Brett Halliday - The Corpse That Never Was

Shayne pushed the drawer shut with his pencil and stood back, tugging thoughtfully at his earlobe. There was no logical reason, of course, to connect the detective’s death with the fact that he had received a $250 retainer from Mrs. Nathan a month previously. Yet the thought was strongly in Shayne’s mind because that was the circumstance that had brought him to Wentworth’s office, and he didn’t like the coincidence of a third death that had no connection with the two deaths the preceding night.

As he stood there scowling, it came to him suddenly that Elsa signed her checks with her maiden name. Also, he recalled the question he had asked himself previously… whether Wentworth was the detective Eli had employed previously and whether he had recommended the man to his daughter.

He tried the top drawer of the first cabinet and hit pay-dirt at once. The third folder in the drawer was labeled, Armbruster, Elsa. Shayne lifted it out carefully between his fingernails and laid it open on the desk. The first item was a letterhead with scribbled notations on it in pencil. Clipped to the top of the page was a 4x6 photograph of Paul Nathan. Below, the detective had scribbled, “Paul Nathan. V.P. Beach Devel Corp.” with a Lincoln Avenue address on Miami Beach, followed by the Nathan residence address and a telephone number which Shayne recognized. After that was written, “White Thnderbrd Conv.” and a license number.

Below this was scrawled, “Tail Friday nights, 5:00 on. Exec. Pkng lot, office. $100 amp; exp. $250 pd.”

And below that was the additional notation, “Chek Miss Mona Bayliss for possble contact with subject past months amp; presnt.”

Shayne turned that page back and found a carbon copy of a neatly typed report dated Friday, two weeks previously. He eased one hip down to a corner of the desk and read every word of the two-page report carefully.

It was headed, SUBJECT, Paul Nathan. Movements from 5:00 p.m. until 4:20 a.m.

It began: “Subject left office 5:10 to car in lot. Proceeded on Lincoln to ocean, south to Hi-Lo Bar corner 6th. Three drinks at bar alone, evidently killing time, checking watch. Out at 5:52 and across Causeway to Red Cock Restaurant Miami. Met young girl in lobby, evidently by prearrangement. Blonde, 5–2, 110 lbs. red cocktail dress. (Later ascertained she is Suzie Conroy, secretary in office. Newcomer in Miami from New York. Employed six weeks ago. No previous contact with Subject can be traced.) Cocktails and dinner to 7:47. Drove to apartment building 267 Northwest 17th St. (Later ascertained Miss Conroy’s address, apt 3-D.) Parted at front door with friendly good night.

“Arrived Fun Club 8:02. Upstairs to gaming rooms where Subject purchased $100 in $5 chips. Craps, blackjack and roulette, making $1 to $5 bets and losing slowly but steadily until chips were gone at 10:25. Spoke casually to various people, seemed known by housemen and liked.

“Drove north on the Boulevard to Bay Breeze. Arrival 10:42. Purchased another $100 in chips (also cash), and lost at various tables until out of chips at 12:10. Downstairs to dining room for three drinks and sandwich.

“12:45 across 79th Street Causeway to Bel Luna on Beach. Another $100 dribbled away (only craps here) and departed at 1:52. Drove to El Cielito, and another $100. Had run at blackjack and more than doubled stake, then lost at crap table shooting up to $20.

“To the Hacienda at 3:03. Purchased another $100, tried blackjack and then roulette. Played low stakes at roulette, seeming to stretch stake to closing time at 4:00. Appeared particularly friendly with croupier, and when play stopped at 4:00, they left together. Downstairs to bar for two drinks in a booth and ten minutes of conversation. Subject left at 4:20 and drove directly home where he put car in garage and went in side entrance. (Later ascertained croupier at Hacienda is Joe Grogan, lives in Miami with wife, steady worker at Hacienda, can discover no outside contact with Subject.) END FIRST REPORT.”

The next page was headed, “INTERIM REPORT. SUBJECT Miss Mona Bayliss.

“It was necessary to go back more than a year to trace Subject to present address, which is 729 Hibiscus Road, Miami, Apt. 511.

“Interviews with former friends and coworkers indicate that Subject was badly broken up when jilted by Paul Nathan a month prior to his marriage. Consensus is that she was bitter about treatment by former fiance, began going out with other men, and absenteeism from work led to loss of her position as insurance secretary six weeks later.

“Subject then moved from modest apartment she shared with another girl, and cut off old ties and friendships. Rented a rather expensive apartment ($300 per month) and did not seek another job.

“Source of income not known, but indications are that she may have become ‘party’ girl. She is believed to entertain a man (or men) frequently, and often into the late hours.

“Found nothing to indicate she has had any contact with Paul Nathan since he broke their engagement. No conclusive proof otherwise, but his photograph not recognized by employees in building. Possibility that they have met clandestinely elsewhere will be explored if you direct. Will await instructions.

“END INTERIM REPORT.”

The next page was again headed: “Subject, Paul Nathan.” It was dated the previous Friday and there was the notation: Movements from 5:00 p.m. until 3:36 a.m.

Shayne glanced through this report quickly, confirming his impression that Paul Nathan followed very much the same routine on each of his Friday nights “out.”

This time he had left the office soon after five o’clock, driven directly to the Red Cock where he sat alone in the bar and nursed a couple of drinks until he was joined for dinner at 6:15 by the same Suzie Conroy who had dined with him the preceding Friday. After leaving the Red Cock and depositing her at her door, he had followed the same routine as before. First to the Fun Club, then to the Bay Breeze; across Biscayne Bay to the Bel Luna, then El Cielito, and finally to the Hacienda.

At each one of the five places he visited, he invariably bought a stack of chips for $100, and remained until he lost that exact amount. This night he reached the Hacienda at 2:30, and ended up at the roulette table presided over by Joe Grogan just a few minutes less than an hour later.

In his report, Wentworth noted that he was the only player at the table during his last fifteen minutes of play, and that he and the croupier had engaged in conversation while the wheel was going around and he was losing the last of his $100. From the table he had gone downstairs alone and had a single drink before driving directly home as before.

When he finished reading the two reports, Shayne didn’t have to check the notes on last night which he had in his pocket to know that Paul Nathan was a methodical and losing gambler who evidently set himself a loss limit of $500 each Friday night, spreading that amount equally and doggedly at each of the five places he visited each night, remaining at each one until he had lost exactly a hundred dollars, and then moving on.

It wasn’t a very exciting or imaginative way to spend a night gambling, and Shayne wondered why he bothered to make the rounds at all. He supposed the guy felt he had to do something with the one night of freedom allowed him by his wealthy wife each week, and he evidently felt a certain compulsion to fritter away the five hundred bucks his wife allowed him for each night “out.”

All in all it seemed to shape up as a rather dreary sort of married life, and Shayne found himself beginning to feel an unwilling sort of pity for the man who had jilted another woman to marry an heiress.

He closed the file reflectively, digging out a cigarette and lighting it. There was nothing to indicate whether Max Wentworth had been on the same tailing job last night or not. If so, his conscientious and carefully detailed report of Nathan’s movements would probably provide the husband with a perfect alibi. There hadn’t been time for him to type up his report, of course. Perhaps that was what he had come to the office to do. That might indicate he would have his notes on the evening with him, because he would have to keep notes as the evening progressed to make up an exact timetable such as the other reports provided.