Yesterday's News by Jeremiah Healy Page A

to see straight, but never could stand having them on those neck strings, you know? So I’m forever putting the distance ones down when I put the close-up ones on, then forgetting where they are.”
    â€œWell then, was there something you didn’t see but heard?”
    â€œHeard a lot of things. Nothing wrong with the hearing, leastways not yet. Heard Jane coming in all the time. That’s the reason I gave the tenant the downstairs floor to start with. I didn’t have any use for the backyard myself, and I figured with me on the second floor, I wouldn’t be disturbed so much by the coming and going. But this time of year, I keep the windows open, which means I can hear the car doors or the damned, pardon my French, motorcycles or feel the downstairs door close. ’Course, that’s more vibration than sound, I guess.”
    This was going to take a while. “Did you hear somebody arrive last night?”
    â€œWell, yes, of course I did. Heard Jane first. She usually got home from work by six. Ofttimes she’d go out later. Jane was renting from me for nigh unto two years, her car door made a certain noise account of she had something loose there in the door panel or something, rattled every time after the sound of the door closing itself. Think she’d have that fixed, drive you crazy after a while, but she never did.”
    â€œYou heard somebody else, too?”
    â€œSure did. Jane seemed to be home to stay last night. Heard her drive in, car door, and downstairs. She’d been in the dumps lately, don’t know why, just real troubled, like I said. Well, I hear her come in, put on her victrola. Didn’t play it loud or anything, real considerate girl that way. Then I heard another car come up. Somebody got out, come up to the door and knocked, then Jane let them in.”
    â€œThem?”
    â€œHim or her. Couldn’t tell. They must’ve cut across the lawn or was wearing sneakers or something, cause I didn’t hear any clicks like from the women’s shoes or taps like from the men’s. Jane knew whoever it was, though.”
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œJane knows somebody, she tells them … sorry, told them not to ring the bell. Needs fixing and can wake me out of a sound sleep, so she’d warn them not to use it. Considerate that way, like I said.”
    â€œNo idea otherwise who the person was?”
    â€œNo. There were a lot of them, though.”
    â€œA lot of them?”
    â€œThat didn’t use the doorbell. Jane got more than her share.”
    â€œHer share of what?”
    Mrs. O’Day’s eyes seemed to move independently behind the lenses as she leaned forward in the rocker. “Of what? Of sex, what the hell do you think, pardon my French again.”
    â€œDid you … were you under the impression that it was more than one man?”
    â€œWas I … sonny, all I know is I heard a lot of different doors slam out in that driveway, if you get my drift. The Church says we’re not supposed to sit in judgment of each other, but even without the suicide, I doubt she got to spend much time before Saint Peter last night.”
    â€œHow long did this person stay?”
    â€œHours. Didn’t really pay attention to when, I was focusing on my planning here. But they must have been going at it pretty good, because her phone rang four or five times for five rings without her answering it.”
    â€œWas that typical?”
    â€œTypical of her going at it, you mean?”
    â€œTypical for her not to answer her phone when she had a man, not a woman visiting.”
    â€œSonny, I don’t for one moment believe Jane was that way.”
    â€œI didn’t mean to imply anything, Mrs. O’Day. I just … look, was Jane’s failure to answer her phone something she’d do only when she had a male visitor?”
    â€œThat I don’t know. Like I said, I didn’t try to spy on