The deep eyes were little more than slits.
“You were always fast with the words. There was this telephone call to headquarters. Woman asking for Detective Preston.”
“So who says that was me? 7 ‘ I asked in an injured tone.
“She does. So do we. What do you say?”
“I don’t say anything till I hear more about it. This has all the earmarks of a set-up.”
It was the wrong word. Angrily, Randall spat.
“Don’t you talk to me about set-ups, Preston. This is a big town with a clean department and I have a lot of years behind me on this job. So don’t talk to me about set-ups. When we take people in we take ‘em good, and we don’t need any phoney tricks to do it. You can be in a lotta trouble right here, and if you don’t talk polite I’ll make personally certain you get every last bit of it. Am I getting through to you?”
“Got it. But I still don’t know what it’s all about.”
I had this feeling that Randall wasn’t too sure of his ground. If he really knew what he was about, he’d have grabbed me the moment he saw me downstairs. And he wouldn’t have sat around drinking my beer, he’s not that kind of cop. Now he watched my face.
“You want it in pieces, I’ll give it you. You called on a Mrs. Prince this afternoon, I have the address here.”
He began digging in his pocket, but I waved him down.
“No need, I know the address. Sure, I was there. What about it?”
“You admit it, that’s good. That saves procedure. You told this woman you were a police officer and——”
“No,” I denied flatly.
“She says you did.”
“I don’t believe she said that either.”
He corrugated his brows in a rugged frown.
“You calling me a liar, Preston?”
“I’m saying there’s some confusion here. I called on this woman and talked with her. At no time did I say I was a police officer, and if she said anything of the kind to you I’d be very much surprised.”
Randall chewed carefully at the inside of his jaw and didn’t take his eyes off my face while he digested that one.
“You deny it, huh?”
“One hundred per cent. And if you’re going to pinch me on a defended charge like this, you have to have a witness for the prosecution. And I’m saying Mrs. Prince would never be that witness. There’s something mixed up here.”
“Don’t try to teach me the law,” he snapped, “I know a little odd piece of it here and there myself. A mix-up you say?”
“That’s what I say. And you know me better than to imagine I’d be such a fool. This is not my first day on the job, you know.”
“H’m.”
He got up and prowled around the room.
“Nice place. What did you talk about?”
I laughed and sat back in the chair.
“Come on, you know I’m not going to tell you that.”
“Suppose I ask her?”
“Help yourself.”
He stood to one side, looking at me carefully for a full minute. Then he walked to the door.
“I may do that. Maybe there is a mix-up. But if it sticks, don’t make any appointments for the next year or so.”
He went out quietly, and I gave a huge sigh of relief. Checking my watch I found I had fifteen minutes to keep my date with Flower. But first I had to call Eve Prince, otherwise I’d have a date with a small gray room. She answered on the second ring.
“Mrs. Prince? This is Preston.”
“Oh.”
She didn’t sound exactly overjoyed.
“Look, we seem to have had a little misunderstanding, so I thought I should phone and straighten it out.”
“I don’t think so,” she replied bitterly. “I don’t think there’s any misunderstanding whatever. You came here under false pretenses, wormed a rather sordid story out of me, and now we come to the part where I pay you instead of Brookman. Would that be correct?”
Her voice was faraway, almost sing-song. I realized that to her it might seem the nightmare had started over. As gently as I could I said,
“Now Mrs. Prince, please be calm and believe what I’m telling you. I’m a fully licensed private investigator. That is to say I am licensed by the State of California as well as by the local city authorities. Believe me, I am very well known in this city. Do you have a lawyer friend or do you happen to know a judge, or a senior police officer?”
“I have my own lawyer,” she said doubtfully.
“All right, fine. Now don’t take my word for this. As soon as we’ve talked, you call him, ask him about me. The chances are, he’ll know himself, but if so happens he doesn’t he can check me out in five minutes flat. Now, will you do that please?”
There was a pause at the other end while she worried at it.
“It certainly sounds all right,” she said dubiously.
“It is all right. And it’s essential you feel satisfied about me, because we could both be in trouble.”
“Both?” she didn’t like the sound of that.
“Yes. Now listen carefully. The police have been to see me. According to them, you have reported that I’ve been impersonating a police officer. Is that true?”
Another pause.
“No. Or rather, in a way, I suppose.”
“In what way, Mrs. Prince?”
“Look, you remember you gave me your telephone number?”
“Yes.”
“I was to call you if I thought of anything. Well something came to me, and I rang you. When I didn’t get any answer, I called police headquarters and asked for you there. They said they didn’t have a Detective Preston, and started asking all kinds of questions. I—I just hung up on them.”
So that was it. And of course they would have taken her name and address the moment they answered the phone. That was routine procedure.
“So you didn’t actually tell them anything?”
“No, I sort of panicked. All I could think was that the whole thing would come out in the open, and I
