“What?” Elsie asked.
“They think Belder murdered his wife, and Belder spent that morning at the barber shop. I remember when he came in. It was cold. A raw wind was just blowing away a heavy fog. Belder was wearing an overcoat and hadn’t been shaved. He left me in front of his house. When I arrived at his office, he was shaved, massaged, manicured, and had had his hair trimmed. So that’s why that woman wanted to know about his barber. That barber shop is his only alibi, and if there’s a hole in it — then he has no alibi.”
Bertha sailed into her private office and grabbed her hat and purse.
15
The Forgotten Overcoat
The Terminal Tonsorial Parlour was a seven-chair shop with only three men working. Bertha, entering, surveyed the filled chairs, the half-dozen men who were waiting. “Where’s the boss?” she asked.
“Out getting a bite to eat,” one of the men said.
“You mean to say he goes to dinner at this hour?” Bertha demanded.
“Lunch at this hour,” the man grinned. “He’s been trying to get away ever since two o’clock — that’s supposed to be his lunch-time. He— Here he comes now.”
Bertha turned, surveyed the man who was just opening the street door, ignored the curious glances of the waiting patrons, shoved a card in front of the bewildered barber, and said, “Where can we talk for five minutes?”