Ричард Деминг - Man-Trap

I said, “Just remember our agreement, Inspector. Twenty four hours.”

He gave me a sour look, but nodded his head. “It’ll be at least that before we’re ready to lodge a formal charge anyway.” Turning to his prisoner, he said, “Let’s go, lady.”

It occurred to me I had not yet made my promised call to Laurie Davis, and now was as good a time as any. From the barroom booth I called the private number in Carson City Davis had given me, but it was a wasted thirty-five cents. The male secretary who answered sounded surprised when he learned who was calling.

“I thought Mr. Davis was with you,” he said. “He left your number to call in case I needed him.”

Hanging up, I phoned Murdoch, the manager of the apartment house where I live.

“Yes, Mr. Moon,” he told me. “Mr. Davis and a friend are here now. I recognized Mr. Davis from his news pictures and took the liberty of letting them in your apartment to wait. Was that all right.”

“Quite,” I said. “Mind telling Mr. Davis to hang on and I’ll be there in ten minutes?”

Murdoch said he didn’t mind.

Fausta and I found Laurie Davis and Farmer Cole quietly waiting in my front room. Beyond a friendly but formal greeting to Fausta, Laurie Davis paid no attention to her, his mind apparently being strictly on business.

“I had expected to hear from you before now, Mr. Moon,” he started mildly.

I told him I had just called his private number in Carson City, which was how I had learned he was here.

“I’m not used to chasing after the people I hire,” he commented heavily. Still in a mild enough voice: “Have you made any substantial progress?”

“Possibly,” I said. “Warren Day has made an arrest, but I’m not certain he has Lancaster’s killer. It’s Mrs. Knight, Willard Knight’s widow?”

“Oh? And her supposed motive?”

“Knight had been playing the stock market with company funds. Lancaster threatened to make public certain irregularities in a corporation where Knight owned seventy thousand dollars worth of stock. Mrs. Knight knew all about it, and the theory is she bumped Lancaster to save her husband from bankruptcy and prison, then bumped her husband because he was playing another woman.”

In a sleepy sort of way the big man looked pleased with me for some reason. “But you’re not enthusiastic about this theory?”

“I’m not unenthusiastic about it. I’ve still got an open mind. I think it’s quite probable the motive for murdering Lancaster was to prevent his making his knowledge public, but any number of people may have had that motive.”

Laurie’s eyes were almost drooping shut as he asked idly, “What was the name of this precarious corporation?”

As though I had not heard the question, I said, “Knight may have been killed for the same reason your lieutenant governor was, the killer assuming he was the only person aside from Lancaster who knew the corporation was unsound.”

The big man let his eyes open half way. “And who would be the killer with that motive?”

“Whoever was responsible for the corporation’s fix. Maybe a member of the board of directors.”

When no one said anything for a few moments, I added brightly, “You’re on all sorts of corporation boards, aren’t you, Mr. Davis?”

The closest thing to a smile he had yet managed in my presence appeared on Davis’ face. It was not actually a smile, for that would have required too strenuous use of his facial muscles, but it definitely was an expression of amusement. He looked over at Fausta.

“Your friend fully comes up to your recommendation, Fausta. I’m glad I hired him.” Then his eyes swung back to me. “You consider all possible suspects, don’t you, Mr. Moon? Including your own client.”

“The possibility occurred to me,” I admitted. “Though now I’m inclined to scratch you off my list of suspects.”

“Thank you,” he said dryly. “What did you say the name of this corporation was?”

“I didn’t say, Mr. Davis. The reason I’ve scratched you as a suspect is that I’ve figured out why you hired me. And it wasn’t quite the reason you gave.”

He made no comment.

“You didn’t actually fear any political scandal in connection with Lancaster’s death,” I said. “The guy was so honest, there wasn’t a chance in a million he’d been tied up with anything unsavory. You did suspect he might have been killed to shut him up about a financial swindle he’d uncovered, and you weren’t sure just how that swindle might affect your own finances. I’m going to make a guess that Lancaster mentioned his discovery to you, but refused to tell you what company was involved because he knew you’d immediately dump your stock in it. And he was so honest, he refused to let even a close friend have any advantage over the rest of the stockholders. What I don’t understand is why you simply didn’t dump all the stock you owned in the five companies Lancaster had an interest in. One of the five had to be it.”

“Because that would have started a general panic,” Davis said simply. “I had twenty-seven other corporations to consider.”

“I see,” I said. “You had to know exactly what stock it was that had a phony value, so you could quietly get out from under and let the small stockholders take the rap. It was such a delicate situation, you couldn’t afford even a rumor until you knew for certain why Lancaster had been killed. You gave me a cock-and-bull story about needing twenty-four hours to repair political fences, and hired me to unearth the motive for the killing. If the motive proved to be something other than you suspected, no harm was done. But if it was to shut Lancaster up because of a stock swindle, the public disclosure of which would knock the bottom out of the stock, you wanted a twenty-four-hour jump on everybody else.”

When I stopped speaking, there was silence in the room for several minutes.

Finally Laurie said, “So?”

“So I think it’s a shame a guy as honest as Walter Lancaster should die for nothing. I have an idea he was thinking of the little stockholders when he refused to take advantage of his knowledge to save his own investment or the investments of other large stockholders. People who had their life savings tied up in this corporation. Call me a damn fool idealist if you want, but like Walter, I’m a champion of the little guy. You’re going to learn the name of the shaky corporation when you read it in the newspapers.”

Laurie’s sleepy eyes became bare slits. “You accepted a retainer to carry out specific instructions, Mr. Moon. And there was nothing illegal about what I hired you to do.”

“Nothing illegal,” I admitted. “I’ll give you an argument about your ethics though. Anyway, you’ve got your facts twisted. I accepted a retainer to investigate a case, and you promised an additional thousand dollars if I delivered certain information to you twenty-four hours before the public got it My failure to deliver automatically releases you from your part of the bargain.”

Slowly he moved his head back and forth. “I’m afraid I can’t accept that, Mr. Moon.”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing else you can do, Mr. Davis.”

“Oh, but there is,” he assured me. He glanced at Farmer Cole, then at Fausta and back to me. “I understand Miss Moreni had an attempt made on her life, and you’ve appointed yourself her full time bodyguard. Since you’ve decided I’m not a suspect, would you trust her with me if we went no farther than the apartment manager’s flat?”

I looked at him blankly. “Why?”

“The Farmer wants to talk to you privately. It would be pleasanter for all concerned if Miss Moreni weren’t here.”

Fausta looked from one to the other of us suspiciously. “What is it, Manny?” she asked.