took a fall.” I told him where and how. “This redhead had the truck stashed in an empty hangar at the airbase. He blanked out Meyer’s signs with aluminum paint and waited for the heat to die down. Less than an hour ago, Kerrigan met him at the Steakburger drive-in and gave him the go-ahead.”
“You know this?”
“I saw them together. The redhead—his name is Bozey— handed Kerrigan a paper package of something, probablysomething long and green. Kerrigan’s payoff.”
“Payoff for what?”
“For setting up the truck, and arranging the getaway.”
“How would Kerrigan do that?”
I didn’t answer. We looked at each other in silence. The mountains rose behind him in the distance like a surf of stone beating soundlessly on an iron sky. Shadowed by his hatbrim, his face was as inscrutable as the sky.
“Aren’t you a little hipped on this Kerrigan business?” he said. “I don’t like the bastard, either. But that doesn’t mean he’s involved with a gang of highjackers.”
“The facts all point in his direction. I’ve given you some of them. There are others. He ordered a load of whisky that he had no use for.”
“How do you know that?”
“He sold the Slipper this morning. He’s leaving his wife for another woman, and he needs ready cash, a lot of it.”
“Who’s the other woman?”
“Not your sister-in-law, if that’s what’s worrying you. She seems to be out of it. The girl’s name is Jo Summer, and she had a singing engagement at the Slipper. The last couple of weeks she’s been playing up to Aquista, apparently getting set to finger him. You’ve got enough evidence there to book them—”
“Evidence? I’ve got your story.”
“Check it. Go over the ground yourself. Round up the suspects before they leave the county.”
“You seem to be instructing me in my duties.”
“It seems to be necessary.”
“Don’t let that paranoid streak run away with you. I can sympathize with your feelings, after the beating you took. But there are worse things than a beating. So I wouldn’t press too hard, Archer.”
“That could be a threat.”
“It could be, but it isn’t. It wouldn’t be good for me ifyou got hurt in my territory—badly hurt. And it wouldn’t be good for you. You can’t see much and you can’t do much on the bottom of an irrigation ditch with a bullet in your head.”
I had my hand on the revolver in my pocket. “Is a carbine bullet what you had in mind?”
Church fingered the stock of his carbine. His face was impassive, almost dreamy. A light wind from the mountains probed my clothes and chilled me. The moral chill went deeper. He said:
“You didn’t catch my meaning, I’m afraid. I don’t want anything to happen to you. If you’ll take my advice, you’ll check in at the hospital and get yourself patched up and treat yourself to a rest. That ought to be clear enough.”
“Crystal clear. I lay off Kerrigan and his gentle friends.”
“You lay off, period. I can’t assume responsibility for you if you keep on throwing your weight around. Good night.”
He stepped back to let me turn. The last I saw of him, he was standing in the road beside his car, a lonely silhouette.
CHAPTER 13 :
I drove back down the pass road
and turned toward the city. The glow of its lights was paler, as if the fires that consumed it were burning out. A few late trucks went by toward the south, their headlights long white fingers reaching for morning. None of them was a rig I had seen before. Bozey would be out of the county by this time, headed east or south. Kerrigan would be on his way to Mexico.
I was wrong about Kerrigan. His red convertible was standing on the gravel apron in front of his motor court. The engine was idling, and its blue-gray exhaust puffed and plumed on the air.
I parked on the shoulder of the highway and walked back to the convertible. It was empty. Switching off the ignition, I dropped the keys in my pocket and took my gun out. All but
“You know this?”
“I saw them together. The redhead—his name is Bozey— handed Kerrigan a paper package of something, probablysomething long and green. Kerrigan’s payoff.”
“Payoff for what?”
“For setting up the truck, and arranging the getaway.”
“How would Kerrigan do that?”
I didn’t answer. We looked at each other in silence. The mountains rose behind him in the distance like a surf of stone beating soundlessly on an iron sky. Shadowed by his hatbrim, his face was as inscrutable as the sky.
“Aren’t you a little hipped on this Kerrigan business?” he said. “I don’t like the bastard, either. But that doesn’t mean he’s involved with a gang of highjackers.”
“The facts all point in his direction. I’ve given you some of them. There are others. He ordered a load of whisky that he had no use for.”
“How do you know that?”
“He sold the Slipper this morning. He’s leaving his wife for another woman, and he needs ready cash, a lot of it.”
“Who’s the other woman?”
“Not your sister-in-law, if that’s what’s worrying you. She seems to be out of it. The girl’s name is Jo Summer, and she had a singing engagement at the Slipper. The last couple of weeks she’s been playing up to Aquista, apparently getting set to finger him. You’ve got enough evidence there to book them—”
“Evidence? I’ve got your story.”
“Check it. Go over the ground yourself. Round up the suspects before they leave the county.”
“You seem to be instructing me in my duties.”
“It seems to be necessary.”
“Don’t let that paranoid streak run away with you. I can sympathize with your feelings, after the beating you took. But there are worse things than a beating. So I wouldn’t press too hard, Archer.”
“That could be a threat.”
“It could be, but it isn’t. It wouldn’t be good for me ifyou got hurt in my territory—badly hurt. And it wouldn’t be good for you. You can’t see much and you can’t do much on the bottom of an irrigation ditch with a bullet in your head.”
I had my hand on the revolver in my pocket. “Is a carbine bullet what you had in mind?”
Church fingered the stock of his carbine. His face was impassive, almost dreamy. A light wind from the mountains probed my clothes and chilled me. The moral chill went deeper. He said:
“You didn’t catch my meaning, I’m afraid. I don’t want anything to happen to you. If you’ll take my advice, you’ll check in at the hospital and get yourself patched up and treat yourself to a rest. That ought to be clear enough.”
“Crystal clear. I lay off Kerrigan and his gentle friends.”
“You lay off, period. I can’t assume responsibility for you if you keep on throwing your weight around. Good night.”
He stepped back to let me turn. The last I saw of him, he was standing in the road beside his car, a lonely silhouette.
CHAPTER 13 :
I drove back down the pass road
and turned toward the city. The glow of its lights was paler, as if the fires that consumed it were burning out. A few late trucks went by toward the south, their headlights long white fingers reaching for morning. None of them was a rig I had seen before. Bozey would be out of the county by this time, headed east or south. Kerrigan would be on his way to Mexico.
I was wrong about Kerrigan. His red convertible was standing on the gravel apron in front of his motor court. The engine was idling, and its blue-gray exhaust puffed and plumed on the air.
I parked on the shoulder of the highway and walked back to the convertible. It was empty. Switching off the ignition, I dropped the keys in my pocket and took my gun out. All but
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