“Go on,” I said.
“I succeeded in reaching the concrete ramp, and hid behind it,” Clairbold continued, as if it was just another daily task set by the Ohio School of Detection. “After a while Gomez and Miss Spence came on deck, and I heard what they said. He told her he would leave Havana at nine o’clock tomorrow night, drop his cargo at Pigeon Key, and come back here. She arranged to meet him, and then she left the boat. She drove away in the Cadillac. After further delay, another car arrived and four men, obviously Cubans, went on board.”
“What were you doing all this time?” I asked, staring at him.
“I had dug myself a kind of fox-hole in the sand,” he explained, “and buried myself. I kept a newspaper I had with me over my face so I could breathe, see and hear. It was an idea I got from the chapter in my course on watching suspected people in sandy districts.” He brooded for a moment, said: “It’s a very satisfactory course. I—I recommend it.”
I blew out my cheeks. “It certainly thinks of everything,” I said.
“The boat pulled away from the ramp and headed for Havana. I gave it time to clear and then I came back here to report,” he concluded.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I said.
He looked up. “I—I hope you’re satisfied, Mr. Cain,” he said anxiously.
“I’ll say I am,” I told him. “Now look, young fellow, you ought to be more careful. This is a tough mob, and you’re taking too many risks. You’ve done a swell job, but I don’t want to lose you.”
He smiled. “Oh, I can take care of myself, Mr. Cain,” he assured me. “I have learned boxing, and I can shoot.”
I looked him over and wondered where he had left his muscles. Probably at home, I thought. He certainly hadn’t brought them with him. “Did you learn boxing and shooting through the mail too?” I asked gently.
He blushed. “Well, yes. I haven’t had a chance yet to try any of it out, but I understand the theory pretty well.”
This time I didn’t dare look at Tim. I took out my wallet, pushed over two hundred dollar bills, “That’s for being a smart guy,” I said. “Stick around, and I’ll have something more for you before long.”
His eyes lit up and he picked up the notes eagerly.
“I’m glad you’re satisfied, Mr. Cain,” he said. “This means a lot to me “ He hesitated, plunged on: “If it’s all right with you, I thought I might investigate this—er—house of ill-fame. Of course, I don’t like going to such a place, but it’s part of my job, isn’t it?” He eyed me hopefully, seriously.
“It is,” I said gravely.
“Then you think I might investigate there?”
“I think it’s a good idea,” I said, nodding. “Only be careful some hussie doesn’t make a play for you.”
He blushed. “I’m not susceptible to women,” he said earnestly. “It’s part of my training to resist temptation.”
I pulled at my nose. “Is there a chapter on that too?” I asked blankly.
“Oh yes,” he said. “They go very fully into that subject in a chapter called ‘Sex and the Selfcontrolled Man’.”
I whistled. “I’d like to read that,” I said. “Maybe I’d get something out of it too.”
He said he’d be glad to lend it to me any time, got to his feet and prepared to duck out.
“Just a second,” I said, pointing to his cocoa-coloured hat “Don’t think I’m being critical, but is it wise to wear a lid like that? There’s nothing wrong with the hat itself. It’s a pretty snappy effort, but if you’re following anyone, isn’t it a little conspicuous? You can see it a mile off.”
He positively beamed.
“That’s the idea, Mr. Cain,” he said. “This is a special line that goes with the course. Actually, it’s a trick hat.” He took the cocoa-coloured atrocity off his head, whipped off the band, gave the hat a shake and it turned inside out. He reversed the band. He now had a fawn hat with a red and yellow striped band. “Smart, isn’t it?” he said. “You see, it keeps people guessing. I personally think the hat is worth the money I paid for the whole course. It’s included in the charge.”
When he had gone, Tim said, “For crying out loud!” He reached for the Scotch and gave himself a generous shot. He shoved the bottle over to me. “Here, buck yourself up with this.”
I waved the bottle away. “Not for me,” I said. “I gotta watch my powers of observation.”
4
Early the next morning, Tim and I took a trip to Miami, some seventy miles from Paradise
Palms. We went in Tim’s Mercury convertible, and the trip didn’t take us more than ninety minutes.
I called in on the Federal Field Office, leaving Tim in the car outside.
The Federal Agent was named Jack Hoskiss. He was a big, beefy guy, with a shock of blueblack hair, a big fleshy face and humorous eyes. He stood up behind his desk, offered a moist hand.
I didn’t beat about the bush. “I’m Chester Cain,” I said.
He nodded, said he recognized me, and what could he do?
I stared at him. “I’m supposed to have killed three guys,” I reminded him. “Don’t you want to make anything of it?”
He shook his head. “When Paradise Palms Police Department call us in, we’ll do something about it,” he said, offering me a cigar. “Right now, it’s off our beat.”
I eyed him over. “Your job is to hold me anyway,” I said.
“Don’t make it hard for yourself,” he returned, grinning. “You don t have to tell me my job. We have an idea what you’re after.” He glanced out of the window, smiled to himself. “We might be after the same thing.”
I grinned. “That guy Killeano is nobody’s love child.”
“It beats me why he hasn’t yet made a false move,” Hoskiss said. “We’ve been watching him for months, but so far he’s been smart. I’d like to get something on him.”
“So would I,” I said, and slid the five-dollar bill Davis had given me across the desk. “That might interest you.”
He looked at it without picking it up, looked at me. raised his eyebrows.
“What’s the idea?”
“Look at it. It won’t bite.”
He picked it up, examined it. Then he sat up, bringing his chair straight with a crash. He was interested all right.
“Where did you get this?” he snapped.
“Found it,” I said. “There’re a lot floating around Paradise Palms.”
“Yeah,” he said savagely. He opened a drawer, took out a box and produced a bunch of notes. He compared the one I’d given him, grunted, put it in the box with the others. “They’re good, aren’t they?” he said grudgingly. “We’ve been after that gang for months. But up to now we haven’t a lead. No idea where it came from?”
“I might make a guess,” I said.
He waited, but I didn’t enlarge on it.
“Where?” he asked, when he was sure I’d need persuasion.
I drew on the cigar, blew smoke on to the desk. “I have a proposition to discuss with you.”
A thin smile played on his lips. “I thought you might have,” he said, nodding. “Shoot.”
I told him the story from the time I had hit Paradise Palms. I left Mitchell out of it and where Miss Wonderly was, the rest of it I gave him straight.
He sat huddled in his chair, a blank look m his eyes, and listened. When I was through, he whistled soundlessly.
“Why didn’t that fool Herrick come to us?” he said bitterly. “We’d’ve given him all the protection he needed, and helped him clean up. I love these smart guys who hope to surprise us with a completed case.”
“He didn’t come to you, but I have,” I reminded him gently.
He looked me over. “Well, what now?”
