much. But I don’t want you to build that spur through the Everglades.”
Canada’s eyebrows worked. “If I back out, do you think that will stop it? Hell, no. That’s Interstate money, ninety percent federal. It’s been approved at the top. If I don’t get it, somebody else will.”
“This isn’t an argument, Larry. We’re working out a deal. Who’s trying to kill you?”
“Never mind. That kind of thing I take care of myself.”
“Maybe I’d better tell you some of the things that happened while you were asleep. I think I’m finally beginning to sort everybody out. I don’t have any names yet. I’m hoping you’ll help me on that. There seem to be two separate sets of people. They want different things. What’s the last thing you remember? The guy with the bullhorn-when he was trying to talk you out in the open, he told you they weren’t trying to kill you. That has to be true. Paid hit-men would have cut you down the minute you stepped into the doorway. Now skip a few hours. Everybody thought you were tied to a bed in that trailer. One side wanted to put out the fire. The others wanted to let it burn. And they weren’t fooling around. They were shooting at each other.”
“I heard shots. I didn’t think I was awake. I’m not even sure I’m awake now.”
Shayne emptied the coffeepot into his cup. “What would happen if this was a real kidnapping? Does your wife know where you keep your emergency money?”
“No.”
“Would she dig it up and hand it over the way living wives are supposed to?”
Canada moved impatiently. “I don’t know what you’ve heard-”
“That means probably not. How about your number two and your number three men?”
“You’ve made the point, Goddamn it. They’d go through the motions to make it look good, but there’d be some kind of foul-up. Too bad for Larry.”
“Who would get some bullet holes in him and join Eddie Maye at Woodlawn Park. Yeah, I thought there was more to it than money when you were trying so hard not to be kidnapped back there. And that’s why I know you’ll be glad to cooperate.”
“Put it in English. What happens if I don’t?”
“We send the ransom note, giving careful directions about where to deliver the money. We’ll be patient. If they can’t make the deadline, we’ll give them an extension. And when the money’s delivered, we’ll back away. We’ll let them know where they can find you-tied up in the back seat of a car on some back lane. We’ll go home and turn on the TV news and see what happens.”
Canada wiped his forehead with a napkin. “That’s cold-blooded murder.”
“It’s not exactly cold-blooded, Larry,” Shayne said softly. “If we hadn’t moved in on that scene in Homestead, it’s pretty much the fix you’d be in right now.”
Rourke put in, “I don’t like to interrupt when you’re working, Mike, but I’m not sure I follow. Two separate groups. One wants to grab him so they can raise money on him. And that would be bad for Larry because he can’t count on his own people to follow instructions. Or else they come through with the money O.K., but the hit-men get to Larry before anybody else does. Bad either way.”
Canada went over his forehead again with the napkin. He seemed to agree with the diagnosis.
Shayne said, “And I think he’s ready to fill in a few details. Who’s the opposition, Larry? Who’s paying those guys who set the trailer on fire?”
“DelSarto?” Rourke suggested when Canada failed to answer. “Bottles Martino?”
“Bottles?” Canada said sharply. “Do you have any reason to-”
“Out of a hat,” Rourke said, laughing. “Larry, you’re on edge.”
“Who wouldn’t be? There are guys in town from New York, that much I know. The Eddie Maye knock-over- what do you think those were, kidnappers? That’s what they wanted us to think. Eddie was keeping me posted that there’s one certain person who wants all the marbles. And that’s hard to defend against, you know? What do you do usually? Put on some extra guards. Travel around with an army until it dies down. But that’s the act I’m trying to get away from. I’m trying to say that’s all in the past. If I show up at those Tallahassee hearings with my own Secret Service protection, I don’t look like your ordinary highway construction man, do I?”
“Let’s take a minute on Eddie,” Shayne said. “Was he telling you anything you didn’t already know?”
“I had my ideas, nothing definite. One name kept popping up. We aren’t on the best of terms lately. We’ve grown apart. He’s been seeing my wife on the sly, which is one of the things I happen to know.”
“So if we wrap you up and leave you somewhere-”
“And let them know where? I’d weigh fifteen more pounds from the bullets. And you don’t call that murder? What do you say, Frieda? You look like a smart girl.”
She gave him one of her nicest smiles. “Whatever you call it, the point is, it’s believable. It’s something any one of us could easily do. Couldn’t you in our place?”
“Now the nice guys and the bad guys are all mixed up together. I learn something new about human nature every day. Now we get to the deal. What are you offering me, Shayne?”
“A happy ending in return for some information.”
“A lot of information,” Rourke corrected him.
Canada tasted the coffee. He wanted it badly, but he wasn’t quite able to force it down. “Where do we start?”
“Were still on Eddie Maye. If that wasn’t a real kidnapping, what was it?”
“I’d call it a hit, but then I believe in calling things by their right names. He was approached for his support by the people who want to take over. I encouraged him to string them along. He was lining up people for them, supposedly. Collecting funds. Hell, I might as well spell it. DeLuca. Lou DeLuca. I made that guy, brought him up out of nowhere, gave him responsible jobs.”
“DeLuca?” Rourke said.
“What’s the matter, never heard of him? That’s the way Lou likes it. He cooks the books, basically. He counts the money, doesn’t do anything about bringing it in. What happened? I’ll tell you what happened. That woman Eddie was supposed to be seeing. She was the contact so they wouldn’t have to talk direct. Lou found out he was reporting to me, and he had it done. These same New York characters, I wouldn’t be too surprised. Not out in the open, that’s not how Lou does things. He’d rather sneak anytime. The kidnapping note-window dressing. I don’t have the same solid support I did once, but I’ve still got some debts I can collect around town. He’d know he was in a fight, I can tell you that. So he’s tiptoeing. If he can do me the way he did Eddie, fine, all to the good. Is that all you wanted to know? Can I go home now?”
Everybody laughed. He said gloomily, “No, I didn’t think so.”
“Tim has some questions about the way highways get built in this state,” Shayne said. “Who gets paid off, how often, how much. Who’s been making the real estate money. The Palm Beach interchange would be a good place to start. Tim has it all at the tip of his tongue. Which inspectors look the other way when you go under the specs. We want the whole thing, Larry, from the Tallahassee lobby down to the kickbacks to the Highway Patrol from the tow-truck guys. The insurance deals. The law fees. The sweetheart contracts.”
Canada was looking from face to face, very uneasy. “That’s asking a hell of a lot.”
“I don’t think so,” Shayne said curtly. “We want you to talk to a tape recorder. Then we’ll do a formal version on the typewriter so you can sign it.”
“That could get me quite a bundle of years.”
“You may decide to go along with the state’s attorney and get him to leave your name out of the indictment. Wait and see how it goes. Meanwhile you’ll be eating and drinking and enjoying yourself. You can’t do any of those things if you’re dead.”
Frieda said thoughtfully, “I’m beginning to see where you are, Mike. Even if you don’t get any convictions, you’ll stop the highway.”
“You’re dreaming,” Canada said scornfully. “Once those dotted lines go down on the map, that road is built.”
“Maybe not this time. You’ve had the momentum, but this could turn it around.”
“We’ve already got the interchanges at both ends, for Christ’s sake.”
“Let them alone for a few years, and the jungle will come back.”
“Then that’s part of the deal? I don’t bid on the new job?”
“No, Larry. We want you to bid, and then we want you to tell us how you rigged it with Gold so you’ll turn out to be low.”
