"A jury would," said Yamamura. "Let me go on. Dr. Kintyre took Miss
Lombardi home--she's entirely innocent in all of this. When he finally
arrived here, we were so bushed that none of us thought we could face
all the questions without a little sleep. Sure, sure, Inspector,
everything we did was foolish and mildly illegal, but consider how
exhausted we were. Much too tired to think straight. We tied O'Hearn to
the table--"
"Why the blindfold, for Pete's sake?"
"It just seemed like a good idea. When we woke up, we found O'Hearn had
the screaming meemies. Naturally we wouldn't lose such a chance, it
might not come again. We asked him some things. We talked it over. All
of a sudden the significance dawned on Dr. Kintyre. You know the rest."
"What I don't yet know is what you'll be charged with," said Harries.
"Among other things, some of the coldest-blooded lying I've heard all
week."
"Isn't that a problem for the district attorney?" asked Yamamura,
unruffled.
"Yes. And of course nothing will be done. You're comic book heroes--for
violating the Fifth Amendment!" Harries shook his head. "If it hadn't
been for all your shilly-shallying, Miss Towne might be alive this
morning."
"When was she killed?" asked Yamamura.
"The doctor thinks around midnight or one o'clock."
"Nobody could have known," said Yamamura. "Suppose we had turned
O'Hearn in directly. He had no idea who was slated to die: not even
what kind of job his associates were doing. He's just a goon."
"I suppose so." As he watched, Yamamura saw the anger go out of
Harries. "We'd still be interrogating him and getting no place. Whereas
now, maybe the San Francisco force can take the others in that house."
The inspector hesitated. "Officially, I can only condemn your actions,
including your concealment of facts. And you know I know fairly well
what those facts are. I'll have to report all this and--and hell,
there's no material evidence, and the D.A. has to consider public
opinion, and why waste funds on petty charges which would never
get past a jury? You'll get away with it this time. And strictly
unofficially, I've no right to say it, but I guess I'm not too damn mad
at you."
Yamamura did not smile. "I wish Bob could see it that way," he answered.
"What's the matter with him, anyhow?"
"A bad nervous spell. He gets them once in a while."
"Just like that?" asked Guido.
"No," said Yamamura. "It looks like a sudden collapse, but it isn't.
He worked hard through the academic year. It brought him close to the
edge, he needed a vacation badly. Instead, all this strain and--He
feels morbidly responsible. There are reasons for it. They lie in his
past and don't concern us."
"How about a psychiatrist?" inquired Harries.
"He hasn't got that kind of money. And we all have some such
curse--don't we now? Some people have dizzy spells. Some people are
hypochondriacs. Once every couple of years, Kintyre spends a few days
in hell."
"But what made him realize Miss Towne was--?"
"He answered the riddle, of course. He knew who had hired the killers,
and why. From that, it followed she was next."