“Damn important. A man has been killed, and a few people ought to know about it before the papers start asking them for a statement. Another thing that’s happened is that a couple of Manners’ thugs tried to pick me up a few minutes ago in the Capitol.”
Shayne showed him the Texas police shield.
“Fletcher, Texas,” Hitchcock said grimly. “That’s Manners, all right. You mean they attempted to pull off a kidnapping
“It’s not a bad place for it. It damn near worked.”
Hitchcock said abruptly, “All right, who besides Toby?”
“Your daughter. Senator Wall, Senator Redpath, Maggie Smith.”
“Maggie? I haven’t seen her. I thought she said she had to go to New York.”
He went back to the hearing room. Senator Redpath came in a moment later with Sam Toby and Trina Hitchcock. Toby’s face now had a carefree expression that seemed more natural to it. He was delighted to meet Shayne. His pleasure seemed genuine, but Shayne was in hopes that it wouldn’t last.
“Can you reach Manners by phone?” Shayne said.
Toby’s eyes became more wary. “Under certain conditions. He’s a strange man.”
“I took a police buzzer off one of his boys. Another one, a big guy named Stevens, took a shot at me in the Senate subway. That’s going to be in the papers unless he can talk me out of it. He’s probably standing by in a parking lot, isn’t he, with a phone in his car?” He pointed out a phone on the side table. “Call him.”
After thinking about alternatives for a moment, the lobbyist consulted a little book and dialled a number.
Hitchcock came in. “Maggie doesn’t seem to be there, Mike.”
Trina cried, “Maggie! Again? I thought that was all taken care of.”
“She changed her mind,” Shayne said, feeling a spurt of apprehension. He had been sure she was not in danger, or he wouldn’t have sent her home to change her clothes.
He rubbed the harsh growth of stubble on his chin. Telling them he would return in a moment, he went out to the corridor and around the corner to the door of the hearing room. Maggie was there, arguing fiercely with one of the guards.
“Mike!” she cried, running to him. “I couldn’t get in!”
“That dress is a great improvement.”
She smiled at him gratefully, and hugged his arm.
“God, Mike, I hope this works. They’re going to be a tough audience.”
“It had better work,” Shayne said.
Senator Wall had joined the others in the lounge. They were all talking in low worried voices. They broke off at once when Shayne came in.
“Did you get Manners?” he asked Toby.
“I got him,” Toby replied. “He may or may not be here. He’s not too predictable.”
Shayne looked around. “If any of you people haven’t been told who I am, my name is Mike Shayne. I’ve been retained by National Aviation to see what I can do about quieting this thing down without offending anybody important.”
“National Aviation!” Trina exclaimed.
“Well, you fired me, didn’t you, Miss Hitchcock? I needed a client, and National didn’t seem to be satisfied with the service they were getting.”
Sam Toby gave an odd little giggle, which he swallowed when Shayne looked at him. Senator Hitchcock, from a position on the arm of the chair nearest the door to the hearing room, put in, “Mike, I only called a ten-minute recess. The networks are covering this live. If we’re going to be out much longer, the courteous thing to do-”
“Let’s not do the courteous thing,” Shayne said brusquely. “It’s going to be news to some of you that an investigator who used to work for this subcommittee was murdered last night. His name was Ronald Bixler. You knew him, didn’t you, Wall?”
Wall’s face was gray. He was moving about jerkily, unable to hold still. “Bixler? We all knew him. Emory, you remember that incompetent little pipsqueak? — Always just about to discover something that would shake Washington to its foundations.
“I’m not sure I do,” Hitchcock said, frowning. “What did he work on for us?”
“It didn’t amount to anything,” Wall said. “He was definitely no ball of fire.”
Trina Hitchcock said, “Sit down, Tom. You’re making us nervous.”
Wall scowled and dropped onto a leather sofa. “So Bixler has been murdered. No doubt that’s a great tragedy to somebody. But he’s had no connection with the subcommittee for years. Get on with it, Shayne.”
Senator Redpath said, “I think it would be better if we let Shayne do this in his own way.”
Hugh Manners entered without knocking, wearing a black suit and a blue shirt with no tie. He looked around the room, checking off faces he knew, his mouth grim and unsmiling. His eyes ended on Shayne.
“Now we have our quorum,” Shayne said. “I hope we’ll come out of this with a deal that will satisfy everybody, or almost everybody, but we all have to understand what we’re up against. What you’re up against, Mr. Manners, is a charge of assault with intent to kill, and I know some Girl Scouts I can use as witnesses.”
“I’ve had a report on that,” Manners said evenly. “I think we’d better talk about it in private.”
“We’ve already tried that. Aren’t you going to offer Manners a chair, Toby?”
Toby hastily started to get up. Manners said coldly, “Stay where you are, Sam.”
“I talked to Mr. Manners last night,” Shayne explained, “and one of the things he said was that he never asked Toby any questions about his methods. He could use women, or bribes, or threats, and Manners didn’t give a goddamn so long as he produced. Anyway, you can’t complain about Toby because the opposition is even worse.”
“You’re way out in left field, Mike,” Toby protested.
“Shut up, Sam,” Manners said.
“I think it’s about time you learned how Toby got you this contract,” Shayne said. “It starts a year ago, when an investigator named Bixler got wind of a certain diary. He figured that if he could get that diary in his possession long enough to make a copy, he’d end up rich. But somebody on the subcommittee or the subcommittee’s staff found out what he was working on and had the same idea, and Bixler found himself in Chicago with a much better job. He didn’t think there was anything strange about this. He knew he deserved a promotion. Somebody else then took over the diary operation.”
“Can you prove any of this?” Wall demanded.
“Hell, no,” Shayne said pleasantly. “And that’s my problem. The maid who actually stole the diary thought she was doing it for Bixler. All the arrangements were made by phone. Now. One of the people who had a good reason for not wanting this diary to be leaked to the papers was an Air Force colonel named Oulihan. One of the things I intend to do is get him busted out of the Air Force. I think he’s the son of a bitch who put a couple of MP’s on me. Make a note of that, somebody. Bust Oulihan, and I’ll feel more cooperative about everything else. Oulihan happened to be in a key position in this contract competition. Manners had put in a bid, but you didn’t stand much of a chance, did you, Manners?”
“Not at that time, no.”
Toby said, “And that’s a big objection to this theory, Shayne. Not that I admit a damn thing, but Manners was too broke to make any kind of substantial payoff. One of the things I’m known for is not doing anything like that on speculation.”
“He paid off in stock,” Shayne said impatiently. “He’d jump at the chance. It was like shooting craps with play money, when everybody else is using real bills. His stock was trading at less than ten bucks a share. If the contract didn’t come through, it wouldn’t be worth a nickel. He’d be glad to lay out ten thousand shares. If it didn’t work, he wouldn’t be any worse off than he already was. But if it did, the stock would boom, and he wouldn’t have to hide any huge cash pay-out in his books. How’s the market this morning, anybody know?”
“We opened at a hundred and fourteen,” Manners said.
“Ten thousand shares times one hundred and fourteen-that’s over a million bucks. And the wonderful thing about it is that everybody stood to benefit, not just the blackmailer. Even Oulihan probably was smart enough to go into the market to pick up a few thousand shares. Toby had to let go of the stock Manners gave him, but I know it’s done wonders for his reputation as a wizard. The only person who wasn’t happy was Bixler. He’d never forgotten that old case he’d been pulled off of. He got himself transferred back to Washington and hunted up the maid who’d
