Act of God by Jeremiah Healy Read Free Book Online Page A

stories?”
    “Pretty consistent. Decedent was killed in the office he shared with Bernstein on the fourth floor of the building. The windows are fireproofed, so they give light but no access or egress. Bernstein says he was in the crapper, also on the fourth floor. Heard the security alarm for the back door on the first floor go off, and finished up as fast as he could to run down there. Swindell says she was in her office on the fourth floor, down the hall from the partners’ office. When she heard the alarm, she ran to find them.”
    “Why?”
    “She’d been counting the cash from the day’s take, and got panicked when she heard the alarm, so she went for Rivkind or Bernstein. She was pretty shaky by the time we got there.”
    “What about the guard, Quill?”
    “He says he was on the first floor, near the front doors, where he’s supposed to be, case some customer got so turned around they didn’t realize the store was closing.”
    “So he could let them out.”
    “Without anybody else getting in.”
    “What was his reaction?”
    “He says he was there at the front entrance when he heard the alarm. He ran to the rear of the building and went through the door, hoping to catch the guy going down the alley.”
    I tried to picture it. “How did Quill know it was a guy?”
    “He didn’t. He figured it’s just somebody pulling a prank. They’d had a few lately, so he wanted to catch the guy or kid or whoever was doing it.”
    “Quill actually see anybody?”
    “He says no. He went all the way down the alley, but the guy must have gone up and over the fence and God knows where after that, maybe for some dim sum at the Dynasty around the corner.”
    “And Bernstein joined Quill?”
    “No. Bernstein says he started to go downstairs, then heard Swindell screaming.”
    “And so …”
    “And so Bernstein goes down the fourth floor hall to her while Quill comes up the backstairs.”
    “Quill heard her, too?”
    “Yeah.”
    “From the first floor?”
    “The sound carries down the staircase. It’s their fire stairs, they don’t have an escape because of the windows not opening.”
    “So Swindell was screaming …”
    “Because she’s the one found the body, and she’s screaming till she gets to the fire stairs, then opens that door and screams some more.”
    “And Quill and Bernstein join her.”
    “And basically destroy the fucking crime scene in the partners’ office, though truth to tell, if they hadn’t, we would have.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “Oh, you know how it is, Cuddy. Alarm goes off, here comes the fire department. Then 911 gets a call, you got uniforms and EMTs and even media swarming all over the place before one of us gets there. Then it’s like trying to orchestrate a fucking circus, all the people traipsing in and out. This one, though, it was more stupidicide.”
    “The killing itself, you mean.”
    “Yeah. Granted the perp must’ve panicked when he saw Rivkind still in the office, but he could’ve just run. He used the poker from the fireplace, not some weapon he brought in.”
    “The poker was the murder weapon.”
    “No question. From the location and angle of the wound, M.E.’s pretty sure Rivkind was at his desk, back to the door, when the killer comes in and picks up the poker. Rivkind’s turning and standing as he gets it across the left temple, goes down onto the floor.”
    “Just the one blow.”
    “One was enough. Fractured his skull like an eggshell.”
    “How did Mrs. Rivkind take it?”
    Cross started to say something, then didn’t. “You know what the hardest part of this job is, Cuddy?”
    I thought back to my time as an MP in Saigon. “Notifying the families.”
    “No, but I can understand why a civilian—” She shook her head. “Sorry. Forgot you were overseas. I can see what you mean. No, for us, the notification isn’t the hardest part, because it’s over quick. The people are so much in shock, they don’t get emotional right away, and