share.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got some information. You got some too. We share, and then once we trust each other, maybe then we can make a money deal.”
Bradford must have loved Paris more than he loved life and liberty. Paris was whispering in his ear, sweating through his pores. He stared at me so hard maybe he saw his beloved city in my stead.
“Timmerman called me,” he said at last. “Like you said.”
“Uh-huh. But Kit called you first, right?”
“Yes.”
“He said that he had the book,” I prompted.
“Yes.”
“Come on, Bradford. Don’t make this be like the dentist’s chair.”
“Mr. Mitchell called and said that he had the book, like you said. He wanted, he wanted money. Money I didn’t have.”
“Now how does a colored farmer come up with the private number of the personal secretary of one of the richest men in L.A.?”
Bradford wasn’t about to answer that question, so I did myself.
“Because,” I said, “Lance and Minna told you about the book. They came to you to get to their father. You were the go-between. But Kit fucked you up. He took the book for Bartholomew Perry and then kept it. BB was too conceited and gave Kit so much information that he thought that he could go out on his own. He cut out BB and Lance and Minna. But what he didn’t know was that cuttin’ them out put a definite crimp on you retiring to France.”
“You seem to know everything already,” Bradford said.
“Not why your boy Timmerman killed the Wexler kids,” I said. “Did you tell him to do that?”
“Certainly not.”
“Then why?”
“Do you have the book, Mr. Minton?”
“I don’t say a thing until you explain these murders to me,” I replied.
“Why? Why do you need to know?”
“There’s a legal term, Brad. It’s called accessory after the fact. If I try and make money from a crime I know has happened, then they can put me in jail for that crime.”
Our eyes met then. Two men, one white and one black, one an Australian and the other almost an American. Both of us aging a day for every minute that passed.
“I asked Timmerman to search Mr. Mitchell’s apartment for the book. He did not find it. Then we had the meeting here on this bench. He told me that he had been searching for Bartholomew Perry. I told him that Mr. Perry probably had the book or at least he had knowledge of where the book could be found. . . .” Bradford’s words trailed off there. He had taken me up to the door and now he was afraid to go through.
“So you sent Timmerman after Lance and Minna to try and get through to BB. You thought that maybe they were going to go to Winifred directly.” It was all supposition by then. I just needed to keep him talking.
“I didn’t know that he was going to kill them. I didn’t know what kind of man he was,” Bradford said, practicing for the trial. “I just told him to get in touch with them, to offer to help and see what they said.”
“Instead he tortured them to find out what the book was worth and then killed ’em to cut down on the number of potential partners in the crime.” I was flying by then.
“Now you know what I do,” Bradford said. “Can you help get the book?”
“I believe I can, my man. I believe I can.”
“How?”
“I’m pretty sure that Timmerman got the book somewhere on the way. When Fearless knocked him down I got his address and the key to his door. Fearless is there right now, lookin’ for the book. When he gets it I might consider sellin’ it to you.”
“Why?” Craighton asked suspiciously. “You could go to Maestro or Miss Fine yourself.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “I could tie the noose for the hangman too. No, no, brother. You find twenty-five thousand dollars and I’ll let you decide how to make money on the book.”
The light of hope was shining in Bradford Craighton’s eyes.
“That’s a lot of money,” he said.
“I bet you could pick it up in that pantry you paid me from,” I said. “Sell the book to whoever pays the most, return the loan, and fly off to gay Paree.”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Mitchell,” the private secretary said. “I can raise seventy-five hundred dollars. That’s all I can lay my hands on.”
“I’ll meet you halfway and take twelve thousand five hundred.”
“Mr. Minton,” Bradford said with great reserve. “I have what I said. Take it and you will be safe and quite a bit richer. . . . Or take your chances with Mr. Wexler and his thugs.”
