FLINT: Then what did you do?
VAN FLEET: Left my car and went into Gary’s Grill, across the street from the Faulkner Building. I must explain that I allow myself time to take nourishment every four hours while on duty and four hours had elapsed since we left Long Island. I sat at a window and watched the Faulkner entrance door.
FLINT: What did you observe?
VAN FLEET: Nothing — for fifteen minutes. Then the man in the gray coat comes out and starts the car — the gray coupé. Obviously in a hurry. Drives south.
FLINT: Did you see the other stranger leave?
VAN FLEET: Yes, ten minutes later. He gets into a car which stands at the curb. I don’t know how it got there, but there it is and he seems to have the keys, for he gets in and drives away. South.
FLINT: Have you ever seen Mr. Faulkner with these two men before?
VAN FLEET: No. First time I ever saw them.
FLINT: What did you do when they left?
VAN FLEET: I wait. Mr. Faulkner is now alone up in the penthouse with Miss Andre. I’m curious — professionally. Decide to do some closer investigating. Have a special observation post; had used it before.
FLINT: And where is that?
VAN FLEET: At the Sky Top. Night club, roof of Brooks Building, three doors from Faulkner’s. There’s an open gallery there, off the dance floor. You go out and you can see the Faulkner penthouse clear as the palm of your hand. I go out, I look and I yell.
FLINT: What do you see?
VAN FLEET: No lights. Karen Andre’s white gown shimmering in the moonlight. She is hoisting a man’s body up on the parapet. A man in evening clothes. Faulkner. He’s unconscious. No resistance. She pushes him with all her strength. He goes over the parapet. Down. Into space.
FLINT: Then what do you do?
VAN FLEET: I rush back into the dining room. Yell about what I’d seen. A crowd follows me down to the Faulkner Building. We find the bloody mess on the pavement and Miss Andre sobbing over it, fit to move a first-night audience.
FLINT: Did you speak to her?
VAN FLEET: No. The police arrive and I report what I’d seen, as I’ve told you here.
FLINT: Your witness.
[STEVENS gets up and walks slowly toward VAN FLEET, eyeing him steadily]
STEVENS: Can you kindly tell us, Mr. Van Fleet, when did you start in the employ of Mrs. Faulkner?
VAN FLEET: October thirteenth last.
STEVENS: Can you tell us the date of Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner’s wedding?
VAN FLEET: October twelfth. The day before.
STEVENS: Exactly. Just the day before. In other words, Mrs. Faulkner hired you to spy on her husband the day after their wedding?
VAN FLEET: So it seems.
STEVENS: What were Mrs. Faulkner’s instructions when you were hired?
VAN FLEET: To watch every action of Mr. Faulkner and report in detail.
STEVENS: Any special attention to Miss Andre?
VAN FLEET: Not specified.
STEVENS: Had Mr. Faulkner been calling on Miss Andre after his marriage?
VAN FLEET: Yes. Frequently.
STEVENS: In the daytime?
VAN FLEET: Seldom.
STEVENS: Did you report that to Mrs. Faulkner?
VAN FLEET: I did.
STEVENS: What was Mrs. Faulkner’s reaction to these reports?
VAN FLEET: Mrs. Faulkner is a lady and, as such, she has no reactions.
STEVENS: Did she seem worried?
VAN FLEET: I don’t believe so.
[He declaims in a slightly unnatural manner]
Mr. Faulkner was the most devoted of husbands and he loved his wife dearly.
STEVENS: Just how do you know that?
VAN FLEET: Those are Mrs. Faulkner’s own words.
STEVENS: Now, Mr. Van Fleet, can you tell us exactly what time you started for the Sky Top Night Club on the evening of January sixteenth?
VAN FLEET: At eleven thirty-two exactly.
STEVENS: How long a walk is it from the Faulkner Building to the Sky Top?
VAN FLEET: Three minutes.
STEVENS: What time was it when you came out to the balcony at the Sky Top?
VAN FLEET: Eleven fifty-seven.
STEVENS: So it took you exactly twenty-five minutes to get to the balcony. What were you doing the rest of the time?
VAN FLEET: Of course, they have a dance floor at the Sky Top . . . and other things.
STEVENS: Did you take advantage of the . . . “other things”?
VAN FLEET: Well, I just had a couple of drinks, if I understand the drift of your curiosity. But it doesn’t mean that you can say I was intoxicated.
STEVENS: I have said nothing of the kind — as yet. Now, then, you saw Miss Andre pushing Mr. Faulkner off the roof, and it was a little distance away, in the darkness, and you were . . . well, shall we say you just had a couple of drinks?
VAN FLEET: The drinks had nothing to do with it.
STEVENS: Are you quite certain that she was pushing him? Isn’t it possible that she was struggling with him?
VAN FLEET: Well, it’s a funny way of struggling. If I were struggling with a man, I wouldn’t be hoisting him up by his . . . I wouldn’t be hoisting him up, I mean.
STEVENS: Mr. Van Fleet, what were Mrs. Faulkner’s instructions to you before you came here to testify?
VAN FLEET: [With indignation] I received no instructions of any kind. I may inform you that Mrs. Faulkner is not here to instruct me, were she inclined to do so. She has been taken to California by her father — to rest her shattered nerves.
STEVENS: Mr. Van Fleet, do you think that Mr. Faulkner’s suicide is very flattering to Mrs. Faulkner?
FLINT: We object!
JUDGE HEATH: Objection sustained.
STEVENS: Mr. Van Fleet, can you tell us how much a witness to Mr. Faulkner’s murder would be worth to Mrs. Faulkner?
FLINT: [Jumping up] We object, your Honor!
JUDGE HEATH: Objection sustained.
VAN FLEET: I should like to remind Mr. Stevens that he may be sued for making insinuations such as these.
STEVENS: I made no insinuation, Mr. Van Fleet. I merely asked a question in a general way.
VAN FLEET: Well, I would like to inform you — in a general way — that perjury is not part of a private investigator’s duties.
STEVENS: No special notations to the rule?
VAN FLEET: None!
STEVENS: That is all, Mr. Van Fleet.
KAREN: Not quite. I want you to ask him two more questions, Stevens.
STEVENS: Certainly, Miss Andre. What are the questions?
[KAREN whispers to STEVENS; he is astonished]
STEVENS: What kind of a car do you drive, Mr. Van Fleet?
VAN FLEET: [Astonished, too] A brown Buick coupé. Last year’s model. Old but serviceable.
[KAREN whispers to STEVENS]
STEVENS: Did you see any car following the gentleman in the gray coat when he drove away, Mr. Van Fleet?
VAN FLEET: I cannot recall that I did. The traffic was quite heavy at that time.
STEVENS: That’s all, Mr. Van Fleet.
[VAN FLEET exits]
FLINT: Inspector Sweeney!
CLERK: Inspector Sweeney!
[POLICE INSPECTOR SWEENEY, round-faced, somewhat naive, walks to the stand]
CLERK: You solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?
SWEENEY: I do.
FLINT: Your name?
SWEENEY: Elmer Sweeney.
FLINT: Your occupation?
SWEENEY: Inspector of Police.
FLINT: On the night of January sixteenth were you called upon to investigate Bjorn Faulkner’s death?
SWEENEY: Yes, sir. I was one of the first officers to reach the spot.
FLINT: Did you question Miss Andre?
SWEENEY: Not right away. Before I could do anything, that fellow Van Fleet rushed up to me and yelled that he had seen Karen Andre throw Faulkner off the roof.
FLINT: How did Miss Andre react to this?
SWEENEY: She was stunned. She stood there, her eyes wide fit to burst. And then, cross my heart, sir, she started laughing. I thought she’d went crazy.
FLINT: What did you do?
SWEENEY: I ordered her held for questioning and we took her up with us in the elevator — to examine the penthouse. What a joint!
FLINT: Did you find anything unusual?
SWEENEY: Unusual — yes, sir. The bedroom.
FLINT: Ah, and what did you find in the bedroom?
SWEENEY: Nightgowns, sir. Lace nightgowns, just about made of thin air. A crystal bathtub in the bathroom. And we turned the shower on — and the water was perfumed.
FLINT: [Smiling] You misunderstood my question, Inspector. I wasn’t referring to the esthetic values of the penthouse. I asked if you found anything unusual that could be connected with Bjorn Faulkner’s death?
SWEENEY: Yes, sir. In the living room.
FLINT: And what was that?
SWEENEY: A letter. It was lying in plain sight on a table. It was sealed and the address said: “To whomsoever finds it first.”
[FLINT takes a letter from the CLERK and hands it to SWEENEY]
FLINT: Is this the letter?