“It’s no one,” she said. “Go back to your television.”
“Well, who is it?” he insisted.
Tall, brawny man, must’ve been a bruiser when he was young. Looking out at them now from behind the thick-lensed glasses, puzzled look on his face.
“Fox Hill Police,” Dellarosa said. “Okay to come in, sir?”
“I told you he…”
“Sure, come on in. Something happen? Was there an accident?”
“He really can’t…”
“Come on in, have some coffee,” he said, and the cops stepped past Mrs. Shanks and into the house. Absent the invitation, they’d have needed a warrant. Now they were legal.
The house was simply furnished. Little development house that must’ve cost them twenty thousand dollars when they’d bought it forty, fifty years ago, worth a hundred grand or more now. The television set was going. One of the soap operas. Big heads talking sexual innuendo. America in the daytime.
“Are you Rubin Shanks?” Budd asked.
The man blinked. His eyes behind the glasses looked totally bewildered.
“Meg?” he said.
“You’re Rubin Shanks,” she told him.
He didn’t seem convinced. Blinked again behind his eyeglasses, looked to her for confirmation. She nodded Yes , patiently but irritably.
“Mr. Shanks,” Budd said, “do you know the Shell station downtown on Laker Street?”
“I certainly do,” Shanks said. “Meg, would you bring these fellers some coffee? How do you take your coffee, fellers?”
“There isn’t any coffee,” she said.
“Why don’t you make some coffee for them, hon? Take a few minutes, fellers, if you don’t mind wai…”
“Thank you, but that’s okay, Mr. Shanks, we just want to ask you a few questions,” Budd said.
“What about?”
“Did you push a car into that service station yesterday afternoon?”
“What service station?”
“The one on Laker.”
“Laker?”
“Laker Street. Downtown.”
“Oh. Oh. Yesterday. Was I downtown yesterday, Meg?”
“You were downtown,” she said.
“Right, right,” he said, “it was two young fellers who pushed me. Right. I couldn’t get it started. They helped me get it to the service station.”
“Car wouldn’t start for you, is that it?” Budd asked.
“Keywouldn’t turn,” Shanks said, and shrugged. “Couldn’t get it to turn at the station, neither, they figured there was something wrong with where you put the key in. What do you call that, Meg? Where you put the key in?”
“The ignition,” she said.
“Figured it was frozen or something.”
“Uh-huh,” Budd said, and looked at his partner.
“What were you doing in town?” Dellarosa asked.
“Went to see my buddies down the Parade.”
“The Parade Bar? Down there on Laker?”
“Yessir. Stopped in to say hello to some of my old navy buddies.”
“Were you drinking, Mr. Shanks?”
“Nossir, I was not. Just drove downtown to say hello to some of my buddies, is all.”
“He drive that car all the time, ma’am?” Budd asked.
“I tell him not to,” she said. “He won’t listen.”
“Been driving since I was sixteen,” Shanks said.
“When you went to that bar, sir, do you remember where you parked your car?”
“What bar?”
“The Parade, sir. Where you said you went yesterday.”
“Is that where I went, Meg?”
“That’s what you told them, Rubin.”
“So where’d I park the car?”
“That’s what they want to know.”
“Must’ve been right where I found it later. Front of the Grand Union. But it wouldn’t start. Key wouldn’t turn in the…what’d you call it, Meg?”
“The ignition.”
“How’d your car get back here, sir?”
Shanks looked at his wife. The same bewildered, lost look again.
“Meg?” he said. “How’d it get back here?”
“I drove it back,” she said.
“Where’d you find it, ma’am?”
“Is he going to get in trouble?”
“Where’d you find it, can you tell us?”
“Near the movie theater.”
“No, Meg,” Shanks said, “it was in front of the Grand Union. Right where I left it.”
“Rubin,” she said, “you forgot where you left it.”
“No, I didn’t. It was right there where I left it. I got in, put the key in the ig…”
“Rubin, you got in the wrong car.”
“No,” he said. “No, I didn’t, Meg.”
“Rubin, that wasn’t our car. That was somebody else’s car.”
“It was?” he said, and looked at the detectives. “How could it have been somebody else’s car?” he said. “I know my own car, don’t I?”
“Mr. Shanks,” Budd said, “a man named Herman Friedlich was on the jitney going to the city this morning when he looked out the window and saw his car sitting there at that Shell station. He got off the bus, ran over there, put his key in the ignition, and was starting the car when the owner ran out and told him to get out of his customer’s car. Mr. Friedlich told him it was his car, and that it’d been stolen yesterday.”
“Stolen?” Shanks said, and looked at his wife.
“Yes, sir, it was reported stolen at five-forty-fiveP .M. yesterday. When Mr. Friedlich called us, he said he’d left the car unlocked…”
“He did?” Shanks said.
“Yes, sir, because he was just going in the Grand Union for a bottle of milk. When he came out, the car was gone.”
“Should’ve locked it,” Shanks said. “Nowadays.”
“Yes, sir, he should’ve.”
“But what’s that got to do with me ?”
“You got in the wrong car , Rubin,” his wife said impatiently, and then turned to Budd. “I’m sorry,” she said, “he forgets.”
“Ma’am…didn’t the garage call last night to tell you your husband had left the wrong key?”
“Yes, they did.”
“And didn’t you go down there with your son…your son lives here in Fox Hill, too, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t he drive you to the garage, and didn’t you tell the owner—a man named Jake Sutton—didn’t you ask him to give you the keys he had and you’d look for the other ones when you got home?”
“Yes. Because…”
“Because when you saw that blue car sitting there, you knew right off it wasn’t yours, didn’t you? You knew your husband had taken another man’s car and…”
“I was afraid he’d get in trouble.”
“So they gave you back the keys to your car…”
“Yes.”
“And then your son must’ve driven you around town…”
“Yes, looking for the car.”
“And when you found it, you drove it back here to your garage.”
“I didn’t want him to get in trouble.”
“Even though you must’ve realized he’d got in another man’s car, had the thing pushed all the way to the Shell station…”
“Young fellers saw I was having trouble,” Shanks said, “asked if I wanted a push.”
“You’re a goddamn fool ,” his wife said.
“Margaret,” he said, “I behaved in the proper manner. The key wouldn’t turn, so I took the car in to have it looked at. Who are these people? Are they saying I stole somebody’s car?”
His wife sighed heavily.
“What now?” she asked. “Are you going to arrest him?”
“Arrest me?” Shanks said. “What for? What’d I do?”