Her mind now clear, Lennon sensed the panic in Claire’s voice. She was fearful of what she’d find at the station. And she wanted a friendly shoulder with her. A shoulder she was not likely to find in either a cabbie or the police. “I’ll be right over.”
There was little or no traffic at that hour; they made it from Claire’s apartment to the service station in record time.
It was a familiar scene to Lennon, something out of the movies for Claire. Most striking were the flashing lights atop police vehicles and rescue wagons. From the sheer number of vehicles on the scene, Lennon feared the worst. “Claire, wait in the car. I’ll go see what’s-”
But Claire was already out of the car and running to the spot where everyone had gathered. She saw the body bag, and instantly she knew.
Impulsively she moved toward the bag. The station manager caught her in his arms before she could reach it. “Claire, you don’t want to see that!”
There could be no doubt: Stan was in the bag. The blood seemed to drain from her head as she collapsed. The manager held her and yelled for help. Instantly, two EMS people were at her side. They put her on a gurney and began to minister to her.
Having assured herself that Claire was being cared for, Lennon’s reportorial instincts took over. The ranking officer on the scene was Sergeant Mangiapane, the lone representative from Homicide. “Hi, Phil. What’s going on here?”
“Oh, hi, Pat.” She had startled him; his attention had been focused on the fainting woman. “It looks like an accident. Let me get the boss over here.” Mangiapane beckoned to the manager.
The manager clearly was shaken. “Check me now,” Mangiapane said. “Lacki was alone at the station. Right?”
The manager nodded. He was thinking of many things, not the least of which was what to do about Stan’s fiancee.
“And your rule is that a lone man on duty doesn’t leave the booth for any reason. Right? But you said …”
“Stan didn’t pull this duty very often,” the manager explained. “One of the reasons I don’t tap him much is he’s too valuable on days. Hell of a mechanic. The other reason is because he’s too softhearted. Of all the guys who work here, Stan’d be most likely to leave the booth and help somebody. That’s what must’ve happened ….”
“It’s pretty clear what happened, Pat,” Mangiapane said. “Somebody must’ve talked him into leaving the booth to look at a car … like he just said.
“Well, the two hoists are occupied, as you can see. So he used the creeper-uh, that’s the metal slide over there. He must’ve lifted the car and slid under it and the damn jack broke. When the jack fell, so did the car. It crushed just about everything. Lacki was a big guy. Big in the chest. The medics say it probably crushed the aorta, maybe the heart too.”
“When did it happen?”
“We don’t know yet. We’re checking that out. The M.E. will rule on that eventually. God knows how many people came in here for gas. Some of them might’ve seen Lacki. After all, the car that was on the jack is gone.”
“So what happened to it?”
“Dunno. Maybe the guy panicked and drove away. Maybe he’ll come forward when he finds out we don’t want to arrest him … at least not on what we got now.”
“What makes you think the jack failed?”
“See,” the manager volunteered, “that oil leak at the base of the pipe-the handle? The handle-that’s what failed. Stan got the car off the ground with the hydraulic floor jack. Then he shoulda put a stand or two under the frame. But that’s Stan-no goddam jack was gonna fail on him. Well,” he shook his head, “this one did!”
“Like I said,” Mangiapane repeated, “it looks like an accident.”
“Yeah …” Lennon said meditatively. “There’s one thing more. I just interviewed him about the Green case. Kind of a coincidence, don’t you think? Kind of spooky.”
Mangiapane’s face lit up. “Hey, so did I. Is that weird, or what?”
“That’s weird.” On impulse, Lennon took down the license numbers of the two cars on the hoists. Then she looked back. Claire was sitting up on the gurney. Everyone was giving reasons why it would be better if she didn’t look at Stan just now. It would be better after the undertaker fixed things up.…
“I want to give her a lift home,” Lennon said to the manager. “She told me Stan was fixing her car.”
“Yeah, it’s finished.”
“So could you get it to her later today?”
“Be glad to. Anything else I can do?”
“Be there if she needs you.”
“Sure thing.”
By the time Lennon reached the gurney, Claire was standing, somewhat shakily. Lennon held her for an extended time. Tremors passed through Claire’s body.
“It was fast,” Lennon whispered in Claire’s ear. “Instantaneous. He never knew.”
Lennon wondered whether supportive statements like these did any good at a time of great grief. Probably nothing would suffice. But holding and trying to reassure Claire was all Pat could do. That and drive her home.
Little was said during that trip. At first, Pat thought Claire was mumbling, rambling. Then she realized what Claire seemed to be repeating was, “Not machinery. Not tools. They couldn’t hurt Stan. Nothing like that could hurt Stan.”
It was so pitiful.
“Would you like me to stay with you for a while?” Pat asked, as they pulled up in front of Claire’s apartment.
“I’ve taken enough of your time. It was awfully nice of you to drive me.”
“It’s okay. I’ve got some time. Maybe I could stay with you until someone else comes ….”
“No, thanks a lot. But, no. I’d rather be alone. To be honest, I think I’m gonna break down. I’d rather do it alone.”
Lennon was hesitant. “If you’re sure …”
“I’m sure,” she said more firmly. “And, thanks. It was really kind of you. I couldn’t think of anyone else. Thanks.”
Pat waited till Claire was inside the building, then she drove off.
Claire entered her apartment and let her handbag fall to the floor. She looked about her. Nothing looked familiar. She wondered if her entire life would now be transformed so that nothing would be the same.
She slumped onto the couch and buried her face in her hands. The world had stopped. Her life had ended. Her sobs evolved into unrestrained keening.
At this moment, a figure stepped out from behind a door.
Carefully and quietly he approached her from the rear. He needn’t have been so cautious. Her cries more than covered his footsteps. Even had she been aware of the man’s presence, she would have reacted only instinctively. Given a moment’s thought, she might have willed to join Stan.
He swung the blackjack against the base of her skull. She pitched forward onto the floor, tears covering her face.
Good, he thought. Tears are appropriate in this kind of suicide. He pulled her up to a sitting position on the couch. He wrapped her fingers around a gun. With his hand over hers, he positioned the barrel just behind her ear. His index finger over hers, he pulled the trigger and let her fall sideways on the couch.
The sound was enough to attract the attention of the couple who lived in the apartment below.
After making certain her hand cradled the weapon, he climbed out the window and dropped to the ground, rolling expertly as he touched down to avoid injury.
Claire had joined Stan.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Good work, Manj,” Tully said. “Damn good work!”
Mangiapane smiled broadly. Due mainly to his following his instincts at the service station, his squad-Lieutenant Tully’s squad-had been given the green light to proceed full force on investigating what was now termed the murder of Stan Lacki.
After Pat Lennon had taken Claire McNern away, Mangiapane’s suspicions were aroused. The more he heard about Lacki’s expertise in things mechanical, the more Mangiapane wondered about this “accident.”