wife!”
Will Gentry had let his cigar go out. He looked old and wearied, dismayed. He said, “You know I’ll do what I can.”
“I’ll bury my own dead after this. I don’t want any help from you.”
Will Gentry stood up. His blunt jaw was thrust out, but there was pity in his eyes. “Don’t say things you’ll regret, Mike. We’ve been through some tough spots together.”
“To hell with that stuff.” Shayne made a savage gesture. “When it comes to a showdown you let me down flat. On the word of an ex-convict you send out a pickup for my wife.”
“I didn’t know he was an ex-con. And if I had, I still would have had to play it that way. I don’t believe his story, Mike. I didn’t believe it from the first.”
“Then why didn’t you wait to send out Phyl’s description?”
“Be reasonable,” Gentry begged. He mopped sweat from his forehead. “You know the police business. If you’d put yourself in my place-”
Shayne strode to a chair and dropped into it. He rubbed the palm of his hand down over his eyes and face and chin. “Yeh, I–I guess I am going off half cocked.”
Gentry watched him hopefully. He pulled out the fingers of his left hand, cracked each big knuckle with intent concentration. He blew out a deep sigh of relief and sat down to relight his cigar.
Shayne asked, “Where’s the pistol Renslow said he took from Phyl?”
“Right here.” Gentry drew a. 25 automatic from his coat pocket. “No prints on it and that’s a funny thing if they wrestled over it like he said.”
Shayne took the tiny flat gun and turned it over and over in his hands. “Renslow probably got panicky and rubbed them off.” He lifted the pistol to his nose and sniffed the muzzle.
“It’s been shot-once,” Gentry told him.
Shayne looked straight into his eyes. “Was Meldrum shot with it?”
“Doc Evans couldn’t find a wound,” Gentry hedged. “He said, though, that there might be a slug in his head with the wound covered by the blow he received. He’ll check in the post-mortem.”
Shayne’s eyes brooded over the little gun in his hand. Without looking at Gentry he asked, “How do you figure it this far?”
“I can’t do much figuring with no more to go on,” Gentry complained. “Did Renslow know Phyllis?”
“No. He had never seen her.”
“Then she must have been here,” Gentry pointed out wearily. “He couldn’t have described her otherwise.”
“How do you know he was describing Phyl?” Shayne flared. “Hell! his description could fit a hundred women in Miami just as well.”
“Not women who are known to have spent the day with Meldrum. You told me yourself-”
“Forget what I told you. That’s when I thought I could trust you.”
“Look, Mike. This isn’t getting you anywhere. The clerk at the hotel-a lot of people must know Phyllis was with Meldrum. Let’s look at it that way. Maybe she came here with him. Maybe he-maybe she had to shoot him to protect herself.”
“And then busted his head open with a brandy bottle?” Shayne asked angrily.
“Well, a twenty-five bullet in the head might not stop him,” Gentry argued. “Depend where it went in and what bone it hit. Suppose it did happen that way? Phyllis will be in the clear. With Meldrum’s reputation-”
Shayne stood up. “Damn you,” he said thickly, “you’re twisting it around to fit Renslow’s story. I’m not admitting Phyl was here at all.”
Gentry didn’t say anything. He held out his hand for the automatic. After a moment’s hesitation, Shayne dropped it into his palm. Gentry slipped it into his pocket and his expression hardened. He stood up to face the man who had been his friend for ten years.
He said, “I won’t take much more of that, Mike. I’ve pulled your chestnuts out of the fire plenty of times but I’ve always done it because I believed you were on the level. I won’t go along any other way.”
“You’ll take whatever I want to hand out,” Shayne muttered.
“No.” Will Gentry shook his head. “You’re not yourself. You’re drunk and you’re crazy mad and worried about Phyllis, Mike.”
For a long moment Shayne stared down into Gentry’s face. The chief stared back patiently. Shayne nodded and his laugh was ugly. “Okay. If that’s the way you want it.”
“That’s the way it has to be. This gun can be traced.” Gentry patted his pocket. “If it belongs to you or your wife, she’ll have to explain how it got here.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Shayne challenged.
Gentry shrugged. “Then we’ll check on the owner, of course.” He paused to rub his chin, then burst out suddenly:
“Come clean with me, Mike! How can I help you if you won’t let me? You said you had evidence that Renslow killed his sister, and had to kill Meldrum to stay clean. What is your evidence? Turn it over to me and if it’s good enough to stand up, why, the whole thing will be ended.”
“I was talking through my hat,” Shayne muttered. “When I realized Phyllis had been here and he was trying to pin the killing on her I talked fast to get you to put him away.”
“I don’t like that,” Gentry said. “You didn’t have to lie to me.”
“Maybe it wasn’t a lie. Maybe I’ll pop up with the evidence yet.”
“Be damned sure it’s not faked,” Gentry warned him.
“Have you ever caught me framing an innocent man?” Swift anger crackled in Shayne’s voice.
“No. Nobody has ever caught you, Mike. Personally, I’ve never believed you’d do it. But I believe you’re in a mood right now to frame anybody to clear Phyllis in this mess.”
“Maybe I won’t have to pull a frame. Maybe you’ll decide it wasn’t Phyllis after you check up on that pistol,”
Gentry studied him in open bewilderment. “Are you playing another one of your little games for cash? Won’t Renslow come into a batch of Mrs. Thrip’s money if he isn’t booked for murdering her?”
“A few million,” Shayne admitted placidly.
“You weren’t lying when you first mentioned the evidence against him,” Gentry charged. “I know when a man’s telling the truth. You were worried about your wife and blurted it out. Later you got to thinking how much it might be worth to keep that evidence hidden, and I’ll be eternally damned if I don’t believe you’d leave Phyllis in jeopardy for a million bucks.”
Michael Shayne grinned a crooked grin. Cords stood out on either side of his jaw. “That’s a pretty hard thing to say about a man.”
“And I’m sorry you made me say it. But what else did Renslow mean when he mentioned the million you were throwing away? By God, it makes me want to vomit.”
“Go on and vomit,” Shayne advised him coldly. He was composed now, with an iron grip on himself. The smile on his mouth was sardonic. “A man can get a lot of women for a million dollars. I almost fooled you with my act about Phyllis, didn’t I?”
Will Gentry backed away from him, shaking his head. “I’ve always stood up for you, Mike. I’ve always said there was a streak of decency buried under your toughness. But now-I don’t know.”
“How touching.” Shayne’s voice was acid. “Why don’t you preach me a sermon on the sanctity of marriage and a husband’s duty to cleave to his wife even though she is a murderess? That’s what you think, isn’t it?”
“Shut up, Mike. You’re talking like a fool,” Gentry snapped.
“I’m saying what you’re thinking. To hell with it.” He stalked toward the door angrily.
Gentry followed after him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Out.” Shayne kept moving.
“There’s a Miami Beach warrant for you.”
“Somebody’ll get killed if they try to serve it.” Shayne kept on going.
Gentry stopped and moodily watched him go into the living-room. Meldrum’s body had been taken away but there was still a group of policemen in the room.
They started to intercept Shayne but behind them Gentry shook his head and said, “No.”
