Carny kill

agreed. He'd come out to the Hispaniola late that night. But you didn't want to do him in that close to your homebase. So when he came down to the Admiral Benbow dock, you were already waiting for him in the tearoom.'

Mike watched me, beaming expectantly.

'The lights would be out, of course,' I said, thinking about it.

'You would call him over to the tearoom on some pretense or other. He steps through the door into pitch darkness and you're there waiting with the knife. Bingo.'

'Do you need a light for that cigarette, Thax?'

'It's all right. I've got one.'

'Don't let me interrupt you, then. It's fascinating.'

'Isn't it? And it gets better.' I fished out a match and lit up.

'So. Then you tote him into one of the rowboats and you row across the lake in the dark and you cart him over the little stretch of land and dump him in the Swamp Ride. With May's knife still in him, of course. And you remember to plant May's jade earring in the mudbank where any stumble-bum cop will find it. Then back to the Hispaniola and the black coffee and insomnia.'

I grinned at him. 'You know, I couldn't quite pin you at first.'

'How's that, Thax?'

'I mean all the highstrung energy. It's obvious that you're on something, but I never put you down as needle nuts. It's Bennys, huh? Or Dexamyl or Dexedrine? That's the reason for all the black coffee. It keeps activating the pep pills. How do you keep going without sleep though?'

He placed a hand over his heart and spoke dramatically.

'A man in love needs no sleep.' Then he laughed at himself. 'As long as you've interrupted your narration, let me ask you this. Why didn't I just leave the body in the tea room?'

'Um. That's one of the things that started me thinking about you as a possible suspect. Look what happened in _Treasure Island_. Everyone figured the treasure should be in Flint's cache because all the facts pointed to that conclusion. But when they got there they drew a blank, because foxy old Ben Gunn had already picked up the loot and moved it somewhere else. Dandy joke.'

I said, 'That's your style, Mike. You love a good laugh at other people's expense. That business of leaping out at me like Ben Gunn, and of boasting about jumping out on all the little girls and making them wet their panties. You like to shock people, Mike. You like to hit 'em with a startling surprise and then stand back and laugh. And you love a risk. You're the kind of nut who actually enjoys living on the edge of disaster. Like that gamble you took with Bill Duff in the poker game. That was pure brinksmanship.'

Mike laughed delightedly.

'Will you ever forget the look on Bill's face? Good old Bill! But go on, Thax. I'm enjoying this.'

I knew he was. Because the whole thing, the way he had laid it out-was another big risk. And I had an idea that he had an ace in the hole. I even thought I knew the color of the ace.

'There was no reason on earth to move that body,' I said. 'You did it for pure shock value. If you'd left it in the tearoom the first waitress who opened up in the morning would walk in and see it and go Gaa! Not much fun in that. Just one person. But if you dumped it in the Swamp Ride you could really raise the roof.

'Just picture it,' I said. 'A whole boatload of happy marks ohing and ahing along the waterway. Then they turn the bend and what do they see floating in the water?'

Mike laughed and slapped his hands.

'Beautiful!' he said. 'And I'm still sick it didn't work.'

'Yes,' I said dryly, 'what a shame that freckle-faced kid squelched all the fun.' I pitched my cigarette butt through the stem window and said, 'So now we come to Terry Orme.

'Just when you figured you'd pulled a perfect crime, blackmail walked in and put the screws on you. So you knew there had been a witness but you didn't know who. Then I accidentally gave you a tip when I told you Orme bunked in the tree house. Sure, you figured. Orme is always climbing around in the dark, peeking in on other people's business. Orme had to be the witness. So…'

'So you helped me out by walking in here and asking for a drink.'

'Uh-huh. And you doped it and I passed out and then you laid for Orme in the treehouse.'

'And then?' Mike prompted me.

'There isn't much more,' I said. 'Right after Terry took the big drop is when I put on my thinking cap and my thoughts slowly turned me in your direction. So I had to be eliminated next.'

Mike was smiling at me. He said nothing.

'But that was the big slipup,' I said. 'Because you didn't handle it. If you had, I'd probably be one day dead right now.'

'Go ahead,' Mike said. 'Tell us why I didn't handle it.'

'Because I figure you didn't even know about it, Mike. And the person who did was already too panicky to have a third murder turn up on the lot. So she hired some big city badboys to do the deed in some far-out remote spot.'

I looked at the louvered wardrobe across the cabin.

'Is that right, May?' I said.

There was a pause and then both louvered doors swung noiselessly open and May stood there as gorgeous as a George Petty picture, in a bright, tight red outfit that accentuated her flame hair. She was holding one of her pearlhandled knives.

18

'You're so goddam smart, darling,' May said to me in her stainless steel voice. 'It's simply breathtaking to listen to you.'

'Maybe I can get a job with Ferris,' I said.

'I don't see how, darling,' May said. 'I really don't. Because I don't think you're going to be for hire much longer. Hasn't your brilliant mind figured out why we lured you out here tonight?'

'Um. I think I can make a guess as to how both of you thought I'd react once I saw Mike's summons. You figured I'd rush out here and tell you all I know-which I have just done-and then I'd make a play at holding you up for blackmail. Which isn't a part of my plan.'

Mike raised his brows at me. 'Is this a rib, Thax? You honestly never intended to make a stab at blackmail?'

'I honestly never did, Mike. Oh sure, I'd like a big chunk of May's dough for keeping my mouth shut, but it won't work. The deal has already gone sour. There's too many angles to it. Too many people have tried to climb on the bandwagon. Sooner or later it's bound to come apart at the seams. I don't want to be inside the bag when it does.'

I watched May's hand-the one with the knife.

'Let's face it,' I said. 'You baited the trap with blackmail when you drew me out here tonight. But we all know you have something more practical in mind. Like a man I knew said: murder and blackmail are two divergent businesses.'

'Then why did you come out here, Thax?' Mike asked.

'Because he's a damn fool!' May said sharply. 'He's always been a damn fool. He thinks he can talk his way out of anything.'

'That's just about the truth,' I admitted. 'You see, Mike, I never actually finished anything I ever started to do in my life. But this time I made up my mind I'd see this deal out to the end. And speaking of the end…'

I leaned forward as if to stand up. In the next instant I had May covered with the automatic.

'Better drop the knife, May,' I said.

Mike lowered his coffee cup to the table. He said, 'You wouldn't really kifi us, would you, Thax?'