Page 115 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Cat’s Paw

that the method he had used to kill his wife was described in the
book, albeit as a means to conceal suicide. So Lesley and his book
had to be eliminated.”
“So Art Lesley did not die accidentally. I’m curious, Officer
Gramercy: was the modus operandi Mallard used also in Lesley’s
book? Was he hoisted on his own petard?”
She shrugged. “Mallard never saw the rest of the book. Perhaps it’s
in there. I think we will ask you to print it out before we confiscate all
the hardware and software involved. But Mallard was clever enough
to work out his own deathtrap for the unwitting author. Lesley was a
man of paranoid habits; no doubt Mallard had witnessed his trick of
exiting the garage without exposure to potential burglars waiting on
the curb. Lesley may even have demonstrated it to Mallard, to
impress the publisher with his cunning. On the fatal afternoon,
Mallard paid a visit to Lesley—the neighbor, despite his geriatric
dithering, will be able to identify your boss in a line-up. We may
assume that the purpose of the visit was to collect the manuscript.
Lesley must have shown it to him on the computer and told him he
would print it out later and mail it in. Mallard then knew where the
book was, and intended to return for it after disposing of its author.”
“But how? Art Lesley essentially died in a gas chamber sealed from
the inside.”
“I pondered this question for some time, Mr. O’Bleakley. It must
have been this way: at some point during the visit, Mallard slipped
out to the garage, perhaps pretending to go to the bathroom. There,
he substituted the batteries in Lesley’s garage door remote control
with duds. We can see a similarity with the expired-pill strategy he
employed to kill his wife. He knew Lesley would get in his car, start
the engine and attempt to open the garage door; further, that when
the remote failed, Lesley would probably get out of his car to open
the door using the manual release at the control box near the front of
the garage, leaving the motor running.”
“And then he took a header, knocking him out long enough to
asphyxiate.”
“Mallard engineered that, too, while he was in the garage switching
batteries. He looped a length of nylon fishing line around the front
wheel on the driver’s side about six inches off the ground and
threaded the ends through the grating on an old floor-level wall vent.

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