Act of God

napkin and kind of stomp out of there.”
    “Stomp.”
    “Yes, but like she was putting it on, acting rather than just acting up, like I told you before.”
    “And the man?”
    “He seemed kind of shocked, fumbling around for a couple of seconds. Then Grgo was right there, kind of toweling him off with another napkin. Then the man left, too.”
    “Could you hear anything that was said?”
    “No. Just like her voice, not the words to it.”
    “Did you see her at work the next day?”
    “Yes.”
    “How did she seem?”
    “She, I don’t know, kind of pouted, like I’d put some insult on her.”
    “She didn’t mention the fight?”
    “No, and I didn’t bring it up.”
    Understandable. “Mrs. Swindell, I need to ask you about what happened here the night Mr. Rivkind was killed.”
    She lifted her chin an inch higher. “Ask.”
    “I’ve read the police reports, but you’re the first person I’m seeing who was here that night. Can you tell me what you remember?”
    “I remember too much, but I’ll tell you what I can. It was a Thursday—we’re open till eight, Thursdays, kind of a tradition but hard to justify on the business we do once the commuters head home. Anyway, I was here in my office, working on the dailies.”
    “The dailies?”
    “The tabulations, department by department, of what we had in. Abe insisted on that, always wanted to know how we’d done before he headed home.”
    “So you were working here.”
    “Yes. With my door closed.”
    “Why?”
    “Abe and Joel always liked to talk at the end of the day, and they always kept their door open. I don’t close mine, I can’t concentrate.”
    “Okay. Then what?”
    “I was sitting here, working, and I guess they were down ffl their office.”
    “You guess?”
    “Well, that’s where they’d be.”
    “All right.”
    “I was just finishing with the dailies when I heard the back door alarm go off.”
    “The alarm for the back door of the building.”
    “Yes. It’s got one of those school-door things on it, sets an alarm when you hit it.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I tried to phone Abe and Joel.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, I guess it could have been a fire, but we’d been having problems with kids coming into the store and hiding out. One of them had a knife once, and that’s why Joel said we needed a security guard, especially for Thursdays.”
    “That would be Finian Quill?”
    “Yes, Finian. Anyway, Abe said, if I ever hear the alarm, I should just sit tight and lock my door.”
    “Did you?”
    “No. Like I said, I wasn’t sure, was it a fire or was it kids? When Abe and Joel didn’t answer, I thought it might be bad, so I ran out into the hall here, and the noise from the alarm was real loud, we’ve got those siren things on every floor, and I went down to Abe and Joel’s office.” | “Even though they hadn’t answered the phone?”
    “Yes. They should have—answered, I mean, and I wanted to see if anything was wrong.”
    “And?”
    “And I didn’t see anything, at first.” Swindell bit her Lip. “Then I stepped into the room, and saw Abe. He was on the floor by their desk, and he had this big... gash upside his head... and... I don’t know, I guess I started screaming. I remember I ran down the hall, busted open the door there—”
    “Wait a minute. Which end of the hall?”
    “The end by the back stairs. I busted open that door with the school handle and yelled for Finian.”
    “For the guard.”
    “Yes ”
    “Why?”
    “I thought he might be down there by then, checking on things.”
    “By ‘down there,’ you mean the first-floor back door?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did he answer you?”
    “If he did, I couldn’t hear him over the sirens. My dear God, it was deafening, once you stuck your head out there, worse than even in the hall.”
    “Then what?”
    “I started to turn around, and Joel was there, shaking me by the shoulders, asking me what was wrong.”
    “He didn’t know about Mr. Rivkind?”
    “No. Not then, because when I yelled at him—you had to yell, to make yourself heard—he put up his hands, like ‘What, what?’ and so I ran back to their office and... and showed him.”
    “What was Mr. Bernstein’s reaction?”
    Swindell looked at me hard. “His reaction? He was—” She stopped. “Actually, I was so shocked myself, I guess I’d use that word for him, too. He covered his face with his hands, then grabbed the poker.”
    “The poker.”
    “The one from their