Regina answered it on the extension in her bed-room. It was Faith Venable. Regina had all but forgotten her casual invitation to Faith the night before.
Faith wondered breathlessly if it would be all right if she came up to chat for awhile. Regina explained that she was just about to shower and suggested that Faith wait about a half hour. She asked her to dinner, promising pot luck, and apologetically informed Faith that she had a date at eleven and might have to cut short their talk.
“That’s all right,” Faith answered. “Only the thing is I was expecting someone. Someone I’d just as soon avoid, if you know what I mean. So I was hoping I could come up now.”
“Come ahead.” Regina added that she’d leave the latch off the door so Faith could let herself into the apartment.
Expecting someone? A man? Faith hadn’t said a man, but it sure sounded like she meant a man. Regina wondered if Faith really was a virgin as she claimed.
Regina padded naked through the living room and foyer and unlocked the door. Then she returned to the shower. A few minutes later she was soaping herself when she heard Faith call out from the living-room.
“In here,” Regina shouted back. “Come on in and chat if it won’t offend your modesty.” She turned the water down low so she could hear Faith’s answer.
“I’m not alone,” came the reply. “I hope you don’t mind. Brother came by unexpectedly as I was leaving. I brought him with me. He won’t be staying, though. He has a dinner date.”
“Hi, Brother,” Regina called. “Make yourself and Faith a drink. You’ll find the fixings on the sideboard.”
“Hello, Regina,” a male voice answered. “Thanks. I will.” The antique grandfather’s clock in Regina’s foyer punctuated his words with eight loud bongs.
Regina turned the shower up, scrubbed her skin until it glowed, and then rinsed off. Finally she stepped out of the shower and toweled herself. She went into the bedroom, pulled on a pair of slacks and a sweater, and spent a few minutes combing out her red-gold hair. Then she opened the door to the living- room.
“Here I—” she started to announce as she made her entrance. “—am . . .” she finished automatically in a voice robbed of its liveliness by shock.
Regina stared at Faith’s body. She noted the bloodstains spreading over the Persian rug. She recognized her carving knife sticking out of Faith’s breast; it was part of a set she’d just bought. That, along with Faith’s staring eyes, left no doubt the girl was dead.
Then Regina remembered the brother. Where was he? There was no sign of him. Had he killed Faith? Perhaps he was still in the apartment! Regina was suddenly very afraid!
She went quickly back into the bedroom, closed the door and locked it behind her. She called the police. Then, numb, she sat on the edge of the bed and waited for them to arrive.
Door chimes announced them. Regina had to unlock the front door to let them in. Besides the two uniformed patrolmen, there were two detectives in plainclothes. The younger one, a shorter than average man with the lithe build of a fast quarterback, introduced himself as Lieutenant Rodriguez of the Homicide Division. Regina registered his handsomely swarthy face as Puerto Rican.
They examined the body. More men arrived, among them an official Medical Examiner. When he went to work, Lieutenant Rodriguez took Regina into the bedroom. Here he interrogated her at length.
“Your story doesn’t make sense,” he summed up after over two hours of questioning. “There’s no evidence of anyone having been here but the murdered girl and you. And your door was locked from the inside.”
“I tell you her brother was here! I heard his voice through the door!”
“And I’m supposed to believe he killed her, let himself out, and then locked the door from the inside? Come on now!”
“But that’s just what the murderer must have done,” Regina protested. “Otherwise he’d still have been here when you arrived.”
“Maybe the murderer still was here. Maybe he—or she -- still is.” Rodriguez stared at her steadily.
“Are you implying that I killed her?” Regina Blue stared back at him, her green eyes very wide. “But why would I? I barely knew her! What reason. . . ?”
“I don’t know that yet,” Rodriguez conceded. “But I do know that if, as we seem to agree, it’s impossible that the killer let himself out and then locked the door from the inside, then said killer must still be on the premises.”
“But I was the only one here until . . . you . . . came . . . ” Regina’s voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
“Exactly.” Lieutenant Rodriguez stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder formally. “Regina Blue, I place you under arrest on suspicion of murder. You are not required to say anything. You are entitled to contact counsel of your choice. And anything you do or say may be held against you . . . . Come along, Miss Blue.”
Regina Blue got to her feet, more dazed than ever. Under arrest? For murder? Of a girl she barely knew? It was ridiculous!
Ridiculous! as Sacco said to Vanzetti on the way to the electric chair; Ridiculous!
CHAPTER FIVE
The "Bird" Watcher
"Counsel-of-your-choice” arrived as Lieutenant Rodriguez and Regina Blue crossed the wide sidewalk between the entrance to her building and the unmarked police car. He was a distinguished looking man-—tall, well dressed, giving off the faintest whiff old expensive after shave lotion. He looked surprised to see Regina, and then angry.
“Where are you going?” demanded “Counsel-of- your-choice” in a voice he usually reserved for cross-examinations.
“Barry!” Regina snapped out of her daze. With everything that had happened, she had forgotten about her date. Now, seeing him there, it seemed like the first break she’d had all night. “Am I glad to see you!” she exclaimed. “If ever a girl needed a lawyer --”
“Evening, Counselor.” Rodriguez greeted him.
The lawyer looked at Rodriguez for the first time, placed him, and was immediately wary. “Lieutenant.” it was an almost formal acknowledgement.
“You know this young lady?” Rodriguez inquired.
The attorney was still sizing up the situation. “We’ve met,” he said carefully.
“Barry, please,” Regina babbled. “I need a lawyer! This girl was found dead in my apartment and—”
“Just how well do you know her, Counselor?”
“Are you questioning me officially, Lieutenant?”
“Of course not.” Rodriguez smiled engagingly. “Off the record, naturally. . . . Would you say you two know each other intimately?”
“Off the record or on, I’m a married man with two grown children,” was the stiff reply. “We’re acquaintances. That’s all.”
“They’re holding me for murder!” Regina wailed.
“I think she wants you to represent her, Counselor. How about it? Are you willing to go on record as her attorney?”
“What’s the official charge?”
“Suspicion of murder.”
‘Tm sorry, but the answer is no. I’m up to my ears in work. I can’t take on a new murder trial now.”
“Barry!” Regina was stunned.
“Mafia keeping you busy, Counselor?”
“Will that be all, Lieutenant?” Each syllable was an icicle.
“Not quite.” Rodriguez turned to Regina. “Did he have a date with you tonight?” he asked outright.
“Be careful, Lieutenant. If you involve me in this affair, if my name so much as appears in the papers in connection with it, I’ll sue for libel. The Department will be glad to give me your badge just to get me off their backs. Believe me, Lieutenant.”