A. Fair: All Grass Isn't Green

“Hale packed up and got out. He evidently didn’t have too much junk, but what he had he threw into an automobile, and the guy vanished.

“Now, that could have meant either one of two things. Either he had a lot of red-hot information that he was going to spill in an article on marijuana smuggling, the word got around and some friend of his came to tip him off that the situation was hot and he’d better get out, so he got out, or he knew a shipment was coming across, and he came to the border.

“The fact that he took all of his things with him makes me think that it was a friend that gave him the tip.

“On the other hand, it could have been that it was an enemy, some member of the dope ring.

“Hale was busily engaged in typing out a story that was red-hot and there was a knock at the door. He went to open the door and found himself looking down the barrel of a gun.

“The man behind that gun just took Hale with him and wanted to be awfully careful that he didn’t leave anything behind in the way of notes, so he and a couple of buddies cleaned out the apartment.

“Right now,” Seller said, “we’re acting on the theory that Hale’s move was voluntary, that he hadn’t all of his article finished, that he suddenly realized he was hot, that some friend came and helped him and they moved in a hurry.

“Now then, we’d like...”

The door opened and a man who had police officer stamped all over him came into the dining room, looked around, saw Sellers, pounded over to him and touched him on the shoulder. “Can I speak with you a minute, Sergeant?” he asked.

Sellers looked up. “Why, sure,” he said.

The two officers walked over to a comer of the dining room where they were out of earshot. The local officer poured stuff into Sellers’ ears and Sellers was jolted — there was no question about that.

Whatever the local guy told him was important enough so that Sellers never came back. The two men walked out of the room and Sellers didn’t even so much as give us a backward glance over his shoulder.

Calhoun said, “Gosh, that was close!”

I watched the door through which the officers had disappeared. After a few thoughtful seconds, I turned back to Calhoun. “That brief interlude,” I said, “gives you a chance to start talking.”

“To whom about what?”

“To me about you.”

“I don’t think you need to know any more than you know already.”

“Think again,” I told him.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, “Colburn Hale really is nothing to me.”

“Sure,” I said sarcastically. “You toss three hundred and fifty dollars onto Bertha Cool’s desk to try to find him and then you put another hundred into the kitty down here, but he’s less than nothing to you.”

Calhoun looked at me thoughtfully, then said, “I’m going to tell you the truth.”

“It just might make a welcome change,” I point out.

He said, “I’m not interested in Colburn Hale. I’m interested in Nanncie Beaver.”

He jolted me with that one. “What?” I asked.

“That’s right,” he said. “I’m interested in Nanncie Beaver. She ran away with every evidence of having left in a panic. I tried to trace her. There wasn’t a chance. So I went to see if Colburn Hale had anything to do with her disappearance and I found out that Hale had left very hurriedly. I figured they were both together.

“I didn’t want anyone to know I was interested in Nanncie Beaver. I didn’t even dare to tell you and Bertha Cool, but I felt if you could locate Colburn Hale, that would give me all the information I needed to find Nanncie.”

“Why be so secretive?” I asked.

Calhoun said, “Because I’m married. It’s not a happy marriage. We’re getting a divorce. My wife and I are working out a property settlement right now through our lawyers. I can’t afford to play into her hands. If she knew anything about Nanncie Beaver the fat would be in the fire. Her demands for a settlement would go way up out of any reason.”

I said, “If you had put the cards on the table with us you might have saved yourself a lot of time and a lot of money.”

“Then, by the same token,” he said, “you or Bertha Cool might have made a slip and it could have cost me two or three hundred...”

“Two or three hundred thousand?” I asked, finishing the sentence for him.

He thought for a moment, then said, “Could be.”

I did a lot of thinking. “Look,” I said, “you’ve lied to me about a lot of things. You drove down here and you went directly to Unit Twelve at the Maple Leaf Motel when you arrived. You had to talk with Nanncie. There was an argument. Things didn’t go as smoothly as you expected.”

“What makes you think that?” he asked.

“You forget that I’m in Unit Seven,” I said. “I was awakened by voices last night, voices coming from Unit Twelve.”

“You heard voices?” he asked.

“Voices.”

“A man and a woman?”

“That’s right.”

“Did you hear what was being said?”

I said, “Suppose you quit asking me questions for a while and start telling me the facts. You may be in this thing a little deeper than you anticipate.”

“I’ve told you the facts.”

I shook my head. “No, you haven’t.”

“What do you mean by that?”

I said, “If you had really been anxious to locate Nanncie when I told you last night over the telephone that I’d followed her down here and that she was in Unit Twelve of the Maple Leaf Motel, you’d have said, ‘Well, I’ve gone as far as I want to go with this thing, Lam. I’ve spent all the money I can afford to spend, and if you haven’t located Colburn Hale by this time, you’d better come on home and call it a day.’

“Instead of that you jump in your car and come down here and when you see me this morning you fork over another hundred bucks first thing.”

“Well, what does that prove?” he asked, trying to be belligerent.

I said, “It proves that your actions and your words don’t fit together.”

I pushed back my chair, “Come on,” I said, “let’s, see Nanncie.”

“I... I don’t want to see her now.”

“You’re going to see her now,” I said.

“You’re working for me,” he pointed out.

“You’re damn right I am, and there’s more to this than meets the eye, otherwise Sergeant Sellers wouldn’t be down here. Come on, we’re going to see Nanncie.”

“I don’t want to see her now.”

“I’m going to see her now. You can come along if you want to have it that way, or you can stay here.”

“All right,” he said, “I’ll come along.”

I paid the check and left a tip.

“Where’s your car?” I asked.

“Parked out front.”

“Let’s go in it. Time may be a little more precious than we realize.”

It was a big Cadillac and we purred the four blocks the Maple Leaf Motel, found a parking place, got and approached Unit Twelve.

The key was in the door on the outside.

“What does that mean?” Calhoun asked.

“It probably means that she’s checked out,” I said.

“She couldn’t have.”

“Why not?” I asked.

He was silent at that one.

I walked up-to the door, bold as brass, and knock on it. When I received no answer, I pulled the door open.

The bed had been slept in but hadn’t been made. I went into the bathroom. There was a bathmat on floor, but it was dry. The bath towels were folded on the rack. They were both dry.

We looked the place over. There wasn’t any sign baggage or any article of women’s clothing.

“Okay,” I said to Calhoun, “let’s get out of here. We’ll go to my place. Perhaps you can refresh your memory there and tell me a bit more.”