Max shrugged and rubbed some whiskers he'd forgotten under his nose, then wrote a name and address down on a paper napkin, gave it to me, asked in a hoarse voice, “Anything else?”
“Aha. Where was Henry Wilson born?”
He threw his pencil on the table. “Why don't you lay off?” he asked wearily. I finished my drink, took a vitamin pill as he got up and used the phone on the cashier's desk. When he returned he said, “According to our records, he was born in Savannah, Georgia. Why?”
“Nothing. And thanks.” I stood up. “By the way, can you lend me fifty—till I get my pension check?”
“I'll have to go home. Libby has money. I only got twenty on me.”
“Twenty will do... for the time being.”
I thanked him for the two tens and went to the nearest bank and changed one bill into silver and found a phone booth. I called the dick in Atlanta, person to person, the coins ringing so many bells it sounded like a one-armed bandit paying off. This dick had a shrill voice, or it could have been the connection. I told him, “A friend, Captain Max Daniels, recommended you. Want you to put in a day or two getting some confidential info. There's a doctor someplace in Georgia named Snell. Probably lives and practices in some small country village. I want the name of that wide spot in the road, also the doc's present address. He's an old man and I have a hunch there's more than an even chance he died a few months ago. I want all the towns he ever practiced in, especially the towns he worked in about thirty years ago. Also want to know if there's a birth record of a Henry Wilson in any of these towns. He's about 29 or 33, don't know if he's colored or white. Also see if you can find any of Wilson's relatives—if he has any. All on the quiet. Got that?”
“Why, sure. That'll be fifty a day and expenses.”
“Okay, but don't run up too many days. And if you can get all the info in one day, I'll pay a hundred and fifty.”
“You got a deal. What address shall I send the dope to?”
“I'll phone you again in the morning.”
There was a moment of hesitation, then he asked, “When do I get a retainer?”
“I'm wiring you fifty at once.”
“I'll get started—soon as I get the fifty. You haven't told me your name?”
“It's Smith, John Smith. It's that kind of a case.”
“Get your money here—money don't know no name.”
I hung up and waited for the operator to tell me how many more quarters I had to drop in. There was little chance the guy would call Max and check—he wouldn't waste that long distance money on a hundred-buck case.
When I paid up, I got Harry Loughlin's home number from information and Flo's sexy voice said, “Hell-low?”
“Hello, baby. I....”
“Matt! Knew you'd call.” She said it so loudly, Harry couldn't have been home. He should be drinking with Joe.
“Look, I'm calling as a buddy-buddy. I need a hundred bucks for a few weeks. Can....?”
“Be on my horse and wherever you are in five, minutes, darling.”
I told her to meet me outside the telegraph office and I only had to wait a few minutes when she drove up in her roadster. I told her to park and soon as I got in, she threw her arms around me and. I kissed her hard on the cheek, fondled her breasts slightly, and she said, “Ah, honey!”
“Don't start that, this is only a loan. The romance is still out.” Her perfume smelled great and I wondered what it was called, wanted to buy Mady some. The kid never used perfume.
She opened her bag, took out a wallet stuffed with folding money. She tossed it in my lap. “Take two hundred, take it all. Matt, I...”
“Slow down,” I said, counting out five twenties. “Be back in a moment.” I went into Western Union and wired the guy seventy-five bucks and when I came out and got into the car, she asked, “Where to, hon?”
“The Lagoon.” This was a cheap bathing resort and amusement park not far from White Beach.
As she drove she kept playing with my thigh with her free hand and when I told her to cut it out, she asked, “Matt, when you going to stop teasing me?”
“Was I ever a tease? Romance is out. I told you that. Things are different since I came out of the hospital.”
“You told me that too. I'll wait... a little longer. Need any more cash?”
“Baby, don't be oversweet. No.”
When we reached the Lagoon I told her to stop in front of a small hotel and she asked, “You living in this dump?”
“Not exactly. I'm scratching around, trying to get located.”
“Matt, tell me true, there isn't another dame?” She leaned toward me.
“Stop that,” I said, watching her mouth.
She sat back. “Harry says he offered you...”
“I don't like Harry's work. Flo, what kind of perfume you using?”
“Why?”
“Like to give you a bottle, as interest, when I pay back the hundred.”-
“You know what I want you to give me, Matt.” She started for me again and I opened the door and slid out of the car.
“It's easier for me to give you the perfume. What's it called?”
“It's called, go to hell you two-timing son of a bitch!” she snapped and drove off.
I got a bus to White Beach, wondering how women knew these things so damn fast.
When I got to the cottage Mady was waiting and I kissed her, mumbled, “Baby, you don't need any perfume.”
“What?” She sniffed at me, said, “You've been around some chick using Heavenly Drops—ten bucks a dram, or some such fantastic price.”
I grinned. “All in line of duty—don't worry. Anybody call for me?”
“No. And you can't make me jealous. As you said, we're alike. Bet you never got along with a girl so well before?”
“That's so,” I said, hugging her and thinking how damn true it was. “Never cared for a girl before—except to sleep with—and I suppose that's how they felt about me. Always got restless with me. Had to keep themselves busy—refurnishing my place, or go on a clothes binge, or one even went in for a correspondence course—anything to keep them busy. Of course, they were all hit-and-jump affairs, only playing me for a meal ticket.”
“Not just for a meal ticket—with those shoulders. And why are women always looking for meal tickets? Don't men, too?”
“Men happen to be the breadwinners in our society.”
Mady gave me a mock sneer, “Balls.”
“Why don't you say 'Breasts'?”
“Don't you start making fun of me. Speaking of jobs, I've been out looking. I start Monday as cashier in a movie house near here. Forty a week—means about twenty-eight take home pay.”
“Yeah,” I said, which didn't mean anything. I didn't want her to start working so soon—we hardly had any time together. But the routine of a job might be what she needed.