The Christie Caper - Carolyn Hart [100]
“Stone worked as a messenger at CBS. He seems to have made no special impression on anyone. He was often late to work, and he was finally warned that he would be sacked if the pattern continued. His personnel folder reveals no other problems, no achievements.
“Stone had no special woman friend, and no close friends of either sex. He often dropped into a sports pub near his apartment house. The barman, Pat Russo: The guy loved the Knicks.”
“A friend of Stone’s mother said: ‘Johnnie was a little silly, you know, always thinking this time he’d win the lottery. I mean, not kidding about it.’”
Annie looked again at the graduation picture. Saturday night outside Death on Demand, after the shots were fired, his cheeks were cherry from exertion. He’d reported excitedly about what he’d seen, yet, boiled down, he had told them little of substance: a shadowy figure, a figure so indeterminate it could have been either a man or a woman.
What if Stone clearly saw the marksman?
What, indeed, would he do if he knew who shot at Bledsoe?
Would he lie?
Oh, he might, he might.
People so often lie, for good reasons or bad.
If Stone knew who had shot that .22, might he have kept an eye on that person? If so, it would explain why Stone’s tennis shoes bore tar and gravel from the roof. If so, Stone’s presence on the roof owed nothing at all to chance. And, if he saw the vase levered loose to tumble down onto Bledsoe and didn’t inform the police—Annie sat up very straight—why then, what happened next was obvious indeed. A call to the culprit, a request for money, an agreement to meet Tuesday evening in his room.
“But, my God, that’s why it doesn’t make any sense at all!” Annie exploded.
Four polite faces awaited further comment.
“The sugar cutter!” she said forcefully. “Look at it—someone had to have brought it here specifically because it was the weapon in Mrs. McGinty’s Dead. Nobody hauls ornamental brass sugar cutters around like loose change. That would mean someone came to the conference with murder already in mind. So how could Stone’s death be the result of what he saw, either Saturday night or Tuesday morning?”
“Perhaps it isn’t such a conundrum.” Those brilliant blue eyes turned to Annie. “Yes, the cutter obviously was brought deliberately—but perhaps it was intended for a different victim.”
“Oh.” Annie was quieted. But not convinced.
“However,” Lady Gwendolyn beamed an encouraging smile at Annie, “your point is well taken, my dear. The possibilities are indeed complex.” A pudgy finger tapped the table as she enumerated.
“One—Stone’s murder was premeditated and the cutter intended for him. If this proves out then Stone was the killer’s objective all along.
“Two—Stone’s may have been an ancillary murder. If this is so, I very much fear that the primary murder will yet be attempted. Our present knowledge would suggest that Bledsoe is the primary victim.
“Three—There may be absolutely no connection between the murder of Stone and the attacks on Bledsoe.
“Four—Premise three suggests that a fanatical Christie fan may be responsible for Stone’s death and that a personal motive accounts for the attempted murder of Bledsoe.”
Those far-seeing