Page 69 of Fade Out

“Why do you want to get into an apartment? You don’t live here.”

I sighed. “Winslow Porter is in Europe. I think someone has been using his apartment.”

“Yeah, his niece.” He smiled at me in a way that suggested Rita was just his type.

“That’s not his niece. The police are on the way. Don’t even think about tipping her off. Get me someone who can open a door. And get them now.”

He frowned, but said, “Mr. Elber. He’s the president of the association.”

“Get him.”

Reluctantly, he picked up the desk phone and dialed. After a moment he said, “Mr. Elber. This is Keith. The doorman. I have a man down here who… um, it’s a situation. Can you come down? Thank you.”

He hung up. Looking up at me, he said, “She had a letter and everything. It was on Mr. Porter’s personal stationary.”

“You’re familiar with Mr. Porter’s stationary?”

“Well, no… I mean, he doesn’t write me letters.” As he said that I could see it dawning on him that it’s not exactly hard to get stationary printed. With a little skill you could even do it on a Xerox machine.

“Oh.”

Just then, Owen Lovejoy, Esquire, walked in. He took in the trashed tuxedo I was wearing, and said, “I’m sure there’s a story behind that.”

“Some other time,” I replied. “Are they coming?”

“Yes, but they’re not happy about it,” he said.

“Did you tell them I’m going to confess?”

“I tried it with Tony Stork, but he didn’t buy it.”

“He knows I didn’t kill anyone, so he knows I wouldn’t confess. How did you convince him to come?”

He just smiled at me. Blackmail. I wondered how many times that would work.

“What about the other two?” I asked.

“I only had to tell them the ASA was coming.”

“Oh, by the way, this guy’s a witness,” I said, indicating Keith, the doorman.

“No, I’m not. I haven’t seen anything.”

“What did Mr. Porter’s niece look like?”

“Black hair, cut really short. Pretty eyes. Really big, um, chest.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Couple days ago.”

“And the guy who’s with her?”

“How did you know—”

“Looks like a possum?”

“I don’t know what a possum looks like. I’m from Chicago.”