“Let you have a taste of something special,” he said. “Jackson County’s finest export product. Some little old boys made it in the brush up along the Alabama line, but they never applied for a United States revenue permit so you know we had to confiscate it.”
He broke out two paper cups and filled them both, handing one to Shayne. Sitting down behind his big desk, he motioned Shayne to a leather chair facing him.
“Only thing wrong with it, you better drink it fast. Or the wax on the inside of the cup is going to melt on you.”
Shayne emptied his cup in one long swallow.
“It’s smooth,” he agreed. “I don’t want to keep you up any longer than I have to, so-”
“Let me break in briefly. You said you have something for me to hear, and I’ll gladly listen. First let me say a word about your presentation before the committee this morning. Life would be easier if all our witnesses were as succinct. You’re a persuasive arguer. In point of fact, you came close to convincing me.”
“You must have a pretty good idea what I have in my pocket.”
Kendrick lighted a cigar with a kitchen match. “Some proof of lobbying activities on the part of proponents of the bill, I expect. I’m not still wet behind the ears. I’ve spent many a long year ambulating around the corridors of the capitol, observing the interaction of politics and human nature. If this bill passes tomorrow, certain citizens of Dade County stand to benefit enormously, and they can be expected to bend every effort to assure a favorable outcome. Being the kind of people they are, their methods of advocacy may not be gentlemanly or even entirely legal. This is one of the innumerable factors we are obliged to consider. To quote from your testimony, ‘You have to remember these people are crooks.’ Words to that effect. Should we permit such people to solve the state’s financial problems? That is part of the quandary. Did you read the statement I put out yesterday?”
“I’ve been told about it.”
“I tried to pose the questions objectively, without the emotionalism that always seems to force its way in when legalized gambling is mentioned. The tourist interests are for this bill. My own views on the subject of skinning the hapless tourist happen to be somewhat reactionary, but each year tourism contributes more and more, percentage-wise, to Florida’s economic well-being. The old ways are passing. Our state employees want to be paid more money. Welfare costs are rising. Roads, mental hospitals. Do you realize the state budget has tripled in two years? Has tripled? And yet, if we lay an income tax, an inheritance tax, if we increase the already heavy burden on the land and on industry, we discourage new investment and tip the balance even more in the direction of that perpetual carnival you’re running down at your end of the state.”
His cigar was drawing well. He rotated it carefully.
“But you know all the arguments, pro and con, as well as I do, if not better. I almost succeeded in convincing myself that with care and watchfulness we could quarantine ourselves against what would be happening across the Dade County line. And then you came along, with your ‘you have to remember these people are crooks.’ Well.”
“What’s this leading up to? Have you decided to switch back?”
Kendrick permitted himself a tight smile. “Read my statement. Those words were chosen carefully. They meant no more and no less than they said. I came back to Jackson County tonight to take the advice and counsel of some old friends. Up here at the end of the world we look at things differently than you do in the cities.”
“And what’s the consensus?”
Kendrick drew on his cigar carefully. “The consensus hasn’t yet formed. They see the dilemma as well as I do. They’ll be hit by the new taxes. However, this is a godfearing community on the whole, and looked at purely as a political matter, as a question of votes-”
Shayne cut in. “Listen to the tape first. It won’t give me as much satisfaction if you’ve already changed your mind.” He took out a flat tape recorder and set it on the desk beside the jar of whiskey. “I also think you had another reason for coming up here tonight-so you’d have a few witnesses to your whereabouts if you have to dump your son.”
Kendrick’s expression solidified. “Explain that, please.”
“In a moment. I did a lot of chasing around to get my hands on this, and I want to get the right effect. You may not know a lady named Lib Patrick. I took a little Japanese recorder off her about an hour ago. She had it inside her bra-this is hazardous duty. It was about as big as a small pencil. Transistorized, powered by nine-volt batteries, voice-actuated, with three reels of tape. A beauty. I didn’t want anything to happen to it, so I tied it into another recorder and retaped it. I think I can find the part you’ll be interested in.”
Setting the controls in playback position, he pressed the fast-wind button. The recorder produced a gabble of animal noises. When he slowed it down, Grover Kendrick was speaking.
GROVER’S VOICE: — on the vote.
LIB’S VOICE: Never mind. So long as he definitely took the forty thousand.
GROVER: (with a laugh): I had to twist his arm. I never thought it would be so hard to give away money. All those pretty packages of hundred dollar bills.
LIB: That’s a weight off my mind. At just about the last possible minute! And we had to plan around him. I don’t like to think about the next time I wash my hair. I know I’ve turned gray in the last week.
GROVER: Then you’ll be even more gorgeous than you are now. This has been a classy operation. No matter what happens-
LIB: It’s going to work. We can’t lose.
GROVER: That’s right, sweetheart, and what do we want to do to celebrate?
LIB: Not yet. Don’t say things like that, I’m superstitious. I have to ask about a couple of other people. Matt McGranahan is being very cagey, for some reason. How high do you think we have to go?
GROVER: How much has he had from you so far?
LIB: Ten.
GROVER: That’s enough, for God’s sake. He only has his one vote. As far as his influence goes, it’s zero.
LIB (doubtfully): I’m afraid they’re trying to outbid us. I would have said we had Matt pinned, but with Mike Shayne in the picture I’m beginning to worry. Shayne has a well-deserved reputation for getting results. We haven’t heard from him all day, and maybe he’s gone home. I hope. He’s no blue-nose about gambling, like some of these people. I wish I’d thought of hiring Jackie Wales. It never occurred to me.
GROVER: If you don’t mind a suggestion, what you need with McGranahan is leverage. He’s a married man. I thought that was why some of these girls-
LIB (lightly): Darling, leave that part to us. I’ve got a very far-out idea I’d like your opinion on. What do you think Sheldon Maslow would say to a money offer?
GROVER: Are we thinking about the same Sheldon Maslow?
LIB: I know it sounds impossible, but is it really? The race for governor is wide open. If he could get the nomination he could probably win. But getting the nomination will cost money, and everybody tells me he doesn’t have it.
GROVER: Do you have anything to go on? It sounds so-
LIB: Nothing but a look he gave me in a restaurant last night. I went to the ladies room and he made a point of being where he could see me on my way back.
GROVER: Well, you said it was far-out. You couldn’t get him for ten thousand.
LIB (ruefully): As I’m well aware. And the petty-cash box is nearly empty.
Shayne pressed a button, freezing the tape. “That gives you the idea. There are three other male voices besides Grover’s. The subject is the same each time-votes and money.”
“As a matter of curiosity,” Kendrick said, “how much did those votes cost her?”
“The exact sums weren’t mentioned. Does it matter?”