Page 24 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Polished Off

Or else allow Medusa to petrify the poor man. Had she, perhaps,
caught a fatal glimpse of herself in her vanity mirror after his
departure? Accidental suicide, death by misadventure, poetic justice
self-administered?
Labelle Gramercy nodded and turned aside. “You may leave. Iris
has your telephone number and address if we need to talk to you
again.”
He left, mustering as much dignity as might a crab scuttling away
from a bear. Something he had said did not make much sense to me,
but did not spring immediately to mind; it remained for the
policewoman to articulate it.
“Iris,” said Labelle, in her usual voice—that is, rather sternly—“I
did not post an officer in the alley this morning because the rear door
was locked from the inside. You told me that employees alone
possess a key. Nobody else has been in the shop since I secured it.
How did that man get in?”
Ms. Call looked genuinely perplexed for a moment. Then she
shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe Pete left it open.”
Labelle had her notebook open, was leafing furiously through it.
“Pete? Who is that? I asked you for the names of all the employees.”
“Pete Boggs. He’s a part-time handyman, not an employee. Old
friend of Mariana’s. She pretty much let him have the run of the
place. He must have come in while you were out, and left the door
unlocked.”
Labelle moved so quickly I didn’t realize she was no longer by my
side. I turned my head at the sound of a door opening. I heard her
voice coming from the alley. “Come inside, Mr. Boggs.” Then she
was back. “He was poking around in the trash bin.” The next
moment she was at the front door, instructing the officer on duty to
get a second man on the alley. Iris and I were left breathless at her
energy. It was as if the impression she made by her actions in one
location had not faded before she was making a new one elsewhere.
“Please stay there a few minutes.” That to Linsey, who must have
gone to sit behind the counter while we were interviewing Paul
Wandisi. Finally, back to us.
“I’m sorry. This is a complication I had not anticipated.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what life is all about,” opined Iris. “Would you
people mind if I went home now? Linsey is here, and I’m not coming

23