ten times by now. Meanwhile, you wait for another transmission to decode, then maybe you and your large buddy retrieve the diamond yourself. At least you get to make another brilliant deduction. And if they offer ten, we professionals know they’ll pay twenty. Isn’t that how you were thinking?’
‘Yes. Yes it was.’
‘Anyone else have this information?’
‘No.’
‘Are you withholding anything essential or pertinent?’
‘No,’ Dredneau moaned. ‘Please, it’s everything of value.’
‘I compliment you, sir. You’re a wise man. Not a single lie. You spared yourself some unnecessary pain. Just let me gather up my equipment and your valise, then I’ll be on my way.’
‘Yes,’ Dredneau begged, ‘it’s all there.’
‘I will have to gag you – I’m sure you see the wisdom in a silent departure.’
Debritto gagged him with a rubber handball, holding it in place with swatches of silver duct tape. Dredneau began to breathe rapidly through his nose. Debritto gently pulled the electrode loose and coiled it into the case. In the bedroom Debritto went through the contents of the valise carefully.
Satisfied, he returned to the living room, stopping behind Dredneau. ‘My goodness,’ he said, ‘I can actually hear your heart pounding. Relax.’ He put his left hand lightly on top of Dredneau’s head, leaning down to whisper, ‘I want you to know how I did it. Remember just before I held the electrode to my wrist, how I laid the pin down on the table? Did you notice it was touching the sensor? The pin is highly magnetized. It disrupted the electrical impulse on its way to the meter, and thus my lie went undetected. And you call yourself a detective.’ Dredneau shook his head wildly. Debritto dug his thumb and little finger into Dredneau’s neck. Dredneau exhaled sharply, straining. With a flick of his free arm, Debritto shook a long wood-butted needle from his sleeve. He pushed Dredneau’s head forward and drove the needle upward into the base of Dredneau’s skull. Dredneau stiffened as if hit by a cattle prod, bucked once against his bonds, then slumped.
Debritto patted his head reassuringly. ‘It’ll take a little while. The slower the brain, the slower the hemorrhage.’
He picked up his case and Dredneau’s valise and went to the door, pausing as he opened it to call back into the room, ‘Goodnight. I hope I’ve been helpful.’
Debritto turned right and headed for the stairs. An old man was pushing a narrow carpet sweeper across the top stair, a transistor plug in his ear. He jumped back against the balustrade when he saw Debritto waiting to pass, jabbering, ‘Sorry sir. Didn’t see you.’
Debritto smiled and nodded toward the radio. ‘Who’s winning the ballgame?’
The old man looked confused. ‘No one.’ He removed the transistor plug from his ear. ‘No games this time of night. Just listening to some music to ease the work. That’s my whole job, the stairs. Sweep ’em top to bottom, then polish the rails bottom to top. There’s an elevator, by the way, you know.’ He pointed.
Debritto smiled. ‘I need the exercise. Keeps the heart clean.’ He pointed at the old man. ‘Opera,’ he said. ‘I bet you were listening to opera. I’ve got an uncanny sense about people’s music. Now tell me: I got you, didn’t I?’
The old man turned the earphone toward Debritto. ‘No sir, no opera for me. Far as I’m concerned, only two kinds of music – country and western.’
Debritto caught the strains of Waylon and Willie – ‘Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys…’ He grinned at the old man. ‘You’re just lucky.’ He shook his head and went on down the stairs.
Smiling Jack replaced the ear plug and returned to his sweeping. He gave it three minutes and then moved quickly to Dredneau’s door. When he heard the high nasal wheeze inside he took out his passkey.
Debritto called Keyes from a phone booth across town.
Keyes answered on the first ring.
‘Have you come yet, Melvin,’ Debritto asked.
‘What?’
‘He was jacking you off, Melvin. He “deduced” this Kharome character from some shit-brained psychic named Madam Woo. He had a serious mental defect according to my machine. I corrected the defect. Raised his friend’s IQ up to zero first.’
‘Nothing?’
‘I bagged his papers. If anything looks promising, I’ll call.’
‘
‘Fine. I don’t care. I just thought since I’d conducted the interview I’d be better able to evaluate them. I’ll drop them off as we arranged.’
‘Tonight. He might have been loony, but he’d been getting some results.’
‘He used snitches, just like everybody else.’
‘Did he figure out I sent you?’
‘Of course. But I would have done him anyway. Fucking queer.’
‘All smooth? No sightseers?’
‘An old fart sweeping the stairs. Had a radio plugged in his ear. We chatted a moment. He’ll never know that music saved his life.’
‘I thought you didn’t save anything?’
