The Interpretation Of Murder Read online

From behind her came a low voice: 'You want me to wait?'

  She nodded.

  'I can't.' The victim's wrists, crossed and suspended together over her head, were so slight, her fingers so graceful, her long legs so demure. 'I can't wait.' The girl winced as the gentlest possible stroke was administered to one of her bare thighs. A stroke, that is, of the razor, which left a vivid scarlet wake as it traced her skin. She cried out, her back curved in exactly the same arch as the great windows, her raven hair flowing down her back. A second stroke, to the other thigh, and the girl cried out again, more sharply.

  'No,' the voice admonished calmly. 'No screaming.'

  The girl could only shake her head, uncomprehending.

  'You must make a different sound.'

  The girl shook her head again. She wanted to speak but couldn't.

  'Yes. You must. I know you can. I told you how. Don't you remember?' The razor was now replaced on the bed. On the far wall, in the wavering candlelight, the girl saw the shadow of the leather crop rising up instead. 'You want it. Sound as if you want it. You must make that kind of sound.' Gently but implacably, the silk tie around the girl's throat drew tighter. 'Make it.'

  She tried to do as she was bid, moaning softly - a woman's moan, a supplicating moan, which she had never made before.

  'Good. Like that.'

  Holding the end of the white tie in one hand and the leather crop in the other, the assailant brought the latter down upon the girl's back. She made the sound again. Another lash, harder. The sting caused the girl to cry out, but she caught herself and made the other sound instead.

  'Better.' The next blow landed not on her back but just below it. She opened her mouth, but at the same moment the tie was drawn still tighter, choking her. Her choking, in turn, made her moan seem more genuine, more broken, an effect her tormentor evidently liked. Another blow, and another and another, louder and faster, fell on all the softest parts of her body, rending her garments, leaving glowing marks on her white skin. With every lash, despite the searing pain, the girl moaned as she had been told to do, her cries coming louder and faster too.

  The rain of blows stopped. She would have collapsed long before, but the rope from the ceiling, tied to her wrists, kept her upright. Her body was now scored with lacerations. Blood ran down in one or two places. For a moment all went dark for her; then the flickering light returned. A shiver passed through her.

  Her eyes opened. Her lips moved. 'Tell me my name,' she tried to whisper, but no one heard.

  The assailant, studying the girl's lovely neck, loosened the silk binding around it. For one instant she breathed freely, her head still flung back, the waves of black hair flowing to her waist. Then the tie around her throat went taut again.

  The girl could no longer see distinctly. She felt a hand on her mouth, its fingers running lightly over her lips. Then those fingers drew the silk tie yet tighter, so that even her choking stopped. The candlelight went out for her again. This time it did not return.

  'There is train below river?' asked Sandor Ferenczi incredulously.

  Not only did such a train exist, Brill and I assured him, but we were going to ride it. In addition to the new tunnel across the Hudson River, the Hoboken tube boasted another innovation: full baggage service. All a voyager arriving in the United States had to do was mark his luggage with the name of his hotel in Manhattan. Porters stowed the trunks in the train's baggage car, and handlers on the other end did the rest. Taking advantage of this amenity, we walked out onto the platform, which overlooked the river. With the setting of the sun, the fog had lifted, revealing the jagged Manhattan skyline, studded with electric lights. Our guests stared in wonder: at the sheer expanse of it, and at the spires piercing the clouds.

  'It's the centre of the world,' said Brill.

  'I dreamt of Rome last night,' Freud replied.

  We waited on pins and needles - at least I did - for him to go on.

  Freud drew on his cigar. 'I was walking, alone,' he said. 'Night had just fallen, as it has now. I came upon a shop window with a jewelry box. That of course means a woman. I looked around. To my embarrassment, I had wandered into an entire neighborhood of bordellos.'

  A debate ensued on whether Freud's teachings dictated defiance of conventional sexual morality. Jung held that they did; indeed, he maintained that anyone who failed to see this implication had not understood Freud. The whole point of psychoanalysis, he said, was that society's prohibitions were ignorant and unhealthy. Only cowardice would make men submit to civilized morality once they had understood Freud's discoveries.

  Brill and Ferenczi vigorously disagreed. Psychoanalysis demanded that a man be conscious of his true sexual wishes, not that he succumb to them. 'When we hear a patient's dream,' said Brill, 'we interpret it. We don't tell the patient to fulfill the wishes he is unconsciously expressing. I don't, at any rate. Do you, Jung?'

  I noticed both Brill and Ferenczi sneaking glances at Freud as they elaborated his ideas - hoping, I supposed, to find endorsement. Jung never did. He either had, or affected having, perfect confidence in his position. As for Freud, he intervened on neither side, apparently content to watch the debate unfold.

  'Some dreams do not require interpretation,' Jung said; 'they require action. Consider Herr Professor Freud's dream last night of prostitutes. The meaning is not in doubt: suppressed libido, stimulated by our anticipated arrival in a new world. There is no point talking about such a dream.' Here Jung turned to Freud. 'Why not act on it? We are in America; we can do what we like.'

  For the first time, Freud broke in: 'I am a married man, Jung.'

  'So am I,' Jung replied.

  Freud raised an eyebrow, nodding, but made no reply.

  I informed our party that it was time to board the train. Freud took a last look over the railing. A stiff wind blew in our faces. As we all gazed at the lights of Manhattan, he smiled. 'If they only knew what we are bringing them.'

  Chapter Two

  In 1909, a small device had begun to spread widely in New York City, accelerating communication and forever changing the nature of human interaction: the telephone. At 8 a.m. on Monday morning, August 30, the manager of the Balmoral lifted his mother-of-pearl receiver from its brass base and placed a hushed and hurried call to the building's owner.

  Mr George Banwell answered the call sixteen stories above the manager's head, in the telephone closet of the Travertine Wing's penthouse apartment, which Mr Banwell had kept for himself. He was informed that Miss Riverford from the Alabaster Wing was dead in her room, the victim of murder and perhaps worse. A maid had found her.

  Banwell did not immediately respond. The line was silent for so long the head manager said, 'Are you there, sir?'

  Banwell replied with gravel in his voice: 'Get everyone out. Lock the door. No one enters. And tell your people to keep quiet if they value their jobs.' Then he called an old friend, the mayor of New York City. At the conclusion of their conversation, Banwell said, 'I can't afford any police in the building, McClellan. Not one uniform. I'll tell the family myself. I went to school with Riverford. That's right: the father, poor bastard.'

  'Mrs Neville,' the mayor called out to his secretary as he rang off. 'Get me Hugel. At once.'

  Charles Hugel was coroner of the City of New York. It was his duty to see to the corpse in any case of suspected homicide. Mrs Neville informed the mayor that Mr Hugel had been waiting in the mayor's antechamber all morning.

  McClellan closed his eyes and nodded, but said, 'Excellent. Send him in.'

  Before the door had even closed behind him, Coroner Hugel launched into an indignant tirade against the conditions at the city morgue. The mayor, who had heard this litany of complaints before, cut him off. He described the situation at the Balmoral and ordered the coroner to take an unmarked vehicle uptown. Residents of the building must not be made aware of any police presence. A detective would follow later.

  'I?' said the coroner. 'O'Hanlon from my office can do it.'

&
nbsp; 'No,' replied the mayor, 'I want you to go yourself. George Banwell is an old friend of mine. I need a man with experience - and a man whose discretion I can count on. You are one of the few I have left.'

  The coroner grumbled but in the end gave way. 'I have two conditions. First, whoever is in charge at the building must be told immediately that nothing is to be touched.

  Nothing. I cannot be expected to solve a murder if the evidence is trampled and tampered with before I arrive.'

  'Eminently sensible,' replied the mayor. 'What else?'

  'I am to have full authority over the investigation, including the choice of detective.'

  'Done,' said the mayor. 'You can have the most seasoned man on the force.'

  'Exactly what I don't want,' replied the coroner. 'It would be gratifying for once to have a detective who won't sell out the case after I have solved it. There's a new fellow - Littlemore. He's the one I want.'

  'Littlemore? Excellent,' said the mayor, turning his attention to the stack of papers on his large desk. 'Bingham used to say he's one of the brightest youngsters we have.'

  'Brightest? He's a perfect idiot.'

  The mayor was startled: 'If you think so, Hugel, why do you want him?'

  'Because he can't be bought - at least not yet.'

  When Coroner Hugel arrived at the Balmoral, he was told to wait for Mr Banwell. Hugel hated being made to wait. He was fifty-nine years old, the last thirty of which had been spent in municipal service, much of it in the unhealthy confines of city morgues, which had lent his face a grayish cast. He wore thick glasses and an oversized mustache between his hollow cheeks. He was altogether bald except for a wiry tuft sprouting from behind each ear. Hugel was an excitable man. Even in repose, a swelling in his temples gave the impression of incipient apoplexia.

  The position of coroner in New York City was in 1909 a peculiar one, an irregularity in the chain of command. Part medical examiner, part forensic investigator, part prosecutor, the coroner reported directly to the mayor. He did not answer to anyone on the police force, not even the commissioner; but neither did anyone on the force answer to him, not even the lowliest beat patrolman. Hugel had little but scorn for the police department, which he viewed, with some justification, as largely inept and thoroughly crooked. He objected to the mayor's handling of the retirement of Chief Inspector Byrnes, who had obviously grown rich on bribes. He objected to the new commissioner, who did not appear to have the slightest appreciation of the art or importance of a properly held inquest. In fact, he objected to every departmental decision he ever heard of, unless it had been made by himself. But he knew his job. Although not technically a doctor, he had attended a full three years of medical school and could perform a more expert autopsy than the physicians who served as his assistants.

  After fifteen infuriating minutes, Mr Banwell at last appeared. He wasn't, in fact, much taller than Hugel but seemed to tower over him. 'And you are?' he asked.

  'The coroner of the City of New York,' said Hugel, trying to express condescension. 'I alone touch the deceased. Any disturbance of evidence will be prosecuted as obstruction. Am I understood?'

  George Banwell was - and plainly knew it - taller, handsomer, better dressed, and much, much richer than the coroner. 'Rubbish,' he said. 'Follow me. And keep your voice down while you're in my building.'

  Banwell led the way to the top floor of the Alabaster Wing. Coroner Hugel, grinding his teeth, followed. Not a word was spoken in the elevator. Hugel, staring resolutely at the floor, observed Mr Banwell's perfectly creased pinstriped trousers and gleaming oxfords, which doubtless cost more than the coroners suit, vest, tie, hat, and shoes put together. A manservant, standing guard outside Miss Riverford's apartment, opened the door for them. Silently, Banwell led Hugel, the head manager, and the servant down a long corridor to the girl's bedroom.

  The nearly naked body lay on the floor, livid, eyes closed, luxurious dark hair strewn across the intricate design of an Oriental carpet. She was still exquisitely beautiful - her arms and legs still graceful - but her neck had an ugly redness around it, and her figure was scored with the marks of a lash. Her wrists remained bound, thrown back over her head. The coroner walked briskly to the body and placed a thumb to those wrists, where a pulse would have been.

  'How was she - how did she die?' Banwell asked in his gravelly voice, arms folded.

  'You can't tell?' replied the coroner.

  'Would I have asked if I could tell?'

  Hugel looked under the bed. He stood and gazed at the body from several angles. 'I would say she was strangled to death. Very slowly.'

  'Was she -?' Banwell did not complete the question.

  'Possibly,' said the coroner. 'I won't be certain until I've examined her.'

  With a piece of red chalk, Hugel roughed a circle seven or eight feet in diameter around the girl's body and declared that no one was to intrude within it. He surveyed the room. All was in perfect order; even the expensive bed linens were scrupulously tucked and squared. The coroner opened the girl's closets, her bureau, her jewelry boxes. Nothing appeared to be amiss. Sequined dresses hung straight in the wardrobe. Lace underthings were folded neatly in drawers. A diamond tiara, with matching earrings and necklace, lay in harmonious composition inside a midnight-blue velvet case on top of the bureau.

  Hugel asked who had been in the room. Only the maid who had found the body, the manager answered. Since then, the apartment had been locked, and no one had entered. The coroner sent for the maid, who at first refused to come past the bedroom door. She was a pretty Italian girl of nineteen, in a long skirt and a full-length white apron. 'Young lady,' said Hugel, 'did you disturb anything in this room?'

  The maid shook her head.

  Despite the body on the floor and her employer looking on, the maid held herself straight and met her interrogator's eyes. 'No, sir,' she said.

  'Did you bring anything in, take anything out?'

  'I'm no thief,' she said.

  'Did you move any article of furniture or clothing?'

  'No.'

  'Very good,' said Coroner Hugel.

  The maid looked to Mr Banwell, who did not dismiss her. Instead, he addressed the coroner: 'Get it over with.'

  Hugel cocked an eye at the owner of the Balmoral. He took out a pen and paper. 'Name?'

  'Whose name?' said Banwell, with a growl that made the manager cower. 'My name?'

  'Name of deceased.'

  'Elizabeth Riverford,' Banwell replied.

  'Age?' asked Coroner Hugel.

  'How do I know?'

  'I understood you were acquainted with the family.'

  'I know her father,' said Banwell. 'Chicago man. Banker.'

  'I see. You wouldn't have his address, by any chance?' asked the coroner.

  'Of course I have his address.'

  The two men stared at each other.

  'Would you be so good,' asked Hugel, 'as to provide me the address?'

  'I'll provide it to McClellan,' said Banwell.

  Hugel began grinding his molars again. 'I am in charge of this investigation, not the mayor.'

  'We'll see how long you're in charge of this investigation,' answered Banwell, who ordered the coroner for a second time to bring his business to a close. The Riverford family, Banwell explained, wanted the girl's body sent home, a duty he would be seeing to immediately.

  The coroner said he could by no means allow it: in cases of homicide, the decedent's body must by law be taken into custody for an autopsy.

  'Not this body,' answered Banwell. He instructed the coroner to ring the mayor if he required clarification of his orders.

  Hugel responded that he would take no orders except from a judge. If anyone tried to stop him from taking Miss Riverford's body downtown for an autopsy, he would see that they were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. When this admonition failed appreciably to move Mr Banwell, the coroner added that he knew a reporter for the Herald who found murder and obstruction of justice hig
hly newsworthy. Reluctandy, Banwell yielded.

  The coroner had brought his old, bulky box camera with him. This he now put to use, replacing the exposed plate with a fresh one after each smoky detonation of his flashlight. Banwell remarked that if the pictures made their way to the Herald, the coroner could be sure he would never be employed in New York or anywhere else again. Hugel did not reply; at that moment a strange whine began to fill the room, like the quiet cry of a violin stretched to its highest note. It seemed to have no source, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. It rose louder and louder, until it became almost a wail. The maid screamed. When she finished, there was no sound in the room at all.

  Mr Banwell broke the silence. 'What the devil was that?' he asked the manager.

  'I don't know, sir,' replied the manager. 'It's not the first time. Perhaps some settling in the walls?'

  'Well, find out,' said Banwell.

  When the coroner finished his photography, he announced he was leaving and taking the body with him. He had no intention of questioning the help or the neighboring residents - which was not his job - or of waiting for Detective Littlemore. In this heat, he explained, decomposition would rapidly set in if the corpse was not refrigerated at once. With the assistance of two elevator men, the girl's body was taken down to the basement in a freight elevator and from there to a back alley, where the coroner's driver was waiting.

  When, two hours later, Detective Jimmy Littlemore arrived - not in uniform - he was flummoxed. It had taken some time for the mayor's messenger boys to find Littlemore; the detective had been in the basement of the new police headquarters still under construction on Centre Street, trying out the pistol range. Littlemore's orders were to make a thorough inspection of the murder scene. Not only did he find no murder scene, he found no murderee. Mr Banwell would not speak with him. The staff also proved surprisingly untalkative.

  And there was one person whom Detective Littlemore did not even get a chance to interview: the maid who had found the body. After Coroner Hugel left but before the detective arrived, the manager had called the young woman to his office and handed her an envelope with her month's pay - minus one day, of course, since it was only August 30. He informed the girl he was letting her go. 'I'm sorry, Betty,' he said to her. 'I'm really sorry.'