“Oh the cops gave us some pants. They took up a collection. We were on a plane for here a half hour after leaving the jail.”
“Why the rush?”
Joey lost his grin, for the first time since he’d been there. He said, slowly and solemnly: “Well, it was a forced put. A big guy with a mean look and a gun put us on board, gave us tickets, and told us not to come back. He acted as though he meant what he said.”
“Why in God’s name didn’t you tell this to the cops there? There’s always one around an airport.”
Wendel said: “That was just it. It was a cop that put us on board. I told you that man Crandall has influence.”
Chapter Two
I told Wendel I’d look into the thing for him and they left for Joey Free’s apartment. They wanted a drink and needed one; they’d headed for my office directly from the airport. They wanted clothes, and needed them as badly as the drink. But before they left, I took Joey to one side and said:
“I’ll do a little checking on the Nevada law today and see if I can work out an angle on this. But I’d like to talk it over with you, personally, before I leave.”
“Sure,” he said. “Come up tonight. I’ll probably be having a little celebration for old Toddy, but we can find a corner that’ll be quiet enough to talk in.”
“It sounds dopy to me,” I told him. “A guy’s wife don’t usually start out after a divorce without saying anything. Usually she’s said so damned much he’s glad to see her leave.”
Joey nodded toward Lester. “Going to take the kid along?”
“Sure! That’s what he paid his five grand in for, to be a detective. I’ve got to give him his money’s worth, don’t I?”
He nodded toward the Gahagan wench. She’s red-headed, Irish, and an eyeful. He said: “When you come up, why not bring the gal? She’d appreciate it and I’d appreciate it.”
“To hell with you. I’ve seen your parties. She’d black-mail around the office here and I couldn’t get her to do a thing. I have a hard enough time with her now, without making a pet of her.”
“I’d make a pet of her.”
“You dope! You would. About eight, I’ll be there.”
“Fine, Shean!”
Everybody shook hands and, when they’d gone, Lester said: “I can see, Shean, that this is going to be a very odd case. Something that will tax your ability to the utmost.”
The Gahagan said: “Nuts! All Shean has to do is look around and find the gal’s new boy friend. She wouldn’t leave her old man without a reason and that’ll be it.”
Lester looked wise and said: “Ah, yes! The sex motive that is back of so many crimes.”
“What d’ya mean crime?” I asked him. “Is it any crime for a gal to get tired of her old man and want to trade him in on a new model?”
He argued: “There’s something funny about this, just the same. Or why would the police put Joey Free and Mr. Wendel on the plane, bodily. That’s suspicious, Shean.”
I thought the same but didn’t admit it.
The party was going nicely at eight o’clock. I could hear it through the door, and I had no doubt about Joey’s neighbors hearing it through the walls. I rang the bell, and a little blonde opened the door and said: “Oh, it’s tall and dark and handsome. Come in, mister tall and dark and handsome.”
She was holding a highball glass and she’d held too many of them. I could see she wasn’t going to last the party out. I went in, saw Wendel sitting in a corner and looking gloomy, and Joey Free with about eight assorted women around him. There were also half a dozen men, but Joey was on the inside track. Joey saw me and called:
“Hi, Shean! You’re just in time.”
I asked just in time for what and he said he was referring to a drink. I got him and the drink to one side and said:
“Now look, Joey! This is a dopy set-up. Don’t take it wrong, but has this guy got the money to pay me if I go on it?”
“He’s got plenty,” Joey said. “When his father died, the inheritance tax was between two and three hundred thousand. He was the only child. Figure it out.”
“Because it’s going to cost plenty. I’m going to have to put out some money around that town and not put it on a report blank and expense account.”
“Why not? Why can’t you put it down?”
“When you’re bribing cops you don’t keep a record. Not unless you’re a chump.”
He said slowly: “I wouldn’t say you’re exactly a chump, Shean. But there’s this. That gal had more than an excuse to leave old Toddy. This is the first time he’s busted loose since he was married. It was all work and no play for him and it’s a little discouraging for a girl to have to listen about so and so taking up his option and whether such and such will stand by his lease or not. Toddy’s a good egg, but he’s business through and through. It’s my idea that the gal just got fed up with him.”
“What does she look like?”
He went someplace and came back with a picture of a good-looking dark girl. He said: “I got this when I went East, just before Toddy made the South American trip. Keep it, if you like.”
I said: “I like.”
The blonde girl came over and acted as though she wanted to sit in my lap. Only I was standing up and didn’t have one, I fended her away and Joey tried to get something on the radio they could dance to, but didn’t do so well. He came back in a minute, which gave me a break with the blonde, and said:
“Hey, Shean! Some of this mob want to dance, or what is supposed to pass for it. Stick around and play a little piano for us, hey?”
“I’ve quit that business,” I told him. “I haven’t played a job for two years and more. There’s no money in it, and that’s all I’ll work for.”
He pointed over to the piano and said: “The hell there isn’t. There’s a hundred dollars in it, if you’ll stick it out until the neighbors and the manager make you stop.”
I said: “Just make the check out to Shean Connell,” and headed for the piano.
The manager didn’t threaten to call the police until after three. But after all, a hundred dollars is a lot of money, even if you say it slow and easy. And I’d been in Reno before and know I could never pad up an expense account enough to break even there; there’s too many ways of spending money in the place.
Chapter Three
Lester and I drove up from the city and we didn’t get in town until after five. So we checked in at the Golden Eagle and got cleaned up and fed before anything else. Then I said to Lester:
“Okey, kid. You stay here and hold the fort and I’ll go and talk with the Chief.”
Lester said: “Can’t I go with you?”
“Stay here and read a good book. I don’t know this Chief, except by reputation.”
Lester put on his criminologist look. “Are you sure it’s a wise step, Shean? After all, the police forced Joey and Mr. Wendel aboard the plane. It’s very possible they will be antagonistic toward us and our mission.”
I said: “Now look! They may be. But an outside cop has to co-operate with the law every time. They’re not only antagonistic but rabid if you don’t. Do you understand?”
“In my opinion, it would be wiser to look the situation over first.”
I wanted to laugh but I tried to look stern instead. “Now, Lester, we agreed I was to decide anything that came up and that my decision would be final. Isn’t that right?”
He said it was. I said: “All right, then. I’ve decided to talk with Chief Kirby, before doing anything else. Now that’s final. Understand?”
He said he did, and looked very sad while he said it. All the matter with him was that he wanted to go along with me; didn’t want to miss anything. But I couldn’t see walking into the Chief of Police’s office with Lester in tow; Wendel and Joey Free had already put me under a handicap by whatever fool stunt they’d done to get themselves chased out of town. I blamed them for that, knowing Joey Free and some of the dizzy stunts he’d pulled in the city. And I knew of Chief Kirby by reputation. He was supposed to be a damn good man and he had a tough job to hold with Reno as open as it was. Lester would have been no help.