Isham waved all that aside. "Who did kill Steiner?"
"The blonde girl will tell you."
"I want you to tell me."
I shrugged. "If you want me to guess Dravec"s driver, Carl Owen."
Isham didn"t look too surprised. Violets M"Gee grunted loudly.
"What makes you think so?" Isham asked.
"I thought for a while it could be Marty, partly because the girl said so. But that doesn"t mean anything. She didn"t know, and jumped at the chance to stick a knife into Marty. And she"s a type that doesn"t let loose of an idea very easily. But Marty didn"t act like a killer. And a man as cool as Marty wouldn"t have run out that way. I hadn"t even banged on the door when the killer started to scram.
"Of course I thought of Slade, too. But Slade"s not quite the type either. He packs two gunmen around with him, and they"d have made some kind of a fight of it. And Slade seemed genuinely surprised when he found the blood on the floor this afternoon. Slade was in with Steiner and keeping tabs on him, but he didn"t kill him, didn"t have any reason to kill him, and wouldn"t have killed him that way, in front of a witness, if he had a reason.
"But Carl Owen would. He was in love with the girl once, probably never got over it. He had chances to spy on her, find out where she went and what she did. He lay for Steiner, got in the back way, saw the nude photo stunt and blew his top. He let Steiner have it. Then the panic got him and he just ran."
"Ran all the way to Lido pier, and then off the end of that," Isham said dryly. "Aren"t you forgetting that the Owen boy had a sap wound on the side of his head?"
I said: "No. And I"m not forgetting that somehow or other Marty knew what was on that camera plate or nearly enough to make him go in and get it and then hide a body in Steiner"s garage to give him room."
Isham said: "Get Agnes Laurel in here, Grinnell."
Grinnell heaved up out of his chair and strolled the length of the office, disappeared through a door.
Violets M"Gee said: "Baby, are you a pal!"
I didn"t look at him. Isham pulled the loose skin in front of his Adam"s apple and looked down at the fingernails of his other hand.
Grinnell came back with the blonde. Her hair was untidy above the collar of her coat. She had taken the jet b.u.t.tons out of her ears. She looked tired but she didn"t look scared any more. She let herself down slowly into the chair at the end of the table where Slade had sat, folded her hands with the silvered nails in front of her.
Isham said quietly: "All right, Miss Laurel. We"d like to hear from you now."
The girl looked down at her folded hands and talked without hesitation, in a quiet, even voice.
"I"ve known Joe Marty about three months. He made friends with me because I was working for Steiner, I guess. I thought it was because he liked me. I told him all I knew about Steiner. He already knew a little. He had been spending money he had got from Carmen Dravec"s father, but it was gone and he was down to nickels and dimes, ready for something else. He decided Steiner needed a partner and he was watching him to see if he had any tough friends in the background.
"Last night he was in his car down on the street back of Steiner"s house. He heard the shots, saw the kid tear down the steps, jump into a big sedan and take it on the lam. Joe chased him. Half-way to the beach, he caught him and ran him off the road. The kid came up with a gun, but his nerve was bad and Joe sapped him down. While he was out Joe went through him and found out who he was. When he came round Joe played copper and the kid broke and gave him the story. While Joe was wondering what to do about it the kid came to life and knocked him off the car and scrammed again. He drove like a crazy guy and Joe let him go. He went back to Steiner"s house. I guess you know the rest. When Joe had the plate developed and saw what he had he went for a quick touch so we could get out of town before the law found Steiner. We were going to take some of Steiner"s books and set up shop in another city."
Agnes Laurel stopped talking. Isham tapped with his fingers, said: "Marty told you everything, didn"t he?"
"Uh-huh."
"Sure he didn"t murder this Carl Owen?"
"I wasn"t there. Joe didn"t act like he"d killed anybody."
Isham nodded. "That"s all for now, Miss Laurel. We"ll want all that in writing. We"ll have to hold you, of course."
The girl stood up. Grinnell took her out. She went out without looking at anyone.
Isham said: "Marty couldn"t have known Carl Owen was dead. But he was sure he"d try to hide out. By the time we got him Marty would have collected from Dravec and moved on. I think the girl"s story sounds reasonable."
n.o.body said anything. After a moment Isham said to me: "You made one bad mistake. You shouldn"t have mentioned Marty to the girl until you were sure he was your man. That got two people killed quite unnecessarily."
I said: "Uh-huh. Maybe I better go back and do it over again."
"Don"t get tough."
"I"m not tough. I was working for Dravec and trying to save him from a little heartbreak. I didn"t know the girl was as screwy as all that, or that Dravec would have a brainstorm. I wanted the pictures. I didn"t care a lot about trash like Steiner or Joe Marty and his girl friend, and still don"t."
"Okay. Okay," Isham said impatiently. "I don"t need you any more tonight. You"ll probably be panned plenty at the inquest."
He stood up and I stood up. He held out his hand.
"But that will do you a h.e.l.l of a lot more good than harm," he added dryly.
I shook hands with him and went out. M"Gee came out after me. We rode down in the elevator together without speaking to each other. When we got outside the building M"Gee went around to the right side of my Chrysler and got into it.
"Got any liquor at your dump?"
"Plenty," I said.
"Let"s go get some of it."
I started the car and drove west along First Street, through a long echoing tunnel. When we were out of that, M"Gee said: "Next time I send you a client I won"t expect you to snitch on him, boy."
We went on through the quiet evening to the Berglund. I felt tired and old and not much use to anybody.
Mini Modern Cla.s.sics
RYNOSUKE A AKUTAGAWA h.e.l.l Screen h.e.l.l Screen KINGSLEY A AMIS Dear Illusion Dear Illusion DONALD B BARTHELME Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby SAMUEL B BECKETT The Expelled The Expelled SAUL B BELLOW Him With His Foot in His Mouth Him With His Foot in His Mouth JORGE L LUIS B BORGES The Widow Ching Pirate The Widow Ching Pirate PAUL B BOWLES The Delicate Prey The Delicate Prey ITALO C CALVINO The Queen"s Necklace The Queen"s Necklace ALBERT C CAMUS The Adulterous Woman The Adulterous Woman TRUMAN C CAPOTE Children on Their Birthdays Children on Their Birthdays ANGELA C CARTER Bluebeard Bluebeard RAYMOND C CHANDLER Killer in the Rain Killer in the Rain EILEEN C CHANG Red Rose, White Rose Red Rose, White Rose G. K. CHESTERTON The Strange Crime of John Boulnois The Strange Crime of John Boulnois JOSEPH C CONRAD Youth Youth ROBERT C COOVER Romance of the Thin Man and the Fat Lady Romance of the Thin Man and the Fat Lady ISAK D DINESEN [K [KAREN B BLIXEN] Babette"s Feast Babette"s Feast MARGARET D DRABBLE The Gifts of War The Gifts of War HANS F FALLADA Short Treatise on the Joys of Morphinism Short Treatise on the Joys of Morphinism F. SCOTT F FITZGERALD Babylon Revisited Babylon Revisited IAN F FLEMING The Living Daylights The Living Daylights E. M. FORSTER The Machine Stops The Machine Stops SHIRLEY J JACKSON The Tooth The Tooth HENRY J JAMES The Beast in the Jungle The Beast in the Jungle M. R. JAMES Canon Alberic"s Sc.r.a.p-Book Canon Alberic"s Sc.r.a.p-Book JAMES J JOYCE Two Gallants Two Gallants FRANZ K KAFKA In the Penal Colony In the Penal Colony RUDYARD K KIPLING "They" "They"
D. H. LAWRENCE Odour of Chrysanthemums Odour of Chrysanthemums PRIMO L LEVI The Magic Paint The Magic Paint H. P. LOVECRAFT The Colour Out of s.p.a.ce The Colour Out of s.p.a.ce MALCOLM L LOWRY Lunar Caustic Lunar Caustic KATHERINE M MANSFIELD Bliss Bliss CARSON M MCCULLERS Wunderkind Wunderkind ROBERT M MUSIL Flypaper Flypaper VLADIMIR N NABOKOV Terra Incognita Terra Incognita R. K. NARAYAN A Breath of Lucifer A Breath of Lucifer FRANK O"C O"CONNOR The Cornet-Player Who Betrayed Ireland The Cornet-Player Who Betrayed Ireland DOROTHY P PARKER The s.e.xes The s.e.xes LUDMILLA P PETRUSHEVSKAYA Through the Wall Through the Wall JEAN R RHYS La Grosse Fifi La Grosse Fifi SAKI Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse That Helped Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse That Helped ISAAC B BASHEVIS S SINGER The Last Demon The Last Demon WILLIAM T TREVOR The Mark-2 Wife The Mark-2 Wife JOHN U UPDIKE Rich in Russia Rich in Russia H. G. WELLS The Door in the Wall The Door in the Wall EUDORA W WELTY Moon Lake Moon Lake P. G. WODEHOUSE The Crime Wave at Blandings The Crime Wave at Blandings VIRGINIA W WOOLF The Lady in the Looking-Gla.s.s The Lady in the Looking-Gla.s.s STEFAN Z ZWEIG Chess Chess