'It's not his step, it's the back of his lap he ought to watch,' I said.
'I suppose that's funny,' the blonde squealed.
'It has been,' I said. 'But it probably isn't any more.'
'Save the gags,' Brody advised me. 'Joe's watchin' his step plenty. Put some light on so I can see to pop this guy, if it works out that way.'
The blonde snicked on a light in a big square standing lamp. She sank down into a chair beside the lamp and sat stiffly, as if her girdle was too tight. I put my cigar in my mouth and bit the end off. Brody's Colt took a close interest in me while I got matches out and lit the cigar. I tasted the smoke and said:
'The sucker list I spoke of is in code. I haven't cracked it yet, but there are about five hundred names. You got twelve boxes of books that I know of. You should have at least five hundred books. There'll be a bunch more out on loan, but say five hundred is the full crop, just to be cautious. If it's a good active list and you could run it even fifty per cent down the line, that would be one hundred and twenty-five thousand rentals. Your girl friend knows an about that. I'm only guessing. Put the average rental as low as you like, but it won't be less than a dollar. That merchandise costs money. At a dollar a rental you take one hundred and twenty-five grand and you still have your capital. I mean, you still have Geiger's capital. That's enough to spot a guy for.'
The blonde yelped: 'You're crazy, you goddam eggheaded — !'
Brody put his teeth sideways at her and snarled: 'Pipe down, for Chrissake. Pipe down!'
She subsided into an outraged mixture of slow anguish and bottled fury. Her silvery nails scraped on her knees.
'It's no racket for bums,' I told Brody almost affectionately. 'It takes a smooth worker like you, Joe. You've got to get confidence and keep it. People who spend their money for second-hand sex jags are as nervous as dowagers who can't find the rest room. Personally I think the blackmail angles are a big mistake. I'm for shedding all that and sticking to legitimate sales and rentals.'
Brody's dark brown stare moved up and down my face. His Colt went on hungering for my vital organs. 'You're a funny guy,' he said tonelessly. 'Who has this lovely racket?'
'You have,' I said. 'Almost.'
The blonde choked and clawed her ear. Brody didn't say anything. He just looked at me.
'What?' the blonde yelped. 'You sit there and try to tell us Mr. Geiger ran the kind of business right down on the main drag? You're nuts!'
I leered at her politely. 'Sure I do. Everybody knows the racket exists. Hollywood's made to order for it. If a thing like that has to exist, then right out on the street is where all practical coppers want it to exist. For the same reason they favor red light districts. They know where to flush the game when they want to.'
'My God,' the blonde wailed. 'You let this cheesehead sit there and insult me, Joe? You with a gun in your hand and him holding nothing but a cigar and his thumb?'
'I like it,' Brody said. 'The guy's got good ideas. Shut your trap and keep it shut, or I'll slap it shut for you with this.' He flicked the gun around in an increasingly negligent manner.
The blonde gasped and turned her face to the wall. Brody looked at me and said cunningly: 'How have I got that lovely racket?'
'You shot Geiger to get it. Last night in the rain. It was dandy shooting weather. The trouble is he wasn't alone when you whiffed him. Either you didn't notice that, which seems unlikely, or you got the wind up and lammed. But you had nerve enough to take the plate out of his camera and you had nerve enough to come back later on and hide his corpse, so you could tidy up on the books before the law knew it had a murder to investigate.'
'Yah,' Brody said contemptuously. The Colt wobbled on his knee. His brown face was as hard as a piece of carved wood. 'You take chances, mister. It's kind of goddamned lucky for you I didn't bop Geiger.'
'You can step off for it just the same,' I told him cheerfully. 'You're made to order for the rap.'
Brody's voice rustled. 'Think you got me framed for it?'
'Positive.'
'How come?'
'There's somebody who'll tell it that way. I told you there was a witness. Don't go simple on me, Joe.'
He exploded then. 'That goddamned little hot pants!' he yelled. 'She would, god damn her! She would — just that!'
I leaned back and grinned at him. 'Swell. I thought you had those nude photos of her.'
He didn't say anything. The blonde didn't say anything. I let them chew on it. Brody's face cleared slowly, with a sort of grayish relief. He put his Colt down on the end table beside his chair but kept his right hand close to it. He knocked ash from his cigar on the carpet and stared at me with eyes that were a tight shine between narrowed lids.
'I guess you think I'm dumb,' Brody said.
'Just average, for a grifter. Get the pictures.'
'What pictures?'
I shook my head. 'Wrong play, Joe. Innocence gets you nowhere. You were either there last night, or you got the nude photo from somebody that was there. You knew she was there, because you had your girl friend threaten Mrs. Regan with a police rap. The only ways you could know enough to do that would be by seeing what happened or by holding the photo and knowing where and when it was taken. Cough up and be sensible.'
'I'd have to have a little dough,' Brody said. He turned his head a little to look at the green-eyed blonde. Not now green-eyed and only superficially a blonde. She was as limp as a fresh-killed rabbit.
'No dough,' I said.
He scowled bitterly. 'How'd you get to me?'
I flicked my wallet out and let him look at my buzzer. 'I was working on Geiger — for a client. I was outside last night, in the rain. I heard the shots. I crashed in. I didn't see the killer. I saw everything else.'
'And kept your lip buttoned,' Brody sneered.
I put my wallet away. 'Yes,' I admitted. 'Up till now. Do I get the photos or not?'
'About these books,' Brody said. 'I don't get that.'
'I tailed them here from Geiger's store. I have a witness.'
'That punk kid?'
'What punk kid?'
He scowled again. 'The kid that works at the store. He skipped out after the truck left. Agnes don't even know where he flops.'
'That helps,' I said, grinning at him. 'That angle worried me a little. Either of you ever been in Geiger's house — before last night?'
'Not even last night,' Brody said sharply. 'So she says I gunned him, eh?'
'With the photos in hand I might be able to convince her she was wrong. There was a little drinking being done.'
Brody sighed. 'She hates my guts. I bounced her out. I got paid, sure, but I'd of had to do it anyway. She's too screwy for a simple guy like me.' He cleared his throat. 'How about a little dough? I'm down to nickels. Agnes and me gotta move on.'
'Not from my client.'
'Listen — '
'Get the pictures, Brody.'
'Oh, hell,' he said. 'You win.' He stood up and slipped the Colt into his side pocket. His left hand went up inside his coat. He was holding it there, his face twisted with disgust, when the door buzzer rang and kept on ringing.
15
He didn't like that. His lower lip went in under his teeth, and his eyebrows drew down sharply at the
