So Lush, So Deadly ms-56

by Brett Halliday

  He followed the wire into the water. Pulling it up as he went, he swam slowly away from the boat. The neoprene coating slipped smoothly between his fingers. In a moment he touched a cluster of weights that had been clamped to the wire to keep it far enough below the surface not to foul the propellers of passing boats. There was considerable slack.

  The incoming tide carried him easily across the open water separating the two marinas. Three-quarters of the way across, the wire twisted out of his loose grasp. He dived quickly and recovered it as it sank. After that he continued more carefully.

  It led him to a Chris-Craft sports fisherman, a thirty-footer, moored in the second berth from the end of its row. Like the Nefertiti, it carried its own generator, and lights were burning aboard. Shayne swam to the end of the catwalk and pulled himself out of the water.

  He stepped onto the deck. Both starboard and port windows of the main cabin had Venetian blinds, and the slats were closed against him. He listened until he heard a voice say, “I’m not picking up a thing. Nothing but static.”

  Stepping down to the cabin door, Shayne turned the knob gently to be sure it was unlocked. Then he pushed it open and stepped inside.

  Teddy Sparrow, a gargantuan Miami private detective, was sitting in a British officer’s chair, wearing earphones and smoking a long cigar. He operated on the outer fringes of the business, usually on assignment from the larger agencies who needed a man in a hurry. He was sometimes surprisingly effective, in spite of his great bulk, because people found it so hard to believe that he was actually a detective.

  There was a tape recorder on a table beside him. An Aqua-Lung and a face mask lay on the floor. He was half-facing away from Shayne, and the electronic noises kept him from hearing the door open.

  “I don’t even hear anybody moving. If this thing don’t work after what they charged me for it-Jack, did you moisten the suction cups the way it said?”

  A voice answered from the head, “I carried them in the goddamn water. Don’t you think they got wet? Give it a little time, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Here’s some music, hey.”

  A man Shayne hadn’t run into before came out of the head. He stopped short, seeing Shayne’s dripping figure. He was in bathing trunks, and looked like a professional fighter. The resemblance extended to a broken nose and a damaged ear.

  Teddy caught the difference in the atmosphere and looked up. The sight of Shayne jolted him back and the chair collapsed. He hit the floor with a crash, his arms and legs splayed awkwardly.

  “Don’t rock the boat, Teddy,” Shayne remarked. “It can’t be yours.”

  “Mike Shayne,” Teddy whispered.

  The other man stayed where he was, looking watchful. Teddy wrenched off the earphones.

  “Jack, you can’t even do a simple thing like planting a bug without-”

  “I didn’t see nobody. I was quiet.”

  Shayne said, “I’m glad it’s somebody I know, Teddy. No reason we should have any trouble. I could use a towel.”

  Teddy rocked forward and struggled to his feet with a.38 in his fist. “Stand right there, Mike,” he said in an excited voice.

  “That’s not a gun,” Shayne said scornfully. “You’re a two hundred fifty-pound hallucination. You’re not pointing a gun at me.”

  Teddy swallowed. The gun wavered, then held steady. “The hell I’m not, Mike.” He checked with his left hand to make sure he had taken off the safety. “I won’t kill you because I know I couldn’t get away with that, but I’ll sure as hell put a slug in your leg if you make a move.”

  “Teddy, listen,” Jack said, “I didn’t contract for-”

  “Shut up. This happens to be the Beach. I got a better odor over here than Shayne does, and for a slug in the meaty part of the leg I can get let off with a reprimand. And I’ll do it, too!” he insisted, waving the pistol.

  He was sweating with anxiety. “Sit on that bunk,” he commanded.

  Shayne grinned and started toward him.

  Jack warned, “Are you nuts, Shayne? He’ll do it.”

  At the second step Shayne saw from the tightening of the other detective’s eyes that he was about to shoot. He turned aside.

  “Teddy, what are you on?”

  “Vodka, same as usual. I haven’t had a drop since before supper. The meaty part of the leg. But I’m shaking so bad I could miss, Mike, in the wrong direction. Sit down and reconcile yourself.”

  “What was that word-reconcile?”

  “Never mind. Sit down.”

  “Are you going to give me a towel? These shorts are clammy as hell.”

  “Get him a towel.”

  Jack faded backward. Reappearing, he tossed Shayne a bath towel. Shayne dropped his wet shorts to the floor and began towelling himself off.

  “I could have ripped out your equipment,” he observed. “You wouldn’t have liked that. One of those bugs costs about five hundred bucks.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Teddy said. “I got it on approval. When I collect the fee I’m in a new category. No more watchman jobs. No more all night stake-outs and sleeping in cars. No more skip-traces, no more collections.”

  “Who are you working for?”

  “I have the.38. I ask the questions. Who are you working for?”

  “Mrs. De Rham.”

  “Amazed to hear it,” Teddy said sarcastically.

  Shayne continued to work the towel briskly. The distance seemed about right. He snapped the towel at the gun. The corner of the towel cracked against the barrel and knocked it aside. Shayne slid in fast before Teddy could recover and chopped down at Teddy’s wrist. The.38 went spinning across the carpet.

  “You ought to stick to what you know.”

  Teddy was holding his wrist, looking aggrieved. Shayne assumed that the other man would stay out of it, but as he went for the gun he was clubbed behind the ear with a fist like a hoof. Jack retrieved the gun and tossed it to Teddy.

  “You shoot him. I’m sure as hell not going to.”

  Shayne recovered and felt the spot where he’d been hit. As soon as the room stopped spinning he picked up the towel and knotted it around his waist. Teddy, gun in hand again, was smiling.

  “You’ve got a thick skull. Jack usually drops them. A pretty good club fighter before T.V. killed boxing.”

  Shayne groped his way to the bunk and sat down. As soon as he could speak he repeated his last question.

  “Who are you working for, Teddy?”

  “I can’t answer that. It’s confidential, you know how it is.”

  He turned to his assistant. “Get the earphones on, and when you hear voices, turn on the tape recorder.”

  “Teddy, I don’t know how to work that thing.”

  Teddy gave the shiny new recorder an affectionate pat “Nothing to it, you push a button. Tell me when you hear anything and I’ll take over.”

  He picked the more solid of the two remaining chairs and moved it against the door. “Now we wait. I don’t know how it is with your practice, Mike, but mine’s always been ninety percent waiting.”

  He pulled up his pants legs carefully and sat down, the.38 on his knees.

  “I should be able to trace the boat,” Shayne commented.

  “I rented it. Paying cash. Mike, I have nothing but respect for you. I discount most of what I read in the papers, but the times I’ve worked with you personally I’ve seen you pull some pretty amazing stuff. Those goddamn sources of yours, they’re all over. Sure, you could find out who my client is, but my argument is-tomorrow. Not while you’re sitting here wearing a bath towel.” He tapped cigar ash onto the carpet. “Tomorrow it won’t matter. From your point of view you should have cut the bug loose before you followed the wire. I can see how your mind worked-find out who planted it first, but this time I think you guessed wrong.”

  “I’d like to hear what they’re saying myself.”

  “The nerve of the guy! Let’s change the subject. Who do you like in the N.F.L. this year?”

/>   They talked football for a time, then Teddy put the gun away and took out a worn deck of cards.

  “I think I can take a chance you won’t jump me. Want to play some gin? Move that little table and you sit on the floor, where you’re more helpless.”

  “I didn’t bring any money with me.”

  “I’ll trust you.”

  Shayne moved the table with Teddy watching, one hand inside his jacket. After Shayne was settled, he shuffled and dealt.

  From time to time Teddy snapped a question at Jack, to be sure he was awake, but the listening device was still picking up nothing but music. Teddy was so pleased with the way he had held a gun on Shayne that he took too many chances with his discards, and he was soon fifty dollars down. He began to think more carefully. Shayne blitzed him again.

  Teddy’s cards went spinning off the table as the door opened behind him and banged the back of his chair. The gun leaped into his hand. Instead of looking around he stared belligerently at Shayne.

  “Now watch it, Mike.”

  “What’s going on?” a woman’s voice said. “I’d like to come in.”

  With a backhand wave, Teddy moved Shayne across to the bunk. Jack had whipped off the earphones. Teddy hooked a toe around the leg of the chair and moved it so the door could open.

  The woman who entered was smartly dressed in a short knitted sheath. She had dark hair which she wore back from her forehead, a full-breasted figure, a humorous mouth. She held herself well, with complete self-assurance, as she looked from the gun in Teddy’s hand to Michael Shayne, dressed insecurely in a towel.

  “You must be Mrs. Brady,” Shayne said.

  CHAPTER 11

  “I am Katharine Brady,” she agreed. “Who are you?”

  Teddy burst out, “Damn it, Shayne, if you knew she was Mrs. Brady, why wrestle me for a loaded.38?”

  “This can’t be the well-known Mike Shayne,” Mrs. Brady said. “Why are you pointing a gun at him? I didn’t hire you to make a disturbance. Just the opposite. You assured me you could handle this with discretion.”

  Teddy said weakly, “I have, Mrs. Brady. He’s working for the other side. I had to make him hold still.”

  Her eyes slid over Shayne’s powerful bare torso. “You had a fight for a gun and Mike Shayne lost?”

  “It was two against one,” Shayne said with a half grin.

  Her mouth moved slightly. “And were you really trying?”

  Teddy lowered the.38 slowly until it pointed at the floor. “I had to evaluate the situation according to the facts as I knew them. I thought the best thing to do-”

  “You did the right thing, actually,” she said, still looking at Shayne. “I’m sorry I spoke so sharply. Have you taped anything yet?”

  “Nobody’s doing any talking,” Jack said. “Just listening to records.”

  She came further into the room. “There’s no point in standing around glaring. I brought some vodka. Why don’t we make some drinks?”

  “With Shayne in the room,” Teddy said, “I don’t think we ought to exactly relax.”

  “I don’t intend to relax. Keep your gun out if it makes you feel better. At least let’s all sit down. Is there a refrigerator on the boat?”

  “Up ahead,” Teddy said with a movement of his head.

  She went out. Shayne gave Teddy an appreciative look.

  “You’ve got a better looking client than I have. I like women who don’t wear sunglasses after sunset.”

  “Mike, don’t do anything too cute,” Teddy pleaded. “This could be the turning point for me. I’ve always wanted to get some divorce business, and here it is, the classic case. I don’t want to make any mistakes. You don’t have to win every time, do you?”

  Mrs. Brady, coming back with a tray of ice cubes, heard that.

  “That’s his reputation,” she said. “Isn’t that how he commands those fantastic fees?”

  “All I meant was that if he had any consideration,” Teddy said, “he might make an exception just once. It wouldn’t kill him.”

  “You’ve got everything well in hand,” Shayne remarked.

  “For the time being. I’ve got my equipment in, and everything seems to be working according to the catalog description. But experience tells me that the roof’s going to fall in in a minute. That’s what experience tells me.”

  “If you’re that worried,” Mrs. Brady said, “why not tie him up?”

  “Tie up Mike Shayne?”

  “Why not? You were willing to shoot him a minute ago.”

  “Yeah, but that’s more-well, he wouldn’t hold it against me.”

  Shayne laughed. “Teddy, you’re a credit to the profession.”

  Teddy beamed. “Am I?”

  Mrs. Brady snapped, “I’ve laid out a certain amount of money here, and I make a habit of getting value for my money. You seem to consider Shayne a threat. Tie him up.”

  Teddy glanced uneasily at an open leather kit on the floor.

  “There’s a length of cord in there, Jack. Tie him up. How about some of that vodka, Mrs. Brady?”

  Jack took a coil of waxed cord out of the kit and cut off two three-foot lengths. “Tell you what, Teddy. I’ll hold the.38. You tie him.”

  Mrs. Brady shook her head. “I can see how this is going to end. I’ll do it.”

  Teddy made an exclamation of annoyance and handed the gun to his assistant. He knelt beside Shayne and bound his ankles.

  “This is not of my own volition, Mike,” he said. “You heard her. Hands behind you.”

  Shayne put his wrists behind his back and Teddy tied them together. Having made up his mind to it, he did a complete job.

  “If you start losing circulation,” he said, “tell me so I can laugh. I can be as mean as the next guy when I have to be.”

  Mrs. Brady handed around paper cups full of ice and vodka. Teddy drank gratefully, wiping his streaming forehead.

  “Nothing for me?” Shayne said.

  “How would you hold it?” Mrs. Brady said. “Well, here, if you don’t mind drinking from the bottle.”

  She uncapped the bottle and held it to his mouth. Some of it went down.

  “Now explain to me how this apparatus works,” she said, turning.

  “Simple as one, two, three,” Teddy said. “Of course it could be more automatic, but then you’d have those delicate components to go out of order. Here we’ve got a pickup, an ordinary electrical connection and earphones. With radio, you’re going to run into some ham operator, and he’s going to monitor you and notify the cops.”

  “The tape recorder isn’t working.”

  “No, we start that manually. You don’t want to waste tape when nobody’s talking.”

  “But this won’t do. It won’t do at all. You mean you intend to listen to what you tape?”

  “Well, yes,” Teddy said, surprised. “You can’t do away with the human element altogether.”

  “Turn it on. I’m not interested in economizing in tapes. How many did you bring?”

  “Only three or four. I thought that would be ample.”

  He looked nervously at Shayne. Again Shayne had a sense that he was watching a screen on which everything was out of focus and improperly centered, and all the roles were slightly miscast.

  “I suppose I’ll have to take the earphones,” Mrs. Brady said.

  Jack handed them over. She sat in the place he vacated, and Teddy showed her what button to press to switch on the tape recorder.

  “Still and all,” Teddy said, more and more worried. “You don’t want to think you can rely on a tape. They’re too easy to fake. Some judges won’t admit them at all. What you’ve got to do, you’ve got to listen to the conversation as it develops, and then when you’ve got them in bed and everything’s underway, you barge in and take your pictures. That way you’re sure. The thing about the bug, it gives you your timing. Then you don’t show up too early or too late, after it’s over. You’re only going to get one chance, remember. If you blow it, good-bye, s
ee you later.”

  “Help yourself to more vodka,” she said.

  “I don’t like to give less than satisfaction, Mrs. Brady. Mike will bear me out. Isn’t that the standard procedure for proving adultery, Mike, as I’ve outlined it?”

  “Sure. But Mrs. Brady doesn’t want you to hear what’s going on over there.”

  Teddy cried, “I’m her witness! I’ve got to stand up in front of a judge and testify!”

  “There’s more than one way of getting a divorce,” Shayne said.

  She smiled at him. Suddenly she put one hand to her ear and listened intently. She signaled to Teddy and he started the recorder.

  She adjusted the headset, covering both ears with the earphones. Shayne watched her closely. The room was silent except for a faint hum coming from the machine. Teddy, not liking the way this was going, kept rearranging himself and working away at the vodka. Her face was less attractive now that it was not in motion. It was all concentration and intelligence. Her movements, picking up a cigarette or drinking, were quick and graceful. Her eyes stopped now and then on Shayne, but he knew she didn’t see him.

  At last she stopped the recorder and took off the earphones. She patted her hair with a satisfied smile.

  “I’ve got the flash camera,” Teddy said hopefully. “You’re going to want a couple of action shots, to be on the safe side.”

  “I don’t think so, Teddy. Thanks.”

  He clapped his hands against his legs. “Just don’t blame me if they throw you out of court.”

  “Teddy, you’ve been a doll, and if I hear of anybody else who needs this service I’ll give you a strong recommendation. Now pull in your wire.”

  Teddy shrugged helplessly, and told Jack to put on his rig and get the bug.

  “Experience just doesn’t seem to mean anything. There’s a right way and a wrong way, and this is the wrong way.” He unplugged the tape recorder, put the tape in its cardboard box and gave it to her. She was looking at Shayne again. This time he was sure she saw him.