Spare Change (Wyattsville #1)(81)

“He was probably was carry some less obvious type of weapon; a wire or a nylon stocking for strangling.”

“There was nothing. Officer Cobb was still lying in the hallway when he was arrested and he underwent a thorough search before the doctor even tended to his broken knee.”

“He has a broken knee?”

“Actually, they say it’s shattered. He’ll supposedly have a pretty pronounced limp, once he’s able to walk again.”

“I’m sorry about that; my only intention was to stop him from coming after Ethan Allen. I had to protect the child; after all he is my grandson.”

“Missus Doyle,” Mahoney said hesitantly, “I’ve still got a few questions as to what happened. If you’ve no objection, I’d like to come by and have a word with Ethan.”

“Don’t you come over here upsetting the child,” she warned.

“I’ve no intention of upsetting him. But a report has to be filed, so I’ve got to ask about what happened.”

“Are you coming alone?”

“Absolutely alone,” he assured. Promising to be there in the afternoon, he hung up.

Before he left the office, Mahoney called the crime lab, “Any news yet?” he asked.

“It’s an hour since I saw you,” the detective growled, “I said this afternoon!”

It was just after two o’clock when Mahoney arrived at the Doyle apartment. “I apologize for the intrusion,” he said, making every possible effort to sound sincere.

Olivia, clinging to her wariness, invited Jack in and half-heartedly extended an offer for a cup of coffee. At times she imagined she could still see the light in his eyes, but a light which could pop in and out as this one did was surely cause for skepticism. “You do understand,” she said, “I won’t let you talk to Ethan Allen alone, right?”

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Mahoney answered.

She then called Ethan Allen into the room, and positioned herself between the boy and Jack Mahoney in such a way that to speak face-to-face, one of them had to lean forward. They sat on the sofa, Olivia in the middle, the boy on one end, Mahoney on the other.

“I’m sorry to bother you with these questions,” Mahoney said tipping himself forward, “but it can’t be helped. There’s certain information that’s required to file a report. It’s a real serious thing to charge an officer with trying to intimidate a witness,” his voice slid down a bit lower, “real serious. You understand that, right?”

“Yes sir,” Ethan stammered.

“But the truth is the truth, and that’s all we’re looking for here.”

Olivia glared at Mahoney; her way of warning him not to start badgering the boy. “My grandson always tells the truth,” she said emphatically. “Don’t you, dear?”

Ethan swallowed hard on that one, but gifted with his mama’s way of dancing around a thing, he said, “I never once lied about Mister Cobb.”

“See!” Olivia grinned triumphantly.

“That’s a real honorable thing,” Mahoney commented, even though the boy was rumored to be a tale-teller. “Real honorable.” Jack pulled a pad and pencil from his pocket; “Okay, Ethan,” he said, “you tell me the complete truth of what happened here last night and I’m gonna write it down—word for word.”

Ethan looked up at Olivia and only after she’d given a nod of approval, did he start to speak. “I was doing what Grandma said, not stepping foot outside of the building, when it happened. Missus Parker, she lives down on the second floor, said she’d pay five cents for me to bring a casserole up to Mister Bailey—he lives right down the hall. I said sure; five cents is a fair amount for delivering. The dish was real hot, so I was watching where my foot was stepping and I didn’t see Policeman Cobb coming up on me. First thing I heard was him yelling how he wanted a word with me, that’s when I let go of the dish and took off running.”

“You dropped the dish because you were frightened?”

Ethan gave a wide-eyed blink and nodded.

“Then you started running?”

“Yes sir.”

“Did Officer Cobb grab hold of you?”

“No sir. I ran off too fast.”

“How far away was Officer Cobb?”

“He was down the far end of the hall.”

“And, when did he catch up with you?”

“He didn’t ever catch up to me, Grandma Olivia came out and batted him in the knee and I run in the house fast as I could.”

“Did you think Officer Cobb was trying to hurt you?”

Ethan Allen shrugged, “I suppose so,” he said.

“Did Officer Cobb threaten you? Did he say he was gonna hurt you; anything like that?”

“He was calling for me to wait up, that’s all.”

Mahoney turned to Olivia, “When you encountered Officer Cobb, where was he?”

“Three or four yards behind Ethan. I heard a huge commotion and when I opened the door, Ethan flew by like the devil was after him. I could tell he was in trouble, so I grabbed the baseball bat and went at the policeman.”

“Officer Cobb wasn’t trying to get into your apartment?”

“He didn’t have the chance.”