Deadfall(66)

“I admit to nothing. You can’t prove I have the Hainelin.”

“Maybe not,” I said. “But does it matter? Kenneth Purcell was murdered, Mrs. Prine; I think I can prove that. So was his brother. How would you like to be arrested as an accessory to double homicide?”

“Accessory?” The hatred was still in her eyes, but so was uncertainty, now, and the emotion I most wanted to see: fear.

“That’s right. The Hainelin box may be important evidence in Kenneth’s murder. You bought it and are holding it without having informed the authorities of the transaction; technically that’s suppressing it, and suppressing evidence in a homicide case is a felony.”

“I had nothing to do with Kenneth’s death!”

“Whether you did or not, you could still be tried on a felony charge. A good lawyer could probably get you off—but what about the publicity? What would that do to your reputation?”

She clamped her mouth shut as a group of people passed, on their way into the Squire Restaurant. She didn’t speak when they were gone, either; she was thinking over what I’d said. The seamed skin of her face had the look of parchment stretched too tight around the shape of her skull, so that it might tear at any second.

It didn’t take her long to make up her mind. Not much more than a minute had passed when she said in a stiff, controlled voice, “Ask your questions.”

“Where did Summerhayes get the Hainelin box?”

“From Alicia Purcell. Or so he told me.”

“How did she come to have it?”

“He said she found it among Kenneth’s effects.”

“When?”

“Two days after his death.”

“Then why did she keep up the pretense that it was lost?”

“She told Eldon she needed cash. If she had reported finding the box it would have legally become part of Kenneth’s estate; she would not have been able to sell it until his will cleared probate.”

“That sounds pretty flimsy,” I said. “She sold it illegally anyway, didn’t she?”

“I’m sure I don’t care how it sounds to you. I am only telling you what Eldon Summerhayes told me.”

“Meaning you didn’t care how flimsy it sounded, or how illegal the deal was, as long as you got the Hainelin.”

Her lips pulled in tight at the corners and her eyes snapped at me. But she held her tongue.

I said, “Why did Mrs. Purcell need such a large amount of cash?”

“Some sort of investment, I gathered.”

“You gathered. Didn’t you ask Summerhayes?”

“No. I did not.”

“Did he tell you how much he paid her for the box?”

“Seventy thousand dollars.”

“So his commission for arranging the deal was five thousand?”

“That is correct.”

“That is incorrect,” I said. “He paid her fifty and kept twenty-five for himself.”

That surprised her, and it made her even angrier than she already was; I could see the anger like sparks in those sharp gray eyes. But it also served to tighten her control. When she spoke again it sounded as though the words were being squeezed out through a roller press.

“If you are telling the truth,” she said, “that is a matter between Eldon and myself. It has no bearing on anything else.”

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. Have you had any contact with Mrs. Purcell since you bought the box?”

“Hardly.”

“Why ‘hardly’? Don’t you get along with her?”

“I despise her. She has the morals of an alley cat.”

So do you, Maggie, I thought, in your own sweet way.

I said, “How about Kenneth? What did you think of him?”

“As little. He was a boor, a drunkard, and a womanizer.”

“Uh-huh. Who do you think pushed him off that cliff?”

“I don’t believe anyone pushed him, no matter what you say. His death was an accident.”

“His brother’s wasn’t.”

“I know nothing about that.”

“Did you have any contact with Leonard after Kenneth’s death?”

“Certainly not. I told you, I know nothing about his murder.” She drew herself up even straighter and pointed the gold head of her cane at me as if it were a weapon. “Now are you quite finished with your questions?”

I wasn’t, but asking any more wouldn’t get me anything: the set of her jaw and the look in her eyes made it plain that she’d said all she was going to say. If she knew anything else it would take an official inquiry to get her to admit it.

I said, “That’s all for now, Mrs. Prine. You can go.”

“How generous of you.” She got slowly to her feet, using the cane as a fulcrum; I didn’t much feel like being a gentleman, not where she was concerned, so I made no effort to help her. When we were both standing she said, “Do you intend to tell anyone about what we have just discussed?”