The Love Potion Murders in the Museum of Man_ A Norman De Ratour Mystery - Alfred Alcorn [72]
I took my seat to one side and watched Dr. Penrood wrestle with what to say. Finally he shook his head. “I don’t want to say anything without a lawyer present.”
Lieutenant Tracy leaned back, nodding as though in sympathetic agreement. “It’s that bad?”
“No, it’s not that bad.”
“Of course, Dr. Penrood, you have the right to remain silent and the right to consult an attorney …”
Marvelous, I thought, the way the detective was using the Miranda warning as a kind of insinuation.
He leaned even closer. “If you do decide to get an attorney before helping us, as my colleagues in your country would put it, it could get very messy. You won’t have to tell us much, true. But you see, Dr. Penrood, Ms. Tangent has documented connections with organized crime in New York. That will help us considerably when we go before a judge, show him this footage, and ask for all different kinds of surveillance as part of our investigation into the Ossmann-Woodley murders.”
“Murders …?”
“That’s what we’ve announced.”
“Of course, of course,” Dr. Penrood said, his nervousness obvious now.
When Dr. Penrood had lapsed into silence for a good while, the lieutenant quietly leaned forward again, his voice low and nearly cold. “I can also assure you, Dr. Penrood, that if you help us we will make sure that no one else gets to see this footage. Because, as Mr. de Ratour can tell you, the Seaboard Police Department can turn into a regular sieve when it comes to leaks. Despite our best efforts.”
Dr. Penrood stiffened. “Are you threatening me, Lieutenant?”
“No. I’m only trying to reassure you. I want to know what happened the night you and Ms. Tangent and Professor Ossmann had sex together.”
Dr. Penwood wavered awhile longer. It was obvious, I think, that he was trying to figure out what to tell us and what not to tell us. Finally he sighed. “First, I want it established that my relations with Ms. Tangent are strictly my own business and I am only telling you what I know to help clear things up.”
“Of course.”
“On the night in question, Dr. Ossmann and Ms. Tangent dropped by my office for an after-work drink.”
“Had you been intimate with Ms. Tangent before this incident?”
Dr. Penrood hesitated. “Yes.”
“When did your relations with her start?”
“About six months ago.”
“After she came on board?”
He hesitated. “Before that.”
“Did you hire her?”
“I … As a matter of fact … I mean I was only one of several to interview her.”
“Had she been intimate with Professor Ossmann before the incident with the three of you?”
“I don’t think so. But … she has a life of her own.”
“As do you.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me, Dr. Penrood, what did everyone have to drink on the evening in question?”
“Sherry. That’s all I keep in the office.”
“Who poured it?”
I think I detected a look of cunning come into the researcher’s eyes. “Actually, it was Professor Ossmann. He was well acquainted with the cabinet where I kept the sherry and glasses.”
“You knew Professor Ossmann well then.”
“Not in any real social sense. He was always in here, usually complaining. The drink placated him.”
Lieutenant Tracy looked up from the notebook he had been writing in. “How much sherry did you have?”
“A couple of glasses each.”
“And Professor Ossmann poured all of them?”
“Yes.”
“Over at the cabinet?”
“Yes.”
“And in each case he could have slipped something in the glasses had he wanted to?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me exactly what happened after you each had several glasses.”
Dr. Penrood colored a little and cleared his throat. “It’s hard to remember exactly. Celeste … Ms. Tangent … was sitting between me and Professor Ossmann on the couch. We all just … started getting amorous.”
“Are you bisexual, Dr. Penrood?”
“No. It wasn’t that way. I and, I think, Professor Ossmann were only