There was no reason, no official reason, to suspect that Irish Tim Callinan had had anything to do with the incident. Certainly that kind of strong-arm stuff would have been out of character for him. But Gregg Longo had owed Tim a great deal of money, and Carolyn had to have had more than fifty thousand when she left the Slater place. I always sort of wondered, What if the cars that I thought had been following me had been? What if Irish Tim had had me tailed since the night I drank Jameson’s with him in his personal citadel? What if his minions had let me lead them to Eloise, to Carolyn, to the money …
I also always sort of wondered why Carolyn hadn’t finished me and Eloise Slater when there was nothing either of us could have done about it. If Irish Tim—or someone else—had had her number, then she still wouldn’t have gotten away with the loot. But she wouldn’t know that at the time. As far as she knew—as far as I still know for sure—only Eloise and I could have caused trouble for her. Still she let us live.
I wonder about that. But I think it was a good decision.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William J. Reynolds, a native of Omaha, has been a magazine editor, an advertising and marketing executive, a college instructor, and a communications director, as well as the author of a number of books, short stories, magazine articles, and poison-pen letters. His début detective novel, The Nebraska Quotient, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. His novels have been published in five countries and in three languages. Reynolds and his wife live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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