06 Kiss Me, Deadly by Mickey Spillane

Author:Mickey Spillane [Spillane, Mickey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

I SLEPT HARD. The rain on the windows kept me asleep and I went through the morning and the rest of the day with all the things I pictured going through my mind and when they came together in one final, horrible ending I woke up. It was nearly six in the evening but I felt better. Time was too important to waste but I couldn’t afford to let it pass while I was half out on my feet.

There was a box of frozen shrimp in the refrigerator I put on the fire and while it cooked up I put through a call. It took two more to locate Ray Diker and his voice sounded as sharp and pinched as his face. He said, “Glad you called, Mike. I was going to buzz you.”

“Got something?”

“Maybe. I followed up on Kawolsky. The office he worked for pulled out the records and I got the details. He was hired to cover the Torn kid. She complained that someone was following her and she was a pretty scared baby. She paid the fee in cash and they put Lee on permanent duty. He picked her up in the morning and took her home at night.”

“You told me that already, Ray.”

“I know, but here’s the good part. Lee Kawolsky quit reporting to the office in person after a week of it. He started checking in by phone. The office got ideas about it and put another man outside the apartment and found out Lee was pulling a voluntary twenty-four-hour duty. He was staying with the dame all the time.”

“The office complain?”

“What for? It was his business and if she wanted it that way why sound off on it. Her checks still rolled in.”

“Did they leave it that way?”

“There wasn’t much they could do. The report the other investigator sent in said Lee was doing a fairly serious job of bodyguarding. He had already got into a couple of scrapes over her and she seemed to like it.”

It was another thread being woven into place. The rope was getting longer and stronger.

Ray said, “You still there?”

“I’m still here.”

“What did you call me for then?”

“The driver of the truck who killed Lee. Got that too?”

“Sure. Harvey Wallace. He lives upstairs over Pascale’s saloon on Canal Street. You know where the place is.”

“I know,” I said.

“Might have something here on Nick Raymond.”

“What?”

“He retailed imported tobacco through a concern in Italy. He had his name changed from Raymondo to Raymond before the war. Made a few trips back and forth every year. One of his old customers I ran down said he didn’t look like much, but he spent the winters in Miami and dropped a wad of cabbage at the tables there. He was quite a ladies’ man too.”

“Okay, Ray. Thanks a lot.”

“Got a story yet?”

“Not yet. I’ll tell you when.”

I hung up and turned the shrimp over in the pan. When they were done I ate, finished my coffee and got dressed.

Just as I was

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