I hid my head under my arms. I could hear the familiar sound of Nora biting her fingernails. That meant she was nervous. I was scared of Eddie, but I wanted to make Nora happy. I decided to try to get the rag myself, without anyone’s help. If I did that, I could impress Nora and she would be sure to remain in love with me. Also, if I got the evidence, without any help, I could make amends for exposing our investigation twice. I could also prove to myself that I could be a great detective. Detective Sam Buckley and Malcolm Vrie would be forced to agree that I’m a great detective if I succeeded at this mission. I opened the car door and stepped outside.
“What are you doing?” asked Nora. “Get back in!”
“No,” I said. “I’ll get the rag myself.”
“You can’t!” she said. “You’ll get killed! That Eddie guy might be coming back, any time! If he sees you, you’re dead!”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I used my jerk magic detector. No one will be on the street for the next three and a half minutes! That gives me time to get into the apartment.”
I closed the car door. Nora rolled down the car window and stuck her head out. I recognized fear and concern on her face.
“Trueman!” she said. “You can’t do this by yourself!”
“Yes, I can,” I said. “You said I have a great mind, so I can think of a way to get the rag. Please, Nora, if you have confidence in me then let me accomplish this myself. I want to make amends for ruining our investigation. Let me do this myself, without help. I will think of a way to get the rag.”
I could not recognize the emotions on Nora’s face, but she touched my hand and squeezed it. I guessed this was another sign of love and it made my face turn red from pleasure.
“I have confidence in you, Trueman,” she said. “I’ll let you do it alone if it will prove my confidence in you. But remember we’ll be watching you. If you get into any serious trouble, just shout my name. I’ll come and help you.”
Nora rolled up the car window and looked at me. I recognized the affection on her face and it made me smile. I looked fearfully at where Eddie had gone. I couldn’t see him. I hoped my jerk magic equation was correct and I really had about two minutes of privacy. It was wrong 25 percent of the time.
I walked as fast as I could towards 545 East 13th Street. I hoped Eddie had left the front door of the apartment building unlocked, but it was locked. I looked up at the second floor of the building. The window of Eddie’s apartment was open and I heard a woman crying inside. I thought of jumping to catch the fire escape, like Nora did. But I soon realized Nora was more athletic than me. I have always been clumsy and not very good at sports. It was not possible for me to jump as high as Nora.
“What will I do?” I asked myself.
I looked at my wristwatch.
“I only have one minute and ten seconds!” I said.
I looked to where our Lincoln car was parked and saw Nora in the window. She waved her hand at me. After a few seconds, she opened the door and looked like she was coming to help me.
“No!” I shouted. “Don’t help me! I can do this!”
Nora must have heard me, because she stayed in the car and closed the door. I tried to think of a solution to this problem, but I couldn’t think of anything. I kicked at the sidewalk, from frustration. If I can’t think of anything, Nora will be disappointed. I’ll never prove I’m a good detective and I might even be killed by Eddie. I felt like crying.
“Trueman!” shouted Nora.
I saw Nora waving at me and pointing her finger towards the end of the street. Far away, I could see Eddie approaching. I backed against the front wall of the apartment building and looked at my wristwatch.
“Ah! My equation was right!” I said to myself. “A disturbance came, exactly when I predicted.”
I saw that Eddie was getting closer. He was moving towards me very quickly, as if he had seen me and was chasing me.
“I didn’t know the disturbance would be Eddie!” I said.
I stood with my back against the wall and felt a strong desire to think of my triangular number sequence and forget all about this dangerous job of being a detective.
“Oh, I wish I didn’t try to do this without help!” I said to myself. “Nora! Help me!”
The front door of the apartment building opened and Eddie Junior walked out onto the sidewalk. He saw me immediately and ran back into the apartment. I grabbed the door before it could close and followed him into the apartment building.
I closed the door and made sure it was locked.
“Oh, he probably has the key!” I said, to myself.
Eddie would be here any second, so I knew I had to hide myself from him. There was no place to hide in the first floor hall of this building. I saw nothing but a stairwell to the second floor and two doors that were locked. I thought of disguising myself, but I hadn’t brought any disguises with me.
There was a baseball cap on the floor. I took off my fedora and trench coat and sunglasses and hid them under some old newspapers. I put on the baseball cap and hid my face under the cap’s visor. I leaned against the wall and tried to look like an innocent bystander. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize me?
I saw the horrible face of Eddie through the glass of the front door. My heart started beating fast and sweat dripped down my face. I could recognize the anger on his face and I was terrified. I closed my eyes and hoped he wouldn’t notice me.
I heard Eddie unlocking the door and felt the draft caused by the door opening. Soon I felt breath on my face. It stank horribly like alcohol and Winston brand cigarettes. I was too afraid to open my eyes, even when he started talking to me.
“Who are you?” he asked.
His words sounded harsh and aggressive and the stink of his breath was making me dizzy.
“Leave me alone!” I said.
I tried to run past him, but my dizziness caused me to trip over my own feet. I stumbled across the hall and when I turned around, I saw Eddie running towards me and trying to send his fist into my face. His punch missed, because I tripped again.
I fell down on the floor, near the front door, and protected my head with my arms. I expected Eddie to start hitting me soon and I was too scared to even think of numbers.
“Stop right there!” shouted Nora. “Don’t move, Eddie! You’re under arrest for assault and battery!”
I looked up and saw Nora through the glass of the front door. She held a gun in her two hands and was pointing it at Eddie. Eddie had a look on his face that I couldn’t interpret. He stood still and slowly raised his hands over his head.
“Trueman!” said Nora. “Open the door for me, will you?”
I got up and unlocked the front door. Nora opened it and stepped inside. She pointed her gun at Eddie’s face.
“Stay perfectly still, Eddie,” she said.
Eddie’s facial expression hadn’t altered.
“What do you want?” he asked. “I didn’t do nothing.”
“You didn’t do nothing?” I asked. “So, you mean you did do something?”
“He means he did nothing,” said Nora.
“But he said he didn’t do nothing!” I said.
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “That’s just how he talks.”
“Oh,” I said. “I thought he was confessing his crime.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “I did nothing wrong.”
“Yes, you did!” I said. “You killed Eric Lendalainen last night at 11:15 pm outside the apartment building at 620 East 13th Street.”
“Who says I did?” he asked. “Where’s the evidence?”
I looked at Nora. I had failed to get the rag, so we had no evidence. I expected to recognize disappointment on her face. But she was looking at my head and smiling wide.
“Trueman has the evidence,” she said.
“What?” I asked. “But I wasn’t able to get the rag.”
“Look at that hat on your head,” she said.
I took off my cap and looked at it. It was
the cap Eddie Junior had been wearing. Eddie Junior’s cap must have fallen off his head when he ran away from me. I was so panicked, when I was trying to hide from Eddie, that I didn’t notice whose hat this was. I recognized the faint blood stains on the hat.
“Of course!” I said. “This is evidence! There is blood on this hat. Were you wearing this hat last night?”
“Yeah, so?” he asked. “There’s no blood on that hat.”
“Yes, there is,” I said. “You tried to wash it, but there are still faint blood stains on it. Someone like me who can see minute details can see the faint blood stains, even after you wash it. I can smell the blood too.”
“Good job, Trueman,” said Nora. “I had confidence that you could get the evidence.”
She smiled at me and I smiled back. I had only gotten the evidence because of good luck, not because of my intelligent planning, but I didn’t mention this to Nora. I was happy to be a success, and to have succeeded at impressing her. I didn’t want to ruin it by admitting I succeeded only because of luck.
Eddie’s facial expression changed and I recognized that he was feeling hatred for us. Nora’s face became more serious and she seemed ready to shoot him if he did anything threatening.
“Even if there was blood on that hat,” he said, “so what? Maybe it’s my blood. I cut myself sometimes when I’m working. You’ve got no proof it’s the blood of a murder victim.”
“We’ll send it to the crime lab,” said Nora. “They’ll discover whose blood it is. We know it’s the victim’s blood.”
“Oh, you know it, huh?” he asked. “Well, that doesn’t mean anything. You can’t arrest me just because you suspect it’s the victim’s blood. I know the law! Until you know for sure whose blood it is, I’m free to go. You’ve got no right to point a gun in my face! You’re the one that’s in trouble, lady. Not me! You’ll get in a lot of trouble for making this illegal arrest!”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I witnessed you assaulting Trueman and I have a perfect right to arrest you for it. I’m a private detective and so is Trueman.”
“So, you’re not cops,” he said. “In that case, you got no right to arrest me. Only real cops have that right!”
“Wrong,” she said. “You said you know the law? If you knew the law, you’d know any citizen can make an arrest. We don’t have to be cops. But if you want cops so bad, we’ll get you some. Will that make you happy, Eddie? I’m sure they’ll be happy to know we found the murderer of Eric Lendalainen.”
She took a mobile phone from her pocket and gave it to me.
“Trueman,” she said, “would you please call the police and tell them how we solved the case that Malcolm Vrie could not solve? I’ll let you call them, since I know how much you’re going to enjoy making Malcolm look stupid.”
I was overjoyed at the thought of calling Detective Sam Buckley and telling him about my success. He would probably admit that I’m a great detective and maybe he’d let me help with some of his cases. I also loved the thought of proving to Malcolm Vrie that I wasn’t stupid. I had not only proven that my crime-fighting equation works, I had also proven that I was a better detective than Malcolm Vrie. I felt intensely happy.
I collected my trench coat, hat and sunglasses from under the newspapers and found the business card that Buckley had given me. I dialed his phone number and it rang three times.
“Hello,” said the voice on the phone. “This is Detective Buckley. Who’s this?”
“Detective!” I said. “This is Trueman Bradley!”
“Oh, Trueman,” he said. “Yeah, I remember you. Look, if you’re calling to talk about the details of that robbery, then please call me in about an hour, okay? I’m kinda busy now.”
“No, Detective!” I said. “I solved a murder! I found the man who murdered Eric Lendalainen! We are keeping the criminal here for you and we have some evidence. We’re at the apartment building at 545 East 13th Street. Can you come arrest him?”
“What?” he said. “You’ve got the murderer of Eric Lendalainen? But Malcolm Vrie is working on that case!”
“I know,” I said. “And we’re better detectives, because we solved the case, and he didn’t! I’ve proven my crime-fighting equation works. Do you think I’m a good detective now?”
“You say you have the murderer there with you?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “My friend Nora is pointing a gun at him.”
“What?” he said. “A gun? Look, Trueman. Just don’t move. We’re in Central Park. We’re not too far away from you. Just stay there. We’ll be there in ten minutes, okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
I hung up the phone and smiled. I couldn’t recognize the emotion in Buckley’s voice, but I was sure he was impressed that we solved the case of Eric Lendalainen.
“So, what’s happening?” asked Nora.
“He’s coming,” I said. “They’ll be here in ten minutes.”
*
Fifteen minutes had passed, and we were sitting in the first floor hall of 545 East 13th Street. Nora was sitting with her back to the wall. She laid her gun on her thigh, but every time Eddie moved, she lifted her gun and pointed it at him.
“Why is the detective late?” I asked. “He said he’d be here in ten minutes!”
“Maybe there’s a lot of traffic,” said Nora.
“But he said ten minutes!” I said. “How am I supposed to know when he’ll come if he doesn’t tell me the correct time?”
“People can’t always predict when they’ll come,” she said.
It makes me nervous when people are late, because I am comforted by predictable routines. I like to make plans and know exactly what will happen. I need to know who I will meet and exactly when they will come. If they don’t come on time, my day is no longer predictable, and I don’t like to alter my plans.
I took out my notebook and looked at my list of today’s activities. After I had talked with Buckley on the mobile phone, I had written “wait for ten minutes for Detective Sam Buckley to come.” I crossed it off my list and wrote “wait for fifteen minutes for Detective Sam Buckley to come.” I felt a bit better, now that it was part of the plan. But I feared I’d need to change it again if he didn’t come soon.
I had spent the fifteen minutes watching Eddie. He sat on the bottom stair and I had been able to recognize a lot of emotions on his face: fear, hatred, anger and worry. He was still drunk and was breathing heavily. The smell of alcohol on his breath caused the entire first floor hallway to stink. The hallway smelled like alcohol, cigarettes and Eddie’s strong body odor. The smell was making my stomach sick.
But what interested me most were the stains on Eddie’s trousers. He wore torn blue jeans, covered in paint, glue and urine stains. But the most interesting stains were on his knees. He had ink stains on his knees, as if he had kneeled down in a puddle of ink. I knew from experience that only ink made that type of stain. But I wasn’t sure what kind of ink it was. It didn’t appear to be India ink. For fifteen minutes, I had been trying to imagine the explanation for these stains.
“Why do you have ink stains on your knees?” I asked.
“What?” he asked. “That’s not ink. It’s oil from my car. I was fixing my truck. It was leaking oil and I kneeled in it.”
“Why are you lying?” I asked. “That’s not an oil stain.”
“Like hell it isn’t!” he said.
He stood up and started moving around the room. I couldn’t interpret his emotion, but his movements were frightening. My question about the ink seemed to make him aggressive.
“Sit back down, Eddie,” said Nora.
She had stood up and pointed her gun at his face.
“And what if I don’t?” he asked. “I’m not gonna sit here all day answering stupid questions about ink stains! What would you do if I left? Would you really shoot me? Huh?”
Eddie started yelling and Nora’s arm stiffened. She closed one eye and aimed the gun. It seemed she was ready to shoot
.
“Oh, you’re going to shoot, are you?” he asked. “I could knock that gun out of your hand before you could even get a chance to shoot! Then I could beat both of you into putty! A little girl playing with a gun! You don’t scare me, lady!”
“Oh yeah?” she asked. “Well, if you could take the gun from me so easily, then let’s see you try it.”
I could now recognize the emotion on Eddie’s face. He was trying to threaten Nora. He wanted to dominate her and take the gun. He moved closer to her and her body became very stiff.
“Watch out, Nora!” I shouted.
Eddie threw one of his fists into Nora’s hand, knocking the gun from her hand. He sent his other fist towards Nora’s face, but she moved to the side and grabbed his hand. She pulled him and he tripped over her foot. Nora pulled the massive man over her back and he fell down on his stomach.
“Trueman!” she said. “Get my gun, please.”
The stress of the situation had caused me to drop down to the floor and cover my face with my hands. Eddie’s attack had been so sudden and his fall so violent that it made me shake with tension. I had never experienced such violence before.
“Trueman,” she said, “are you okay?”
“I think so,” I said. “But I can’t stop shaking.”
Nora pointed her finger towards the corner of the hall where the gun had slid after being knocked from her hand. I grabbed it and handed it to her.
“How did you knock him to the floor like that?” I asked.
“I know judo,” she said. “It’s a fighting skill designed to defend yourself against people bigger than you. I don’t like to use it, because you can really hurt someone with it. But he gave me no choice. He would’ve killed me if I hadn’t used it.”
Eddie was making sounds that indicated he had been hurt. I noticed his arm had hit the glass panel of the front door and caused it to crack. The cracks formed a pattern that looked like a spider’s web. I saw that two men were watching us through the glass. It was Detective Buckley and Malcolm Vrie.
“Detective!” I said. “Here’s the murderer!”
I opened the door and they stepped inside.