“You’re nuts.” There was indecision in his voice. “Or I’m nuts for listening.”
“I could have gotten away any time, Lindsey,” I reminded him.
He put the gun away. I watched his fingers wrap around the butt and send it spinning out the window. “What do you want, Johnny? Say it before I change my mind.”
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “The night Minnow died... had his office been searched?”
His breath hissed out slowly. He said one word. “Yes.”
“What was taken?”
“I don’t know. The killer didn’t look far because things weren’t too messed up.”
“And you were the only one who noticed it.”
He looked out the window and spit disgustedly. “I didn’t notice it until two days later when I went back to his office.” His shoulders moved under a sigh. “I was so damned mad it took me that long,” he explained.
“There was a letter there. It had ‘Harlan’ written on it.” He got the pitch right off. “You saw his wife?”
“Yeah.”
“I checked on that angle.”
“Without finding the letter. There was nothing.” He held out his hand. “Give me another cig.” I shook one out and lit it for him. “I checked every movement he made that night. His wife was pretty excited about the whole affair... thought he contacted the girl or something, but he didn’t.
“He went out and bought a paper. He drove downtown, stopped in Philbert’s where he made a few purchases, went across the street to a bar and had a few drinks and went home. The bartender said that while he was there he was deep in thought. He didn’t do anything special and nobody noticed anything special.”
“But you never found the letter?”
“No.”
“Did you ever think about what could have happened to it?”
“I think I know. The person came back and claimed it.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Mrs. Minnow said Tucker called him about a special delivery letter.”
“That’s right.” He took a long pull on the cigarette and filled the car with smoke.
“What was it about?”
“Hell, how do I know? He picked it up at the desk and stuck it in his pocket. He probably filed it away somewhere.”
“Find that letter, Lindsey. Go through every damn cabinet and drawer in the place, but find it.”
“Just a minute...”
“You said you wanted to find a killer.” I looked at him coldly. “I’m not ordering you around, I’m giving you something that might tie in. Find that letter.”
His mouth clamped tight. “And what will you be doing?”
“Finding out who wrote it and why.”
He smoked that cigarette right down to the tip without saying anything. When it was finished he threw it out after the other one, squinted his face into a snarl and climbed out. Behind me I heard his car turn over, then pull away from the curb.
A week I told him. Seven days. It wasn’t very long. I rolled the car forward and turned the corner. I traveled slowly and kept my eyes on the street signs until I found the one I wanted.
I parked in front of the building, took the elevator up and pushed the bell that had Servo on the nameplate.
Nobody answered.
I tried again, waited and still nobody answered. I went back downstairs to the super’s apartment and pushed his bell too.
The guy was all smiles at the prospect of company even if he was in his shorts. I said, “Servo come in?”
He shook his head. “Hell, I dunno. His babe went outa here in a hurry awhile back, I know that. Just as I was coming up from fixing the hot water burner.”
“She have clothes on?”
“Yeah.” He showed his gums again. “They didn’t fit, neither. You know what? She had on a green dress with spangles. Them whores upstairs... one of ’em got a dress just like it.”
“Okay. I got it.”
He squinted his eyes at me and kept his voice down. “Somebody kicked Servo around.”
“That was me.”
“Thought so. Give it to him good?”
“Uh-huh. Why?”
“I was wondering. Him and somebody been doing a lot of arguing up there. For a while I thought maybe there was a fight in his place only I didn’t hear anything like that. Just arguing. They was sore as hell about something.”
This time I gave him a ten. He folded it up and kept it in the palm of his hand. “What floor are the babes on?”
“Top. 7E. They’re alone tonight.”
I went back to the elevator and let it haul me up. At 7E I rapped on the door until somebody told me to cut it out, they were coming and to take my time.
The brunette that opened the door had on a housecoat and nothing else. She gave me a surprised grin and said, “Well, if it isn’t our tired playmate. So you finally woke up. Come on in.”
She was one of the pair Jack had sent up to me in the hotel. I said, “I’m not in the market, sugar. Right now I want some information. Downstairs there’s a girl... Servo’s girl. She left awhile ago.”
Her professional smile disappeared. “So what.”
That was the sister-in-trouble act. This was another wall I had to break down fast. “She came up here and borrowed a dress. She lammed and I want to know why.”
“Maybe she wanted to see the town. How’d I know. Look, feller, you go...”
“The kid’s in hot water up to her ears. If you want her to get in deeper then clam up. I can find out someplace else, you know.”
She didn’t like it a bit. Her teeth fastened to her lip while she tried to make up her mind. Maybe I looked honest enough to suit her. “She was scared, that’s why.”
“Servo?”
“She didn’t say. She was damn near hysterical and wouldn’t talk. All she wanted was some clothes. You know what the matter was?”
“No. Did she say where she was going?”
“As far as I could make out she was leaving town. She was scared stiff about something and we thought that maybe Servo had worked her over. He’s good at doing things that don’t show any marks. Good at doing it so it does show too.”
“Just that?”
For a second she chewed on her lip again. “No... there was something else. She was babbling about something in the paper tonight. She said she’d be next or something like that. I was running around too much to notice.”
I let it sink in, then reached behind me and opened the door. “Thanks, I’ll find her.”
“I hope so. If anybody asks where she got the clothes, you don’t know, understand?”
“Don’t worry.”
“That crazy bastard was afraid to let her out without him. He did everything but keep her on a leash.”
“She liked it that way, didn’t she?”
“Hell, why not? She got everything she wanted. She went out often enough and she kept talking of going away for good next year. That’s all she lived for... a little place in California all her own.”
“Tough,” I said. “Thanks again.” I shut the door and let the elevator take me downstairs again.
I found a newstand not too far off and picked up a copy of the Lyncastle News. It was a good copy for my scrapbook. My picture was on the front page with the story of George Wilson, the one-man crime wave, and how he was someplace in Lyncastle. The reporters must have been right on hand when Lindsey got that anonymous phone call and he let them go to town on it. There was a paragraph at the bottom of special interest. It said the F.B.I. was interested in George Wilson too and were looking for him.
Big deal. I get Lindsey to give me a break and Uncle Sam takes over.
But the item I really wanted was on the back of the second page. It was a small squib about four inches long and recounted the details of a woman who committed suicide early that evening. Two kids had seen her jump into the quarry and by the time help arrived she was dead. An autopsy showed she was drunk at the time and a close check on her activities disclosed that she had been making the rounds of the highway taverns. Her fingerprints were on file with the local Board of Health and identified her as a waitress in the ABC Diner. The cause of death was remorse over the recent murder of her roommate. They gave her name as Irene Godfrey, her address at the Pine Tree Gardens and that was all.