A. Fair - Shills Can't Cash Chips

Maxton grinned sheepishly.

Chief Dale glowered at him, said suddenly and accusingly, “Why the hell did you advertise for witnesses to that accident?”

“I... I wanted to — well, I wanted to help my partner out.”

“Cut out that jazz,” Dale told him, “or I’ll open that door and run you both in for running an immoral party.”

Chris spilled words out in a stream. “Well, you know how it is, Chief. My partner was involved in an accident and— Now look, Chief, you couldn’t drag the young woman into this — and this is my apartment. I pay rent on it and—”

“To hell with that stuff,” Dale said, “get back to the case. Why did you try to dig up a witness?”

Maxton took a long breath and said, “All right, I’ll tell you why I tried to pick up a witness. I thought the accident was a phoney.”

Chief Dale sat down. His face softened. “ Now you’re beginning to talk,” he said. “What made you think it was phoney?”

Maxton said, “I knew damned well it was phoney. Holgate’s automobile was in good shape at four-thirty that afternoon. Whatever happened took place sometime after that.

“My partner had been drinking. He’d been involved in an automobile accident and he sure as hell was going to lots of trouble to cover it up.”

“So what did you do?”

“I wanted to find out about it.”

“By trying to bribe a witness to say he’d seen it?” Dale asked suspiciously.

“You don’t get the sketch,” Maxton said. “I wanted to prove that there weren’t any witnesses. In that way I could prove there hadn’t been any accident the way Holgate claimed. I intended to offer up to five thousand dollars to anyone who could prove that he’d seen the accident, but I wasn’t going to stick my neck out all at once. I was going to make it a sure thing and play it up in such a dramatic way I’d cook Holgate’s kettle of fish.

“I figured I’d start the ante at a hundred and then, when no witnesses showed up, I’d increase it to two fifty, then five hundred. Then, when no witnesses showed up, I’d make it a thousand. Then, with no witnesses, I’d make it two thousand. By that time I’d be sure of my ground and I’d have had the ads attracting so much attention that the insurance company would get suspicious and everyone would get suspicious.”

“That’s better,” Dale said. “Why did you want everyone to get suspicious?”

“Because,” Maxton said, “Holgate thought he had something on me and was trying to force me to sell out my interest in the partner-»hip for less than it was worth. I just felt that I’d get something on that smug s.o.b. so he wouldn’t be pushing me around. Now if you want to know, that’s the truth.”

“How do you know his car was in good shape at four-thirty in the afternoon?” Dale asked.

“I’d rather not go into that.”

“And I want you to go into it.”

“All right, his secretary told me.”

“How did she know?”

“It was her birthday. There was a sort of office party and—”

“Cocktails?” Dale asked.

“Cocktails.”

“Go on,” Dale said. “What happened?”

“And then this cheap, chiseling, two-bit punk, Donald Lam, got in the picture and told me such a convincing lie about having seen the accident that I came to the conclusion my suspicions were all wrong and I drew in my horns. I threw up my hands, decided I was licked and then paid the s.o.b. two hundred and fifty dollars in cash to boot.”

Dale thought things over for a few moments, then he began to chuckle.

He got up and nodded to me. “Go on with your party,” he said to Maxton. “I’m sorry I interrupted you and I hope the panties fit.”

We went back down to the car. The chief started the motor. His eyes were narrowed in thoughtful speculation.

He turned on the radio and called in to the dispatcher. “This is Chief Dale in Car One. I’m working on a case. Anything new on that Holgate case? Over.”

The dispatcher said, “Bulletin from the Los Angeles police just a few minutes ago, putting out an all points bulletin on Donald Lam. They’ve buttoned up the case against him and are ready to charge him with the murder of Carter Holgate. Over.”

Chief Dale said, “Thanks. Keep in touch.”

He shut off the radio and grinned at me.

“Your friend on the Los Angeles police force doesn’t have much faith in you, does he?”

“Not much,” I said. “How about making a telephone call?”

“Sure thing. Anything you want, Lam.” He grinned again and said, “ Anything you want. You name it, you can have it.”

Then he began to chuckle.

“Some reason why Holgate wouldn’t want to take the responsibility with you, Chief?” I asked.

“You’re damned right there is,” Dale said. “It’s a long story. Holgate was a high-pressure salesman. A good enough egg, but strictly high pressure. A friend of mine had some property up in the mountains. Holgate offered to trade it for a couple of lots in his subdivision. She went for it in a big way.

“After the trade had been made for about sixty days, it turned out there was a new highway going through the mountains and the location went right through the property this girl had owned. I don’t know how much Holgate made out of it, but it was plenty.”

“Did she do anything about it?” I asked.

“ She didn’t,” Dale said. “But I had a talk with Holgate.”

“What did he do?”

“He laughed at me.”

“So,” I said, “in case you were in a position to jail Holgate for drunk driving, hit-and-run... I’m beginning to see a great light.”

“And I’m beginning to see a great light,” Chief Dale said. “For your information, Lam, there’s a special meeting of the council at nine-thirty this evening and one of the subjects on the agenda is getting a new police chief. When you dropped into my office it was manna from heaven. I hadn’t told my wife about it because I didn’t want to worry her. I was going to go home, have cocktails and dinner, and had made arrangements to be summoned on the telephone so I could go up to the council meeting and be available. But they hadn’t invited me to be present. They were having an ‘executive session’ and I gather my successor may have already been picked out sub rosa. — Here’s a good isolated telephone booth. Put through your call. Got all the money you need?”

“I have a credit card,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll wait here.”

The chief settled back in the car and lit a cigar. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I put through a call to the office.

Bertha Cool answered. “Where the hell are you?” she said. “My God, do you know what’s happened? That s.o.b. Frank Sellers, let that Ace High Detective guy sell him on the idea you were cutting corners. Heaven knows what sort of evidence they cooked up, but Sellers rang me up and told me to have you surrender yourself at once.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him the truth. I told him you’d gone out and I didn’t know where you were, and he said I had fifteen minutes to locate you and if I didn’t locate you in that time he was putting out an all points bulletin, that he was tired of being made a patsy.”

“Anything else?” I asked.

“That’s it— Oh, wait a minute. Elsie wants to talk with you... Where the hell is she? She said she had something else that might interest you. I guess she’s gone out.”

“All right,” I said. “Here’s what I want you to do, Bertha. Get in your car and drive just as fast as you can to the Miramar Apartments in Colinda. You locate Elsie. Leave a message for her in her apartment house if you can’t do anything else. Tell her to bring her scrapbook on automobile accidents and hit-and-run and get the hell out there just as fast as she can. I’ll meet you there.”