Lawrence Block - The Ehrengraf Alternative

Whats most unfortunate, Ehrengraf said, is that there seems to be a witness.

Evelyn Throop nodded in fervent agreement. Mrs. Keppner, she said.

Howard Bierstadts housekeeper.

She was devoted to him. Shed been with him for years.

And she claims she saw you shoot him three times in the chest.

I know, Evelyn Throop said. I cant imagine why she would say something like that. Its completely untrue.

A thin smile turned up the corners of Martin Ehrengrafs mouth. Already he felt himself warming to his client, exhilarated by the prospect of acting in her defense. It was the little lawyers great good fortune always to find himself representing innocent clients, but few of those clients were as single-minded as Miss Throop in proclaiming their innocence.

The woman sat on the edge of her iron cot with her shapely legs crossed at the ankle. She seemed so utterly in possession of herself that she might have been almost anywhere but in a jail cell, charged with the murder of her lover. Her age, according to the papers, was forty-six. Ehrengraf would have guessed her to be perhaps a dozen years younger. She was not rich Ehrengraf, like most lawyers, did have a special fondness for wealthy clients but she had excellent breeding. It was evident not only in her exquisite facial bones but in her positively ducal self-assurance.

Im sure well uncover the explanation of Mrs. Keppners calumny, he said gently. For now, why dont we go over what actually happened.

Certainly. I was at my home that evening when Howard called. He was in a mood and wanted to see me. I drove over to his house. He made drinks for both of us and paced around a great deal. He was extremely agitated.

Over what?

Leona wanted him to marry her. Leona Weybright.

The cookbook writer?

Yes. Howard was not the sort of man to get married, or even to limit himself to a single relationship. He believed in a double standard and was quite open about it. He expected his women to be faithful while reserving the option of infidelity to himself. If one was going to be involved with Howard Bierstadt, one had to accept this.

As you accepted it.

I accepted it, Evelyn Throop agreed. Leona evidently pretended to accept it but could not, and Howard didnt know what to do about her. He wanted to break up with her but was afraid of the possible consequences. He thought she might turn suicidal and he didnt want her death on his conscience.

And he discussed all of this with you.

Oh, yes. He often confided in me about his relationship with Leona. Evelyn Throop permitted herself a smile. I played a very important role in his life, Mr. Ehrengraf. I suppose he would have married me if thered been any reason to do so. I was his true confidante. Leona was just one of a long string of mistresses.

Ehrengraf nodded. According to the prosecution, he said carefully, you were pressuring him to marry you.

Thats quite untrue.

No doubt. He smiled. Continue.

The woman sighed. Theres not much more to say. He went into the other room to freshen our drinks. There was the report of a gunshot.

I believe there were three shots.

Perhaps there were. I can remember only the volume of the noise. It was so startling. I rushed in immediately and saw him on the floor, the gun by his outstretched hand. I guess I bent over and picked up the gun. I dont remember doing so, but I must have done because the next thing I knew I was standing there holding the gun. Evelyn Throop closed her eyes, evidently overwhelmed by the memory. Then Mrs. Keppner was there I believe she screamed, and then she went off to call the police. I just stood there for a while and then I guess I sat down in a chair and waited for the police to come and tell me what to do.

And they brought you here and put you in a cell.

Yes. I was quite astonished. I couldnt imagine why they would do such a thing, and then it developed that Mrs. Keppner had sworn she saw me shoot Howard.

Ehrengraf was respectfully silent for a moment. Then he said, It seems they found some corroboration for Mrs. Keppners story.

What do you mean?

The gun, Ehrengraf said. A revolver. I believe it was registered to you, was it not?

It was my gun.

How did Mr. Bierstadt happen to have it?

I brought it to him.

At his request?

Yes. When we spoke on the telephone, he specifically asked me to bring the gun. He said something about wanting to protect himself from burglars. I never thought he would shoot himself.

But he did.

He must have done. He was upset about Leona. Perhaps he felt guilty, or that there was no way to avoid hurting her.

Wasnt there a test? Ehrengraf mused. As I recall, there were no nitrite particles found in Mr. Bierstadts hand, which would seem to indicate he had not fired a gun recently.

I dont really understand those tests, Evelyn Throop said. But Im told theyre not absolutely conclusive.

And the police gave you a test as well, Ehrengraf went on. Didnt they?

Yes.

And found nitrite particles in your right hand.

Of course, Evelyn Throop said. Id fired the gun that evening before I took it along to Howards house. I hadnt used it in the longest time, since I first practiced with it at a pistol range, so I cleaned it, and to make sure it was in good operating condition I test-fired it before I went to Howards.

At a pistol range?

That wouldnt have been convenient. I just stopped at a deserted spot along a country road and fired a few shots.

I see.

I told the police all of this, of course.

Of course. Before they gave you the paraffin test?

After the test, as it happens. The incident had quite slipped my mind in the excitement of the moment, but they gave me the test and said it was evident Id fired a gun, and at that point I recalled having stopped the car and firing off a couple of rounds before continuing on to Howards.

Where you gave Mr. Bierstadt the gun.

Yes.

Whereupon he in due course took it off into another room and fired three shots into his heart, Ehrengraf murmured. Your Mr. Bierstadt would look to be one of the most determined suicides in human memory.

You dont believe me.

But I do believe you, he said. Which is to say that I believe you did not shoot Mr. Bierstadt. Whether or not he did in fact die by his own hand is not, of course, something to which either you or I can testify.

How else could he have died? The womans gaze narrowed. Unless he really was genuinely afraid of burglars, and unless he did surprise one in the other room. But wouldnt I have heard sounds of a struggle? Of course, I was in another room a fair distance away, and there was music playing, and I did have things on my mind.

Im sure you did.

And perhaps Mrs. Keppner saw the burglar shoot Howard, and then she fainted or something. I suppose thats possible, isnt it?

Eminently possible, Ehrengraf assured her.

She might have come to when I had already entered the room and picked up the gun, and the whole incident could have been compressed in her mind. She wouldnt remember having fainted and so she might now actually believe she saw me kill Howard, while all along she saw something entirely different.

Evelyn Throop had been looking off into the middle distance as she formulated her theory, and now she focused her eyes upon the diminutive attorney. It could have happened that way, she said, couldnt it?

It could have happened precisely that way, Ehrengraf said. It could have happened in any of innumerable ways. Ah, Miss Throop now the lawyer rubbed his small hands together thats the whole beauty of it. There are any number of alternatives to the prosecutions argument, but of course they dont see them. Give the police a supposedly ironclad case and they look no further. It is not their task to examine alternatives. But it is our task, Miss Throop, to find not merely an alternative but the correct alternative, the ideal alternative. And in just that fashion we will make a free woman of you.