announcement I'm not a pasty white. If they don't get that stuff this whole country could be wiped out. You know anything about the germ warfare developments?'
'Just what I read in the papers.'
'Well, it isn't pretty and you're not going to be reading much about it at all. That stuff is as top secret as it can get. Right now they're flooding us with news stories from every direction you can think of just to keep the public's mind off my big squeal. It may work and it may not. We've had the switchboard lit up like a star burst since I broke it and have operators working overtime with nice pat explanations. They're even sending form letters out to those who want them. It's rough, boy, rough. What are you up to?'
'Some simple legwork on a simple matter,' I said.
'You still on that Sullivan deal?'
I nodded.
'A lost cause, Mike. They pull the cops in to track down Schneider's killers, they schedule a special political parade to cover the vacation wipe-out, the Crime Commission is laying it on heavy and you couldn't bust a cop loose for special detail work for anything. Nope, you won't get any leg up from the cops until this is over.'
'I'm not asking for any.'
'Okay, you know the story. You're making a federal case out of a simple murder and robbery. Why?'
'Beats me,' I told him. 'Maybe because I believed something nobody else believed.'
'Hell, people will believe anything. Look what happened with me.'
'So waste time. So feel lousy. What's left to do?'
'I told him about the wallets and my date with Dorn. I didn't mention Heidi Anders at all.
'William Dorn?' he asked.
'Know him?'
'Park Avenue offices?'
'That's the one.'
'Sure, he's chairman of the board of Anco Electronics, his March Chemical Company engineered that new oil refining process the industry has turned to and now he's gone heavy in mining. You're traveling in fancy company, kiddo. I never thought I'd see the day. Ole Mike Hammer, denizen of the side streets, partying with cafe society. Better not let it get to be a habit.'
I looked at my watch. 'Well, if it does, it starts now.' I finished my beer, flipped Eddie for the drinks, won the toss and told him so long. At one o'clock on the nose I walked
into The Chimes, got a disapproving stare from the Maitre d' until I asked for Mr. Dorn's table, then his professional subservient attitude returned with a fawning nod and he bowed me to a table in a hand-carved, oak- paneled booth on the dais-like section of the main room that was obviously reserved for only the most select clientele.
Most actors would like to age into a man like William Dorn. A few have, but only a few. He was tall and lean with a tanned, rugged face and intelligent eyes under a thick shock of wavy hair streaked with gray. When I took his hand he had a strong, sure grip and I knew he wasn't as lean as he looked. Suddenly I felt like a slob. He was one of those guys who could look good in anything and I knew why the amused woman, with the hair so raven black it was darker than the shadows she sat in, could be so much at ease with him.
'Mr. Hammer,' he said in a pleasantly deep voice, 'William Dorn, and may I present Miss Renee Talmage.'
She had held out her hand and I took it gently. 'A pleasure,' I said.
'Very nice to see you, Mr. Hammer.' Her smile broke around a set of even gleaming white teeth and she added, 'Please sit down.'
'Miss Talmage is head of accounting at Anco. Have you heard of us?'
'Just this afternoon.'
'Don't let it bother you, Mr. Hammer. Our business is not one that goes in heavily for publicity and promotion. Care for a drink before lunch?'
'Rye and ginger'll do,' I said.
The waiter hovering behind me took the order and disappeared. I pulled Dorn's wallet from my pocket and handed it to him. He took it, flipped it open and scanned his credit cards and held it up to show Renee Talmage. 'Now that is efficient police work. Imagine.'
'Strictly accidental, Mr. Dorn.' I pushed a receipt and my pen across to him. 'Mind signing for it?'
'Not at all.' He scrawled a signature in the proper place and I folded the receipt back into my pocket.
He said, 'In a way, it's a shame to put you to all the trouble. I've already canceled the credit cards, but my driver's license and club cards are really the valuable items.'
'Sorry you didn't get your money back too. It rarely happens, though, so feel lucky you even got anything.'
'Yes, I do. Very. There's a matter of a reward that I mentioned.'
'A check to the Police Athletic League will do nicely, Mr. Dora.'
For the first time Renee Talmage leaned out of the shadows. She was even lovelier than I had taken her to be. I figured her age in the early thirties when a woman was at her best, but it was almost impossible to pin it down accurately. 'Mr. Hammer ... your name is very familiar.'
I had to give her a silly grin. 'Yeah, I know.'
'Are you ...'
I didn't let her go any further. 'Yeah, I'm the one,' I said.
Dorn let out a little laugh and gave us both a quizzical look. 'Now what is this all about? Trust Renee here to come up with something odd about even the most complete stranger.'
'What she means, Mr. Dorn, is that I'm not with the police department at all. I'm a licensed private investigator who gets into enough trouble to make enough headlines to be recognized on occasions, which, funny enough, is good for business but hell on the hide occasionally. It was a guy I once knew who had your wallet among others. I located them and I'm paying my last respects by getting them back where they came from.'
Dorn recognized the seriousness in my voice and nodded. 'I understand. Quite long ago ... I had to do something similar. And this person you knew?'
'Dead now.'
The drinks came then and we raised our glasses to each other, two Manhattans against a highball, tasted them and nodded our satisfaction and put them down. Renee Talmage was still looking at me and Dorn gave me another chuckle. 'I'm afraid you're in for it now. My bloodthirsty co-worker here is an avid follower of mysteries in literature and films. She'll press you for every detail if you let her.' He reached over and laid his hand on her arm. 'Please, dear. The man was a friend of Mr. Hammer.'
'It doesn't matter,' I said. 'I have more than one friend with an illegal pastime. Too bad it caught up with him. So far it's tabbed as murder that came out of an attempted robbery.'
'Attempted?' Renee Talmage leaned forward, the interest plain on her face.
'They never got what they went after. The money was all banked, squirreled away in a neighborhood account.'
'But the wallets ...'
'Discarded,' I told her. 'With a guy like him it would be too chancy to risk using credit cards. He just wasn't the type to own one.'
'And that's your story,' Dorn said to her. 'I think we can talk about more pleasant things while we eat..'
'Spoilsport,' she grimaced. 'At last I have a chance to talk to a real private cop and you ruin it.' She looked at me, eyes twinkling. 'Look out, Mr. Hammer, I may deliberately cultivate you, regardless.'
'Then start by calling me Mike. This Mr. Hammer routine gives me the squirms.'
Her laugh was rich and warm. 'I was hoping you'd ask. So then, I am Renee, but this is William.'
Dorn looked at me sheepishly. 'Unfortunately, I never acquired a nickname. Oh, I tried, but I guess I'm just the William type. Odd, don't you think?'
'I don't know. Look at the trouble our last Vice President had. He had to settle for initials. At least you look like the
We ordered then, something in French that turned out to be better than I expected, and between courses
