away, adding, “I think I have a wife waiting for me at home-with another thousand I collected by being cagey.”
He paused, struck by a sudden thought. He turned back. “That reminds me of something, Will. I’ve got two hundred bucks that belongs to Jim Lacy or his estate. Now that I’ve managed to collect a fee from other sources, I’ll turn it over to you.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The eyes of the desk clerk lighted up when Shayne stepped into the lobby of his hotel. He leaned across the desk and called, “I’m glad your wife got back okay, Mr. Shayne. You looked worried last night.”
Shayne said, “I was worried. Did she come in by herself?”
“Well, I didn’t see her come in. But I was on the switchboard when she put in that call last night. I’ll tell you, her voice sounded good to me.”
Shayne halted on his way to the elevators. He frowned and went back to the desk. “Did you say Phyllis put in a call last night?”
“Sure. Not long after Mr. Gentry called you. I didn’t listen in more than enough to find out it was Mr. Gentry calling,” he added hastily. “But I knew something was up because you had told me to trace any calls.”
Shayne said, “That’s all right.”
“So when Mrs. Shayne made the call I knew she was home again. She must’ve gone up the service stairs.”
Shayne said, “She must have. But I appreciate your interest,” and went on to the elevator.
Phyllis met him with a rush when he opened the door. He caught her up in his arms and held her tightly for a moment. “Is everything okay, angel? Those mugs didn’t hurt you?”
“Not a bit. That headwaiter at the Danube-seemed to be the boss. Oh, Mike, did things turn out all right? I’ve been frightened. From the terrible things Tim said about you when I untied him-”
“Everything turned out swell.” Shayne interrupted her with a hearty laugh. “Is Tim’s face red! But he got his story and I got-what I wanted. But the next time I have a case you’re going to be locked in a padded cell. I’ll see to that.” He picked her up and carried her across the room and dumped her into a chair, stood over her with hands placed on his hips. “Tell me why the devil you disobeyed my orders and left the Danube. I had some bad moments on account of you last night.”
“I’m sorry, Mike. But it seemed like a good idea at the time. That girl-the one with the heliotrope perfume- kept watching me and I was sure she’d seen me with you before you left the table. Then I got the impression that she was planning to slip out while you were gone, so when that gunman came in and spoke to her and they left together I thought you’d want me to follow her.” She smiled up at her husband.
“You lie,” Shayne told her. “You know I never want you to do such a thing. Good God, angel, you’re not the type to cope with a gang of killers-guys like we were forced to entertain yesterday afternoon.”
“I found that out,” she confessed. “I’m pretty sure now that she told Leroy who I was and they acted as they did to decoy me outside where they could grab me. Because Leroy and that other man were waiting right outside the door and they threw a sack over my head as I stepped out. I didn’t see the girl again.”
Shayne stood very still. “You didn’t take any taxi ride? You’re sure Leroy helped grab you right at the door?”
“Of course I’m sure. They took me to a storeroom at the rear of the restaurant. What do you mean about a taxi ride?”
Shayne shook his head wonderingly. He said, “I’ve listened to so many lies in the past fifteen hours that I feel punch drunk, and I haven’t had a drink for hours.”
He tugged at his ear, then went into the bedroom and called the Tidewater Hotel. He asked if they had an Ann Adams registered, and was connected with room 212.
When Helen answered, he said, “Hi, toots. This is your redheaded boy friend. Remember me?”
He nodded, listening, cocked a shaggy eyebrow at Phyllis, who had followed him and stood by with a belligerent light in her dark eyes.
“That’s what I thought,” Shayne said into the transmitter. “Sit tight and I’ll be over to settle with you.”
He cradled the phone and swung around to face his wife. She sniffed the air of the bedroom with wrinkled nose. “The bed is mussed and I smell heliotrope,” she charged. “Mike Shayne, you had that female here last night.”
“Only a part of the night.” He put his hands on her shoulders and moved her out of the doorway. “I’ll tell you about it later. Right now, I’ve got a date with a blonde.”
“A date? When you’ve hardly even seen me after being locked up all night?”
“This blonde uses heliotrope perfume,” Shayne said. “You heard me promise I’d be right over. I owe her something, and you know how I am about paying my obligations, angel.”
Phyllis said, “Maybe I’d better buy a quart of heliotrope and a gallon of peroxide to blondine my hair. I could-”
Shayne was going out the door and she gave up in disgust. Sometimes Michael Shayne could be the damnedest man.
In the lobby of the Tidewater Hotel on Flagler Street, Shayne went directly to an elevator and said, “Two.” When he stepped out, he looked at the room numbers and strode down a corridor to 212.
He rapped on the door, and Helen opened it immediately. Her gray silk dress was wrinkled, as though it had been slept in. She swayed as she faced him. He smelled whisky on her breath and looked past her to see an almost empty bottle on the bedside table.
She pouted her lips and said, “Well, you took your time to come see me.”
He stepped past her. “You’re drunk,” he said.
“Well, why shouldn’t I be drunk. What else was there to do? Did you expect me to sit here and go nuts? I’m afraid to go out-didn’t know what might happen.” She swayed past him and sank down on her unmade bed.
Shayne didn’t answer her. He prowled through the room, peering into the bathroom and the clothes closet.
Helen lay back on the pillow and laughed at him. “A person would think you were jealous. Want to look under the bed, too?”
Shayne said, “I always check a hotel room when I’m visiting a female like you. Never know when you’ll think up a new variation of the badger game-like last night.”
“Last night?” Helen’s eyes didn’t quite focus on his face.
“Have you forgotten last night already?” He whirled toward her. “Good God, is that all a murder means to you?”
“Murder is an ugly word.” She tried to be coquettish with her eyelashes.
Shayne pulled up a straight chair and sat down. “Let’s go back beyond last night. Let’s go back to New York.”
“Damn New York,” she broke in pettishly. “I’m dying to know what’s happened. Did you make a cleanup?”
Shayne shrugged. “I did all right. A grand from Houseman. And I guess there’ll be a hunk of reward money from the bonding company.”
“Reward money?” She shrank back. “You double-crossed him-turned him in?”
“Suppose I did? Wouldn’t you call that smart?”
“Maybe it was at that. With all the heat on Houseman.” She laughed weakly. “Christ, but you’re a card. And I thought at first you were dumb. Reward money? Well, don’t I get my split? If I hadn’t told you how things were, you’d never have figured that angle.”
Shayne said, “If you hadn’t lied every time you opened your mouth, I might not have checked too closely. But don’t worry, you’ll get everything that’s coming to you. And I guess you do deserve something. You fingered Morgan for the New York rap, didn’t you-after he had given you his piece of the claim check? The papers said the police were tipped off by an anonymous informant.”
