Part 11 (1/2)

Henry Peace walked in and took a comfortable chair.

His voice changed when he spoke. It took on a completely different personality.

He said, ”You must be doing well. You've put on a little weight since the Albergold kidnapers were stuffing you in a canvas sack and tying it to a weight.”

The detective jumped. He eyed Henry Peace, and his eyes flew wide. His mouth also fell open.

”Bless me!” he yelled. ”You're-”

”Henry Peace is the name now,” Henry Peace said.

The detective seized Henry Peace's hand and pumped it. He was profoundly moved. In fact, something happened to him that had not occurred in years-his eyes became damp with grat.i.tude.

”Believe it or not,” he said fervently, ”I still get down on my knees and give thanks for your saving my life that time.”

”Forget it.”

”I wish I could forget the way those kidnapers tortured me before you appeared.”

Henry Peace said, ”Know anything about a man named Jep Dee?”

The detective nodded. ”That's the fellow that a college boy found on an island. Jep Dee had been tortured. He refused to tell any kind of a story. For a while, he had a mania for keeping a piece of old rope tied around his neck. But one night he took the rope off; and that same night, Jep Dee had a fight in the post office with a cop because he thought the cop was trying to get a letter that Jep Dee had just mailed. We found out that the letter was addressed to someone named Rhoda Haven, in New York City. They took Jep Dee back to the hospital. He's blind, but the doctors seem to think he'll be all right eventually. The sun burned his eyes, or something, and he has nerve shock.”Having listened to this long speech in silence, Henry Peace was satisfied that he had the whole story briefly.

”Then Jep Dee is something of a mystery,” he said.

”Very much so.”

”What hospital?”

The detective told Henry Peace the hospital where he could find Jep Dee.

THE hospital must be busy, because there were many lighted windows, although this was a late night hour. On the seaward side was a pleasant shelf of a veranda, and internes and doctors came and stood on this frequently and smoked cigarettes or gossiped.

The Gulf Stream, that current of incredibly blue water fifty miles wide and a mile deep flowing past the tip of Florida, was quiet tonight. There were almost no waves-only swells-and these came in like fat, slow-moving blue elephants that turned to a yellow color as the water shoaled, and broke on the beach, each time sounding as if someone had stepped into a wastebasket full of paper.

A trailer stood on the beach. There was nothing unusual about that, parked trailers being found almost anywhere in Florida. This one was above high-water level, and had been there some days. Palm-tree shade made it rather dark.

It could have been a coincidence that the trailer stood in the spot from which the hospital could be watched most thoroughly.

Henry Peace appeared in the darkness beside the trailer. He had made absolutely no sound.

”h.e.l.lo,” he said.

The trailer tenant gave a violent jump. He had been sprawled in a canvas chair just inside the trailer door, where he could watch the hospital.

”What the h.e.l.l!” he exploded.

He also reached into the pocket of his beach robe, where there was a gun.

Henry Peace said, ”I came on ahead of Horst.”

Which was more truthful than some of the statements he had made.

”Who're you? I ain't seen you before.”

”Lots of things you ain't seen, maybe,” Henry Peace said. ”At least, I think I'm ahead of Horst. He in town yet?”

The trailer tenant was a small, dark, useless-looking fellow. He considered for a while before he answered.

”Horst's plane should be somewhere between here and Jacksonville,” he said, ”judging from the telephone call I got when they refueled in Jacksonville.”

”You're watching Jep Dee?” hazarded Henry Peace.

”Sure. We're going to take him out of the hospital when Horst gets here.”

”What room is he in?”

The man pointed, ”Second floor, third from left. Room with storm shutters over the window.”

Henry Peace did not comment. He was silent, thinking. There had been some excitement and action since he first contacted the Havens, and the mystery of Jep Dee. But he had not learned much, really. The mystery of Jep Dee was still just that-mystery.

Henry Peace a.s.sumed his most convincing tone. ”I'm a new man, just getting into this,” he said. ”You are supposed to give me the low-down.””What low-down?”

”Everything. Explain it.”

The other snorted. ”Listen, bud, there's more millions of dollars involved in this than you can shake a stick at.”

”Yeah, I heard the rumor-”

”And almost forty people have got to die. They won't, if things go wrong. In which case, our names will be mud.”

”I heard that rumor, too, but-”

”But-nothing!” snarled the trailer tenant. ”I ain't telling you a thing. The h.e.l.l with you, partner! I don't even know you.”

The man's manner was determined enough to show that he had made up his mind to talk no more.

Henry Peace held his fist in front of the man's nose.

”You see what's in this?” Henry Peace asked.

The man did the natural thing-peered at the fist.

”h.e.l.l, no, I don't see-”

Possibly he then saw stars. Or maybe it was just blackness. He lay down backward on the floor, hard enough to shake the whole trailer. Henry Peace blew on the right fist, with which he had hit the man.

”Carrying this Henry Peace character too far,” he muttered. ”Fool around and break my knuckles if not careful.”