At dawn on Monday morning, we got up and reluctantly drove back to L.A. and the administration of justice.
13
I was sound asleep in my apartment when the telephone rang. It was two o’clock Monday afternoon. I had been asleep a scant three hours.
It was Lorna. “Freddy, I have to see you right away. It’s urgent.”
“What is it, Lor?”
She sounded gravely worried. There was a timbre to her voice I had never heard before. “I can’t talk about it on the phone.”
“Did they arraign Engels?”
“Yes. He pleaded not guilty. Dudley Smith was there with the assistant D.A. and Engels started screaming. The bailiffs had to restrain him.”
“Jesus. Are you at your office?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”
It took me fifty-five, dressing hurriedly and highballing my Buick at ten miles over the speed limit. I flashed my badge at the parking attendant at the lot on Temple and he nodded crisply, placing an official-looking piece of paper under my windshield wiper. Two minutes later I was barging through the door of Lorna’s office.
Lorna had company, and they looked grave. Both were smartly tailored men in their early forties. One of them, the more impressive-looking of the two, seemed familiar. He was sitting on Lorna’s green leather couch with his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. He fingered a leather briefcase stationed next to him on the floor. He was intimidating even in this casual posture. The other man was sandy-haired and plump, and wearing an ascot and a cashmere sweater on a day when the temperature promised to reach ninety-five. He was licking his lips repeatedly and moving his eyes back and forth from the briefcase man to me.
Lorna made the introductions as I pulled up a wooden chair next to her desk. “Detective Fred Underhill, this is Walter Canfield.” She pointed to the man with the briefcase. “And this is Mr. Clark Winton.” She nodded in the direction of the man with the ascot. Both men acknowledged my presence with stares–Canfield’s hostile, Winton’s nervous.
“What can I do for you, gentlemen?” I said.
Canfield started to open his mouth, but Lorna spoke first in a voice that was all business: “Mr. Canfield is an attorney, Fred. He represents Mr. Winton.” She hesitated, then said haltingly, “Mr. Canfield and I have worked together in the past. I trust him.” She looked at Canfield, who smiled grimly.
“I’ll be brief, Officer,” he said. “My client was with Eddie Engels on the night Margaret Cadwallader was murdered.” He waited for my reaction. When all he got was silence he added, “My client was with Engels all night. He remembers the date very well. August 12 is his birthday.”
Canfield looked at me triumphantly. Winton was staring into his lap, kneading his trembling hands.
I felt my whole body go rigid with a pins-and-needles sensation. “Eddie Engels confessed, Mr. Canfield,” I stated carefully.
“My client has informed me that Engels is a disturbed man who carries a great deal of guilt with him for certain events in his past.”
Winton interjected: “Eddie is a troubled man, Officer. He was in love with an older man when he was in the navy. The man made him do awful things, and made Eddie hate himself for being what he was.”
“He confessed,” I repeated.
“Come, Officer. We both know that confession was obtained under physical duress. I saw Engels at his arraignment this morning. He has been severely beaten.”
“He was restrained through force when he tried to resist arrest,” I lied.
Canfield snorted. In different surroundings he would have spat. I met his contemptuous look with one of my own, then transferred it to Clark Winton. “Are you homosexual, Mr. Winton?” I asked, already certain of the answer.
“Freddy, goddamnit!” Lorna blurted.
Winton swallowed and looked to his attorney for support. Canfield started to whisper into his ear, but I interrupted them: “Because if you are, and you are planning to come forth with this information, the police will want signed statements regarding your relationship with Engels and a detailed account of your activities with him on the night of August 12. Are you prepared for that?”