The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem

As Detective Dart prepares to interrogate the two women, he and Dr. Archer decide that Bubber Brown is likely not the killer. Dart, however, asserts that he will still be an important part of solving the murder. He then questions Martha Crouch, Samuel Crouch’s wife. She tells him that she is a rent collector and that she was there to collect Frimbo’s rent because he only works at night. She says that Bubber was in the front room the whole time and that Jinx was the last person to enter the chamber. She also agrees to cooperate with Dart and the police during the investigation. Dart then has Bubber and an officer named Hanks go and identify the three men he saw meet Frimbo.

Afterward, Dart begins to interrogate Jinx. He is unfriendly and hesitant to answer during the investigation but soon reveals that when he went to see Frimbo, they talked about his business and financial security. Frimbo said that he must study Jinx’s face to learn about his needs and that Jinx would be successful but unhappy. He would only become happier when he returned to his current state of financial uncertainty. Jinx relays that during the session, Frimbo became seemingly blind and frightened. When Jinx used the light to look at what happened, Frimbo went limp, and Jinx left to get Bubber.

This makes Dart suspicious, as Jinx is arguably the last person to see Frimbo before his death and appears to be lying. Jinx asserts his innocence, but Dart questions his recollection of Frimbo’s last moments. He then questions Jinx about his handkerchief, and Jinx tells him that it is white with a white hem, but he last used it in the front room and dropped it there. After Officer Brady sends Jinx out of the room, Dart has another officer turn on the extension light.

Because Jinx’s handkerchief has a different color hem and due to his vivid and credible recollection of Frimbo’s words, Detective Dart and Dr. Archer conclude that he most likely did not kill Frimbo. They still decide to keep him for further questioning. They then question the other woman in the building, Mrs. Amarintha Snead, who helps out at her church and turned to Frimbo to stop her husband Jake’s alcohol addiction and abuse. She says that she learned about Frimbo after a friend from her church told her that he placed a charm of protection that saved her son’s life after he was stabbed in the head with a knife. She then tells Dart that she did not see the two clubs and did not see anyone other than Martha, Bubber, Jinx, and Frimbo’s assistant, who scares her.

As Dart finishes questioning Mrs. Snead, Samuel Crouch arrives and expresses surprise at the police’s presence and the news of Frimbo’s death. Dart decides to question him, and Crouch tells him that Frimbo was a good tenant but that his relationship with him was purely professional. He was playing cards at the Forty Club that night. Dart then tells Crouch the details of Frimbo’s death. Crouch speculates that the killer used the handkerchief to handle the club before stuffing it in Frimbo’s throat, making the club unlikely to have fingerprints. Dart dismisses him and says he will not keep him as a suspect.

After leaving Frimbo’s house with Officer Hanks and another officer named Officer Small, Bubber has him drive to Henry Patmore’s pool room to find Spider Webb. Bubber tries to convince the manager to help him, but he is hesitant to do so. He and Officer Hanks spot Spider Webb and chase him into a room. Bubber convinces him to go with them to answer questions about Frimbo’s death, saying that it will protect him from further suspicion.

They then drive to the club that Doty Hicks’s brother operates. There, Bubber nearly gets distracted by an attractive singer, who is singing “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You.” The lyrics include “I’ll be standin’ on the corner high / When they drag your body by” (78). After a short, flirtatious exchange, he manages to ask her where he can find Doty Hicks. She tells him that he is sitting by the orchestra. Bubber goes to Doty and tells him Frimbo is near death and wants to see him. This excites Doty, and he readily agrees to return to Frimbo’s house.

After collecting two of the three men, Bubber and Officer Hanks focus on finding Easley Jones. Bubber says that his address is not far from Frimbo’s house. They drive back to Frimbo’s house and drop off Officer Small and the two men, then go to the address. However, the woman there says that she does not know any man named Easley Jones. Disappointed, Bubber tells her to send Easley Jones to Frimbo’s house if she sees him. The woman closes the door, and they prepare to leave.

After Officer Small returns to Frimbo’s house with Doty Hicks and Spider Webb, Detective Dart begins to question Doty. Doty believes that Frimbo is not dead yet but is about to die, and Dart decides to play along with it. Doty soon reveals that he tried to kill Frimbo because he believes Frimbo made his brother ill and is trying to kill him. He explains that his brother’s wife cheated on him and left him, and when his brother went after her, they had an altercation and he hit her. After that, she consulted with Frimbo and briefly returned to his brother, who suddenly became ill. Doty went to Frimbo tonight to beg him to kill him instead of his brother, but Frimbo explained that he was not a conjurer and that his brother had tuberculosis, which he had before his wife came to see him. Doty did not believe this, however, and he eventually made Frimbo assure him that his brother would improve. He then decided that he needed to kill Frimbo by casting a spell on him; he left and returned to the chamber through the side door to do so, saying that he had an accomplice. However, he refuses to tell Dart who helped him until Frimbo dies. Dart reveals that Frimbo is already dead, which sends Doty into a rage. Dart has Officer Brady take Doty out of the room and keep him in custody.

Soon, Bubber returns and updates Dart about his search for the men, including Easley. When Dart tells him that Doty confessed, he doubts it due to Doty’s deteriorated mental state from his drug use. Bubber then notices the handkerchief that Dr. Archer had pulled from his bag and recognizes it as Jinx’s. Dart has Officer Brady bring Jinx back into the room and question him about the handkerchief. He denies it is his, and Dart becomes convinced he might be lying and might be Doty’s accomplice. Dr. Archer denies this, though, because Jinx is not a cooperative person.

Easley Jones soon arrives at Frimbo’s house. After expressing confusion about the police officers’ presence there, one of the officers informs him that Frimbo is dead. When he goes into the chamber for questioning, he tells Detective Dart that he got into a conversation with Bubber that evening about his detective work and expressed an interest in consulting him before giving him his address. Frimbo’s assistant then called him in. Easley says that he saw Frimbo because he was worried that his wife was lonely and possibly having an affair due to his long nights as a railroad worker. He says that Frimbo reassured him that there were no other men in whom his wife had any interest. After that, he left. When Dart shows him the handkerchief, he recognizes it as the one Jinx used to wipe his face in the waiting room. Dart then dismisses Easley.

Dr. Archer expresses suspicion about the butler since the other suspects saw him in the building, and he suddenly disappeared after the murder. When Tynes, the fingerprint examiner, arrives, he says that the club has some old prints as well as a new one. He has a photograph of the print. Dart tells Tynes to examine all the suspects’ fingerprints for a potential match and that the butler might be a potential suspect. Dart calls up Spider Webb for questioning.

Detective Dart questions Spider Webb, who initially hesitates to talk to him; he is worried that he will get in legal trouble for number running and that his boss, Si Brandon, will turn on him. He only agrees to talk after Dart tells him he might be cleared if he did not kill Frimbo and that silence will only incriminate him. Spider says that Frimbo gambled and was smart enough to continuously win money from Si Brandon. This made Brandon angry with both Frimbo and Spider. Frimbo even won money from Brandon’s competitor Spencer. To settle the situation for Brandon, Spider went to Frimbo to collect his number and $10. He mentions that he usually got the money from the assistant, who came through the back door.

Dart and Dr. Archer conclude that Frimbo must have been killed before Jinx supposedly heard him speak and that someone must have been disguised as him while Jinx, and arguably the others, were in the chamber. Dart then has the extension light turned on and has Officer Brady bring everyone else into the room. He asks Tynes if he is ready to collect everyone’s fingerprints, to which he replies that he is.

When all of the suspects are inside the chamber, Dart informs them about the nature of Frimbo’s murder and the gathered evidence. He then has Tynes collect the fingerprints of Dr. Archer and all the other suspects. Afterward, Tynes matches the fingerprints with the one found on the club. Dart looks at the matched fingerprint and tells Jinx Jenkins that he is under arrest.