Part 15 (1/2)
”Realistically, yeah. But I was still worried.”
”Right. You were worried. And despite that, and even though you knew the investigation was dying, you decided to provide information that would revive it. Is that what you're saying?”
”Because of my nephew.”
”And you didn't provide an anonymous tip”you went right to Detective Starczek.”
”He came to me, but it's the same difference.”
”Same difference,” said Muriel. She was prowling now, moving back and forth. The fingers were spread on both hands, as if she'd catch Erno if he tried to escape. She'd worn what Larry regarded as a girlish dress, a print with a tie at the waist and a big bow at the throat, a gesture intended as much for the television viewers as the judge. If she could have put on a PTA b.u.t.ton for the cameras, she might have. But anyone who'd seen Muriel in court would know she was as lethal as a panther.
”Is he a good detective?”
”One of the best.”
”And would you agree that good detectives usually know when they're being spun?”
”If they know to look out, sure. But n.o.body's got the radar on twenty-four seven.”
”But not only did you wake up this sleeping investigation, you did it, you say, by lying to somebody who you knew was good at seeing through lies, right?”
”You can put it your way,” said Erno.
”And then you had your nephew lead the police to a cameo, knowing that if Gandolph told the truth, he could very well mention your name. Is that right?”
”I'da said he was full of it, and just throwing my name around cause he'd found out somehow that I was the one who put the cops onto him. I'd thought about that.”
”And you thought that he would be convincing?”
”Sure.”
”Because you know how to lie convincingly, don't you?”
Harlow sustained Arthur's objection before Erno had to answer, but the judge appeared to smile at the art of the question.
”Now, you told us yesterday that you understood that your nephew would get nothing from the police or the prosecutors unless Gandolph was convicted, right? Yet you had no way of predicting, for example, whether Gandolph had an alibi, did you?”
”I knew he'd been around the airport to steal Luisa's cameo.”
”In the summer? I thought Gandolph was at the airport only when the winter weather forced him out there.”
Erno made a face. He'd tried to squeeze past Muriel and she'd stopped him cold. After a little more squirming, he agreed he had told the judge yesterday that Gandolph was at the airport in the winter, and that he couldn't have been sure whether Squirrel had an alibi. Erno ate his own words sourly.
”So this is how it adds up, Mr. Erdai,” said Muriel, and counted off each of her points on her fingers. ”Although you didn't want to get caught, you breathed new life into a dead investigation. You did that by lying to an investigator who you knew was good at catching liars. And you pointed him toward someone who, in fact, could connect you to one of the murder victims. And you did all of that not even knowing if the man you say you were framing had a locked alibi. Do you understand now why we shouldn't believe you?”
Arthur objected at volume for the first time and the judge said, ”Sustained.” Piqued, Erno was unwise enough to continue on his own.
”It may not make sense to you, but that's what happened. I had to do something for my nephew. People don't always make sense.”
”And this doesn't make sense, does it, Mr. Erdai? What you're telling us? It's one of those things that doesn't make sense.”
Arthur objected again. Without looking up from his scribbling, the judge suggested that Muriel move on. She turned for a second and her small dark eyes sought out Larry, to see how it was going. He covered his mouth and held his thumb up on his cheek. Muriel nodded minutely. She thought so herself.
”Does it surprise you, Mr. Erdai, to know that an automated check of fingerprints from the crime scene showed that none of them are yours?”
”I wiped everything off. I was careful. Like I said.”
”No DNA. No blood. No saliva. s.e.m.e.n. Nothing like that from you will be found at the scene, will it?”
”No. But you didn't have any of that from Gandolph neither.”
”You know our evidence against Mr. Gandolph very well, don't you, Mr. Erdai?”
”I followed this case real close. Obvious reasons.”
”And the gun, sir? What became of that?”
”In the river. With everything else.”
Muriel grinned briefly, the expression of a veteran who'd met lots of guys with all the answers. She strolled back to the podium to glance at her notes, then stared for a full beat at Erdai.
”Are you dying?” she asked then.
”That's what the doctors say.”
”You believe them?”
”Most times. Sometimes, I kinda start thinkin maybe they're wrong, docs have been wrong before, but mostly I know better.”
”So, as far as you're concerned, you have nothing to lose with what you're telling us today. Right?”
”I don't follow.”
”Really? Can you name anything you care about losing.”
”My soul,” said Erno. ”If I got one.”
”If you got one,” repeated Muriel. ”Let's stay here on earth. Anything here you care about losing?”
”My family,” said Erno. ”I care a lot about them.”
”Well, they're standing by you, Mr. Erdai, aren't they? What else?”
”I'd hate to lose my pension from the airline. I worked a long time and I want to make sure my wife has something.”
”Well, you don't lose your pension, do you, for murder?”
”If it's a crime against the company.”
”Was this?”