“But it was you yourself who supplied a very plausible motive in his not being able to satisfy the fans if Hunsinger did not play for the Cougars-unless. . unless it became impossible to give them Hunsinger not because management had callously traded him but because he was dead.”
“Do you think that’s a realistic motive?” Koesler asked somewhat self-consciously.
“Excellent. Then there is the general manager.” Koznicki flipped a page in his notepad. “David Whitman.”
“His time gap was, let’s see, from noon till the game started at 2:00 p.m. Figuring about an hour’s drive either way between the stadium and the apartment, that would be a pretty tight fit, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, but possible. Possible. However, we have yet to establish a motive for Mr. Whitman. What he might have gained from Hunsinger’s death is not clear. Nor is there evidence of any animosity toward Hunsinger on Mr. Whitman’s part. Certainly not any evident hatred that could motivate a murder.”
“Let’s see, then; there’s my parishioner, the one who got me involved in this thing from the beginning by inviting me to attend the Bible discussion group.”
“Yes, Kit Hoffer. He has unverifiable time from about six-thirty until he arrived late at the inn, about eight-forty-five. Which means that he could have driven to the apartment by seven-thirty, left fifteen minutes later-ample time to mix the poison and switch bottles-then driven out to the inn, arriving there, as he in fact did, at eight-forty-five. His motive, of course, would be clear. According to the testimony we have gathered, as long as Hunsinger was on the team and apparently able to walk, he would, specifically at Mr. Galloway’s orders, play-and thus Mr. Hoffer would not. And if Mr. Hoffer did not play, his salary-his entire future-would suffer.”
“Yes. Then there was this bit about going to the church the morning of the game to pray. I know he was at Mass the evening before. I suppose it is possible he’d go back for a visit Sunday morning, but normally I would have assumed he did all his praying Saturday at Mass.”
“Would it not be an ironic twist of fate, Father-if Mr. Hoffer should prove to be the guilty party-that your testimony would be at least partly the cause of his being found out. And he is the very one who brought you into this case.”
“I don’t want to think about that possibility. Of all the people I met with yesterday, Kit Hoffer is the one I most want to be innocent.”
“I know how you must feel, Father. Understandable. . one of your parishioners and all. But we must apprehend the perpetrator, whoever it is.” Koznicki finished the final morsel of Dover sole, touched napkin to lips, and turned another page in his pad. “Then there is the quarterback, Robert Cobb.”
“Yes, he was late, too, wasn’t he? Even later than Kit Hoffer.”
“That is correct. Fifteen minutes later than Mr. Hoffer. So, a very similar opportunity to do in Mr. Hunsinger. And fixing a flat tire with no witness to corroborate is a pretty flimsy alibi. However, once more we were at a loss to establish a motive. It would seem that though there was no lack of ill feeling between the two, they did work well together on the playing field. That must have made Mr. Cobb’s job more easy and successful.”
“Probably the same holds true for Jack Brown, the trainer, doesn’t it? I mean, I didn’t think there was any reason in the world why he would want to kill Hunsinger.”
“That is true as far as the interview you attended yesterday. But in further questioning of some of the other players-interviews carried out by other detectives on this case-a little more light was shed on this matter.”
“Oh?” Koesler finished the sandwich and began to nibble on another bread stick.
“It seems that Hunsinger lived on the mere edge of the conditioning one would expect of a professional athlete. A fact that would force Mr. Brown to have to work harder to keep Hunsinger in playing condition. But what is even more germane is that Hunsinger went out of his way to lead others on the team into temptation. It far surpassed the breaking of curfew. It led to chemical abuse, even cocaine.”
“I wonder why he would do that?”
“Several hypotheses have been advanced. The most popular theory seems to be that Hunsinger wanted, perhaps needed, to dominate, to control others. This seems so because he regularly tried to trap the younger, newer members of the team. If he could trap a newcomer, then he had control from that time on.”
“So the trainer would have to watch these young athletes be drawn into the bad influence of Hunsinger and have their careers-their lives-possibly ruined. But would that be sufficient motive for murder?”
Koznicki shrugged. “Perhaps. Athletic trainers devote their professional lives to keeping athletes healthy, or, at least in good operating condition. The conduct of Mr. Hunsinger would have been in direct conflict with the trainer’s goals. He, perhaps next to a medical doctor, could most fully understand what these drugs could do to men. . men he had pledged himself to keep healthy.”
Koesler’s bread stick was gone. The waiter cleared the table. Roznicki ordered tea. Koesler asked for decaffeinated coffee.
Koesler felt very gustatorially satisfied. He wondered if he should have any dinner at all. “I realize that I’m talking to a professional and all I know about this sort of thing is what I read and see on TV, but if I had to make a guess, it would be Mrs. Galloway.”
“You are being far too modest, Father. You have been a significant help in not a few of our cases in the past. Nor would I deny you on your guess, your intuition, as it were.”
“That’s really all it is: intuition. She doesn’t have any alibi until kickoff, when she showed up in the owner’s box. So, there’s ample time. No one knows whether she ever returned the key to Hunsinger’s apartment. And even if she did, she could easily have had a duplicate made. And revenge is an awfully powerful motive.”
“All that you say is true, Father. But there is the matter of the elapsed time. Approximately a year passed between the time that Hunsinger broke off his affair with her and his death. That is a rather extended period to sustain feelings of revenge.”
“But not unheard-of. A strong emotional feeling-particularly an obsession-can last a lifetime. I’ve seen that happen. Perhaps it was an emotion whose time for execution came.”
“Perhaps, Father. But I think the odds lengthen with time. Then, again, there is the strychnine. If she had been gone from his apartment for a year, how would she know about the poison, which he had had in his possession no more than a matter of a few months at most?”
Koesler shook his head. “I don’t know, except that if she had a key to his apartment, she could have gone in at any time and-what do they say in the movies? — cased the joint. She certainly knew when he would not be there. All she had to do was read the paper. There were practices, games-best of all, out-of-town trips for away games.
“As a matter of fact, now that I think of it, that could just explain why she might have done it now instead of a year ago. Suppose she is nursing this long-term hatred. She goes up to the apartment sometime when she knows he won’t be there and finds the strychnine. The discovery triggers desire for revenge. She hatches this plot and does the deed. She mixes the strychnine in with the DMSO and leaves it on the shelf in the spot reserved for shampoo. She knows all about Hunsinger’s storied obsessions. She knows he will automatically reach for the shampoo in its usual spot. She knows he will not be wearing his lenses in the shower. He will not be able to read the label and the bottles are the same shape.
“And now we reach the final question.” Koesler slapped his brow with the palm of his hand. “Why doesn’t she bother to disguise the color difference? Even if Hunsinger could not read the label, he could certainly notice the different coloration. I still wonder, Did Mrs. Galloway know that Hunsinger was colorblind?”