One Good Deed(96)

He grabbed up Archer’s shirt and jacket and then led the man down the stairs and out the back door.

“Why not the front?” asked Archer.

“I’m trying to let you avoid the shame of being arrested. Bad enough for the guilty. Doubly so for the innocent.”

The ride over to the police station took all of three minutes.

Archer was fingerprinted and photographed. Then he was allowed to wash his face and shave, and put on his shirt and jacket. Shaw even managed to find some hot coffee and cold eggs for Archer before he set him down in front of a recording machine in a small room with one table and two opposing chairs.

Shaw said in a low voice, “Now look, since I have to record this, I got to go by the book. I’m gonna sound like you’re guilty as hell. But you just stick to your guns, okay, son?”

“Listen, I’m not gonna do anything to get you in trouble, Mr. Shaw. And if this will, I don’t want you to do it.”

Shaw gave Archer a look that many of his fellow soldiers had right before they went into battle together. It was a cross between a sad smile and a dropped tear.

“I appreciate that, son, but we’re gonna get through this. Just do what I said.”

Shaw clicked on the machine, recited the date and time and their names. And then the crimes that Archer had been charged with, including the murder of Lucas Tuttle.

“Mr. Archer, if you want to tell the truth, now would be a good time to do so.”

“Everything I know, I’ve already told you.”

“If you tell us what you did with the stuff in that safe I can put in a good word for you with the court.”

“Well, since I didn’t take any of it, that’s not really an option for me.”

“So you deny all involvement in any crime hereabouts?”

“I lied to you about going into Mr. Pittleman’s room and taking those debt papers. You can charge me with that if you want, and I’ll confess to that. But not to another thing.”

“You sure?”

“Hell yes. I’m innocent!”

Shaw clicked off the recorder. “That was fine, Archer.”

“I hope so, because it’s all the truth.”

Shaw lit up a smoke. “Where were you last night?”

“At the Cat’s Meow and then at Ernestine Crabtree’s house. And then back at the Derby where you found me.”

Shaw frowned. “At Crabtree’s house, why?

“I was trying to figure out why she and Jackie lied and said they didn’t know each other when the bartender at the Cat’s Meow told me they were regulars there and knew each other really well.”

“Come again?”

Archer told him what the bartender had shared.

“But as a parole officer if she saw you drinking at the bar, she should have turned you in for a violation.”

“I know that! I’m wondering why she didn’t. And why would they hide that they were friends and all? When I brought Jackie over to stay at Ernestine’s I introduced them to each other. They acted like strangers till I did that.”

“That is a puzzler.”

“And now she’s gone.”

Shaw started. “What? Who’s gone?”

“Ernestine. Her clothes are all gone from her closet. I think she’s left town.”

Shaw narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. “What else?”

“Look, you know about her father?”

Shaw shook his head, so Archer decided to fill him in on Carson Crabtree’s history and also about what he had found in the scrapbook.

“So what do you think about that?” asked Archer. “Her father was a policeman. Then he ups and kills three men and confesses without giving any reason?”

“And one of them was a Peeping Tom,” said Shaw thoughtfully. “You think?”

“Well, it’s possible he was peeping on Ernestine. And maybe the others were too.”

“But then why wouldn’t her old man say that in his defense? Hell, he might’ve gotten off scot-free if he had. I could see a jury siding with him over that, especially if he had a bunch of fathers on the jury.”

“I don’t know,” said Archer. “But her mother killed herself later.”

“Damn. That woman’s been through the wringer all right. Did she act surprised when she saw you at your first parole meeting even though she’d probably already seen you at the bar?”

“Not a jot, no.”

“Good poker face then.”

“And then some.”

Shaw looked thoughtfully at Archer. “Sheila Dixon?”

Archer’s face collapsed. “What about her?”

“She’s the mayor’s daughter you were charged and convicted with kidnapping, and false imprisoning and contributing to the delinquency of.”

“Well, hell, I know that!”

“You got a pretty short sentence comparatively.”

“I worked a deal so she wouldn’t have to testify. And then I got paroled early. And dammit, for the record she told me she was twenty. I had no idea she was four days short of being sixteen. She didn’t look it, I can tell you that. And I swear on a stack of Bibles, we didn’t do anything. No fooling around or nothing. I just gave her a ride because she couldn’t drive.”