He turned to me. “You got any idea how this happened, Mr. Branch? You said he didn’t jump.”
“I saw him fall from that window. I think he was pushed. I know he didn’t commit suicide.”
“How do you know?”
“I knew him. He wasn’t the kind of a man who would kill himself, and he had no reason.”
“That you knew of?”
“He had no reason. I talked to him on the telephone half an hour before this happened.”
“Oh, you did? You say you saw him fall. Where were you when he fell?”
“Walking on this sidewalk. About where you’re standing.”
“You say you think he was pushed. Did you see somebody push him?”
“No. I didn’t see anybody. I simply know that Judd was not capable of committing suicide.”
“The damnedest people do,” Cross said. “What did he say on the telephone?”
“He wanted me to come over here.”
“Did he say why?”
“No.” I wanted a more receptive audience before I brought the Schneiders in, and I had to have a talk with the president of the university.
“Where does the girl come in?”
“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask her. She was Alec’s fiancée. She must have been in the building and heard him cry out when he fell. She broke into his office and looked out of the window and saw him down here on the sidewalk and fainted.”
“Jesus,” Sale said. “Tough on her.”
“You’re not accusing her of pushing him?” Cross said.
“Of course not,” I snapped. “They were going to be married. This thing is going to ruin her life.”
“Looks like suicide to me, Lieutenant,” said the man with the broken nose.
“I don’t know,” Cross said. “I’m going to call the Detective-Sergeant. Can I phone around here, Mr. Branch?”
“There’s a phone in my office on the fifth floor.”
“Same floor as the room he jumped from, eh? I want to look at that room.”
We entered the building and climbed the stairs to the fifth floor.
Dr. Rasmussen met us at the head of the stairs. “Miss Madden has regained consciousness,” he said. “I put her on the settee in the Ladies’ Room down the hall.”
“I want to ask her some questions,” Cross said.
“Not just now, Lieutenant. She’s had a shock and you’d better let her rest for a while. You can question her later, perhaps.”
“Yeah, how much later?”
“I’d say give her an hour anyway. If she wasn’t a good strong girl, I’d send her to the hospital for the night. But she’s got a stiff upper lip.”
“Did you tell her, doctor?” I said.
“She knew. I confirmed what she knew.” After a pause Rasmussen said, “Well, I can trust you gentlemen to see that she gets home safely. I might as well toddle home for a snooze. I think I’ll have a delivery before morning.”
“O.K., doctor, good night,” Cross said. Rasmussen picked up his bag and waved his hand and went downstairs.
“Is that Judd’s office?” Cross asked as we passed the open door.
“Yes.”
“Hey, Lieutenant,” said Sale, “the glass in the door is broken.”
“I think Miss Madden broke it. I heard the crash after Judd fell.”
“I get it,” Cross said. “You might as well stay here and look around, Sale. I’ll be right back.”
I took Cross to my office and he called the Detective-Sergeant. When he had finished, I picked up the receiver.
“Going to make a call?” Cross looked as if he felt he should be suspicious of me but couldn’t quite make the grade. His broad, weather-reddened face was set in unimpressive creases of earnestness and his blue eyes were puzzled.
“I’m going to call President Galloway,” I said. “He’s got to know about this.”
“I guess that’s right,” Cross agreed. “Stick around, though, will you? The detective’ll probably want to ask you some more questions.”
“I’ll stay in the building.”
Cross went out the door and I dialed President Galloway’s number. He lived in the presidential mansion, which was a university building on the opposite side of the campus from McKinley Hall.
While the phone rang, I looked at my watch. It was just after 12:30. How long ago had Alec died? It was midnight when I left my apartment. It must have taken me about five minutes to get here. Perhaps six. Alec had been dead about twenty-five minutes. In another twenty-five minutes, I hoped to have his murderer. But first I had to talk to Galloway.
On the fourth ring, a maid answered the phone. “President Galloway’s residence.”
“This is Robert Branch, professor of English. May I speak to the President?”
“It’s very late. Could I have him call you in the morning, or take a message?”
“Tell him it’s important university business. If he’s in bed, you’ll have to wake him up.”
“One moment, please.”
I waited a number of moments. Then I heard the President’s voice say, “Galloway speaking,” with the exaggerated briskness of a man still half asleep.
“Robert Branch speaking. Alec Judd has been killed.”
“Judd killed! Good heavens. How did it happen?”
“He jumped, or was pushed, from the window of his office in McKinley Hall. I think he was pushed and I think I know who pushed him.”
“You do?”
I decided to hold it till he came over. “I’d prefer not to tell you over the phone. Can you come here now, sir?”
“Of course, Robert, of course. Where are you?”
“In my office in McKinley Hall. I can’t leave here because the police want to question me. Fifth floor.”
“You’ve called the police?”
“I called them as soon as it happened. I saw Alec fall.”
“It must have been a terrible shock. You were close friends, weren’t you? You called the local police, of course?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll be right over,” Galloway said, and hung up.
I replaced the receiver and leaned back in my swivel-chair and looked at the telephone. I thought of the receiver dangling from the shelf beside Alec’s window. Had he been phoning when he was attacked? If so, whom had he been phoning?
My mind jumped like a shot deer. He was phoning me! The line was cut off while I was writing ‘taillour’ on the envelope. I stiffened up and the chair tilted me forward.
Then I relaxed again and blew air out of my lungs. The deer had been missed by a mile after all. It couldn’t have been much after 11:30 when he phoned me. Besides, he said that he was phoning from the Dictionary office on the fourth floor. What was he doing in the Dictionary office?
A sharp-nosed man in plain clothes with a beady eye and a clipped black moustache put his head in at the door. “I’m Haggerty,” he said, “Detective-Sergeant Haggerty. Are you Professor Branch?”
“Yes. I believe you want to ask me some questions.”
“Can you wait a few minutes? I want to examine this office down the line first.”
“O.K., Sergeant,” I said, and he took his nose away with him.
I went on sitting in my chair. There was no sign of Galloway yet. The dangling receiver still bothered me. Suddenly it occurred to me that I could do something.
I dialed ‘O’ and the night operator answered, “University operator speaking.”
“This is Professor Branch of the English Department. I’m investigating a certain matter for the President and I wonder if you can give me some information.”
“What about? It depends on what it is,” she said in the cagey way switchboard operators have.
“Is the line to Professor Judd’s office still open?”
“Yes, it is. I turned my key a few minutes ago and there was nobody on the line. I asked if the line was being used and a policeman came to the phone and told me to leave it open.”