Charlotte Armstrong - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 17, No. 90, May 1951

They sat late at the lunch table and afterwards moved through the dim, cool, high-ceilinged rooms to the Judges library where, in their quiet talk, the old mans past and the young mans future seemed to telescope and touch. But at twenty minutes after three, on that hot, bright, June Saturday afternoon, the present tense erupted. Out in the quiet street arose the sound of trouble.

Judge Kittinger adjusted his pince-nez, rose, and led the way to his old-fashioned veranda from which they could overlook the tree-roofed intersection of Greenwood Lane and Hannibal Street. Near the steps to the corner house, opposite, there was a surging knot of children and one man. Now, from the house on the Judges left, a woman in a blue house dress ran diagonally toward the excitement. And a police car slipped up Hannibal Street, gliding to the curb. One tall officer plunged into the group and threw restraining arms around a screaming boy.

Mike Russell, saying to his host, Excuse me, sir, went rapidly across the street. Troubles center was the boy, ten or eleven years old, a towheaded boy, with tawny-lashed blue eyes, a straight nose, a fine brow. He was beside himself, writhing in the policemans grasp. The woman in the blue dress was yammering at him. Freddy! Freddy! Freddy! Her voice simply did not reach his ears.

You ole stinker! You rotten ole stinker! You ole nut! All the boys heart was in the epithets.

Now, listen... The cop shook the boy who, helpless in those powerful hands, yet blazed. His fury had stung to crimson the face of the grown man at whom it was directed.

This man, who stood with his back to the house as one besieged, was plump, half-bald, with eyes much magnified by glasses. Attacked me! he cried in a high whine. Rang my bell and absolutely leaped on me!

Out of the seven or eight small boys clustered around them came overlapping fragments of shrill sentences. It was clear only that they opposed the man. A small woman in a print dress, a man in shorts, whose bare chest was winter-white, stood a little apart, hesitant and distressed. Up on the veranda of the house the screen door was half-open, and a woman seated in a wheelchair peered forth anxiously.

On the green grass, in the shade, perhaps thirty feet away, there lay in death a small brown-and-white dog.

The Judges luncheon guest observed all this. When the Judge drew near, there was a lessening of the noise. Judge Kittinger said, This is Freddy Titus, isnt it? Mr. Matlin? Whats happened?

The mans head jerked. I, he said, did nothing to the dog. Why would I trouble to hurt the boys dog? I try you know this, Judge I try to live in peace here. But these kids are terrors! Theyve made this block a perfect hell for me and my family. The mans voice shook. My wife, who is not strong... My stepdaughter, who is a cripple... These kids are no better than a slum gang. They are vicious! That boy rang my bell and attached...! Ill have him up for assault! I...

The Judges face was old ivory and he was aloof behind it.

On the porch a girl pushed past the woman in the chair, a girl who walked with a lurching gait.

Mike Russell asked, quietly, Why do the boys say it was you, Mr. Matlin, who hurt the dog?

The kids chorused. Hes an ole mean... Hes a nut... Just because... ...took Clives bat and... ...chases us... ...tries to put everything on us... ...told my mother lies... ...just because...

He is our enemy, they were saying; he is our enemy.

They... began Matlin, his throat thick with anger.

Hold it a minute. The second cop, the thin one, walked toward where the dog was lying.

Somebody, said Mike Russell in a low voice, must do something for the boy.

The Judge looked down at the frantic child. He said, gently, I am as sorry as I can be, Freddy.. But in his old heart there was too much known, and too many little dogs he remembered that had already died, and even if he were as sorry as he could be, he couldnt be sorry enough. The boys eyes turned, rejected, returned. To the enemy.

Russell moved near the woman in blue, who pertained to this boy somehow. His mother?

His folks are away. Im there to take care of him, she snapped, as if she felt herself put upon by a crisis she had not contracted to face.

Can they be reached?

No, she said decisively.

The young man put his strangers hand on the boys rigid little shoulder. But he too was rejected. Freddys eyes, brilliant with hatred, clung to the enemy. Hatred doesnt cry.

Listen, said the tall cop, if you could hang onto him for a minute...

Not I... said Russell.

The thin cop came back. Looks like the dog got poison. When was he found?

Just now, the kids said.

Where? There?

Up Hannibal Street. Right on the edge of ole Matlins back lot.

Edge of my lot! Matlins color freshened again. On the sidewalk, why dont you say? Why dont you tell the truth?

We are! We dont tell lies!

Quiet, you guys, the cop said. Pipe down, now.

Heavens my witness, I wasnt even here! cried Matlin. I played nine holes of golf today. I didnt get home until... May? he called over his shoulder. What time did I come in?

The girl on the porch came slowly down, moving awkwardly on her uneven legs. She was in her twenties, no child. Nor was she a woman. She said in a blurting manner, About three oclock, Daddy Earl. But the dog was dead.

Whats that, Miss?

This is my step-daughter...

The dog was dead, the girl said, before he came home. I saw it from upstairs, before three oclock. Lying by the sidewalk.

You drove in from Hannibal Street, Mr. Matlin? Looks like youd have seen the dog.

Matlin said with nervous thoughtfulness, I dont know. My mind... Yes, I...

Hes telling a lie!

Freddy!

Listen to that, said May Matlin, wall you?

Shes a liar, too!

The cop shook Freddy. Mr. Matlin made a sound of helpless exasperation. He said to the girl, Go keep your mother inside, May. He raised his arm as if to wave. Its all right, honey, he called to the woman in the chair, with a false cheeriness that grated on the ear. Theres nothing to worry about, now.

Freddys jaw shifted and young Russells watching eyes winced. The girl began to lurch back to the house.

It was my wife who put in the call, Matlin said. After all, they were on me like a pack of wolves. Now, I... I understand that the boys upset. But all the same, he cannot... He must learn... I will not have... I have enough to contend with, without this malice, this unwarranted antagonism, this persecution...

Freddys eyes were unwinking.

It has got to stop! said Matlin almost hysterically.

Yes, murmured Mike Russell, I should think so. Judge Kittingers white head, nodding, agreed.

Weve heard about quite a few dog-poisoning cases over the line in Redfern, said the thin cop with professional calm. None here.

The man in the shorts hitched them up, looking shocked. Whod do a thing like that?

A boy said, boldly, Ole Matlin would. He had an underslung jaw and wore spectacles on his snub nose. Im Phil Bourchard, he said to the cop. He had courage.

We just know, said another. Im Ernie Allen. Partisanship radiated from his whole thin body. Ole Matlin doesnt want anybody on his ole property.

Sure. He doesnt want anybody on his ole property. It was ole Matlin.

It was. It was, said Freddy Titus.

Freddy, said the housekeeper in blue, now, you better be still. Ill tell your Dad, It was a meaningless fumble for control. The boy didnt even hear it.