I went in to ask Mist’ Julian wheahabouts the fiah, only he ain’t in theah. Jes’ this man. Suah sound like him.”
“All right, Uncle Mort. That’s all.” The Sheriff led him to the door and turned him over to someone in the hall. Buck went out with the two prisoners.
“Sit down, Madox.” The Sheriff nodded curtly towards the chair. When I was seated, he said, “All right. You ready to make a statement now? What did you do with the money?”
“So we’re back to that again?”
“Why don’t you get wise to yourself, Madox? You can see we’ve got the goods on you. You just trying to make it tougher on yourself?”
“No.”
“You heard that Negro. He picked you out of four men. And he can do it in court.”
“Not without you there to squeeze his arm.”
“I didn’t squeeze his arm. He recognized your breathing.”
“Bad sweat. What the hell is this, Alice in Wonderland?”
“Have a little trouble getting your breath, don’t you, with that broken nose? Ever have a doctor look at it?”
“No.”
“Probably don’t even notice it yourself, do you? That little whistle, I mean.”
“Cut it out, will you? So the man who robbed the bank was breathing.”
He stopped directly in front of me and pointed the cigar in my face. “Look, Madox. I’m not trying to find out who robbed that bank. I already know that. And you know that I know it. Don’t you? So I want to tell you something. You’re not going to get away with it. So help me God, I’m going to prove it if it’s the last thing I ever do in this world. We’ll start at the beginning again. Now tell me where you went when the fire broke out.”
I sighed. “Over to the fire, like everybody else in town.”
“I mean exactly where were you? In back of the building? In front? Out in the street along the side? Where?”
“In front,” I said. “Where the fire-truck was.”
“Well, how do you account for the fact that out of over a hundred people I’ve talked to who were jammed around that fire truck, not one of ‘em saw you? I mean, until nearly thirty minutes later, when you made a big show of yourself? Were you hiding behind something?”
“There was a building burning down,” I Said. “It’s just possible they were looking at that.”
“All right,” he said. “We’ll disregard that for the moment. What I want to do right now is clear up a little point that’s been bothering me from the first. You were there, you say. Right by the fire-engine all the time. And we know you’re a hero, just aching to get in there and help. Tate’s already testified to that—how you grabbed the hose and made a grandstand play in front of the whole crowd, after the bank was robbed. Now what I’d like to find out— and the thing that’s going to interest the jury—is why you were so bashful about offering to help during the first few minutes, when you really could have done something. You know what I mean, don’t you? But sure you do. You were there. You admit it yourself.”
He paused, with a little smile around his mouth again, looking like a cat getting ready to pounce. I couldn’t do anything but wait for it and pray I’d have the answer.
“Now we know you were there. And that you were dying to help. All right.” He swung around and” pointed the cigar at me and lashed out, “So what was holding you back when that woman became hysterical and started screaming that her little boy was missing and wanted somebody to go in the building and look for him? Why didn’t you step up? Were you afraid to go in there? Or you just hadn’t made up your mind to be a hero yet? Like hell! I’ll tell you why—it was because you weren’t even there, and you know it. Don’t you?”
I opened my mouth. And then I stopped. I could smell it. It was a trap. He’d left the door open too invitingly. But, I thought in an agony of indecision, what if I was wrong? If I said the wrong thing he had me nailed right to the cross. But I had to say something. I took a deep breath and plunged.
“Look,” I said. “I was there the whole time, and I didn’t even hear any hysterical woman.”
I could see it on his face before he wiped it off. I’d guessed it right. But how