The Canary Sang but Couldn't Fly by Edmund Elmaleh

Author:Edmund Elmaleh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Sterling
Published: 2011-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

A few days after the Lepke verdict, Captain Bals got an unwelcome surprise. It was a letter from John J. Ryan, assistant chief inspector of the NYPD. Ryan ordered Bals to submit a detailed report on the activities of his Special Investigations Squad: “This report will show the number of hours spent by each man, each day, during the year since April 1, 1941; the nature of the work (giving every detail), and the evidence obtained. The report should also indicate in detail traveling outside of New York as well as within the city, and the reason for time spent in each assignment. Also indicate disbursements and totals for each man.” Significantly—given the recent debacle at the Half Moon Hotel—Bals was also ordered to report any situation “where police officers have lived with witnesses and the necessity for it.”

Bals was furious. He was sure that Mayor La Guardia was behind Ryan’s order, and that the mayor was trying to find something—anything—with which to tarnish O’Dwyer’s image. The captain showed the letter to the DA, who was incensed. “Frank, you tell them they can’t have this information,” O’Dwyer said. “And I don’t care who wants the records.” Together they located the material and placed it under lock and key. Bals appreciated the DA’s support, but he worried that the political strife would only get worse. So after leaving O’Dwyer’s office, he went straight to NYPD headquarters, picked up the sheaf of forms required for retirement, then spent the night filling them out. The next day, O’Dwyer tried to talk Bals out of retiring, but he failed. By the end of December, the captain was gone from the force. But the DA didn’t let his old crony stay unemployed for long: One month later, he hired Bals as his chief investigator.

On December 31, Detective Celano finally received the results of Reles’s toxicology tests. No poisons or drugs were found, but there was a small amount of alcohol (equivalent to a shot of whiskey) in his stomach. Since the liquor hadn’t yet been absorbed by the brain, it meant that Reles wasn’t drunk when he died. What it did mean was that Reles drank this bit of booze very shortly before he died. Supporters of the escape-attempt theory suggested that this was Reles’s way of fortifying himself before attempting to escape. But that was out of character for Reles. He never needed liquid courage to carry out his other high-risk endeavors—like committing brutal murders. If the drink was a social one, then who was he socializing with just a short time before plunging to his death? In any event, where had the bottle gone from which the drink was poured? The Homicide Squad didn’t find one at the scene, nor did one appear in the crime scene photo of Reles’s room.

Detective Celano, however, was not concerned, bothered, or even intrigued by any of this. After all, his boss, Captain McGowan, wanted to close doors, not open them, as far as this case was concerned.

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