Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 122, Nos. 3 & 4. Whole Nos. 745 & 746, September/October 2003

“Jiving at some nightclub. Not my scene. I suppose I was already realising she was a bad habit, one I ought to break. I was supposed to be working on a song, but I had a couple of beers, then a couple more. Before I knew what was happening, I was fast asleep. And then the next morning came the cops, knocking on my door to break the news.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Like what?”

“Patty and I called round here that night,” I said calmly. “It would have been about eight. She’d persuaded me to make an attempt to bury the hatchet.”

He stared at me. “What are you talking about?”

“Patty thought you and I made a good team. She’s always been fond of you.”

“No, she hasn’t.”

“It’s Lorna she didn’t like.” I sighed. “Trouble was, you and I argued. We’d both had a few beers. I took a swing at you and missed. Patty decided it was time for us to go. Not long after nine o’clock; she checked her watch. By then, you weren’t in a fit state to go anywhere, and anyway, according to what I’ve heard, the authorities are convinced Lorna was already dead.”

His face was stripped of expression. I guessed he was calculating pros and cons. That was Max: He always played the percentages.

“Are you serious about this?”

“Never more so.”

“We don’t have to drag Patty into this.”

I noticed the “we.” Progress. “Yes, we do. After all this time, we need to make it look credible. People might think I was simply trying to save my old partner’s good name if I was the only one giving him an alibi. Trust me, Patty and I have been tossing it around for a few days now. She agrees it’s for the best.”

He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know, Steve.”

“Yes, you do. It’s the only way. I’ll put the word around that I’ve only just got wind that people are seriously pointing the finger at you. You and I may not be working together anymore, but I’m keen to set the record straight.”

“But...”

“No buts. You want to spend the rest of your life like some pariah? Think about it.”

I could imagine his mind working, testing my proposition, checking it for flaws. Of course he would go along with it in the end. He had no choice, if Lorna was not to destroy his life the way she’d almost destroyed mine.

Lorna, Lorna, Lorna. I can still smell the gin on her breath the last time we were together. Still hear her striking the match to light yet another Lucky Strike from the crumpled pack. Still see her cupping her hands over the sudden flame. Still see her flicking ash all over the imitation Versailles rug. She was just waiting for me to call her a slut, but I said nothing, let her scorn wash over me like breakers on the shore. Even now I cringe at the memory of the coarse words, all the more shocking because they came from a scarlet mouth as cute as a bow-ribbon on a candy box.

“So how are you today?” asked Alice as she set up the tape recorder.

I made a slight movement with my shoulders. The doctor had talked to me that morning. There wasn’t much time left.

“You’re flying back home tonight?”

“Uh-huh.” She studied me. “I just want to say thanks for all your help. It can’t be easy for you, reliving the past when you aren’t well.”

“Those were the best years of my life,” I said. “It’s no hardship to bring them back to mind. You know, I never had another Top Thirty hit after the spring of ’sixty-seven. Thank God for Muzak. The royalties never stopped dribbling in, enough to keep Patty and me fed and watered.”

“What happened to her career?”

“Same as happened to mine, I guess.” I sighed, spoke almost to myself. “Doesn’t matter, it’s been a good marriage these past forty-odd years.”

“She’s coming to see you again this afternoon?”

“Never fails. The arthritis gives her hell, but she fights through the pain.”

“Did you stay in touch with Max?”

“Not really. We bumped into each other now and then. Last time I saw him must have been in the early ’seventies, just before he was killed in that plane crash.”

“You never wrote another song together after Lorna died?”

“No, things never seemed to jell. Our time had passed.”

“So why did you alibi him for Lorna’s death?”

Her voice had never sounded so sharp before. I flinched under her laser stare. “I told you before,” I said. “He didn’t kill her.”

“Maybe he didn’t,” she said. “Maybe someone else did.”

All of a sudden, I felt very cold. “What do you mean?”

“I talked to Lorna’s best friend. After all these years, she’s broken her silence, as the saying goes.”

“And?” My voice was no more than a croak.

“Lorna confided in her. Max’s affair pissed her off. So she decided to take revenge by bedding you. Dear, dependable, happily-married Steve. It helped prove how irresistible she was.”

“Girls talking,” I said. “It doesn’t mean a thing.”

She bent over me again. “Did she taunt you? Or threaten your security? Maybe it was that. Perhaps she said she would spill the beans. You couldn’t risk having Patty find out the truth. Was that why you shoved her down the stairs?”

“No,” I whispered. “No, no, no.”