“Well, Kelsey and Philip and I had gone to a football game at the stadium. Alice stayed home with my mother. After the game we felt the way you feel, you know, sort of festive, as if we should be doing something interesting. We went downtown and had dinner and after dinner Kelsey wanted to go dancing somewhere and told me to get another girl. I rang up Geraldine from the restaurant and she said she’d come if we could have her at the club at nine-thirty. Then I went back to the table and told the others that I’d gotten a girl and we piled in the car and went to pick up Geraldine. That was about eight o’clock.”
“Dark?”
“Yes. Kelsey drove. She’d had a couple of drinks and Philip objected, but Kelsey always got her own way. So they waited in the car while I went in to get Geraldine. She was ready, waiting. I took her out and introduced her to the others and we got in the rumbleseat. We decided to go out to the Golden Slipper for a while. But we didn’t get there. That’s all I can tell you.”
“I hope not,” Sands said dryly. “How did the accident happen?”
“I was in the rumbleseat and can’t swear to it. But Kelsey said she asked Philip for a. cigarette and while Philip was lighting it the car skidded. Philip grabbed the wheel but we crashed anyway. That’s all I remember.”
“You were unconscious?”
“We all were.”
“Go on.”
“When I came to there was a motorcycle cop and an ambulance and a lot of other people around. They took the other three away in the ambulance. I wasn’t cut and didn’t seem to be broken anywhere so I stayed and told the cop all I could and then one of the people drove me home. Later on I went to the hospital and found out Geraldine had been killed. She’d been cut by flying glass.”
“Where did you come to?”
“Where? In the rumbleseat, naturally.”
“Not naturally.”
Johnny stared. “Why not? That’s where I’d been sitting.”
“The girl’s body was found some distance from the car. She’d been flung out by the impact. You were sitting beside her.”
“You mean, why wasn’t I flung out too?”
“No. I mean you were and came back and parked yourself in the rumbleseat again.”
“While I was unconscious?”
“No, while you were conscious.”
“What in hell would I do that for?” Johnny said violently.
“Because you wanted to be found as far from Geraldine’s body as possible, having just cut her throat.”
There was a silence. Sands reached in his coat pocket and brought out an envelope.
“See,” he said. “Here’s Geraldine when she was found. Here, take it.”
“No,” Johnny whispered. “No, I don’t want it!”
“Go on, look at it. It’s only a picture taken a long time ago of a girl who doesn’t look like that now.”
He took the picture out of the envelope and held it in front of Johnny’s eyes.
“See. This is Geraldine.”
Johnny raised his eyes slowly and looked at the picture.
“Well?” he said hoarsely. “That’s her. What about it?”
“Dead as a doornail, isn’t she? Yet the rest of you got off pretty lightly. It was a freak that your sister was blinded, she wasn’t badly hurt and Mr. James was merely cut. You were simply knocked out. Geraldine was killed.”
“Well, hasn’t that happened before in accidents?”
“Often,” Sands said. “But look again. Where is the glass? Where is all the glass that cut Geraldine’s throat?”
“I don’t know!”
He lunged out of his chair nearly knocking Sands across the room. “I can prove I was unconscious. I can prove I didn’t do anything to her. Wait here, I’ll prove it!”
He ran out, shouting, “Phil! Phil!”
A couple of minutes later he came back thrusting Philip ahead of him into the room.
“Tell him,” he shouted. “And you, you smart bastard, you listen.” He pushed Philip into a chair and towered over him. “Go on, tell him.”
Philip looked wanly up at him. “What am I to tell him? I don’t even know what you were talking about.”
“Tell me about the accident,” Sands said.
“Accident? What accident?” Philip said. “If you wouldn’t make so much noise, Johnny — I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
“He thinks I killed Geraldine,” Johnny cried. “He says I cut her throat, murdered her.” He swung back to face Sands. “Why in hell would I murder her? Have you thought of that?”
“Stevie Jordan thought of it,” Sands said quietly. “He was the boy friend whose name you didn’t know.”
“Jordan?”
“Geraldine moved out of his place. She expected to marry you and I gather you didn’t want her.”
“So I killed her! I didn’t just quit seeing her, I had to kill her!”
“You’re making this stuff up,” Philip said to Sands. “You know as well as I do that the girl wasn’t murdered.”
“She was murdered,” Sands said. “Jordan’s known for some time. Last night he told me — a couple of hours before he was shot in the stomach.”
Johnny opened his mouth wide as if he were going to shout, but his voice was merely an echo of itself. “Jordan’s dead?”
“Not quite. As good as dead for the time being, though. Somebody’s safe. Jordan wanted to tell me something, about Murillo. I was talking to him on the phone when he was shot. By a friend of his. A friend of yours, too, Mr. Heath, a woman.”
“What if it was done by a friend of Johnny’s?” Philip said anxiously. “Why, Johnny has millions of friends, He’s not responsible for what they...”
“Shut up,” Johnny said. He stared at Sands, blinking his eyes slowly. “What’s Jordan got to do with Geraldine dying? You think I asked one of my friends to shoot him? You think I can’t do my own shooting?”
“Johnny,” Philip cried. “Don’t talk...”
“Shut up,” Johnny said again, without looking at him.
“I won’t shut up! I... you get so irresponsible. Don’t say any more till you’ve cooled off.” He looked at Sands. “Johnny couldn’t have killed Geraldine. He was unconscious. I know, because. I came to first and got out of the car to help Kelsey. When I saw I couldn’t do anything for Kelsey I went around to the rumbleseat. Johnny was bent over, his head had cracked against the seat and he was unconscious. Then a motorcycle policeman came along...”
“You didn’t go over to help the girl?” Sands said.
“No. No, I’m sorry. I... I forgot she was with us. I’d never met her before and the shock... I just forgot her.”
“You think I can’t do my own shooting?” Johnny said. “You think I couldn’t shoot up this whole goddamn bastard town and get away with it?”
“That’s right,” Sands said, “you couldn’t. If I’m lucky you and your friend Murillo will hang together.”
“I don’t need my friends to help me!”
“You can’t be serious,” Philip cried, “either of you! You’re just talking! How could Johnny know a man like Murillo?”
“Ask Johnny,” Sands said. “How much did you fork out, Heath?”
Johnny smiled coldly. “Nothing. He did it free on account of we’re pals, Murillo and I. We were talking one day and he said, ‘Johnny, is there anyone you want murdered?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘Geraldine Smith and my sister Kelsey and a guy called Jordan.’ Now how about getting out of here before I lose my temper?”
“You won’t lose your temper,” Sands said mildly. “You can’t afford to. Try to smile your way out of this one, charm boy.”
Johnny walked to the door. “I’m cool,” he said over his shoulder. “And now that I’m onto your methods I’m going to stay cool. I’m going for a walk. The hell with the office.”
When the door slammed, Philip kept staring at it as if he were trying to convince himself that it was a door. At last he turned his eyes to Sands, almost pleadingly.