Page 188 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Jury-rigged

“All right. Let’s move on to juror number nine, Jerry Ko. He said
he was out with his roommates for a change that Saturday night. He
didn’t want to be alone, given the now evident danger, and they were
happy to act as an ad hoc bodyguard. They all came back good and
drunk when the bars closed, fell into their beds and slept soundly
until late Sunday morning. What do you make of that story?”
I held up my hands, palms open, a sign of innocent helplessness to
most people, but a threat of empty-handed combat to Ms.
Gramercy—at least when manifest by anyone within range of her
own limbs, and I was safely beyond that limit.
“Well, it was too late to test everyone’s blood alcohol level, if that’s
your point. Maybe some receipts, if they paid by credit card, from the
establishments they patronized, would help quantify their intake hour
by hour. Other than that, I see no reason not to take their statements
at face value.”
“A little soon for that, I should think.” A gratuitous slam. She was
acting as if everything were on the table, unresolved. Just wait until I
get that fax, I muttered inaudibly. She wasn’t a telepath, and lips have
to move before they can be read.
“Curtis Carr was again out of town. That was established by the
documentation of his itinerary, which he shared with you: plane
tickets, hotel and meal receipts. He keeps them all as business
records. But what about his personal quarters behind the shop?
Would it be evident to an outsider that he was absent?”
“I don’t think so. His car was parked in the usual place—an
employee dropped him at the airport—and he never leaves lights on
in the shop at night. But, as I noted earlier, after the first murder he
made sure the points of entry were, so to speak, hardened. I did go
around with him and check for any new scratches or scrapes around
the doors and windows. No sign of an unsuccessful attempt to break
in.”
“Now we come to the difficult Ms. Reddy.” Labelle cocked her
head slightly, almost squinting. Was her vision failing? She would
never admit she needed glasses. I would have to snoop around and
learn if she had taken up contact lenses. “Although less than a week
had elapsed between the second and third murders, she had moved
twice: you have the earlier address crossed off here, and so is the one
below it. What happened?”

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