Indemnity Only

he’d-” The sentence trailed off into a sniff. “I’d like to leave here, stop doing the Jody Hill thing. Do you think I can go back to Chicago?”

I considered this. “Where were you planning to go?”

She thought for a few minutes. “That’s a problem, I guess. I can’t involve Ruth and Mary any more.”

“You’re right. Not just because of Ruth and Mary, but also because I was followed to the UWU meeting last night, so chances are Earl will keep an eye on some of the members for a while. And you know you can’t go home until this whole business is cleared up.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “It’s just-it’s so hard-it was smart in a way, coming up here, but I’m always looking over my shoulder, you know, and I can’t talk to anyone about what’s really going on in my mind. They’re always teasing me about boyfriends, like that nice Dr. Dan, the one I spilled coffee on this morning, and I can’t tell them about Peter, so they think I’m unfriendly.”

“I could probably get you back to Chicago,” I said slowly. “But you’d have to hole up for a few days-until I get matters straightened out… We could publish an account of the insurance scheme, but that would get your dad in trouble without necessarily getting Masters. And I want him implicated in a way he can’t slide out of before I let everything else out. Do you understand?” She nodded. “Okay, in that case, I can see that you get put up in a Chicago hotel. I think I can fix it so that no one will know you are there. You wouldn’t be able to go out. But someone trustworthy would stop by every now and then to talk to you so you won’t go completely stir crazy. That sound all right?”

She made a face. “I guess I don’t have any choice, do I? At least I’d be back in Chicago, closer to the things I know… Thanks,” she added belatedly. “I didn’t mean to sound so grudging-I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me.”

“Don’t worry about your party manners right now; I’m not doing it for the thanks, anyway.”

We walked slowly back to the Datsun together. Little insects hummed and jumped in the grass and birds kept up an unending medley. A woman with two young children had come into the park. The children were rooting industriously in the dirt. The woman was reading a book, looking up at them every five minutes. They had a picnic basket propped under a tree. As we walked by, the woman called, “Matt! Eve! How about a snack?” The children came running up. I felt a small stirring of envy. On a beautiful summer day it might be nice to be having a picnic with my children instead of hiding a fugitive from the police and the mob.

“Is there anything you want to collect in Hartford?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I should stop at Ronna’s and tell them I’m leaving.”

I parked in front of the restaurant and she went in while I used the phone on the corner to call the Herald-Star. It was almost ten and Ryerson was at his desk.

“Murray, I’ve got the story of a lifetime for you if you can keep a key witness on ice for a few days.”

“Where are you?” he asked. “You sound like you’re calling from the North Pole. Who’s the witness? The McGraw girl?”

“Murray, your mind works like a steel trap. I want a promise and I need some help.”

“I’ve already helped you,” he protested. “Lots. First by giving you those photos, and then by not running a story that you were dead so I could collect your document from your lawyer.”

“Murray, if there was another soul on earth I could turn to right now, I would. But you are absolutely in if faced with the promise of a good story.”

“All right,” he agreed. “I’ll do what I can for you.”

“Good. I’m in Hartford, Wisconsin, with Anita McGraw. I want to get her back to Chicago and keep her under close wraps until this case blows over. That means no one must have a whiff of where she is, because if they do, you’ll be covering her obituary. I can’t bring her down myself because I’m a hot property now. What I want to do is take her to Milwaukee and put her on a train and have you meet her at Union Station. When you do, get her into a hotel. Some place far enough from the Loop that some smart bellhop on Smeissen’s payroll won’t put two and two together when she comes in. Can do?”

“Jesus, Vic, you don’t do anything in a small way, do you? Sure. What’s the story? Why is she in danger? Smeissen knock off her boyfriend?”

“Murray, I’m telling you, you put any of this in print before the whole story is finished, and they’re going to be fishing your body out of the Chicago River: I guarantee I’ll put it there.”

“You have my word of honor as a gent who is waiting to scoop the City of Chicago. What time is the train coming in?”

“I don’t know. I’ll call you again from Milwaukee.”

When I hung up, Anita had come back out and was waiting by the car. “They weren’t real happy about me quitting,” she said.

I laughed. “Well, worry about that on the way down. It’ll keep your mind off your troubles.”

16

Price of a Claim

We had to wait in Milwaukee until 1:30 for a Chicago train. I left Anita at the station and went out to buy her some jeans and a shirt. When she had washed up in the station rest room and changed, she looked younger and healthier. As soon as she got that terrible black dye out of her hair, she’d be in good shape. She thought her life was ruined, and it certainly didn’t look great at the moment. But she was only twenty; she’d recover.

Murray agreed to meet the train and get her to a hotel. He’d decided on the Ritz. “If she’s going to be holed up for a few days, it might as well be someplace where she’ll be comfortable,” he explained. “The Star will share the bill with you.”

“Thanks, Murray,” I said dryly. He was to call my answering service and leave a message: “yes” or “no”-no name. “No” meant something had gone wrong with pickup or delivery and I would get back to him. I wasn’t going to go near the hotel. He’d stop by a couple of times a day with food and chat-we didn’t want Anita calling room service.

As soon as the train pulled out, I headed back to the tollway and Chicago. I had almost all the threads in my hands now. The problem was, I couldn’t prove that Masters had killed Peter Thayer. Caused him to be killed. Of course, Anita’s story confirmed it: Masters had had an appointment with Peter. But there was no proof, nothing that would make Bobby swear out a warrant and bring handcuffs to a senior vice-president of an influential Chicago corporation. Somehow I had to stir around in the nest enough to make the king hornet come out and get me.

As I left the toll road for the Edens Expressway, I made a detour to Winnetka to see if Jill had gone home, and if she had turned up anything among her father’s papers. I stopped at a service station on Willow Road and called the Thayer house.

Jack answered the phone. Yes, Jill had come home, but she wasn’t talking to reporters. “I’m not a reporter,” I said. “This is V. I. Warshawski.”

“She certainly isn’t talking to you. You’ve caused Mother Thayer enough pain already.”

“Thorndale, you are the stupidest SOB I have ever met. If you don’t put Jill on the phone, I will be at the house in five minutes. I will make a lot of noise, and I will go and bother all the neighbors until I find one who will put a phone call through to Jill for me.”

He banged the receiver down hard, on a tabletop I guessed, since the connection still held. A few minutes later Jill’s clear, high voice came onto the line. “What did you say to Jack?” she giggled. “I’ve never seen him so angry.”

“Oh, I just threatened to get all your neighbors involved in what’s going on,” I answered. “Not that they aren’t anyway-the police have probably been visiting all of them, asking questions… You get out to Winnetka all right?”

“Oh, yes. It was very exciting. Paul got a police escort for us to the clinic. Lotty didn’t want to do it, but he insisted. Then he went and got your car and we got a blast-off with sirens from the clinic. Sergeant McGonnigal was really, really super.”

“Sounds good. How are things on the home front?”