Fletch(75)
“Wow.”
“Chief of Police of The Beach, Graham Cummings, is being questioned about the murder.”
“Wow, wow. Mr. Fletcher, there hasn’t been anything on the police radios about this yet.”
“I know. Paragraph three. Police estimate the time of the murder at nine-thirty.
“Paragraph. The body was discovered by the victim’s wife, Joan Collins Stanwyk, upon her return from a committee meeting at the Racquets Club at eleven o’clock.”
“Mr. Fletcher?”
“What?”
“You said the body was discovered at eleven o’clock.”
“I know.”
“It’s only ten-fifteen now, Mr. Fletcher.”
“I know.
“Paragraph. According to a police spokesman, Stanwyk was shot twice in the back through a window by a high-powered rifle. Death was instantaneous.
“Paragraph. Ballistic tests are being made this morning to determine if the murder weapon is the same as the high-powered Winchester rifle Cummings kept slung from the dashboard of his private car.
“Paragraph. Cummings, fifty-nine, was named in a News-Tribune report yesterday afternoon concerning the source of illegal drugs in The Beach area.
“Paragraph. Evidence presented to the district attorney’s office yesterday morning by the News-Tribune included affidavits signed by a self-admitted drug peddler, Charles Witherspoon, thirty-eight, alias Vatsyayana, alias Fat Sam, and a self-admitted drug runner, Lewis Montgomery, seventeen, alias Gummy two m’s, y. Other evidence was a note written in Cummings’s hand to Witherspoon concerning the drug traffic.
“Paragraph. Both affidavits named Cummings as the principal source of illegal drugs at The Beach.
“Paragraph. Beach police yesterday discovered the body of a fifteen-year-old girl, Roberta quote Bobbi unquote Sanders no u, buried in a sleeping bag in the sand near Witherspoon’s lean-to. She died of a drug overdose.
“Paragraph. Warrants for the arrest of Cummings were issued yesterday afternoon.
“Paragraph. Cummings had not been taken into police custody at the time of the murder at the Stanwyk residence.
“Paragraph. This reporter saw Cummings alone in his private car in the area of the Stanwyk residence at eight-thirty last night, and reported seeing him by telephone to assistant district attorney Alston Chambers one 1.
“Paragraph. There is no evidence that Stanwyk and Cummings knew each other, although Stanwyk’s father-in-law, John Collins, president and chairman of the board of Collins Aviation, several times has pressured Cummings as chief of police to discover and destroy the source of illegal drugs in The Beach area.
“Paragraph. Collins lives within walking distance of the Stanwyk house.
“Paragraph. Reportedly, Joan Stanwyk expressed surprise at finding the victim’s hair bleached blond. Her husband had dark hair and had not been known previously to bleach it.
“Paragraph. This morning the victim’s widow is under heavy sedation in the care of family physician, Dr. Joseph Devlin of the Medical Center.
“Paragraph. Insurance agent Burt Eberhart has confirmed that Stanwyk’s life was insured for three million dollars. The extraordinary amount of insurance coverage is explained by Eberhart as being related to Stanwyk’s frequent piloting of experimental aircraft.
“Paragraph. Stanwyk, a native of Nonheagan, Pennsylvania, N-o-n-h-e-a-g-a-n, was a graduate of Colgate College and the Wharton School of Business. As a captain in the Air Force, he flew twenty-four missions over Indochina. Shot down twice, Stanwyk was a recipient of a Purple Heart.
“Paragraph. He served as treasurer of the Racquets, plural, Club. He was a member of the Urban Club.
“Paragraph. Besides his wife, Stanwyk leaves a daughter, Julia, five, and his parents, Marvin and Helen Stanwyk, of Nonheagan, Pennsylvania. Thirty. You got that?”
“Mr. Fletcher?”
“Yes?”
“You mean this all happened last night?”
“No. Tonight.”
“But how can you report a murder and even name the murderer when the body hasn’t even been found yet?”
“Just make sure everything is spelled right, will you, Bobby?”
“But you say the body is discovered at eleven o’clock and it’s only ten-thirty.”
“Yeah. I want to make first edition.”
“But, Mr. Fletcher, it hasn’t happened yet.”
“You’re right, Bobby. Advise the desk that photographers should be sent out to the Stanwyk residence, but ask them please to wait until the widow gets home and discovers the body. It’s only decent. For first edition they can use pictures from the library.”
“Okay, Mr. Fletcher.”
“One other thing, Bobby. I think I forgot to put in Mrs. Stanwyk’s age. She’s twenty-nine.”