Brett Halliday - So Lush, So Deadly

“I’d like to hear what they’re saying myself.”

“The nerve of the guy! Let’s change the subject. Who do you like in the N.F.L. this year?”

They talked football for a time, then Teddy put the gun away and took out a worn deck of cards.

“I think I can take a chance you won’t jump me. Want to play some gin? Move that little table and you sit on the floor, where you’re more helpless.”

“I didn’t bring any money with me.”

“I’ll trust you.”

Shayne moved the table with Teddy watching, one hand inside his jacket. After Shayne was settled, he shuffled and dealt.

From time to time Teddy snapped a question at Jack, to be sure he was awake, but the listening device was still picking up nothing but music. Teddy was so pleased with the way he had held a gun on Shayne that he took too many chances with his discards, and he was soon fifty dollars down. He began to think more carefully. Shayne blitzed him again.

Teddy’s cards went spinning off the table as the door opened behind him and banged the back of his chair. The gun leaped into his hand. Instead of looking around he stared belligerently at Shayne.

“Now watch it, Mike.”

“What’s going on?” a woman’s voice said. “I’d like to come in.”

With a backhand wave, Teddy moved Shayne across to the bunk. Jack had whipped off the earphones. Teddy hooked a toe around the leg of the chair and moved it so the door could open.

The woman who entered was smartly dressed in a short knitted sheath. She had dark hair which she wore back from her forehead, a full-breasted figure, a humorous mouth. She held herself well, with complete self-assurance, as she looked from the gun in Teddy’s hand to Michael Shayne, dressed insecurely in a towel.

“You must be Mrs. Brady,” Shayne said.

“I am Katharine Brady,” she agreed. “Who are you?”

Teddy burst out, “Damn it, Shayne, if you knew she was Mrs. Brady, why wrestle me for a loaded.38?”

“This can’t be the well-known Mike Shayne,” Mrs. Brady said. “Why are you pointing a gun at him? I didn’t hire you to make a disturbance. Just the opposite. You assured me you could handle this with discretion.”

Teddy said weakly, “I have, Mrs. Brady. He’s working for the other side. I had to make him hold still.”

Her eyes slid over Shayne’s powerful bare torso. “You had a fight for a gun and Mike Shayne lost?”

“It was two against one,” Shayne said with a half grin.

Her mouth moved slightly. “And were you really trying?”

Teddy lowered the.38 slowly until it pointed at the floor. “I had to evaluate the situation according to the facts as I knew them. I thought the best thing to do-”

“You did the right thing, actually,” she said, still looking at Shayne. “I’m sorry I spoke so sharply. Have you taped anything yet?”

“Nobody’s doing any talking,” Jack said. “Just listening to records.”

She came further into the room. “There’s no point in standing around glaring. I brought some vodka. Why don’t we make some drinks?”

“With Shayne in the room,” Teddy said, “I don’t think we ought to exactly relax.”

“I don’t intend to relax. Keep your gun out if it makes you feel better. At least let’s all sit down. Is there a refrigerator on the boat?”

“Up ahead,” Teddy said with a movement of his head.

She went out. Shayne gave Teddy an appreciative look.

“You’ve got a better looking client than I have. I like women who don’t wear sunglasses after sunset.”

“Mike, don’t do anything too cute,” Teddy pleaded. “This could be the turning point for me. I’ve always wanted to get some divorce business, and here it is, the classic case. I don’t want to make any mistakes. You don’t have to win every time, do you?”

Mrs. Brady, coming back with a tray of ice cubes, heard that.

“That’s his reputation,” she said. “Isn’t that how he commands those fantastic fees?”

“All I meant was that if he had any consideration,” Teddy said, “he might make an exception just once. It wouldn’t kill him.”

“You’ve got everything well in hand,” Shayne remarked.

“For the time being. I’ve got my equipment in, and everything seems to be working according to the catalog description. But experience tells me that the roof’s going to fall in in a minute. That’s what experience tells me.”

“If you’re that worried,” Mrs. Brady said, “why not tie him up?”

“Tie up Mike Shayne?”

“Why not? You were willing to shoot him a minute ago.”

“Yeah, but that’s more-well, he wouldn’t hold it against me.”

Shayne laughed. “Teddy, you’re a credit to the profession.”

Teddy beamed. “Am I?”

Mrs. Brady snapped, “I’ve laid out a certain amount of money here, and I make a habit of getting value for my money. You seem to consider Shayne a threat. Tie him up.”

Teddy glanced uneasily at an open leather kit on the floor.

“There’s a length of cord in there, Jack. Tie him up. How about some of that vodka, Mrs. Brady?”

Jack took a coil of waxed cord out of the kit and cut off two three-foot lengths. “Tell you what, Teddy. I’ll hold the.38. You tie him.”

Mrs. Brady shook her head. “I can see how this is going to end. I’ll do it.”

Teddy made an exclamation of annoyance and handed the gun to his assistant. He knelt beside Shayne and bound his ankles.

“This is not of my own volition, Mike,” he said. “You heard her. Hands behind you.”

Shayne put his wrists behind his back and Teddy tied them together. Having made up his mind to it, he did a complete job.

“If you start losing circulation,” he said, “tell me so I can laugh. I can be as mean as the next guy when I have to be.”

Mrs. Brady handed around paper cups full of ice and vodka. Teddy drank gratefully, wiping his streaming forehead.

“Nothing for me?” Shayne said.

“How would you hold it?” Mrs. Brady said. “Well, here, if you don’t mind drinking from the bottle.”

She uncapped the bottle and held it to his mouth. Some of it went down.

“Now explain to me how this apparatus works,” she said, turning.

“Simple as one, two, three,” Teddy said. “Of course it could be more automatic, but then you’d have those delicate components to go out of order. Here we’ve got a pickup, an ordinary electrical connection and earphones. With radio, you’re going to run into some ham operator, and he’s going to monitor you and notify the cops.”

“The tape recorder isn’t working.”

“No, we start that manually. You don’t want to waste tape when nobody’s talking.”

“But this won’t do. It won’t do at all. You mean you intend to listen to what you tape?”

“Well, yes,” Teddy said, surprised. “You can’t do away with the human element altogether.”

“Turn it on. I’m not interested in economizing in tapes. How many did you bring?”

“Only three or four. I thought that would be ample.”

He looked nervously at Shayne. Again Shayne had a sense that he was watching a screen on which everything was out of focus and improperly centered, and all the roles were slightly miscast.

“I suppose I’ll have to take the earphones,” Mrs. Brady said.

Jack handed them over. She sat in the place he vacated, and Teddy showed her what button to press to switch on the tape recorder.

“Still and all,” Teddy said, more and more worried. “You don’t want to think you can rely on a tape. They’re too easy to fake. Some judges won’t admit them at all. What you’ve got to do, you’ve got to listen to the conversation as it develops, and then when you’ve got them in bed and everything’s underway, you barge in and take your pictures. That way you’re sure. The thing about the bug, it gives you your timing. Then you don’t show up too early or too late, after it’s over. You’re only going to get one chance, remember. If you blow it, good-bye, see you later.”