irrelevance, she announced that she was ready for lunch. Scott and I wanted to hear some of her opinions, but we ended up waiting patiently while she went into Goetz’s office and gathered up the charts she’d made.
When she was out of earshot, I asked Scott how he felt about keeping the murder a secret from the police.
He wasn’t any too happy about it, but was willing to defer to Hilary for an hour or two longer. “I’d just as soon the story didn’t break at least until the first day of the Fair is over,” he explained. “Word of mouth’ll spread it around like a tornado, and pretty soon everybody’ll be gawking, instead of buying.”
“But they’ll still buy the rest of the week, won’t they? So what?”
He shook his head. “You never make it up. I don’t know why, but give them an excuse to watch a fire or a nut standing on a ledge, and buyers’ll forget all about their open-to-buy. And you don’t pick that business up again. I don’t know why, as I say, but it’s lost for good!”
“So you’re going to continue letting Hilary play sleuth, right?”
“Don’t get uptight about it.”
“I’m not! I just don’t want to spend the night at precinct headquarters. Do you know how many laws we’ve broken already?”
“I know, I know,” Scott said, “but if you knew Hilary as well as I, you’d trust her further. Besides, just before you walked in, she said she’d clear this whole business up by tonight.”
Brag and bounce, I thought, but I let it go.
“The real reason she’s trying so hard,” the executive was saying, “is one she’d never tell me, but I know it, just the same, and I can’t stand in her way, I just don’t have the heart to stop her.”
“What are you talking about? What reason?”
Scott’s eyebrows rose. “Isn’t it obvious? She wants her old man to hear how brilliantly she solved her first murder case!”
I thought about it. Maybe he was right. Anyway, I hoped he was.
Hilary joined us, and Scott suggested we get a table downstairs in the Fifth Avenue Club so we wouldn’t lose precious time at lunch. She agreed for both of us, and we started to leave, but she stopped me at the door.
“We’ll save you a place,” she told me. “Before you leave here, maybe you’d better get on the phone for a moment and check out Ruth Goetz’s alibi for last night. Here—take the key so you can close up.”
I said okay, and watched them go, locking the door behind them. I walked into Goetz’s office, found the telephone book listing for La Paradol, and rang up the headwaiter. It was early and I wasn’t sure I’d get anybody in, but I was in luck. It didn’t look as if he was going to be able to help me though. It wasn’t that he was averse to giving me the information I sought; it was the unexpected fact that his restaurant makes it a policy to take no reservations of any kind. Therefore, he had no way of checking to see whether a table had been booked in either Goetz’s or Frost’s name.
I tried a wild stab at describing the two. My picture of Frost meant nothing to the waiter, but Mrs. Goetz was another story.
“Ah-ho,” he laughed, “that’s the woman you want to know about?”
“She sound familiar to you?”
“Red hair? Tossed around in every direction? A pair ... a bust out to here ...?”
“That’s the one,” I replied.
“Pardon? I couldn’t hear . ...”
“I said, that’s the one. You remember her?”
“Are you serious? All the waiters remember her! You should have heard some of the things—no, maybe you shouldn’t have!”
“Do you recall about what time she arrived?”
“She and her escort came very early, probably to avoid the crowds. They were here about six, maybe six-fifteen.”
“And when did they leave?” I asked.
“It was pretty busy by then, I didn’t see just when. Maybe eight o’clock. Eight-thirty.”
I thanked him and hung up. So, I thought, in one stroke, both Frost’s and Goetz’s alibis were wiped
When she was out of earshot, I asked Scott how he felt about keeping the murder a secret from the police.
He wasn’t any too happy about it, but was willing to defer to Hilary for an hour or two longer. “I’d just as soon the story didn’t break at least until the first day of the Fair is over,” he explained. “Word of mouth’ll spread it around like a tornado, and pretty soon everybody’ll be gawking, instead of buying.”
“But they’ll still buy the rest of the week, won’t they? So what?”
He shook his head. “You never make it up. I don’t know why, but give them an excuse to watch a fire or a nut standing on a ledge, and buyers’ll forget all about their open-to-buy. And you don’t pick that business up again. I don’t know why, as I say, but it’s lost for good!”
“So you’re going to continue letting Hilary play sleuth, right?”
“Don’t get uptight about it.”
“I’m not! I just don’t want to spend the night at precinct headquarters. Do you know how many laws we’ve broken already?”
“I know, I know,” Scott said, “but if you knew Hilary as well as I, you’d trust her further. Besides, just before you walked in, she said she’d clear this whole business up by tonight.”
Brag and bounce, I thought, but I let it go.
“The real reason she’s trying so hard,” the executive was saying, “is one she’d never tell me, but I know it, just the same, and I can’t stand in her way, I just don’t have the heart to stop her.”
“What are you talking about? What reason?”
Scott’s eyebrows rose. “Isn’t it obvious? She wants her old man to hear how brilliantly she solved her first murder case!”
I thought about it. Maybe he was right. Anyway, I hoped he was.
Hilary joined us, and Scott suggested we get a table downstairs in the Fifth Avenue Club so we wouldn’t lose precious time at lunch. She agreed for both of us, and we started to leave, but she stopped me at the door.
“We’ll save you a place,” she told me. “Before you leave here, maybe you’d better get on the phone for a moment and check out Ruth Goetz’s alibi for last night. Here—take the key so you can close up.”
I said okay, and watched them go, locking the door behind them. I walked into Goetz’s office, found the telephone book listing for La Paradol, and rang up the headwaiter. It was early and I wasn’t sure I’d get anybody in, but I was in luck. It didn’t look as if he was going to be able to help me though. It wasn’t that he was averse to giving me the information I sought; it was the unexpected fact that his restaurant makes it a policy to take no reservations of any kind. Therefore, he had no way of checking to see whether a table had been booked in either Goetz’s or Frost’s name.
I tried a wild stab at describing the two. My picture of Frost meant nothing to the waiter, but Mrs. Goetz was another story.
“Ah-ho,” he laughed, “that’s the woman you want to know about?”
“She sound familiar to you?”
“Red hair? Tossed around in every direction? A pair ... a bust out to here ...?”
“That’s the one,” I replied.
“Pardon? I couldn’t hear . ...”
“I said, that’s the one. You remember her?”
“Are you serious? All the waiters remember her! You should have heard some of the things—no, maybe you shouldn’t have!”
“Do you recall about what time she arrived?”
“She and her escort came very early, probably to avoid the crowds. They were here about six, maybe six-fifteen.”
“And when did they leave?” I asked.
“It was pretty busy by then, I didn’t see just when. Maybe eight o’clock. Eight-thirty.”
I thanked him and hung up. So, I thought, in one stroke, both Frost’s and Goetz’s alibis were wiped
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