Read Online Final Edit by Robert A Carter - Free Book Online

had no comment. I somehow could not summon up the crocodile
     tears that were probably called for in the circumstances. Though I didnot care much for Parker, really, I cared for hypocrisy even less. Let them think his death had left me speechless.
    Of course the police were also present, and I’m sure the reporters converged on them, and like good public servants, they
     were happy to oblige the television people as well. For myself, as soon as I could, I sent for Sidney Leopold. He popped in
     through the private entrance to my office, bright-eyed as always, his frizzy brown curls even more tousled than usual.
    “Nick,” he said, raising one hand and waving it in a kind of greeting, “what’s guh-going on around here? Puh-people all over
     the place… cameras… puh-police?”
    I gave him the bad news. “Oh, my Guh-God,” he said, slumping into the visitor’s chair. “Oh, my
God.”
    “Don’t worry, Sidney, I’m sure you can account for your whereabouts last evening.”
    He turned a shade paler. “Actually I was at huh-home alone at the time.”
    “Then you
don’t
have an alibi.”
    “Hey, Nick, sh-surely you don’t think that I—that I—”
    “Certainly not, Sidney. You had no reason to wish Parker dead, had you?”
    “I th-thought he was a son of a buh-bitch, but if I started kuh-killing every SOB I know, I’d have to buh-be a serial killer.”
    “My sentiments exactly.”
    The buzzer on my desk rang softly. I picked up the phone. “Yes, Hannah?”
    “Lieutenant Hatcher would like to see you, Nick.”
    “Not as presentable as Joe Scanlon, is he?” Scanlon was an NYPD detective, now on leave to write a book for Barlow & Company.
    “Really, Nick! I’d rather not say.”
    “Send him in, by all means.”
    Hatcher came in briskly, all business, and got to the point at once. Hannah was right behind him. She turned to go, but I
     motioned her to stay.
    “I’m going to need to talk to the members of your staff, Mr. Barlow. Could you—?”
    “There’s a conference room down the hall, Lieutenant. Hannah, will you show Lieutenant Hatcher where it is? He may also want
     to ask you a few questions.”
    “Right,” said Hatcher. “Then I’ll want to see the others, one by one.”
    “Hannah will bring them to you.” I turned to Sidney. “You don’t mind leading the pack, do you?”
    He shrugged.
    I had a feeling little work was going to be done in the office this day. I flipped open the pages of my desk calendar to Wednesday,
     June 2. “2:00 BANK,” it read. I groaned silently, impaled on the horns of a dilemma. Lifting the phone, I dialed Mort Mandelbaum’s
     extension.
    “The bank date, Morty,” I said.
    “Two o’clock, right, Nick?”
    “You’ll have to reschedule that appointment.”
    “What? But—it’s an emergency.”
    “I realize that. However, there’s the matter of Parker Foxcroft’s murder. I think the police ought to have first call on our
     attention. And, Morty?”
    “Yes?”
    “How’s your alibi?”
    A shocked silence, a bit of sputtering, and the phone went dead.
    My turn with the inquisitors came just after lunch.
    “The lieutenant would like to see you now, Nick,” Hannah informed me. I cursed under my breath, straightenedmy tie, and headed for the conference room. Hatcher, appearing quite morose, was sitting at the head of the conference table,
     his chin resting on one hand, in the other a pencil poised over his notebook. He squinted up at me.
    “Mr. Barlow.”
    “Yes, Lieutenant?”
    “You sure you’ve been completely candid with me?”
    “I certainly thought so.”
    “Isn’t it true that you were involved in a heated discussion with the deceased at”—he glanced at his notebook—“the ABA… the
     American Booksellers Association?”
    “Yes, that’s correct.”
    “And isn’t it also true that you were… well,
unhappy
about Mr. Foxcroft’s situation at your firm?”
    “Yes, I suppose I was.”
    “Why didn’t you mention this