Brett Halliday - Violence Is Golden

“That’s not much to go on, Mary.”

“Wait. My brain has been clicking away merrily ever since. I was in the lounge at the Miami airport when they were loading the luggage, and I made a point of looking out of the window. You know the luggage space in the bottom of the plane. There are three compartments with separate doors. They load the bags into metal containers, like pods, and bring them out of the terminal on a forklift. Later, when they unload, all they have to do is slide the pods out of the hatches and move them inside. It saves a lot of handling. They loaded three containers. Mike, I must have telegraphed what I was thinking. I turned around and saw George Savage watching me. It was a very dirty look he was giving me, I assure you.”

“Did he say anything?”

“You mean I’m imagining all this? Well, anything’s possible! But when we unloaded this morning, they only took out two containers, not three. So I decided to make myself obnoxious, and I asked George for my other bag. What other bag, he said with a stupid expression. The new one, I said, and, Mike, he blushed! How often do you see that nowadays? He got all red in the face and he said he’d see if he could trace it, et cetera et cetera. To me that’s conclusive. The phony luggage is in that third hatch. And in case you’re still skeptical,” she went on as Shayne started to speak, “Naomi offered me a bribe to keep quiet.”

“Tell me about that. When?”

“In the lobby of the hotel this morning. I knew I’d get you interested sooner or later. I’m a pretty good photographer, in my own unbiased opinion. She saw some of my transparencies. She wants me to stay here in St. Albans to take pictures for a brochure the travel agency is getting out. If I stay here, I won’t be on the plane asking questions about luggage, will I? Actually, I’d love to do it, but I have certain commitments. This year’s whole in-service training depends on my getting back with the right kind of pictures, and there we’re talking about my bread and butter. She said why didn’t I skip Venezuela and rejoin the tour in Brazil? But-”

“Where in Brazil?” Shayne said quickly.

“Brasilia.” She put her hand to her mouth. “Brasilia! I’m not connecting too well. That means they’re going to leave the hot suitcases in Caracas. It does!” she insisted excitedly. “I’ll bet any amount of money. Then when I get back on the plane in Brasilia, it won’t matter what I think because the third hatch will be empty!”

Shayne felt a twinge of disappointment. He had begun to like Naomi. But he ought to know by now that the way a young woman looked in an imperfectly fastened bikini had no bearing at all on whether or not she was taking part in an illegal operation.

Mary said, “Are you having another drink? I think I will, too. I feel a lot more relaxed now that I know we’re working together.”

“Did I say anything about working together?”

“No, but you will. I’ve still got some ammunition. I was looking at the news on television last night. It’s a little blurred in my mind because I didn’t know you were going to be massaging my calf the next morning-”

She giggled. Shayne asked her to continue.

“Didn’t you have some kind of an argument with a Japanese?” she said. “Well, maybe this doesn’t mean a thing, but I was in a gift shop looking for postcards, and I saw somebody from the plane talking rather furtively with a Japanese man.”

She held out her glass. “More, please.” He poured. “Furtive,” she said. “You’re going to pounce on that word, and I’ll forestall you. I really can’t tell you what gave me the impression it was a furtive conversation-the angle of their shoulders, perhaps. Alfred Hitchcock would know what I mean. The Japanese was the big, handsome wrestler type, reeking of virility. One thing I noticed particularly, being a photographer of sorts myself, was his funny camera. I’ve never seen one shaped exactly like it”

“Who was he talking to?”

“Well, Mike-” She gave him a coy look. “What’s the good old Latin expression? Quid pro quo. You butter my parsnips and I’ll butter your parsnips, and I hope you don’t think I’m trying to be lewd.”

“This isn’t table tennis we’re playing, Mary,” Shayne said. “These people play for blood. If that’s the same camera I saw yesterday, it isn’t a camera. It shoots bullets. All this is very romantic, and a big change from your ordinary routine, but are you prepared to be killed?”

She gulped. After a moment she said faintly, “I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

“Two people have been killed already,” he told her. “Is there anything else?”

“No,” she said in a small voice.

“OK.” He made an angry gesture. “Then will you please tell me what the hell’s the point in behaving like a Goddamn sixteen-year-old? You’re a grown woman. Didn’t anybody ever tell you there’s something to be said for minding your own business?”

She said with dignity, “Mike, you have no right to talk to me in that-”

“The hell I don’t. If you want to play catch with a hand grenade, that’s up to you. Just don’t do it while I’m two feet away.”

“I’m sorry that’s how it seems to you. I’ve been brought up to believe in personal responsibility. When I see somebody being beaten, I don’t believe in crossing the street and pretending it was a figment of my imagination. Smuggling’s a crime!”

“It’s a nothing crime, Mary. It’s the export business without paying any taxes.”

“What if they’re carrying heroin or something, would that change your mind?”

“I know what they’re carrying, but I’m not going to spend the afternoon explaining it. It isn’t heroin.”

“Very well,” she said firmly, “if you’re so determined to go it alone, I think I’ll just let you guess who was in the gift shop with the Japanese.”

He gave her a dangerous look, and she said quickly, “Thompson. He was in the front of the cabin by himself. I don’t suppose you noticed him, because externally he’s a bit colorless, but I’m in the habit of reconnoitering unattached men. Not that I’m not perfectly contented as a single person, thank you very much!”

She looked at him defiantly, but crumbled at once. “Which is a damn lie. In vino veritas -after cognac on top of absinthe, a person’s likely to start telling the truth. I never have any money left over after taxes. The thought came to my mind that, if I could let the proper authorities know that some hankypanky is going on, I might get a cash award. I know I’ve read that that kind of money is tax-free. I could quit my job and travel in the off-season, and maybe I could meet somebody. In summer there are such hordes of schoolteachers on the move-they flow across the map by the hundreds of thousands. And just for once, I wouldn’t be out in the audience, watching the action on a screen, I’d be part of it myself.”

“In a movie the actors do what they’re told,” Shayne said. “The villain always gets killed. With real villains that sometimes doesn’t happen.”

She ignored him. “Mike, I’m so out of everything! All the interesting things are always taking place somewhere else. Maybe you’ll think I’m getting maudlin, but I’ve never had a real love affair with anybody. I’m not making a pass at you, don’t worry! I know you wouldn’t give me the time of day. But if I had money, I wouldn’t mind paying someone to make love to me. I wouldn’t!” she insisted.

Her hand closed into a fist and she hammered it on the table. “I’m not going to stay in St. Albans like a coward and miss out on what happens tomorrow. I could help you, Mike. I won’t insist on any of the fee. I won’t go around asking any more provocative questions, but I can keep my ears open, can’t I? Like seeing that Japanese with Mr. Thompson. I told you something you didn’t already know.”