Manhattan Noir 2 by Lawrence Block

Manhattan Noir 2 by Lawrence Block

Author:Lawrence Block
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: akashic books
Published: 2012-04-03T22:00:00+00:00


It is summer now. Voraciously, I am eating life.

He intended this.

This is what he intended.

He did.

THE INTERCEPTOR

BY BARRY N. MALZBERG

Upper West Side

(Originally published in 1972)

Death wore five faces that grim night. Could I pierce those grinning, evil masks and spot the real murderer?

He has been in the hotel room for a long time. No pleasure that but he thinks he has the crime figured out at last. It must have been his wife.

Everything, everything points to her. She must have killed Robinson in temper; then, when the placement of the securities next to the corpse would have tied the murder to her, turned the thing around and implicated him with that phone call which brought him to the scene just three minutes ahead of the police.

“Come over,” she said. “Something really terrible has happened; I appeal to you” and linked to her in the end, unable to understand what was going on he had come and had nearly been apprehended.

If he had not run immediately—but no sense in thinking about that now. He had gotten away from the police, just barely, and now at last he had solved the mystery. No time for speculation. No need for it either.

The motives were clear. Robinson and his wife must have been having an affair, had carried it on under him for a long time, his business partner and wife, and Robinson, bored, had been looking for a way out. Wryly he thinks that he could have warned Robinson about entrapment if only the man had been frank with him. In fact, regardless of consequences, Robinson might well have broken off the relationship if only given a little more time. And she could not bear to see it end that way, being that kind of a woman.

Yes, that must be it. He has nailed it to the ground. He lights another cigarette, looks around the room, paces to the window and looks at 72nd Street three floors below him, addicts milling in front of the hotel. He had been smart to have selected a location like this to be hidden although the circumstances were not of the best. If nothing else, living in this hotel for some weeks has made him socially conscious.

Perhaps it was not merely a crime of passion, though. His wife must have known that sooner or later Robinson would let slip news of the affair and the divorce would have been shattering. At all costs the woman believed in appearances. She would not even have a bedroom fight unless she was made up for it.

He sighs, walks away from the window. Relief overtakes him. It is good to know that he has the matter straightened out for himself at last and not a moment too soon. The police are closing in; even with the help of the inspector he could not remain in flight from the authorities forever. And to be apprehended in a hotel like this—

He picks up the phone to call the inspector and give him the explanation that will, at last, set him free.



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