Shayne laughed easily and put his hand on the rotund attorney’s elbow and guided him toward a chair near Lucy’s. “We couldn’t be any more private,” he said cheerfully. “I assure you that Miss Hamilton is the soul of discretion.” He pushed Sutter down into the chair and turned to the table, adding, “Let me know if you change your mind about a drink.”
He poured himself a noggin of cognac and sat down comfortably in a deep chair across from Sutter and Lucy, and said, “I though you’d gone to a hotel for the night and were catching an early plane back to New York.”
“I am at a hotel. The Costain on Third Avenue. And I have a reservation on a plane departing at nine A.M. for New York. But I am hesitant to leave Miami with things at loose ends as it were. Earlier in the evening, when I first became aware that Mr. Ames had been shot, it appeared to me that in a sense my mission was accomplished… that I could rejoice whole-heartedly and return to New York to inform our client that all was well and that… er… he had nothing further to worry about.
“However, afterthoughts began to worry me. The death of Mr. Ames does not necessarily settle the affair I came here to negotiate. The question now arises: Who will take possession of his private papers? What disposition of his effects will be made? Will his widow, perhaps, or his secretary, continue his syndicated column? Who will control what will be printed in the future?”
“How does that concern you or your client?” Shayne demanded bluntly.
Mr. Sutter sighed and he blinked his eyes rapidly behind the rimless glasses. He settled himself more deeply and comfortably in his chair and reached inside his coat to take a fat cigar from the breast pocket. He bit off the end and got a lighter from a side pocket and put flame to the cigar. He pursed his thick lips and expelled a cloud of smoke, and began speaking as though each word he uttered was distasteful to him:
“I came to Miami on a very definite and unpleasant mission. In my briefcase at the hotel I have an envelope containing twenty-five thousand dollars in currency which I was authorized to hand over to Wesley Ames in exchange for documents in his possession which would be ruinous to one of our valued clients if printed in Ames’ newspaper column. I am opposed to extortion and to the payment of blackmail in any form. The very thought is abhorrent to me. But I had no choice in this matter. I came here prepared to act for our client and make the exchange in good faith. Now, Ames is dead. I realize that the documents in question must be there in his study, accessible to whoever goes through his private papers and takes possession of them. I realize now that I will have failed my client if I return to New York tomorrow morning without those papers in my hands. That is why I am here, Mr. Shayne.”
“Why?” demanded Shayne.
“It seems to me that you are in a position to recover them at once, before someone else finds them and realizes their possible value. You appear to have the full confidence of the local police and it should not be difficult for you to gain access to the dead man’s study tonight on some pretext. The papers must be there at hand. All arrangements were made and Ames expected to turn them over to me tonight.”
“Just what are these ‘papers’ that you were prepared to pay twenty-five grand for? What am I supposed to look for?”
“They consist of certain original documents highly incriminating to our client,” Sutter told him primly. “I hesitate to divulge his name, but I must trust you I suppose. He is Alex Murchinson. The name may be unknown to you, but he is high in the councils of our city government and the documents consist of private agreements with certain prominent contractors in the city relating to what might be referred to, vulgarly, as kickbacks or payoffs for the awarding of certain contracts for services to be rendered the city. It was highly irregular and most imprudent for Mr. Murchinson to have such documents in his possession while vacationing here recently,” Sutter went on severely, “but some of the details were finalized here where it was convenient and safer to meet some of the other parties concerned without arousing suspicion.
“They were stolen from his hotel suite on the night of his departure for New York,” the attorney continued, “by a woman who had insinuated herself into his confidence and was evidently in the employ of Ames for just such nefarious purposes. I have in my pocket photostatic copies of the original documents which were mailed to our client after his return to the city, with the thinly-veiled threat that unpleasant details would be subsequently primed in the Wesley Ames syndicated column unless payment of twenty-five thousand dollars was made to him. It was my intention to compare the photostats with the originals before turning over the money to Ames.”
Shayne held out a big hand and said, “Let’s see what I’m supposed to search for in Ames’ study… providing I can get in for a look.”
Sutter hesitated unhappily. “I… don’t know. I suppose I can rely on your discretion. This is a very delicate matter…”
“Yeh,” said Shayne grimly and coldly. “I can see just how delicate it is. You’ve got a crooked city official conniving with crooked contractors to mulct the city out of money by passing out contracts on a kickback basis. If you want me to do anything for you hand over the photostats so I know what I’m looking for. If you don’t, get yourself and your stinking proposition out of here.”
“Really, Mr. Shayne!” Sutter looked astonished, hurt and shocked by this outburst. “I’m not at all sure…”
“Make up your mind fast,” snapped Shayne, getting up and turning to the table to pour himself another drink, and broadly winking at Lucy as he turned. “Normally,” he said with his back turned, “I consider a blackmailer a vicious scoundrel who deserves to be stamped on. But some blackmailees deserve any damned thing they get and it sounds to me as though your valued client Mr. Murchinson is in that category. If I had a syndicated column to do it in I’d probably publish the damned documents, and the only thing I really blame the dead man for is making a deal not to publish them. Are you going to give me the photostats or not?” he demanded harshly, turning back with his filled glass in one hand and holding the other out to Sutter.
“I certainly do not care for your attitude, but under the circumstances I fear I have no choice.” Sutter withdrew a long white envelope from his pocket and passed it over with what remnants of dignity he could muster.
Shayne sat down and opened the envelope, drew out some folded photostatic copies of legal-sized sheets and glanced through them briefly. He nodded and returned them to the envelope and handed them back to Sutter.
“All right. I’ll see what I can do. I don’t know whether there will be a police guard over Ames’ study or not.”
“There is,” Sutter told him. “I heard that sergeant directing that a man be stationed there before I left. That is why I thought of you and the possibility that you might be able to gain access to the room even though it has a police guard.”
Shayne said, “I might be able to work something.” He looked across at Lucy and her glass which was still half-full. “Drink up, angel, and I’ll drop you off home on my way up to Ames’.”
“Ah… about your fee, Mr. Shayne. If you are successful in recovering the evidence. Do you think a thousand dollars…?”
“I think,” said Michael Shayne blandly, “that twenty-five grand will be exactly right.”
“Twenty-five… thousand?” wailed Sutter. “For possibly half an hour’s work. That’s preposterous. I cannot possibly…”
Shayne got up from his chair and towered over the pudgy seated man, his blunt jaw out-thrust.
“You said you had an envelope in your hotel room containing that sum which you brought down here for the specific purpose of buying those papers. If they were worth that much three hours ago, they’re still worth that much. Don’t talk to me about any thousand bucks. Me, I’ve got at least as much probity as your client in New York. I’ll do your dirty job for the full twenty-five grand, but not a penny less. Take it or leave it.”