The Case of the Murdered MacKenzie: A Masao Masuto Mystery (Book Seven) Read Online Free PDF

circumstantial.”
    â€œCircumstantial! It’s not even a shadow of a case. Unless there’s something you haven’t told me.”
    â€œBackground stuff. She hated her husband. Constant fights. He beat her up once or twice. He threatened to kill her if she ever decided to leave him. Some kind of sex relationship between Mackenzie and this Feona Scott—although to my way of thinking, given a choice between that Scott dame and Eve Mackenzie, I wouldn’t have to think twice.”
    â€œAll this information supplied by the helpful Feona Scott?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhat was Doc Baxter’s guess about the time of the murder?”
    â€œYou know Baxter. It’s hard enough to get an opinion on time of death in the best of circumstances. In a bathtub—well, was the water hot or cold? Did it remain in the tub? How long? All he would commit to was that Mackenzie died sometime between midnight and five in the morning.”
    â€œAnd when did Eve leave the house?”
    â€œShe doesn’t know. Never looked at her watch. Maybe around midnight.”
    â€œAnd what does the helpful Scott say?”
    â€œShe hates Eve Mackenzie. She’s one of those tall, cold types—as emotional as a fish. She brought me the notebook. She says Eve left the house well after one in the morning.”
    â€œIt’s meaningless. It’s all senseless. Who the devil ordered the arrest? Was it Wainwright?”
    â€œYou know him better than that. It was the D.A.”
    â€œGeffner?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œThat’s crazy, Sy. I know Geffner. He’s too smart for anything like this. And why the devil would he come into Beverly Hills and ask for an arrest?”
    â€œBeats me. I couldn’t make head or tail out of that.”
    â€œYou know,” Masuto said with pleasure, “this case grows more interesting by the minute. Let’s finish eating and spend a half hour in the sun.”
    They walked along Ocean Avenue, found a bench that sat on top of the high cliff facing the ocean and dulling the roar of traffic from the Pacific Coast Highway below them.
    â€œSo Geffner persuaded Wainwright to issue the arrest order,” Masuto said. “Will wonders never cease?”
    â€œI don’t follow you,” Beckman said uneasily. “I figured the case was open and shut.”
    â€œYou’re in love with Eve Mackenzie. You are a hopeless romantic, Sy.”
    â€œCome on.”
    â€œSo are a hundred thousand others,” Masuto said gently. “That got in the way. You were sure that Geffner would hound her to surrender and that an angry jury would convict. No way. Sy, this case is never going to get to a jury. The judge will throw it out.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause it’s full of holes and without a shred of worthy evidence.”
    â€œBut look at the way it lines up. She never meant for that notebook to be found. A week before, she tossed it into the garbage to be rid of it.”
    â€œLet me guess. Feona Scott found it—just happened to be rooting in the garbage that day.”
    â€œYou’re making me feel like a damn fool, Masao.”
    â€œNo, sir. You followed a chain of events. You were caught up in them. You were supposed to.”
    â€œI was supposed to use my head. The same evidence would point to Scott. But she had no motive—what do you mean, I was supposed to? You think she was framed?”
    â€œI don’t know what to think at this moment,” Masuto said, “except that this is a damn strange bundle of facts. Start with Geffner. We’ve seen him operate. He’s smart, and he goes in like a tiger. Today, he was diddling. He knows the judge is going to dump it.”
    â€œYou could be wrong.”
    â€œWe’ll see. Meanwhile, Eve Mackenzie is defended by the dead man’s lawyer. Next point: She says the dead man is not her husband. How do you explain