Page 116 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Cat’s Paw

Later, on his way out, he tied those ends securely to a nearby water
pipe in the yard. Remember that this is on the side of the garage
facing the next lot, so he could gain access to it without going
through the gate and its alarm circuitry. I found some very small
scrapes and scratches on the corroded grating, once I had an idea of
what to look for. Mallard must have simply waited in his car on the
street next to the garage until Lesley went to leave on an errand
Mallard himself probably suggested. After he heard the car running
and observed the door remaining closed, all he had to do was get out
of his car, untie the monofilament, remove it and drive off. He was
long gone when the neighbor became suspicious.”
“Boy, he took quite a chance. Any part of that could have gone
wrong and spoiled it.”
“Then you may be certain that Fletcher Mallard would have sought
other means. He doubtlessly experienced a thrill concocting his
crimes. Animals develop a taste for blood; humans appear to become
addicted to psychopharmacological cocktails of egotism and
adrenalin.”
I blinked. This was no ordinary flatfoot.
“And then you came into the picture, Mr. O’Bleakley, because
Mallard’s assumption that he could easily copy and erase the
manuscript on Lesley’s computer proved wrong. He went back to the
house after winning his lawsuit against Ruth Lesley; the advance he
had paid became a weapon he could use against her, although by then
Cornish Rock had offered her more. We can imagine his chagrin
when he couldn’t find the document! So he needed to turn you loose
on the machine, figuring that the tedium of sorting through Lesley’s
papers would keep you coming back to the more attractive PC. I
know now that you were just an innocent tool, but until I could be
sure I had to keep you under surveillance. Thus the disguise.”
I looked at my PC, and realized I would never look at a computer
in the same way again. I had been a cat’s paw, and I had almost been
burned.

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