The Innocent Woman

to mind. Steve wondered just how the hell to do it.
    “Well, Winslow,” Dirkson said. “Nice of you to join us.”
    “Cut the comedy, Dirkson. What’s going on here?”
    “I was hoping you could tell me.”
    “Great,” Steve said. He looked at his watch. “It’s two-thirty in the morning. A half hour ago I was sound asleep. You want to play guessing games, or you want to fill me in?”
    Dirkson turned, indicated Tracy Garvin, who was seated next to Sergeant Stams. “You have this young lady to thank for it. She saw fit to visit a crime scene. But she can’t seem to see fit to tell us why.”
    “Excuse me,” Tracy said. “It just so happens I was arrested. I was perfectly willing to cooperate until then.”
    “You arrested my secretary?” Steve said.
    “I didn’t arrest her.”
    Steve turned to Sergeant Stams. “Sergeant, I know you don’t particularly like me, but don’t you think this is going a little far?”
    “Don’t look at me,” Stams said. “I wasn’t even there. She was picked up snooping around a crime scene. You wanna tell us why?”
    “I don’t think you get the picture, Sergeant. I told you, I was asleep in bed.”
    “Don’t be silly,” Dirkson said. “This woman is your confidential secretary. As such, she’s considered to be your agent, and her actions reflect upon you.”
    “Is that so?” Steve said. “Does that mean I’m also under arrest?”
    “Don’t be silly. You’re not under arrest.”
    “No, but she is. Tell me, what’s the charge?”
    “So far she hasn’t been charged.”
    “Then you have no right to hold her. Come on, Tracy. Let’s go.”
    “Not so fast,” Dirkson said. “I’ll charge her if I have to.”
    “You’ll charge her or release her.”
    “I’d much prefer to release her. If she’ll answer some questions, I’m sure that can be arranged.”
    “Nice try, Dirkson. You can’t hang some nebulous threat of a charge over someone’s head to get them to talk. Now, do you have any grounds for this arrest, or not?”
    “I believe there’s plenty of grounds,” Dirkson said.
    “Then what’s the charge?”
    “Let’s see. Obstruction of justice, compounding a felony, conspiring to conceal a crime.” He shrugged. “This is the type of thing where the charges pile up. Aiding and abetting. Accessory to murder. Of course, it’s hard to tell when the principal won’t talk.”
    “Gee, Dirkson, that sounds pretty scary. You wanna tell me what happened?”
    “As if you didn’t know.”
    “I assure you I don’t. But if it makes you feel better, pretend I don’t know.”
    “Like I said, this woman was apprehended sneaking around a crime scene.”
    “Sneaking, hell,” Tracy said. “I asked for Sergeant Stams.”
    “Is that right, sergeant?” Steve said.
    “I wasn’t there,” Stams snapped.
    “No, he wasn’t,” Dirkson said. “Nor could one reasonably expect he would be. It was one in the morning. The crime scene unit had long since packed it in for the night. They left a guard at the scene. As it happened, that was a wise move.”
    “Oh?” Steve said.
    “Yeah,” Dirkson said. “One o’clock in the morning there was a knock on the door.” Dirkson gave Tracy Garvin a look. “Not the downstairs door, the upstairs door. Somehow Miss Garvin had managed to get in the downstairs door.”
    Tracy said nothing, just glared at him defiantly.
    “Go on,” Steve said. “You going to get hung up on that point, or you want to tell me more?”
    “There was a knock on the door,” Dirkson said. “The cop on guard duty opens it. It’s Miss Garvin, here. He asks her what she wants, she says she’s looking for Sergeant Stams. The cop says Stams left hours ago. And Miss Garvin says—now get this—she says, that’s all right, she’ll wait. She pushes right by him into the office.”
    Steve shot a glance at Tracy, did his best to keep a straight face. “Is that so?” he said.
    “Yeah, that’s so,” Dirkson said. “Now, I must admit the cop they left on guard duty was a rookie. He’s a bit green, he’s not used to dealing with a situation like this. He follows her into the office, telling her she can’t be there, she’s gotta stay out, and the whole nine yards. Meanwhile, she’s in there contaminating a crime scene.”
    “Oh, I don’t think she’d do that,” Steve said. “So what happened then?”
    “Then she tried to leave. But by then our rookie cop had had enough. He told her she wasn’t going anywhere