybe three, four minutes before he finally got it away from her.'

'And stabbed her.'