Free Tenth Commandment by Lawrence Sanders Page B

the Reape story for the third time. Then he angrily shoved the paper away.
    'I wish,' he said, 'that I could be certain that this Reape person actually did possess what he claimed. He may merely have read the news story of Sol Kipper's suicide and devised this scheme to profit from the poor man's death. It might have been just a confidence game, a swindle.'
    'Mr Tabatchnick, did the news story of Sol Kipper's suicide mention the value of his estate?'
    'Of course not!'
    'During my meeting with Reape, he said, quote, How much is that estate — four mil? Five mil? Unquote. Was that a close estimate of the estate, Mr Tabatchnick?'
    'Close enough,' he said in a low voice. 'It's about four million six.'
    'Well, how would Reape have known that if he hadn't been intimately involved with the Kipper family in some way? Surely his knowledge of the size of the estate is a fairly solid indication that he had the information he claimed.'
    Leopold Tabatchnick sighed deeply. Then he sat brooding, head lowered. He pulled at his lower lip. I was tempted to slap his hand and tell him his lips protruded enough.
    I don't know how long we sat there in silence. Finally, Tabatchnick sighed again and straightened up. He put his 72
    thick hands on the tabletop, palms down.
    'All right,' he said, 'I realize what you are implying. You feel that if Martin Reape told the truth and had evidence to upset the will of Sol Kipper, then an investigation into Kipper's suicide would be justified.'
    'The alleged suicide,' I said. 'Yes, sir, that's the way I feel.'
    'Very well,' he said. 'You may conduct a discreet inquiry. I repeat, a discreet inquiry. To avoid prejudicing your investigation, I will not disclose to you at this time the principal beneficiaries of Sol Kipper's estate.'
    'As you wish, sir,' I said. 'But it would help a great deal if you would give me some background on the man and his family. You mentioned that he had been a personal friend of yours for fifty-five years.'
    'Yes,' he said. 'We were classmates at CCNY together. I went on to law school and Sol went into his father's textile business. But we kept in touch and saw each other frequently. He was best man at my wedding, and I at his. Our wives were good friends. That was Sol's first wife. She died six years ago and Sol remarried.'
    Did I detect a note of disapproval in his voice?
    'Sol was an enormously successful businessman. After his father's death, he became president of Kipmar Textiles, and expanded to include knitting mills in New England, South Carolina, Spain, and Israel. They went public ten years ago, and Sol became a wealthy man. He had three sons and one daughter by his first wife. All his children are grown now, of course, and married. Sol had eleven grandchildren. Shortly after his second marriage, he semi-retired and turned over the day-to-day operations of Kipmar Textiles to two of his sons. The third son is a doctor in Los Angeles. His daughter lives in Boca Raton, Florida. What else would you care to know?'
    'The second wife, sir — what can you tell me about her?'
    'She is younger than Sol was — considerably younger. I 73
    believe she was on the stage. Briefly. Her name is Tippi.'
    Now I was certain I heard that note of disapproval in his voice.
    'Yes, sir. And now the man himself. What was he like?'
    'Sol Kipper was one of the dearest, sweetest men it has ever been my good fortune to know. He was generous to a fault. A fine, loving husband and an understanding father and grandfather. His children worshipped him. They took his death very hard.'
    'Why did he commit suicide, sir — if he did? Was there any reason for it?'
    Tabatchnick wagged his big head sadly. 'Sol was the worst hypochondriac I've ever known or heard about. He was continually running to doctors with imaginary physical ailments. It was a joke to his family and friends, but we could never convince him that he was in excellent health, even when doctor after doctor told him the same thing. He had only to