Razzamatazz (A Crime Novel) by Sandra Scoppettone Read Free Book Online Page A

they were in college together and didn't care now. "Take it from the top, all right."
    Colin blew smoke from his nostrils. "I'm leaving Hallock's office and I stop to say hello to Kathy, the radio operator, you know her. I always shoot the breeze with her, nice kid. So Kathy's on the phone and then hangs up, tells this guy to go in. I stand and talk to Kathy, we laugh about something, then there's this silence right after us laughing, you know how that is?"
    A few squawks from Mark's big police radio in the corner distracted Colin for a moment, but then he went on. "So during that silence I hear the guy who goes into Hallock's office say: 'The woman they found in the pool. I killed her.'"
    "And what does Hallock say?"
    "He tells him to sit down but Kathy starts talking again, telling me this long story about her sister and some boyfriend, and so I don't hear anything else. Besides, I couldn't act like I was listening. Friendly as Kathy is, she's all rules and regulations. Okay. I go out and sit in my car across the street, figuring Hallock's going to come out with this guy in cuffs, take him over to the jail or drive him over to East Hampton jail, but no. Fifteen minutes later this bimbo comes out alone. No cuffs, no nothing. He walks."
    "So?"
    "So? What do you mean, so? A guy confesses and Hallock lets him walk? I don't get it."
    "Colin, obviously the guy didn't do it. Describe him."
    "You've got to be kidding."
    "Let's hear your powers of observation."
    Colin mashed out his cigarette in a large ashtray that said Stork Club on it. He felt like twisting the fucking alligator off Mark's blue shirt. "Okay. He was on the short side, about your height." He knew this would bug Mark, who hated being reminded of his size. "No, maybe a little taller. About five ten, eleven. Medium build. Dark hair, dark beard, scraggly looking. Wearing Levi's, leather belt, work shirt over a brown polo, work boots."
    Mark, smiling, said, "Dirty nails?"
    "I didn't notice. What is this? Why the stupid grin?"
    "You just described a nut case. Jim Drew. Every time anything happens around here, burglary, vandalism, it doesn't matter what, Drew confesses. He's got a guilt complex or something. Didn't I brief you about him?"
    "No."
    "Sorry, pal. I should have."
    "So what you're telling me, Mark, is that he’s one of those guys confesses to murder, but didn't do it."
    "You got it."
    "Jesus." He flopped down in an easy chair, legs outstretched. "How long's he been doing that, confessing to stuff?"
    "Let's see, he came here about three years ago. He wasn't here a month before he made his first confession. A burglary. The paper listed it; then Drew goes into Hallock and confesses. Hallock books him. The next day another guy's caught burglarizing a house and confesses to the first one. Hallock confronts Drew but he sticks to it. So Hallock asks him about a detail only the real burglar could know. Like, 'Will the real burglar please stand up?'" Mark laughed.
    Colin didn't.
    "Anyway, Drew gets it wrong and Hallock lets him go. He doesn't figure it, until two weeks later Drew comes in to confess about a hit-and-run of a dog that's already been solved. Then Hallock realizes the guy is some kind of wacko. Harmless, but wacko in this area. Vietnam veteran. He runs an antique and junk shop. A loner. Probably he killed some innocent people in Vietnam or something and has this need to confess."
    "Spare me the amateur psychology."
    Mark shrugged. "You wanted to know, pal."
    "Yeah." Colin pushed himself up out of the chair.
    "Where're you going?"
    "The office. I didn't get to writing the story last night."
    "Write it tomorrow. Stay. The Mets and the Phillies are playing this afternoon."
    "Maybe I'll come back."
    Driving to the office he wondered why the hell he hadn’t just asked Kathy who the sucker was? Slipping? Or was it circumstances? There was no denying that the discovery of the body in Gildersleeve's pool had given him a jolt. And maybe his attraction to Annie