'Do you think Fedor's in the clear?' Conrad asked as he sat down in a basket chair.
'He's not the type to cut loose like this. Besides, if he did do it, he'd have to have a damned strong motive. She was his only client, and he made a small fortune out of her.'
'A woman like her would have a lot of enemies,' Conrad said, stretching out his long legs. 'Whoever did it certainly hated her guts.'
'She seems to have had some pretty horrible acquaintances,' Bardin said, rubbing his hand across his eyes. 'From the hints I've picked up from time to time, there was nothing too bad for her to dabble in. Did you know she was supposed to be a special friend of Jack Maurer?'
Conrad stiffened to attention.
'No. How special?'
Bardin grinned. Thought that would make you sit up. I can't swear to it, but I've heard plenty of rumours. She kept it very quiet, but the story has it they were lovers.'
'I wish I could believe that. This is the kind of job Maurer might pull. He's ruthless enough. Remember that gang massacre he engineered a couple of years back? Seven men machine-gunned against a wall?'
'We don't know for certain Maurer did pull that one,' Bardin said cautiously.
'Who else did, then? Those men were muscling in on his territory. He had everything to gain by getting rid of them.'
'The Captain wasn't convinced. He thought it was Jacobi's mob trying to hang something on Maurer.'
'He knows what I think of that cockeyed theory. It was Maurer, and this killing could fit Maurer too.'
'You've got a bug about Maurer,' Bardin said, shrugging. 'I believe you'd sell your soul to get him behind bars.'
'I don't want him behind bars,' Conrad said, a sudden savage note in his voice. 'I want him in the chair. He's been in the world a damned sight too long.'
A policeman came to the patio door, coughed and jerked his thumb expressively.
'Here's Mr. Fedor, sir.'
Conrad and Bardin got to their feet.
Harrison Fedor, June Arnot's publicity manager, came across the mosaicpaved floor with a bouncing little rush. He was a small thin man with steady hard eyes, a rat-trap of a mouth and lantern jaws. He grabbed Conrad's hand and shook it violently.
'Nice to see you here. What's been happening? Is June all right?'
'Far from it,' Conrad said quietly. 'She's been murdered: she and the whole staff.'
Fedor gulped and his face sagged, then he got hold of himself and sat down in one of the basket chairs.
'You mean she's dead?'
'She's dead all right.'
'For God's sake!' Fedor took off his hat and ran his fingers through his thinning locks. 'Dead, eh? Well, goddamn it! I can't believe it.'
He stared first at Bardin, then at Paul. Neither of the men said anything. They waited.
'Murdered!' Fedor went on after a pause. 'What a sensation this is going to be! Phew! I don't know whether to laugh or cry.'
'What does that mean?' Bardin growled, his face heavy with disapproval.
Fedor grinned wryly.
'As you didn't have to work for her for five interminable years you couldn't know what it means.' He leaned forward and jabbed his forefinger in Bardin's direction. 'I'll be damned if I'll cry. Maybe I've lost my meal ticket, but I've also lost a goddamned pain in the neck. That bitch has been riding me to death. It was either her or me in the long run. I've got an ulcer because of her. You don't know what I've had to put up with from that woman!'
'Someone hacked her head off,' Conrad said quietly. 'Not content with that, he ripped her as well. Can you think of anyone who would do that to her?'
Fedor's eyes popped.
'Good grief! Hacked her head off! For God's sake! Why did he do that?'
'For the same reason he ripped her: he didn't like her. Know anyone who'd dive off the deep end like that?'
Fedor's eyes suddenly shifted.
'Can't say I do. Hell! Have the press got this yet?'
'No, and they won't get it until I have some more facts to work on,' Bardin said grimly. 'Now look, if you do know someone who might fit, you'd better spill it. The quicker we shut this case down, the better for everyone, including you.'
Fedor hesitated, then shrugged.'I guess that's right. Ralph Jordan was her current lover. They have been having some mighty awful quarrels recently. This picture he's making with June is his last. Pacific Pictures have torn up his contract. They've had more than enough of him.'
'Why?' Conrad asked, lighting a cigarette.
