After which, naturally, he had to hear the same lecture from Abe Goldberg, a sharper cut because from a kinder instrument.
Carmine raised a brow at Liam and Abe. “What sort of sister obeys a snap of the fingers?” he asked.
Liam grinned. “No kind my family ever heard of. If Sheila snapped her fingers at Pauline, you’d hear the fight in Stamford, Hartford and New London.”
“My sisters too. I suppose looking brain-damaged would affect how a sisterly relationship functioned, but Davina, I gather, really does treat Uda with contempt. Or maybe,” Carmine went on in a musing voice, “it’s all an act for our benefit.”
“And the benefit of the Tunbulls, who really do believe Uda’s some kind of slave,” said Abe, equally thoughtful. “We have to look at that pair as a pair more closely, Carmine.”
“Who do we put on it?”
“Delia,” said Liam instantly.
“Delia,” said Abe, turning it into a chorus.
“My feeling entirely. Delia, tomorrow morning. Pity she wasn’t here to meet Mr. Preston.”
Later that afternoon Carmine called a meeting in his office; the only one not present (apart from Nick) was the disgraced Tony, driving Q.V. Preston back to Queens. The news of his fall from grace had already spread out of the PD and into City Planning, Welfare, and a dozen other inhabitants of the County Services warren. No one ever knew how it happened; it just — did.
“We’ve hit the doldrums,” Carmine said, “in a case that’s going to be built on circumstantial evidence. Lucky for us that the other crimes needing our attention have been simple, with straight, hard evidence and witnesses. But this one is a swamp, not any place with a current. The pool of suspects is small and the motives are obvious. John Hall was killed because he knew something about someone concerned in the Chubb University Press publication of books, possibly the book known as A Helical God. Dr. Tinkerman was killed to remove him from his position as Head Scholar of C.U.P. Again, the book A Helical God springs to mind. However, we ought not to focus on this work as a given. It may be a blind, a red herring. The motive for both murders may lie in personal relationships having nothing to do with books as books.” He took a turn about his office, scowling slightly.
“The Tunbulls are the key. Whoever was present at Davina’s dinner is suspect for John’s murder, which evidence suggests can’t have been committed by an outside agency of any kind. And all those suspects were present at the banquet where Tinkerman died.”
He wrote on his blackboard: “James and Millicent Hunter. Max and Davina Tunbull. Val Tunbull. Ivan Tunbull. And, let us not forget — Uda Savovich. Who wasn’t at the banquet.”
Down went the chalk. “That’s it. One of those people did double murder. On first glance I am inclined to dismiss Dr. James Hunter because the apparatus we found was too small for the size of his hand and fingers. However, a second glance reveals that the device could have been a deliberate plant by Hunter, who has another that fits his hand comfortably.”
He returned to the board after a quick stroll. “Paul’s report is in. The device Donny found has never held a drop of tetrodotoxin. Which leaves us in a cleft stick — was this the way the killer delivered his poison, or did he use something else? We may never know. Abe, what do you have?”
Abe stood up, face placid. “The influence of Davina on the Tunbull family is pronounced,” he said. “Decisions have been made that would never have been made had Davina not pushed. In the main, the twenty-thousand print run of A Helical God that C.U.P. didn’t authorize. Davina’s reason? That it would cement Dr. Jim’s chosen title, to which Tinkerman was opposed. He was all for Nucleic Acids — not a title to attract a bookstore browser. If the gossip is true, Tinkerman considered Dr. Jim’s book an affront to God, and was determined that the title should omit all reference to the Creator. His policy — and, stemming out of that, C.U.P.’s policy — was to decry the book scholastically and ensure that it failed as a popular success. So I guess I’m harping on the book as a reason for murder.”
Delia huffed. “According to Davina, the print run was no risk at all. Uda had prognosticated Tinkerman’s future, which was to die at the banquet. Davina believed Uda’s vision implicitly — Tinkerman was going to die. Which is not the same thing as saying Davina — or Uda — killed him. Though I confess, boss, that the phenomenon of the unauthorized print run baffles me.”
“Me too,” said Buzz. “I mean, Max has been associated with C.U.P. for over twenty years. He’s sophisticated as well as a shrewd businessman. So why did he do that?”