Page 21 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Polished Off

off-hours athleticism. “Can you account for your movements
between the time you left Bibliopoly yesterday and now?’
“Account for my—oh, well, if you must know, I went from here
to my boyfriend’s apartment and stayed there overnight.”
“His name and address.”
“Buzz Cutter, 668 Via Dolorosa, apartment 3C.”
“Does he work on your car?”
Linsey looked back at her vehicle as if it were emitting a foul odor.
“He picked it out for me at a used car lot. I think he wanted it for
himself: an old muscle car from the Eighties. His own car is even
older, and he’s always fixing it on the street. Yeah, he did fool around
with mine the other day. Maybe that’s why I broke down this
morning. You know: guys don’t want to admit they can’t fix
something. I’m going to a real mechanic next time.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. If I knew, I would have fixed it myself! After it
stalled twice, I pulled over and got the hood up. I had plenty of gas
and the battery wasn’t dead, so I figured Buzz had managed to screw
something up when he was tuning it. Rather than get all dirty poking
around that hot greasy engine, I found a phone, made some calls and
went back to the car. And there I sat for half an hour with the hood
up until somebody took pity on me and stopped. Luckily he knew
what he was doing or I’d still be out there.”
“Did you get his name?”
“No. I didn’t want him to think I was coming on, you know? So I
mentioned that my boyfriend was waiting for me and things like
that.”
“According to the bookstore clerk, you telephoned here twice:
first to say you had car trouble, then again to tell her that this Good
Samaritan was fixing your carburetor. Is that correct?”
“That’s right. I remember where the phone booth is, if that
matters.”
Her tone implied that only an imbecile would think it mattered. I
guess she didn’t realize she might need an alibi for the morning hours
more reliable than Iris Call. What if they were in it together? Was it
common knowledge that the police could gain access to telephone
records, even for calls from public pay phones? Labelle had finished
taking notes and now had both hands free.

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