Nothing More Than Murder

'Whatever he does is all right,' I said. 'He's been kind enough to take care of things for me. He'll probably have to stay on for a while longer.'

'Well,'-Blair stroked his chin-'technically he doesn't have the owner's right to operate the projectors. But we'll play along with you. Under the circumstances.'

'Thanks,' I said.

'Don't mention it, Joe. You don't owe me a thing.' He laughed again, and Jimmie kind of smirked, and they drove off.

I headed for Hap's hotel, boiling.

He was in his room, dressing, when I went up. He had on his pants and shoes, and he came to the door taking the pins out of one of those fancy twenty-dollar shirts.

'Goddam you, Hap,' I said. 'What's the idea of giving Jimmie two weeks off? What do you think you've got on me, anyway? I suppose you think I'm going to pay him.'

'Entirely unnecessary, old man. I paid him myself-out of the receipts.'

'I asked you what the idea was!'

'Just a sec,' he said. 'I'll open the windows. They can hear us in the next block then as well as this one.'

I sat down and lowered my voice. 'All right. Spill it.'

'Why, it's quite simple, laddie. I intend to stay around for a time, and staying requires some justification. Ergo, young James gets a rest; a rest which, even from my conservative viewpoint, seems long overdue.'

'Generous, aren't you?' I said.

'Oh, now, but why shouldn't I be with your money?' He raised his eyebrows. 'As a matter of fact, however, I'm quite taken with Jamie boy. He's the sort I've often found it profitable to cultivate. You know? The humble downtrodden worm with big ears?'

'If you intend to pump him about me,' I said, 'you won't get much.'

'Probably not, probably not,' he said. 'You always were frightfully clever. And it isn't really necessary, is it? Still-'

'What do you want, Hap?'

'Ah, now that's being sensible.' He sat down on the edge of the bed, and poked an arm into his shirt. 'Shall we say about five thousand dollars?'

'What for? Why should I give you five grand?'

'Well, to put it euphemistically, we'll say it's for the replacement of sixteen reels of priceless film.'

'Priceless? That crap!'

'Or we can say it's to keep me from doing my unpleasant duty. Unpleasant, that is, from the standpoint of losing five thousand. Aside from that, I really don't care whether you swing or not.'

He lit a cigarette and held the match, watching a fly crawl across the scarf of the reading-table. Suddenly, his hand went out and he stabbed it through with a pin. He held it into the flame, turning it while it sputtered and frizzled. He dropped it onto the floor and smeared it with his foot.

'Dashed funny thing, fire, isn't it?'

'Hap,' I said. 'Hap, suppose I had known that Sol Panzer was moving in on me, that I was broke. If I was trying to-if I was taking a quick way out, I'd have fired the show. I carry sixty thousand straight on it, plus one-fifty a week operation loss.'

'Uh-hah.' He nodded. 'Exactly the thought that occurred to me until I'd inspected your house. A splendid piece of construction, laddie. Utterly fireproof.'

'But-but I didn't-'

'But me not buts, old man. Simply earmark five of the twenty-five thousand now due you as indemnity for your late spouse for yours truly. And please hurry it along. I'm purchasing a new car.'

'I can't-there's no way I can hurry it,' I said.

'No? I suppose not. Well, it shouldn't be long at any rate.'

'Yeah, but-'

He looked at me sharply. 'You haven't bungled things, have you?'

'No. I didn't mean that. Everything's jake.'

'If I thought you were going to be turned up anyway-' He paused, frowning. 'You know I have a very large conscience. I'm not at all sure that five thousand will be sufficient to salve it.'

'Yeah,' I said, 'I know.'

I'd been bluffed again. If I'd told him to go to hell in the beginning-But I couldn't tell him. Not any more than I could have told Andy Taylor to take his sign down. Now, as long as I had anything to get they'd never let up on me. And if either one of them got the idea that I might get the murder pinned on me, they'd step right in and give me a shove.

A person would be nuts to hold back evidence in a murder case unless he stood to clean up by it. There's such a thing as being an accessory. Besides, the insurance company would probably come through pretty heavy for information that would save twenty-five grand.

Hap finished dressing and we went downstairs together. I told him that I was running into the city.

'Oh?' he said. 'You wouldn't be taking a powder on me, would you?'

'Do I look stupid!' I said. 'Why should I?'

'No,' he said, 'I suppose you wouldn't. You want to check on my news about Panzer. Is that it?'

'I want to see if I can do something about it.'

'Such as?'

'I don't know,' I said. 'But I've got to make an effort. I've got a hundred-thousand-dollar property here. I can't just sit back and let it slide without lifting a hand.'

He stood studying me a moment, then nodded and opened the door of the car. He even took me by the elbow and made as if to help me in.

'Well, the best of luck to you, laddie, and Godspeed and all that rot.'

'So long,' I said.

'I have tremendous faith in you, old man. As well as a certain mercenary interest-you know?'

I drove off without answering. I knew, all right. He'd want a good heavy cut on anything I was able to pull. The more I had the more he and Andy would demand.

I eased up on the gas just outside of town, and started looking for a crossroads to turn around on. There wasn't a damned bit of use driving into the city. There wasn't any way I could stop Panzer, and even if there was what would it get me? It would all go for blackmail.

As I say, I almost stopped and turned around. And then I stepped on the gas and went on toward the city. But fast.

Carol? Well, sure, she wasn't to be overlooked and I hadn't. But as long as I could keep her from knowing I was skinned clean until afterward it would be all right. As long as she was sure I wasn't going to run out on her, she really wouldn't give a whoop about the money.

Believe it or not, it was Elizabeth who had slipped my mind. With Hap and Andy both tackling me in the space of an hour, Elizabeth had slipped into the background. And, anyway, it wouldn't have made much difference if she hadn't. Elizabeth was supposed to be dead. I couldn't tell Hap or Andy that the twenty-five grand had to go to her.

It would have to, though. What was it she'd said? 'There will be exceedingly unpleasant consequences if your memory should fail you-'

She'd have to get it all, right up to the last penny. Keeping Hap and Andy quiet wouldn't mean a thing, otherwise.

I had to go on. I had to keep the Barclay valuable so that I'd have something to trade for Hap's and Andy's silence.

With the best luck in the world I couldn't wind up with anything. With a little bad luck-just a little- well-

It wasn't right. It was crazy. All this trouble over a woman I didn't know-hadn't ever even seen; a woman, who, when you got right down to cases, didn't amount to a damn.

17

I woke up the next morning about six o'clock and just lay in bed, not knowing what to do, until after nine. In