tells me that I am clever but believe me she knows her onions an' maybe she is tryin' to play me for a sucker.
I put my foot on the gas an' whiz. I have made up my mind about somethin'. I am goin' to see Metts an' fix a little thing with him. I am sorta sick of all these people takin' me for a ride. I am goin' to start somethin', an' I am goin' to start it pronto.
Work it out for yourself. I been kickin' around here talkin' to people till I'm sick. I been back to New York an' heard a lotta phoney stuff from Burdell. The only time I got anything worth while was when I pulled a gun on Fernandez an' he told me about Paulette.
Every time I get nice with people they give me the ha-ha, an' it looks to me that all there is left for me to do is to get myself some silk shirts an' go in for bein' a sissy.
Whoever is behind this bezusus has got one helluva nerve. They have only kept me kickin' around findin' out sweet nothin', but they have also ironed out Sagers an' are kiddin' themselves that they got away with that too.
OK. Well, if they want it tough they can have it tough.
So here we go!
CHAPTER 8
I NEVER did like mornin's after. They get in my hair. You always think about the one you oughta have pulled the night before, the one you didn't think of.
When I wake up the sun is shinin' through the window curtains an' I feel that I am goin' to get movin' so fast that some of these guys are goin' to think they was bein' chased by lightnin'. Me-I'm a patient sorta cuss, but there is a time when you gotta do somethin' an' it looks to me like the time is right now.
I get up an' I take a shower an' drink some coffee. While I am drinkin' it I am thinkin' of all the things that I oughta have pulled on Henrietta last night that I never did. Work it out for yourself that this dame is doin' one of two things. She is either stuck on me so much that she will tell me anything I want, or else she is twicin' me an' has gotta put up a front that she will tell me anythin' I want. So either way I reckon that I missed a lotta opportunities.
Sittin' on the edge of the bed I start rememberin' when I was back at the Federal school learnin' my stuff. I remember some old guy who used to give us lectures on this an' that:
'Do somethin',' this old palooka usta say. 'Don't stick around an' think too much. If you ain't gotta lead, make one. If you don't know what to do start measurin' up the room or talkin' to people, or creatin' situations in which guys who are tryin' to hide a fact you want, will get scared an' blow it.'
Was he right or was he. OK. This is where I start.
First of all you are goin' to agree with me that I am entitled to think that everybody connected with this set-up is playin' me like I was a mug who is so dumb that he has got moss growin' out of his ears through not thinkin'. Everybody in this bezusus is tryin' to two-time somebody else. Start with Burdell; this guy, after doin' a big kind friend act with Henrietta an' gettin' the Aymes servants to say that she wasn't in New York on the night of the death, is now doin' everything he can to get the idea in my head that she bumped Granworth. Fernandez is helpin' him along. He pretends that he wanted to marry Henrietta until he got the idea that she was responsible for this counterfeitin' stuff an' then he changes his mind. Burdell helps along in this idea by sayin' that he only started to blow the works after he thought that Henrietta was in on the counterfeitin'.
An' what about Henrietta?
She just sticks around an' she don't say a durn thing that matters except to make a big play for me an' tell me that I am the cat's lingerie; that she could fall for me like a son of old coke an' that generally I have only gotta go for her an' I am right in the front row with bells on.
Me - I could go for Henrietta all right. But I do not make a play for dames that are suspects in murder cases. I think that it would interfere with business. Anyway she knows what my job is an' therefore she must not blame me if I kinda think she is tryin' to pull something very fast.
Maybe some of these guys are goin' to get surprised an' that goes for Henrietta too, because I am goin' to start somethin' an' I am goin' to start it right now.
An' I am not being side-tracked. If Burdell or Henrietta or anybody else think that I am the sorta guy who can be locoed off the job then they have gotta think some more.
There is only two angles on this job that interest me right now, an' I reckon you will agree with me when I say what they are. First of all I am very interested in the state of mind of this guy Granworth Aymes just before he died. It's stickin' out a mile that this palooka ain't got any cause to commit suicide. He has got dough; he has got health - because the Insurance Company passed him as fit-an' I am certainly not goin' to believe that he was goin' to commit suicide just because Henrietta tells him that she is goin' to take a run-out powder on him an' get a divorce. Why should he? A guy who is chasm' around with a lotta other dames - like Fernandez said he was-ain't goin' to get burned up just because his wife gets wise an jibs. The fact that he tried to commit suicide once before don't cut any ice. When he tried it before he was so drunk that he didn't know a thing.
When he said that he was goin' to start over again an' be a good guy maybe he meant it. It certainly looks like he did, because no guy is goin' to be mug enough to take out a big insurance policy an' pay a helluva down premium if he is goin' to bump himself off knowin' that the company have barred payment over suicide.
The fact that Granworth took out this policy stands out as bein' important to me.
The other thing is this Paulette Benito. The first idea that bumps into anybody's head is that maybe this dame has got somethin' to do with it. But I don't reckon that this is so because you gotta realise that if Burdell and Fernandez had wanted to get her in bad they coulda blown this woman stuff before and dragged her into it. No, I reckon that nobody thought that she was important in this thing an' that they didn't mention her because they wanted to concentrate attention on Henrietta.
But it is a cinch that this Paulette dame has got to know somethin'. If she was aces high with Granworth then I bet he woulda spoke to her about his wife; more so if he an' Henrietta was in bad with each other, an' maybe this Paulette can tell me somethin' about Henrietta that will shed a spotta light on the counterfeitin' job. I reckon I am goin' to see this Paulette just as soon as I have pulled a coupla other things around here, an' that dame is goin' to talk, an' talk plenty, even if she is in Mexico an' outa US jurisdiction; because you gotta realise that this dump Sonoyta where she is stayin' is right on the Mexican side of the Arizona state line an' if I have to get her into US territory to make her talk I am goin' to do it, an' I am not goin' to wait for any extradition either, even if I haveta take her over the line by her back hair.
An' all of this stuff will make it plain to you that I am gettin' good an' burned up about this business. Somebody is tryin' to take me for a ride an' I don't like it.
I put a call through to Metts, the Police Chief in Palm Springs, an' I have a little talk with him an' we fix things up.
Metts is a good guy an' has got intelligence. Also he is good at co-operatin', which is more than you can say about some coppers I have known.
We fix it this way. He is goin' to get two highway cops to run out to the Hacienda an' pick up Henrietta. They will bring her into Metts' office at eleven o'clock. At half past twelve, just when Periera an' Fernandez are wonderin' what it is all about, the cops will go back an' pull in those two heroes an' bring them along. After which I reckon that we will get goin'.
I fix myself up nice an' pretty. I put on a swell grey suit I have got an' a light grey fedora an' a silver grey tie, just so's to kid myself that I am goin' places, an' then I ease over to Metts' office at the police headquarters an' say how-do.
Metts gives me his office an' a cigar an' I sit there an' wait.
Pretty soon two cops bring in Henrietta. She is lookin' good an' surprised, an' she is also lookin' very swell. Boy, can that dame pick clothes an' wear 'em!
