The Alibi

Ignoring the laughter and catcalls, she preceded Smilow down the short hallway and into his private office. When the door closed behind them, he asked her what was up.

“Remember the bloodstains on Alex Ladd’s sheets?”

“She nicked her leg shaving.”

“No, she didn’t. Or maybe she did, but it wasn’t her who bled on the sheet. I had the blood typed and compared to another specimen. They match.”

“And this other specimen would be…?”

“Hammond’s.”

For the first time since she had met him, Smilow seemed completely unprepared for what he’d just heard. It left him speechless.

“The night he was mugged,” she explained, “he bled. Quite a lot, I think. I got to his place early the following morning to tell him that Trimble was in our jail. He was acting weird. I attributed his weirdness to the rough night he’d had and the medication he was taking.

“But it was more than that. I got this feeling that he was lying to cover up a shameful secret. Anyway, before we left, I impulsively sneaked a bloody washcloth out of his bathroom.”

“What prompted you to do that? And to test it against the stains on Ladd’s sheets?”

“The way he acts around her!” she cried softly, flinging her arms out to her sides. “Like it’s all he can do to keep from devouring her. You’ve sensed it, too, Smilow. I know you have.”

He ran his hand around the back of his neck and said the last thing Steffi would have expected. “Jesus, I’m embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed?”

“I should have reached this conclusion myself. Long before now. You’re right, I did sense something between them. I just couldn’t lay my finger on what it was. It’s so unthinkable, I never even thought of sexual attraction.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Smilow. Women are more intuitive about these things.”

“And you had another advantage over me.”

“What?”

“I’ve never slept with Hammond.”

He grinned wryly, but Steffi didn’t find the statement humorous. “W

ell, it really doesn’t matter who sensed what when, or who first defined what is going on between them. The bottom line is that Hammond has been in bed with Alex Ladd since he was appointed prosecutor of the criminal case in which she’s a prime suspect.” She raised the envelope as though it were a scalp or some other battle trophy. “And we can prove it.”

“With evidence illegally obtained.”

“A technicality,” she said with a shrug. “For now, let’s look at the big picture. Hammond is in deep doo-doo. Remember that weak lie about who had busted the lock on her back door? I’m guessing it was Hammond. He broke into her house—”

“For what purpose? To lift the silver?”

She frowned at his making light of this. “They had met before. Before she became a suspect. Each pretended not to know the other. They had to get together to compare notes, so Hammond went to see her.… Let’s see, that would have been Tuesday night, after we’d caught her in several lies.

“He couldn’t go up to her front door and ring the bell, so he sneaked in. When he busted the lock, he cut his thumb. That’s what bled on her sheet. I remember he was wearing a bandage the next day.

“And I think she was with him the night he was mugged, too. He was evasive when I asked him about the doctor who had treated his wounds, and why he hadn’t gone to the emergency room. He fabricated some farfetched explanations.”

The detective was still looking at her with skepticism.

“I know him, Smilow,” she said insistently. “I practically lived with him. I know his habits. He’s relatively neat, but he’s a guy. He lets things go until he’s forced to straighten up, or he waits on his weekly maid to clean up after him. The morning after the mugging, when he was feeling like shit, do you know what he was worried about? Making up his bed. Now I understand why. He didn’t want me to notice that someone had slept beside him.”

“I don’t know, Steffi,” he said, his frown dubious. “As much as I’d like to see this Boy Scout brought down several pegs, I can’t believe Hammond Cross would do something this compromising. Have you confronted him about it?”

“No, but I’ve baited him. Gently. Teasingly. Until this morning when I received the lab report, it was only a hunch.”