“She lived here for about a year. Maybe a little less, I’m not quite sure. Always paid her rent on time, always quiet and respectful. But two days ago, I had to kick her out. She was two months behind on her rent and refused to pay. She kept making excuses. But as you know, times are hard right now and I can’t waste an apartment on someone that isn’t going to pay. So I had to evict her.”
“Did she pay you herself, in person?” Ava asked.
“A few times. Usually it came to my own apartment, in an envelope. Always on time, until a few months ago. I figured she was falling on hard times just like everyone else and I hated to kick her out, but…” He shrugged, and Ava could sense some sincere guilt in the gesture.
“Mr. Craft, the door was unlocked when we arrived. Were you aware of this?”
“Yes, I was aware. I left it unlocked for the locksmith that’s due to show up this afternoon. Once he changes the locks and I strip her bed and give the floors a good scrubbing, the apartment will be ready for someone else.”
“Any chance you know where she was going when she left here?”
Craft shook his head, frowning. “Sorry, but no.”
“Did she have anyone helping move things out?” Pawlowski asked.
“Not that I’m aware of. She did it on her own, a little at a time. I even volunteered to give her a hand, but she refused it. She was angry at me, I suppose. She’d seemed angry for a while, really. She kept complaining about how she’d have to live on the streets with all the riff raff and how she’d have to sell all ofher belongings.” He chuckled and said, “The last time I actually spoke to her, she was near tears because she said she’d pawned a pair of diamond earrings that were very special to her just to be able to pay that last month’s rent. You know…before the bottom fell out on us all.”
“Do you know of any family members or friends she maybe had over on occasion?” Ava asked.
“Sorry, no. She was somewhat private, I suppose. I only spoke to her when I happened to cross paths with her in the building. On those occasions, she was more than happy to talk but that was the extent of my relationship with her.”
“I see. Well, thank you all the same.”
“Sure.” Craft paused, considering something, and then asked: “Say, is she in some kind of trouble I should know about?”
“No, sir,” Ava said, though she honestly wasn’t so sure herself. “We’re just hoping she can answer some questions regarding a case we’re working on.”
“Oh. Sorry I wasn’t any more help.”
Ava took one last look around the apartment, making sure they’d missed nothing. But based on what Craft had told them, Branson had likely moved out anything that would have been of any interest.
Slightly defeated, Ava and Pawlowski left the apartment and headed back out onto the street. They stood in front of the building for a moment, both processing everything they’d just learned.
“I assume you noticed that Branson’s eviction lines up with the same day of Perkins’s death, right?” Pawlowski asked.
“I did. And I also can’t help but wonder if the money he’d been putting in that account stopped as a result of the market conditions. If I recall, the last deposit was from about a month ago. They seemed to have stopped after that.”
“You think she got hot-headed about not getting that stream of cash and murdered him? Pawlowski asked.
“I know it seems a bit much, but it’s worth considering. The main question goes back to the way he was killed. Why would she get him to go to the Chrysler Building?”
“Yeah, and then all the way up to the top.”
“We need to find this woman and talk to her,” Ava said.
“All we have is a name and a shady connection to a dead man,” Pawlowski pointed out. “Finding a dame like that in this city is going to be impossible.”
“Maybe not,” she said. “Mr. Craft mentioned that she had pawned off diamond earrings recently.”
“Yeah?”
“So we go to every pawn shop we can find. I think we can probably eliminate the smaller, grimier ones right away. If Kathleen Branson was used to the finer things and being pampered with money, I doubt she’d stick her head in places like those.”
“I think you’re on to something there, Gold. How well do you know the pawn shops around here? Even by eliminating the crummy ones, there’s going to be a few to check into.”
“Well, I’d say we can split up, but that could end up wasting time with us trying to meet back up.”
“The we’ll just have to move quick,” Pawlowski said. “I imagine Captain Miller has started looking out to the desks for us by now.”