“It wasn’t used in the murder of Jacqueline Isherwood Hazzard,” Bob put in quickly. “It wasn’t what killed her. We determined that.”
“It wasn’t what killed her, but it was lying out next to the body or near it—”
“It was about three feet away on a small coffee table.”
“Fine. It wasn’t in its place on the wall. It was lying out where you would find it and jump to conclusions. And you did and you did.”
“I didn’t do either. I never believed in that thing as a weapon.”
“Well, the police did.” Gregor ran into the chair he had been sitting in and pushed it as far out of the way as possible, which wasn’t very far. He was beginning to feel distinctly claustrophobic. “Bob, I’m not trying to make you look stupid. I’m not trying to make the Philadelphia police look stupid. I’m just trying to point out to you how nonsensical all this is.”
“I know how nonsensical all this is,” Bob said. “And the police were stupid. I mean, those officers were. Two of the least competent officers in Homicide.”
“Last night,” Gregor said, “Paul Hazzard is killed in Hannah Krekorian’s apartment with the same dagger that was suspected to have been the weapon in the death of his wife four years ago. So far so good. There are three ways that dagger could have made its way into Hannah’s apartment.”
“Shoot.”
Gregor nodded. “Okay. In the first place, Paul Hazzard could have brought it himself. We talked about that a little last night. That officer of yours suggested that Paul Hazzard might have brought it as a kind of show-and-tell piece, a prop for him to use when he told people about the murder.”
Bob frowned. “You didn’t believe that, and I didn’t either. The feeling I got last night was that the last thing Paul Hazzard wanted to discuss was that murder.”
“I got the same feeling myself. He brought it up with me, but it seemed as if he were heading me off at the pass, if you know what I mean. Bring the subject up and get it out of the way so it doesn’t come back to ambush you later in the evening.”
“Right.”
“The second possibility is that Hannah brought the weapon from Paul’s apartment. The only reason she would have had to do that is if she were planning to kill Paul. She might not have realized that the weapon had been proven not to have been the one that really killed Paul’s wife. She might have wanted to kill Paul Hazzard and throw suspicion back on the family. Or on Candida DeWitt.”
“Candida DeWitt had an alibi for the murder of Jacqueline Isherwood Hazzard.”
“Hannah didn’t necessarily know that,” Gregor said. He stopped pacing and sat down. He felt suddenly very tired. “I hate to admit it, Bob, but on one level this explanation has a lot going for it. Hannah is the kind of person who knows not quite enough about too many things. It’s not impossible for me to imagine that she might have known the superficial facts about the murder of Paul Hazzard’s second wife without having any of the details nailed down tight. And then there’s the invitation Candida DeWitt received.”
“I was wondering when you were going to get around to that.”
“I’ve gotten around to it. Candida DeWitt has to have gotten it someplace. The most obvious place for it to have come from is Hannah herself. Of course, I don’t see how Hannah could have known that Mrs. DeWitt would actually show up.”
“She might have guessed,” Bob said. “You ought to read more in the papers than the editorials and the sports pages, Gregor.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that the local papers and even a few of the national celebrity magazines have been full of it for the past few weeks. Candida DeWitt has a contract from some book publisher in New York to write her memoirs. The Star has been especially explicit about just how nasty relations still were between Paul Hazzard and Candida DeWitt.”
Gregor rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. “It really is the most sensible explanation. Even the denouement is perfectly explicable. Hannah steals the dagger and invites Candida DeWitt to the party she’s giving for Paul. Hannah kills Paul with the dagger with the intention of throwing the blame on Candida DeWitt. Hannah loses control and has hysterics and ends up getting caught red-handed. Literally. It makes more sense than anything else I can think of.”
Bob leaned over and made himself another cup of instant coffee. “But you don’t believe it,” he said.
“No,” Gregor admitted, shaking his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Could that be because you know Hannah Krekorian? Could that be because you don’t want to believe that someone you’re close to could have committed a murder?”