Part 15 (2/2)
”You made the decisions?”
”Of course not! I would have let Hirsh know I did not approve. Then he would know that if he went ahead with it, I would make his life totally miserable, and he would have decided it wasn't worth it. A man like Sprenger would find it amusing to steal his own property and then make Mr. Fedderman reimburse him for his investment.”
”I see. Then there is no connection, you feel, between the theft and the death of Jane Lawson?”
”Did I say that? Did I even imply it? Then how do you infer I would believe that? Last Thursday morning those two young women learned what had happened. Jane Lawson had a lot of time to try to work out the puzzle. You were all trying, were you not? I imagine she devised a theory of how it was done and felt compelled to test it before reporting it. She had a very good mind, you know. Quite logical.”
”Could she have been involved, on her own or as an accomplice?”
”Jane Lawson? The question is grotesque. It is... fifteen years ago he employed her. She seemed very pleasant and plausible. We had to teach her everything about the business. She learned quickly. A good memory. I am a very skeptical old woman. I set some traps which looked like the most innocent of accidents, where she could profit without any possibility of detection. She did not hesitate a moment. She is the sort of person who, if she were using a pay phone and found a quarter in the coin drop, would feel very uncomfortable about keeping it. With some people, with too many people, conscience is the still small voice that says maybe someone is looking.”
”What if somebody put heavy pressure on her, like threatening her kids?”
”I think she'd pack them up and go to her in-laws and ask for help. And get it.”
”She told you about the general?”
”Privately, in confidence. We worked together there for ten years, remember. I tend to pry a bit. Of course, I'm going to go back now and fill in until he can find someone. I let her know I did not think her decision was entirely rational, but I respected her for it. She should have married again, of course.”
”Did you help train Mary Alice too?”
”Are you asking about her in the same way? Maybe not exactly in the same way? A personal relations.h.i.+p exists? I stayed on for two weeks after he hired her. She was, and is, a very troubled person, I think. She was quite depressed when she first came to work. She never discusses her background. I had thought her a fugitive in the legal sense. Now I think she is a fugitive from emotion. She has visited me here many many times. She brings little problems to me. Problems of identification. She hated to ask Jane or Mr. Fedderman to help her. She is not really highly intelligent. She has a high order of native animal shrewdness perhaps. In time she became fascinated by the high-value rarities. There is something touching and childish about her enthusiasms. I do not believe-in fact, I am quite positive-Mary Alice could not plan anything very complicated and carry it out.”
I thanked her for her time. I said I would probably see her in the store. She said Hirsh was going to open up again on Wednesday, the day after tomorrow. She went back to her cla.s.s, and I phoned the hotel from the downstairs lobby. I had checked at two-thirty. Now it was quarter to four.
A Miss Dunn had phoned at five after three and left word she would phone again. She did not leave a number.
I phoned Meyer, caught him aboard his boat. It was too soon for Mary Alice to arrive. I told Meyer she was on the way, ETA unknown. Keep an eye out for her. Put her aboard the Flush Flush. Lock her in. Then wait for me aboard his boat. I taxied back to the hotel, packed in fifteen seconds, and tried to pay my bill. But it was courtesy of Mr. Nucci, who isn't in the house at the moment.
I walked to the lot, repurchased my old pickup and took the fastest route through a light rain toward the Suns.h.i.+ne Turnpike, swallowing the little bits of acid that kept collecting in the back of my throat.
Chapter Fifteen.
I jumped down onto the c.o.c.kpit deck of the jumped down onto the c.o.c.kpit deck of the Keynes Keynes and went below into the very cramped quarters where Meyer lived like a bear in a cave. A very clean bear in a very littered cave. and went below into the very cramped quarters where Meyer lived like a bear in a cave. A very clean bear in a very littered cave.
”She's aboard,” he said. ”With three suitcases, a hat box, and a train case. Your enchanted barge is all fueled, furbished, and provisioned, sir. May I offer my best wishes for a happy voya-”
”Knock it off!”
I do not talk to Meyer like that. It shocked and annoyed him. Then he got a closer look at my expression.
”She gave me the keys to her car,” he said. ”When she parked, she backed it in to hide the plate. She asked me to drive it away from here and leave it in an airport lot. Miami, if I want to be very obliging.”
”Leave it right where it is for now.”
”Okay.”
”I want to ask you to do something without giving you any of the reasons or background. But there's a risk.”
”A big risk?”
”I don't know how big. Maybe there's none at all. Tomorrow morning I want you to go to this address and see Frank Sprenger. Use my name to get to see him. Play it this way. You are very angry at me. I let you believe we were going to make a very nice score out of Fedderman's problems, share and share alike. In fact, I told you that we'd stay healthier if we got out of Sprenger's area until things quiet down, and at McGee's request you got The Busted Flush The Busted Flush all ready for a long cruise, maybe over to the Islands, so bring your pa.s.sport. So tonight McGee smuggled a woman aboard the all ready for a long cruise, maybe over to the Islands, so bring your pa.s.sport. So tonight McGee smuggled a woman aboard the Flush Flush. You didn't see her. You don't know who she is. But from something I said while drunk, you think she came to the Contessa late last night and stayed with me in my room overnight. Tonight I told you your trip was off. I got ugly about it. I said I had better company. I said Frank Sprenger was almost as dumb as Hirsh Fedderman.”
”Sprenger... and Mary Alice Mary Alice!”
”I don't know what he'll do. Maybe there'll be no reaction at all. Right now I'm... trying to work out a jigsaw puzzle where every piece is square, and when I get them in the right places, they make an abstract painting. But they also make an abstract painting any way I fit them together.”
”If he's interested?”
”Remember No Name Island?”
”Of course.”
”Find it by yourself?”
”No problem.”
”You are going to tell him that my plan, when the two of us were going, was to take the Flush Flush down into Florida Bay and lay behind No Name and wait for a good five-day forecast before running across to Na.s.sau. You can take him to the place. For a fee. Just him. The two of you can drive down to the Keys and rent a skiff and go on out to No Name. Are you sure you can find it?” down into Florida Bay and lay behind No Name and wait for a good five-day forecast before running across to Na.s.sau. You can take him to the place. For a fee. Just him. The two of you can drive down to the Keys and rent a skiff and go on out to No Name. Are you sure you can find it?”
”My G.o.d, Travis. It's-”
”All right. You can find it. It isn't on any chart, so he can't find it alone. Of all the ways I can read this puzzle, if I'm right at all, he'll be willing to come alone. If it's a mob scene, forget it. Be sure you aren't tailed by his people or anybody.”
”How do I let you know if-”
”I'll listen to Miami Marine tomorrow afternoon from three-fifteen to three-thirty, four-fifteen to four-thirty, five-fifteen to five-thirty. If you don't come through with a call, I'll come in and come after you.”
”But won't she be able to-”
”Once we're well out of here, I'll tell her I asked you to keep tabs on anybody who might come looking for me. If he doesn't bite, just tell me everything is quiet. If he reacts but the time isn't set yet, tell me you heard somebody was looking for me but you didn't get a chance to see them or talk to them. If you are set up with him and know about when he might come visiting, say a man with a beard came by and wouldn't give his name, but he's going to come by again at such and such a time.”
”And come back at you the next day when it's definite?”
”I'll monitor at the same times. This is a big tricky b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Meyer. Don't listen to any lullaby from him. I think he might make you sit while he goes and gets a description from the night man at the Contessa, the night bell captain.”
”Isn't that a little too tricky, the part about the hotel?”
”Suggestion?”
”I didn't see her, but I saw her car and went and wrote down the plate number, and I know where it's parked.”
I thought it over. ”I like it better. What I don't like is the way I keep thinking of reasons why, if I'm right, Sprenger would like to leave all three of us in deep blue water.”
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