The Complete Bragg Thriller Box Set

by Jack Lynch

  The Duchess waved one hand. “All right, Mr. Bragg, you’ve made your point.” She’d taken a lace handkerchief from her bag and was dabbing her brow. “Edward, I’m weary. Can we just agree to it and leave?”

  “Of course, dear,” said the gray man, getting to his feet and extending one hand to me. “We’ll have a handshake on it then, sir.”

  “Okay,” I told him, exchanging a firm grip with the man. “But remember, I still have to get Catlin and Mrs. Shank to go for it.”

  “I’m sure you’ll succeed, sir. You are most persuasive. Most persuasive.”

  He turned to help Gretchen Zane to the door. Brandi walked up to me with an impish smile. She was developing a crush on an older man—me. It was unfair how that happened to young people, and so easy to take advantage of, but I hadn’t made the world and I wasn’t about to discourage her. I didn’t know Bowman and the Duchess well enough to completely trust them. A little cheering section on my side wouldn’t hurt at all. Besides, if she’d been working as a cocktail waitress in a hotel in British Columbia she might be older than I first thought.

  “I’ll shake on it for my Dad,” she told me.

  I took her hand. She squeezed back pretty good, and wasn’t in a hurry to let go. “I guess if you’re workin’ for my Dad, in a way you’ll be workin’ for me too, won’t you?”

  “In a way, I guess I will.”

  “That’s super.”

  “By the way, Brandi, why don’t you throw out all those high-heeled shoes you own? They’re too awkward for you.”

  Her face flushed slightly. “I know. But back home everyone insisted I had to have them coming to San Francisco. Said I had to dress sharply here.”

  “There’s nothing sharp about getting your legs all tangled every time you walk across the room. You’re a nice-looking girl, but you’ve got to be more comfortable when you move around.”

  “You mean that? Nice-looking, I mean?”

  “Sure. And just wait. Get yourself a pair of flats and walk normally and you’ll turn heads everywhere you go.”

  I gave her a wink and she grinned. The bourbon had made me shameless.

  “I’ll leave you my card,” said Bowman, laying one on the table. He lived in Port Costa, in Contra Costa County. “You’ll let us know if you hear from Mrs. Shank or Catlin?”

  “Of course.”

  “What will you do next?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow I’m going to check with my stone man. Find out what he can tell me about this chess set. And I’ll be trying to round up the rest of the stuff Buddy Polaski was bringing with him. And if I run out of things to do in the meantime I’ll look around for Mrs. Shank and Catlin.”

  “It sounds like a busy day,” he replied. “Come along, Brandi, we must let him get a good night’s sleep.”

  I wasn’t sure if he meant something by that or not. I trailed them out to the front office and held open the corridor door for them. They went out and clattered on down the hall toward the elevators. Before rounding the bend the girl turned to give me another quick smile. I gave her a brief wave and closed the door.

  I went back to leave a note for Sloe and Morrisey about the dent they might notice in the office liquor and all. I was starting to yawn and think about how my bed was going to feel. I’d missed it the past couple of days. That time of night I was only about twenty minutes from my apartment. I was turning out the lights when the telephone rang again on Ceejay’s desk. I answered it. It was Catlin. He was at the Shank house at Stinson Beach and wanted to see me right away. I told him I’d be there within an hour.

  By the time I got out there the rain had quit. I didn’t see any vehicles with Washington State plates in the parking area behind the Shank house, and the house itself only had the same couple of lights burning that had been on when I checked it out earlier in the day. But Catlin was a modern day mountain man. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d been perched somewhere overhead in the eucalyptus trees. I went on up the walk and rapped at the front door. When there wasn’t any answer I reached up on the ledge and used the spare key to let myself in again. This time I could tell someone had been there. The heat was on and it was comfortable. I shook out my hat and coat and put them by the heater. I was only slightly startled when Catlin spoke to me from the shadows beyond the kitchen doorway.

  “Bring anybody with you this time, Bragg?”

  I could just make him out. He had his rifle leveled at me. “I hope not. Why don’t we turn on some lights? I’ve been out here enough times the past few days so folks figure I’m a friend of the family.”

  He grunted, but stepped out of the shadows and lowered his weapon, while I went around turning on lights. “Where’s Erica?”

  “Haven’t seen her since I got back. Have you?”

  “No. Where do you suppose she is?”

  “She probably got scared and went into hiding somewhere. How did you get in here?”

  “I picked the lock.”

  I considered having another bourbon but discarded the idea. I still had to drive back over the hill to home. Catlin came around and settled in a chair. His face was a little haggard, as if he weren’t all that rested himself. It’s a long drive from Seattle.

  “What scared her?” he wanted to know.

  “I’m not sure, but I can guess. Since I saw you I’ve learned a couple of things. The first is that Buddy Polaski was her brother. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  “Nothing deliberate about it. I guess in the time we had together it never occurred to me you didn’t know. Or that it made any difference.”

  “It makes a difference to me, since Erica never told me herself. The other thing I learned is that Harry didn’t die in the auto accident after all. Somebody put a bullet through his head.”

  Catlin didn’t say anything. His lips just tightened a bit.

  “I guess when Erica learned that her brother and husband were both shot dead the same day she probably decided to get out of sight until she could sort things out. Frankly I don’t blame her. It must have looked as if somebody were trying to purge the family. I expect to hear from her sooner or later. Same as I figured I’d hear from you. When did you get in?”

  “A while ago. What happened to your face?”

  “I ran into the two guys who killed Buddy Polaski. You were right. They’d followed me up to your place. They’re pretty good. But a couple of other people with them weren’t. One of them was the man you tagged when he came through the front window. I shot the legs out from under the other while you were making your break.”

  “I thank you for that.”

  “I’m glad,” I told him, touching the sore place on my mouth. “The two gunmen weren’t all that happy about it. I told them, by the way, that I was cowering behind the furniture during all the action and you had somebody else there with you shooting at them.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “I was just trying to cover myself. They had the advantage of me. The same as when I hung around your place after all the shooting and made up fanciful tales for a couple hours for the local sheriff’s people, trying to explain away the dead body out on the porch.”

  Catlin leaned forward with a dumbfounded look. “What made you do that?”

  “I’d already introduced myself to Deputy Taylor in Forks. It would just be a matter of time before I would have to go back and talk to them about it, unless I decided to close my practice here and go off to the moon or someplace.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “I tried to embroider on the mystery man mystique you’d woven about yourself. Said one of your business deals had gone sour. Told them we were talking when the guy came through the window and you shot in self-defense. The dead man’s name was Peek. He was from Seattle. He had a pocketful of bullets and some brass knuckles on him. So the sheriff’s people went along with the theory that he wasn’t exactly high society.”

  “You did well. I owe you.”

  “Not for long, you won’t, if I get
my way.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “I’ll get to that in a minute. I paid attention to what you told me about Buddy Polaski. I figured out what he did with the money.”

  “Well I’ll be goddamned. What was that?”

  “No. I figure he used a variation of the same theme with his pieces of the chess set. I just haven’t had a chance yet to check it out. I’m in this thing deeply enough now so I’ve got to hold back some for my own protection.”

  Catlin’s mouth was part-way open. He finally closed it and shook his head. He got up, keeping the rifle in the crook of his arm. “I’m going to get a drink. Want one?”

  “No, and if you’re going to have one, make it snappy. I want to get out of here.”

  He went out to the kitchen and clattered ice. When he came back in and sat down I guess he’d decided to trust me. He’d left his rifle in the kitchen. “So you found out about the chess set.”

  “Yes. It finally makes sense, what you told me about the complete set being worth several times the worth of the individual pieces. Have you authenticated this with anybody? Shown any of your own pieces to somebody who would know for sure?”

  “No. But Harry was sure of himself. I believe what he said. How is it you figure to cut yourself in? With Polaski’s pieces if you find them?”

  “No. So far as I’m concerned they belong to his sister, Erica. And for now she’s my only client in the matter. I saw Bowman and his friend, Gretchen Zane, this evening. I proposed something to them. They went for it, provided you and Erica do the same.”

  “There’s still Battersea.”

  “His daughter was there as well. She’s the girl I met the first night I saw Bowman. She’s here to meet her father. I got the impression he’d go along with what Bowman and the woman decided.”

  “Go on. What’s your scheme?”

  “It isn’t so much a scheme as it is barely adequate payment for getting everybody through this with their skins intact. It revolves around the money Polaski stole. The two goons are still after it. They knocked me around my office some tonight to impress me with that fact. What I proposed to Bowman and the others is that I just give the Polaski money back to the two thugs. Get those people out of it. Then I suggested you all just toss your pieces into the pot, sell off the set and split up the proceeds evenly. I know that you and Erica have the majority of pieces, but Gretchen Zane said she has the buyer lined up. That’s no small matter in a deal this size.”

  “I didn’t know she was the one. I thought Harry knew somebody.”

  “I doubt if Harry Shank ever moved a day of his life in such circles. I can believe it of the Zane woman.”

  Catlin nodded. “That’s why she’s known as the Duchess.”

  “And assuming she does have the buyer lined up, I think you people should try to conclude things as soon as possible.”

  “I still want to hear what you want out of it.”

  “Do you agree to the proposal to return the Polaski money and just split the pot four ways?”

  “Not by a long shot. That wasn’t the sort of deal Harry put to me. Hell, Bragg, I’ve got nearly half the entire set.”

  “Don’t you think the extenuating circumstances call for something beyond the deal that Harry mentioned? Harry didn’t know he and Buddy Polaski were going to be blown away in the course of things. He didn’t know there were going to be a couple of very tough cookies from New York hanging around. And if you decide to be greedy about it, especially in view of the fact that a month or so ago you didn’t know these things had any worth at all, how much do you think you could get on the open market for just the pieces you have?”

  He stared at me without saying anything, turning his glass in his hands and sucking on a chip of ice from his drink. “I don’t know, Bragg, it just seems to me I should get more than the others.”

  “Why? You haven’t done anything, except run out on a gun fight up north and skulk around out here at Harry’s place. The rest of us have been doing all the work.”

  “Maybe so. But I’m just not convinced I should be so generous with what’s mine. It’s contrary to my nature. But I’ll think about it. And I’ll want to talk with Erica. See how she feels about it. I’d still like to hear what it is you figure to get out of all this.”

  “Okay. If what Bowman and the Zane woman said is right, and if you eventually decided to split four ways, sale of the set should leave each of you with about a million dollars. My proposition is this. So far, I’ve been doing some pretty good work for all of you, not just Erica. And it’s been worth a lot more than what I’m charging her. I figure if I can complete this thing for you all, return the mob money and get those people out of town, then do all the nuts and bolts of making the exchange with the buyer and letting you all stay in the background, it ought to be worth one percent of the proceeds. Or about ten thousand dollars from each of you.”

  He didn’t speak right away. “Anything else?” he asked.

  “No, that’s about it.”

  “Like I said, I’ll think about it. And talk with Erica.”

  “We can build in some safeguards,” I told him. “So I don’t just take the money and walk.”

  “It isn’t that, Bragg. I just won’t be hustled into a fast answer.”

  “Fair enough,” I told him, getting to my feet. “One more thing. I want you to take a look at one of Harry’s photos over here. You and Shank and Polaski are all in it.”

  “Yes,” he said, rising. “I’ve seen it.”

  We crossed to the wall. “Was this taken on the snatch raid?”

  “You heard about that, did you?” He stared at the photo and nodded. “Yes, that’s when it was taken.”

  “Did you have the chess set then?”

  “No, this was taken just before we got to the village where we used to play with it.”

  “Is Battersea in the picture?”

  “He’s the spindly fellow in short pants.”

  “I don’t see Bowman.”

  “Of course not. Fast Eddie never wanted his picture taken. Never.”

  “Did he take the picture?”

  “No. That was our scout, the abo.”

  “Bowman mentioned him. Who was he?”

  “Native aborigine from Australia. Goddamnedest creature I’d ever seen. Half monkey and gazelle he was. Battersea was about the only one who could communicate with him. They were detached from the same Aussie outfit for the raid. But that abo, he’d do anything you told him, once he understood what you wanted. Swim a river. Climb a mountain. Run down an animal. Take a picture. Was all the same to him. I’d forgotten about the critter.”

  “I didn’t know they’d been used in the war.”

  “I don’t think many of them were. But this critter was different,” Catlin said. “He was supposed to have been educated some to the white man’s ways in a government school, though you’d never have thought it to see him. He was the most primitive goddamn individual I ever met. I’d hate to tell you what he did to some of those Japs out there.”

  “I’d as soon not hear. So what are your plans now?”

  “I’m going to stick around the area until I can get in touch with Erica. Haven’t made up my mind whether to stay in the house or not. Got a camper down the road a way I can bed out in.”

  “It would be nice if I could get hold of you again.”

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  I gave him one of my cards and put my home telephone number on it. “And give me a call if you hear from Erica, will you?”

  He nodded. “You headed for home now?”

  “Yes, I am,” I told him, getting my coat. “One other thing. If I were you I wouldn’t take too long making up my mind about whether or not to go for my proposal.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “A hunch. Those guys who killed Polaski. They’re dangerous enough. But in the course of the rattling around they gave me in my office this evening, one of them was fairly open about things. I don’t think t
hey had anything to do with Harry Shank’s death. If they didn’t, it means somebody else did. I’m only telling you this because I don’t think you would have done it yourself, then gone back up to sit on your mountain waiting for somebody like me to show up.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “I’m trying to suggest there’s somebody around here willing to kill people. If it wasn’t the two from New York, then who was it? Bowman’s not up to that sort of thing any longer, I don’t think. The Zane woman might be, but thinking of it as a woman’s work—I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right. So who’s left? Battersea? Or maybe it’s somebody we don’t even know about. How did Harry find out about the chess set in the first place? There might be a connection.”

  Catlin was paying close attention. “You could be onto something, Bragg. Harry and I spoke on the phone two or three weeks ago. He said something…” He stopped to think a moment. “I can’t remember, exactly. I think he said something about there might be somebody who knew about the chess set who wasn’t out there with the rest of us. But hell, there must have been all kinds of people who knew about it. They just didn’t know what had happened to it is all. And besides, Harry wasn’t too upset about it. He figured he had a lock on things.”

  I opened the door. “Like I said, I think the sooner you and the others decide to cooperate and unload this thing, the safer you’ll all be.”

  It gave him something to think about. He closed the door behind me without saying goodnight.

  TWELVE