He couldn’t remember how long they had been sitting there when he heard the police siren. He assumed that the grating noise would quickly disappear into the distance, but it became louder and louder, and didn’t stop until a car came to a screeching halt on the gravel outside their front door. He then heard a door slam, heavy footsteps, followed by a loud banging on the front door.
He removed his arm from around his wife’s shoulder and made his way wearily to the front door. He opened it to find Chief Culver with a police officer standing on either side of him.
“What’s the problem, Chief?”
“I’m sorry about this, remembering what you’ve already been through,” said Don Culver, “but I have no choice but to place you under arrest.”
“What for?” asked Nat in disbelief.
“For the murder of Ralph Elliot.”
44
It was not the first time in American history that a dead candidate’s name was listed on the ballot, and it was certainly not the first time an arrested candidate had stood for election, but search as they might, the political historians were unable to find both on the same day.
Nat’s one call that the chief permitted was to Tom, who was still wide awake despite it being three in the morning. “I’ll get Jimmy Gates out of bed and join you at the police station as soon as I can.”
They had only just finished taking his fingerprints when Tom arrived, accompanied by his lawye
r. “You remember Jimmy,” said Tom, “he advised us during the Fairchild’s takeover.”
“Yes, I do,” said Nat as he continued to dry his hands after removing the traces of black ink from his fingers.
“I’ve talked to the chief,” said Jimmy, “and he’s quite happy for you to go home, but you’ll have to appear in court at ten o’clock tomorrow morning to be formally charged. I shall apply for bail on your behalf, and there is no reason to believe it won’t be granted.”
“Thank you,” said Nat, his voice flat. “Jimmy, you’ll recall that before we began the takeover bid for Fairchild’s, I asked you to find me the best corporate lawyer available to represent us?”
“Yes, I do,” said Jimmy, “and you’ve always said that Logan Fitzgerald did a first-class job.”
“He certainly did,” said Nat quietly, “but now I need you to find me the Logan Fitzgerald of criminal law.”
“I’ll have two or three names for you to consider by the time we meet up tomorrow. There’s a guy in Chicago who’s exceptional, but I don’t know what his schedule’s like,” he said as the chief of police walked over to join them.
“Mr. Cartwright, can one of my boys drive you home?”
“No, that’s good of you, Chief,” said Tom, “but I’ll take the candidate home.”
“You say candidate automatically now,” said Nat, “almost as if it was my Christian name.”
On the journey home, Nat told Tom everything that had taken place while he was at Elliot’s house. “So in the end it will come down to your word against hers,” commented Tom as he pulled up outside Nat’s front door.
“Yes, and I’m afraid my story won’t be as convincing as hers, even though it’s the truth.”
“We can talk about that in the morning,” said Tom. “But now you need to try and get some sleep.”
“It is the morning,” said Nat as he watched the first rays of sunlight creeping across the lawn.
Su Ling was standing by the open door. “Did they for a moment believe…?”
Nat told her everything that had happened while he was at the police station, and when he finished, all Su Ling said was, “Such a pity.”
“What do you mean?” asked Nat.
“That you didn’t kill him.”
Nat climbed the stairs and walked through the bedroom straight on into the bathroom. He stripped off his clothes and threw them in a bag. He would dispose of the bag later so that he would never have to be reminded of this terrible day. He stepped into the shower and allowed the cold jets of water to beat down on him. After putting on a new set of clothes he rejoined his wife in the kitchen. On the sideboard was his election-day schedule; no mention of a court appearance on arraignment for murder.
Tom turned up at nine. He reported that the voting was going briskly, as if nothing else was happening in Nat’s life. “They took a poll immediately following the television interview,” he told Nat, “and it gave you a lead of sixty-three to thirty-seven.”