Read Online Fletch and the Man Who by Gregory McDonald - Free Book Online Page B

campaign?”
    “Don’t know.”
    “Who was murdered in Chicago?”
    “A young woman, unidentified, strangled and found in a closet next to the press reception area at the Hotel Harris.”
    “And the woman at the motel last night was murdered?”
    “Clearly.”
    “You’re saying I should get myself ready to answer some questions about all this.”
    “At least.”
    “So get me ready.”
    “All right. Tell me about your arriving back at the hotel last night.”
    The governor swiveled his chair forward again. “Okay. Willy drove me back to the hotel after the Chamber of Commerce speech.”
    “Willy Finn, your advance man?”
    “Yeah. He flew in as soon as he heard James was out on his ear. We had a chance to talk in the car. After he left me last night, he flew on to California.”
    “Any idea what time you got to the hotel?”
    “None at all. I think Willy was to be on an eleven-o’clock flight.”
    “You entered the hotel alone?”
    “Sure. Presidential candidates aren’t so special. There are a lot of us around. At this point.”
    “Go straight to the elevator?”
    “Of course. Shook a few hands on the way. When I got to the suite and opened the door, I saw flashing blue lights in the air outside. Through the living room window. I turned on the lights and changed into my robe. I looked through things people had stuffed into that briefcase.”
    “You weren’t interested in what caused the flashing blue lights, the sirens?”
    “My life is full of flashing blue lights and sirens. I’m a walking police emergency.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You didn’t go out onto the balcony, lean over the rail and look down?”
    “No.”
    “Why weren’t you wearing your shoes when I got there?”
    The governor grinned puckishly. “I always take my shoes off before I go to bed. Don’t you?”
    “It wasn’t because they were wet from your being out on the balcony?”
    “I wasn’t out on the balcony.”
    “Someone was. The snow out there was all messed up.”
    “As I said, a great many people were in that room earlier. I might have even gone out on the balcony myself earlier. That I don’t remember.”
    “You didn’t stop at any point on your way to your suite? On another floor, to see someone? Anything?”
    “Nope. What’s the problem?”
    “It doesn’t work out, Governor.”
    “Why not?”
    “Time-wise. Either you passed a mob on the sidewalk gathered around a dead girl …”
    “Possible, I suppose.”
    “But not likely.”
    “No. Not likely.”
    “Or, while you were in the lobby, people—including Dr. Thom— rushed out of the bar to the sidewalk to see what had happened.”
    “I didn’t see either thing.”
    “One thing or the other had to be true, for you to see the flashing police and ambulance lights from your suite when you got there.”
    The governor shrugged. “I bored the Chamber of Commerce people to death, but I don’t think I killed anybody after that.”
    “How come Flash wasn’t with you last night? Isn’t he sort of your valet-bodyguard?”
    “I don’t like having Flash around all the time. Sometimes I like to sneak a cigar. Also, he doesn’t get along too well with Bob.”
    “Dr. Thom.”
    “Yes. Bob calls Flash a cretin.”
    Fletch sat more forward on the edge of the bed. “Hate to sound like a prosecutor, Governor, but did you have personal knowledge of Alice Elizabeth Shields?”
    The governor looked Fletch in the eye. “No.”
    “Do you know anything at all about her murder?”
    Again the steady look. “No.” In an easier tone, he said, “You seem awfully worried. What should I do? Do you think I should make a statement?”
    “Not if it looks like this.”
    “What should I do? You say we’ve got these two crime writers attached to us. They’re going to write something, sometime …”
    Fletch said, “I think it would look politically good for you to make a special request; ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation to come in and