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Authors: Brett Halliday
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gets back. This will be quite a shock to her.”
Griggs said, “Send that lawyer in, please,” and he lifted his eyebrows at Shayne, “You make any startling deductions from all that?”
Shayne shook his red head. “Nothing startling or otherwise. Brother Mark doesn’t make any effort to hide his aversion for the dead man.”
“It’s pretty much an open secret around town. In fact there are rumors that, well… that Mr. and Mrs. Ames weren’t entirely lovey-dovey at home and that Mark wasn’t averse to filling in while Wesley was tomcatting around elsewhere,” offered Rourke.
“You mean he was having an affair with his brother’s wife?”
“Just rumors. Helena Ames is a young and lovely woman and Wesley wasn’t exactly the ever-loving husband type.”
Mr. Sutter came in weaving a trifle and with a half-smoked cigar clenched between his teeth. He said aggressively, “I have no information of the slightest consequence to aid you in this matter, Sergeant. I understand that this man is a newspaper reporter.” He jerked his head toward Rourke. “And I find it quite unusual for him to be present at an inquiry of this sort. Highly irregular. My firm will not be pleased if we receive newspaper notoriety in connection with this disgraceful affair.”
Sergeant Griggs nodded impassively. “Sit down, Mr. Sutter. State your name, occupation and home address for the record.”
He sat down and said icily, “Alonzo J. Sutter. I am an attorney with my office and residence in New York City.”
“Is Wesley Ames one of your clients?”
“Certainly not,” snapped Sutter, giving the impression that the very suggestion was odious. “I flew to Miami today to have a conference with him on a legal matter concerning one of our valued clients.”
“Do you mind giving me his name and stating the nature of the legal matter?”
“I certainly do. That is privileged information and completely immaterial.”
“What time did you reach Miami?”
“About five o’clock. I took a taxi direct from the airport with every expectation of conferring with Mr. Ames immediately and I had hoped to return to New York by a later flight tonight. Instead I was greeted on my arrival by the man’s secretary, a Mr. Conroy, I believe, who explained that his employer might not be available to me for several hours and suggested that I remain in the house as a guest until such time as Mr. Ames should deign to give me an interview.”
“And that made you sore?” suggested Griggs.
“I was naturally indignant, and I protested, but to no avail. I was assigned a guest-room across the hall from Conroy’s quarters, and there I cooled my heels until Ames was shot to death.”
“Did you have any discussion with him during dinner?”
“He didn’t come to dinner. Confound it, the man made no appearance whatsoever. I was served dinner with Mrs. Ames and the secretary, and given to understand that Ames never joined them at the evening meal. That he didn’t arise until lour or five in the afternoon and secluded himself in his study with only coffee until he went out later in the evening to spend the rest of the night in night-clubs gathering gossip items for his notorious newspaper column. Soon after dinner I went up to my room and tried to nap with the understanding that Conroy would call me the moment Ames was available.”
“Did you sleep?”
“Not really. I was naturally quite irritated by the cavalier manner in which I was being treated, and anxious to get the conference over with. After about an hour I came out of my room to the head of the stairs, noting that the confounded Do Not Disturb sign still hung outside Ames’ study, and I called down for the houseboy to bring a bottle of Scotch to my room.”
“Loudly enough for Ames to hear you inside his closed study?”
“He should have heard me if he wasn’t deaf. I intended him to be reminded of my presence and my purpose in his house, but he calmly disregarded that and I went
Griggs said, “Send that lawyer in, please,” and he lifted his eyebrows at Shayne, “You make any startling deductions from all that?”
Shayne shook his red head. “Nothing startling or otherwise. Brother Mark doesn’t make any effort to hide his aversion for the dead man.”
“It’s pretty much an open secret around town. In fact there are rumors that, well… that Mr. and Mrs. Ames weren’t entirely lovey-dovey at home and that Mark wasn’t averse to filling in while Wesley was tomcatting around elsewhere,” offered Rourke.
“You mean he was having an affair with his brother’s wife?”
“Just rumors. Helena Ames is a young and lovely woman and Wesley wasn’t exactly the ever-loving husband type.”
Mr. Sutter came in weaving a trifle and with a half-smoked cigar clenched between his teeth. He said aggressively, “I have no information of the slightest consequence to aid you in this matter, Sergeant. I understand that this man is a newspaper reporter.” He jerked his head toward Rourke. “And I find it quite unusual for him to be present at an inquiry of this sort. Highly irregular. My firm will not be pleased if we receive newspaper notoriety in connection with this disgraceful affair.”
Sergeant Griggs nodded impassively. “Sit down, Mr. Sutter. State your name, occupation and home address for the record.”
He sat down and said icily, “Alonzo J. Sutter. I am an attorney with my office and residence in New York City.”
“Is Wesley Ames one of your clients?”
“Certainly not,” snapped Sutter, giving the impression that the very suggestion was odious. “I flew to Miami today to have a conference with him on a legal matter concerning one of our valued clients.”
“Do you mind giving me his name and stating the nature of the legal matter?”
“I certainly do. That is privileged information and completely immaterial.”
“What time did you reach Miami?”
“About five o’clock. I took a taxi direct from the airport with every expectation of conferring with Mr. Ames immediately and I had hoped to return to New York by a later flight tonight. Instead I was greeted on my arrival by the man’s secretary, a Mr. Conroy, I believe, who explained that his employer might not be available to me for several hours and suggested that I remain in the house as a guest until such time as Mr. Ames should deign to give me an interview.”
“And that made you sore?” suggested Griggs.
“I was naturally indignant, and I protested, but to no avail. I was assigned a guest-room across the hall from Conroy’s quarters, and there I cooled my heels until Ames was shot to death.”
“Did you have any discussion with him during dinner?”
“He didn’t come to dinner. Confound it, the man made no appearance whatsoever. I was served dinner with Mrs. Ames and the secretary, and given to understand that Ames never joined them at the evening meal. That he didn’t arise until lour or five in the afternoon and secluded himself in his study with only coffee until he went out later in the evening to spend the rest of the night in night-clubs gathering gossip items for his notorious newspaper column. Soon after dinner I went up to my room and tried to nap with the understanding that Conroy would call me the moment Ames was available.”
“Did you sleep?”
“Not really. I was naturally quite irritated by the cavalier manner in which I was being treated, and anxious to get the conference over with. After about an hour I came out of my room to the head of the stairs, noting that the confounded Do Not Disturb sign still hung outside Ames’ study, and I called down for the houseboy to bring a bottle of Scotch to my room.”
“Loudly enough for Ames to hear you inside his closed study?”
“He should have heard me if he wasn’t deaf. I intended him to be reminded of my presence and my purpose in his house, but he calmly disregarded that and I went
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