Ava sipped on her coffee and considered the best way to ask what was on her mind. “Would they not let you make those calls?”
“A dame? Calling a bank and asking about business practices and clients?” Pawlowski laughed out loud genuinely. “No way in hell!”
Ava wasn’t sure what discouraged her more: the reality of what Pawlowski was saying, or her flippant attitude toward it. In that moment, something did click for her, though. She had to remind herself that not every woman in the city was as stubbornor as determined as she was. Some women, she supposed, were so used to being seen as second-class citizens that they had accepted it as their reality and used sarcasm or sour attitudes to cope. It seemed that Officer Pawlowski was a prime example of that.
“Okay, then,” Ava said. “What about a visit to the wife?”
“Yeah, I think that needs to come next. As you can see, the first officer to speak to her did a pretty awful job.”
Nodding, Ava closed up the folder and picked it up off of the desk. “Let’s head back out then. Maybe we can get some new information out of her.”
Pawlowski smiled and said, “You really are a go-getter, huh?”
“I’m just trying to do my job.”
“Me, too,” Pawlowski said. “it’s just a little easier with a female partner that clearly isn’t used to being toldno.”
“What? You don’t think I’ve been toldnoat work?” Ava was a bit surprised at the amount of anger that came out in the question.
Pawlowski seemed slightly cautious as she eyed Ava. Eventually, she shook her head and raised both hands softly in defeat. “Sorry. Wrong choice of words. Why don’t we go ahead and try to speak with Mrs. Perkins?”
“Yes, let’s.”
Ava headed for the doors, surprised that Pawlowski was already getting under her skin. And here they were, less than three hours into their partnership. With the case file tucked under her arm, Ava continued for the doors, already feeling that this was going to be an impossibly long day.
***
Ava’s first thought was that Stella Perkins seemed very relaxed and almost bored to have just lost her husband in such a grisly way. When they visited her home in a very nice housejust a few blocks away from the hub of commerce where her husband had worked, she was sitting at her dining room table. She was drinking a cup of tea and speaking with a woman she introduced as her sister. Once it was discovered why the two female policemen were visiting, the sister recused herself to a different room.
Even after her sister was gone, Stella Perkins remained quiet for a while. She didn’t even invite Ava or Pawlowski to sit down. She simply looked at her mug of tea with that same gaze of interest. Ava guessed her to be in her early thirties, pretty but in a plain sort of way. Her freckles and slightly reddened hair also made Ava think she might be of Irish descent.
“Let me guess,” she finally said. “You two want to know if Alfred was the type that would take his own life. Is that right?”
“It is one of the questions I had in mind, yes,” Ava said.
“Well, a week ago, I would have told youno.But the days leading up to Alfred’s…death…he was not quite himself. It was to be expected, I suppose, given everything that was going on. But I had never seen him so worried and out of sorts. He wasn’t sleeping and stayed sick to the stomach.”
“Did he have any involvement with the Chrysler Building?” Pawlowski asked.
“None that I was aware of. Then again, Alfred knew many people. He may have known someone that was involved with the construction of it, or maybe had worked on a loan with one of the contractors. I’m ashamed to say I just don’t know.”
Ava found Stella’s mood hard to grasp. She didn’t seem sad but it was clear she’d been affected in some way.Maybe,Ava thought,she’s still processing it all.She thought this was likely the case. After all, Ava knew better than anyone what it was like to lose a husband.
“Did he usually go out late at night?” Ava asked.
“Oh, no. I mean, there were nights when he wouldn’t even get home from work until ten or so. But when Alfred was home, he was very much a homebody. And if he could, he would get into bed by nine and go to sleep.”
“And what about the night of his death?” Pawlowski asked. “Had he already been home?”
“No. It was another of those late days.”
“Had you already gone to bed?”
“I had. And then the next thing I know, there’s someone knocking on my door. A cop, here to tell me that Alfred was dead. he told me what appeared to have happened and at first I didn’t believe it. But then I thought of what he’d been like those last few days and really, it wasn’t hard to believe. And…well, there’s something else, too. Something else that makes me think he may have done it. I hate to think he took his own life, but I think…I think he may have prepared for it.”
“What do you mean?” Ava asked.
“His life insurance. He had updated it several months ago, fortunately before all of this market crash foolishness occurred. The insurance company contacted me early this morning and asked me to come to their offices whenever I felt up to it. They told me how much money I’d be getting because of Alfred’s death and it…I don’t know. It made me think that with this market crash, he knew that if hedidtake his own way out, he’d at least be leaving us in a good spot financially even when he’s lost so much money in the crash.”