Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 4, April 1980

“What garbage?” Barbara asked, coming up to us with a towel around her wet body. I saw the fire reflecting off the droplets on her bare thighs, and I looked away.

Charles laughed. “Oh, Mark is just bewitching us with his knowledge, as usual. These teachers!”

Helen came up and took some of the sticks from him. “Come on, everyone! Time to roast your hot dogs! We’ve got marshmallows too, for later.”

For the next half-hour we were busy at the fire, and I made an effort to be civil toward Sally Tern, if only for Charles and Helen’s benefit. She wasn’t a bad girl, really, and in other days I might have found her a pleasant companion.

“Charles probably told you I’m divorced,” I said at one point.

“He said your wife gave you a bum deal. I hope you’re not bitter.”

“No, just a bit sad, I suppose.”

Helen was trying to get a little singing organized, but without much success. The fire was dying down and I tossed another log on it. That was when I became aware of a newcomer to our tight little circle.

“Is it Andy?” Barbara asked, straining to see.

“Afraid not, Mrs. Barron,” a voice answered. “It’s Chief of Police Lambert.” He stepped closer to the firelight and we could see his gaunt, tired face. “Afraid I’ve got some bad news. There was a robbery at the Liquorium.”

“Andy...?”

“He’s dead, Mrs. Barron. Somebody shot him.”

That was when she screamed.

The women took Barbara upstairs to rest while Chief Lambert gathered the four men around the pool. The fire, forgotten now, sent up a few high-flying sparks and Charles Riggs called to one of his, sons to extinguish it with the hose.

“Were you the first to arrive?” Chief Lambert asked me.

“That’s right.”

He turned to Nelse Walker and Fritz. “And were you both here before Mrs. Barron arrived?”

They agreed they were. “She said Andy was still counting the money,” Nelse said. “I remember hearing that.”

“What’s all the questioning for?” Charles wanted to know.

Chief Lambert shifted uneasily. “Well, you know I always swing by the Liquorium the nights I’m on duty an’ give Andy a lift to the bank so he can use the night depository. ’Specially on Saturday nights he has quite a wad — maybe as much as five thousand dollars.”

Nelse Walker looked surprised at the amount. “That much!”

“Anyway, tonight when I got there the lights were on an’ the door was locked. I figured he was inside, ’cause when he goes off to the bank by himself he turns off the lights. Then I saw his feet sticking out from behind the counter. I smashed the glass in the door and unlocked it. He was dead, shot once in the back of the head.”

“So why are you questioning us?” Charles repeated. “You certainly don’t think we know anything about it!”

Chief Lambert shifted again, gazing down at the smooth water of the swimming pool. Overhead, a few moths darted in and out of the light beams. “Well, you see he musta opened the door for his killer. Now he wouldn’t have done that for a stranger — not with all the money around. He opened the door, turned his back, and got shot. There’s no getting around it, fellas — Andy knew the person that shot him and stole the money. Knew him well, and trusted him.”

“I can’t believe that,” Nelse said.

“Hell, you all know. Andy. He wouldn’t have offered any resistance. He was killed because he knew the robber.” Chief Lambert, hurried on, enlarging his theory. “Now I’m not sayin’ any of you are involved, but when Mrs. Barron arrived alone you all musta known he was back at the store countin’ up. Nelse here says she mentioned it, in fact.”

“That’s right,” I agreed. “She did mention it.”

“So one of you might have slipped away, through the back yards and down to Main Street, long enough to kill Andy and take the money.”

“That’s crazy,” Fritz protested. But I was remembering how he’d been missing, off on a walk, for a while. I tried to remember if anyone else had been missing.

Chief Lambert’s mind was running the same way. “Can you all account for your time during the last couple of hours?”

Nelse was the first to speak. “I was mostly here by the pool, watching my wife and Barbara — Mrs. Barron — in swimming.”

“All of the time?”

“Well, no. I went in to use the toilet once. I guess most of us did, with all this beer.”

Chief Lambert nodded, then turned to Charles. “I think I should get a statement from everybody here. Sorry to mess up your party like this, but a murder is pretty serious business.”

Helen Riggs came out from the house then and joined Charles. “How’s Barbara?” I asked.

“Resting. I gave her one of my tranquilizers.”

“Sleeping?” Chief Lambert asked. “I’ll need to talk with her.”

“No, not sleeping. She said she’d be down soon.”

Fritz Obern stepped forward then. “You’d better take a statement from me next, Chief. I was away for about twenty minutes. I went for a walk back in the woods.”

Lambert seemed startled by this admission. “Alone?”

“Yes.”

“What for?”

Gert was at his side. “He’s been depressed about losing his job. Is there any crime against that?”