The Naked Face Read Online Free PDF Page B

Maybe she used it to try to blackmail him into marrying her. But supposing he couldn't marry her because he was married already. Or maybe he was a white man. Let's say a well-known doctor with a fancy practice. H a thing like this ever got out, it would ruin him. Who the hell would go to a headshrinker who knocked up his coloured receptionist and had to marry her?' 'Stevens is a doctor.' said Angeli. There are a dozen ways he could have killed her without arousing suspicion.' 'Maybe,' McGreavy said. 'Maybe not If there was any suspicion and it could be traced back to him, he'd have a hard dme getting out of it. He buys poison - someone has a record of it He buys a rope or a knife - they can be traced. But look at this cute little setup. Some maniac comes in for no reason and murders his receptionist and he's the grief-stricken employer demanding that the police find the killer.' 'It sounds like a pretty flimsy case.' 'I'm not finished Let's take bis patient, John Hanson. Another senseless killing by this unknown maniac. I'll tell you something, Angeli. I don't believe in coincidences. And two coincidences like that in one day make me nervous. So I asked myself what connection there could be between the death of John Hanson and Carol Roberts, and suddenly it didn't seem so coincidental, after all. Suppose Carol walked into his office and broke the bad news that he was going to be a daddy. They had a big fight and she tried to blackmail him. She said he had to marry her, give her money - whatever. John Hanson was waiting in the outer office, listening. Maybe Stevens wasn't sure he had heard anything until he got on the couch. Then Hanson threatened him with exposure. Or tried to get him to sleep with him.' 'That's a lot of guesswork.' ”But it fits. When Hanson left, the doctor slipped out and fixed him so he couldn't talk. Then he had to come back and get rid of Carol. He made it look like some maniac did the job, then he stopped by to see Mrs. Hanson, and took a ride to Connecticut. Now his problems are solved. He's sitting pretty and the police are running their asses ofi searching for some unknown nut.' 'I can't buy it,' Angeli said. 'You're trying to build a murder case without a shred of concrete evidence.' “What do you call ”concrete“?' McGreavy asked. 'We've got two corpses. One of them is a pregnant lady who worked for Stevens. The other is one of his patients, murdered a block from his office. He's coming to him for treatment because he's a homosexual. When I asked to listen to his tapes, he wouldn't let me. Why? Who is Dr. Stevens protecting? I asked him if anyone could have broken into his office looking for something. Then maybe we could have cooked up a nice theory that Carol caught them and they tortured her to try to find out where this mysterious something was. But guess what? There is no mysterious something. His tapes aren't worth a tinker's damn to anybody. He had no drugs in the office. No money. So we're looking for some goddamn maniac. Right? Except that I won't buy it. I think we're looking for Dr. Judd Stevens.' 'I think you're out to nail him,' said Angeli quietly. McGreavy's face flushed with anger. ”Because he's as guilty as hell.' 'Are you going to arrest him?' 'I'm going to give Dr. Stevens some rope,' McGreavy said. 'And while he's hanging himself, I'm going to be digging into every little skeleton in his closet. When I nail him, he's going to stay nailed.' McGreavy turned and walked out. Angeli looked after him thoughtfully. If he did nothing, there was a good chance that McGreavy would try to railroad Dr. Stevens. He could not let that happen. He made a mental note to speak to Captain Bertelli in the morning.

Chapter Four
    The morning newspapers headlined the sensational torture murder of Carol Roberts. Judd was tempted to have his telephone exchange call his patients and cancel his appointments for the day. He had not gone to bed, and his eyes felt heavy and gritty. But when he