Death of a Deceiver
By Hy Conrad
Mona Fisher turned and gazed at Jerry, sleeping next to her on the plane. Her eyes wandered down to his wedding band. She still couldn’t believe she was married to such a catch.
Their flight from Acapulco landed late that night. The next morning, February 10, Jerry Fisher shoveled the snow from the driveway, kissed Mona good-bye, and headed off to work.
At seven that evening, a cleaning woman entered the law offices of Fisher & Dyce and discovered the body of Jerry Fisher. He had been stabbed to death, a sharp letter opener still sticking out of his chest.
Lieutenant Miller’s first unpleasant duty was to interview the young lawyer’s widow. Mona was distraught. “We were only married four months. I never met a man more romantic and honest. Why would anyone want to kill him?”
Jerry’s law partner, Kyle Dyce, echoed her sentiments. “Jerry was a man I trusted completely, and a darn good lawyer. He was still working when I left. About 6 p.m. I walked across to the health club. I didn’t work out, just used the tanning bed. I suppose I was jealous of Jerry’s great Mexico tan.”
The lieutenant spent the next hour going through Jerry’s papers and discovered that the trusted Jerry Fisher had been skimming money from the law partnership. He also found the phone number of a woman—Gail Lowenski.
They located Ms. Lowenski just leaving the art gallery she managed. The attractive redhead was devastated by Jerry’s death and even more devastated to hear that he’d been married. “We were together just this afternoon, at my apartment. The louse told me he was single. For two months he was stringing me on. I was so sure he was going to propose.”
Lieutenant Miller and his partner showed up to witness Jerry Fisher’s autopsy. ‘All three of them had motives,” the partner whispered as they stared down at the cold, naked body. “The only trouble is, they didn’t know they had motives.”
“One of them knew,” Miller said. “And I know which one.”
Whom did the lieutenant suspect and why?
The naked body on the autopsy table held the pivotal clue. On Jerry Fisher’s ring finger was a tan line, just where his wedding ring had been.
Lieutenant Miller pointed it out. “When Jerry went over to Gail’s apartment, he naturally removed his wedding ring. Unfortunately, he forgot about the tan line. It’s winter here, so he never had to deal with this problem before. There’s no way Gail could have spent the afternoon with him and not noticed that line.”
His partner nodded. “Let’s go back and talk to Ms. Lowenski.”