Read Online 1965 - The Way the Cookie Crumbles by James Hadley Chase - Free Book Online

driven away.
     
    * * *
     
    At 09.45 hours, Fred Hess walked down the passage that led to Captain Terrell’s office. He rapped on the door, pushed it open and walked into the room.
    Terrell was sitting at his desk. Beigler was sitting on the window ledge. Both men were drinking coffee.
    ‘Well, Fred, what have you got?’ Terrell asked, pushing a carafe of coffee across the desk and waving to a chair.
    Hess sat down and helped himself to a cup of coffee before saying, ‘It all points one way, Chief. She killed him and then herself. Lepski has been checking, and here’s what we’ve come up with. Williams went to bed at eight o’clock with a heavy cold. At 10:10 the people across the way thought they heard shots, but weren’t sure. They had their TV set on and it was blaring. The husband, Dixon, looked out of the window to see if there was anything to see. Muriel Devon’s car was parked outside her bungalow. He went back to the programme. As it finished, he heard
    Muriel’s car drive away. The doorman at La Coquille saw Muriel arrive in her car. He thought she was pretty drunk, but she was steady enough to walk so he let her in. She arrived at around eleven so she must have driven straight to the restaurant from her place. It would take that time.
    The barman says he saw her come in and Edris put her in the end banquette. The barman says he remained behind the bar the whole time and he is certain no one went near the banquette except Edris who served her with a whisky sour. The hypo that killed her carries some blurred fingerprints, one of them, probably all of them, Muriel’s. We haven’t found a thing to make us think she didn’t kill him and then herself.’
    Terrell nodded.
    ‘What did Charmers say about the handwriting on the suicide note?’
    ‘I gave him the specimens we found in her apartment. The handwriting matches. She also owned the gun. She took out a licence three years ago in New York. It’s a fact Williams was cheating her. He was planning to go off with a Mrs. Van Wilden, a rich old bitch, living at the Palace Hotel. I’ve seen and talked to her.’ Hess made a grimace. ‘When she heard Williams was dead, she had hysterics. She was taking him to the West Indies to manage her estate out there.’ Hess sneered. ‘She had a lucky break, but I didn’t tell her so. Lepski talked around and the neighbours say Williams and Muriel were always fighting. Well, I guess they’ve had their last fight, no loss.’
    Terrell finished his coffee.
    ‘Doc says she died of heroin poisoning. No doubt about that.’ He thought for a moment, then shrugged. ‘Well, I guess we can close the file. This is one of the easy ones.’
    ‘How about her husband?’ Beigler said. ‘Do you want me to find him?’
    ‘We’ll want him for the inquest,’ Terrell said. ‘Then there’s the daughter.’ He scratched the side of his jaw. ‘Funny Hamilton hasn’t been around this morning.’
    Hess grinned.
    ‘Browning’s talked to him. He gets so many free meals out of Browning, he’s playing this one down. There’s barely a mention of the shooting and that’s on the back page.’
    ‘I’m glad for the daughter’s sake,’ Terrell said. ‘See if you can find Devon in the book, Joe.’
    Beigler crossed to the shelf of reference books and picked up the telephone book. He flicked through the pages.
    ‘Here he is. Melville Devon, 1455, Hillside Crescent. Shall I call the house?’
    ‘Go ahead.’
    Beigler put the call through. After a brief delay, a woman’s voice said, ‘This is Mr. Devon’s residence.’
    ‘City Police,’ Beigler said. ‘Can I talk to Mr. Devon?’
    ‘He’s not here. You can get him at the bank.’
    ‘What bank’s that?’
    ‘The Florida Safe Deposit,’ the woman told him. ‘I can give you the number if you’ll hold on.’
    ‘That’s okay,’ Beigler said. ‘I can find it, thanks,’ and he hung up. ‘He works at the Florida Safe Deposit Bank,’ he told Terrell.
    Terrell frowned,