9 Blackmail by Parnell Hall

Author:Parnell Hall [Hall, Parnell]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9781936441020
Publisher: Parnell Hall
Published: 2010-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

28.

I STARED AT MACAULLIF. “You gotta be kidding.”

He shrugged. “If you ask me, that’s the way I see it.”

“But ...”

“But what?”

“You’re doping this out from no information. You got nothing to go on.”

“I got your story. The way I see it, this accounts for it.”

“How?”

“For one thing, it explains why someone would pay you fifteen hundred bucks for basically doing nothing.”

“What do you mean, nothing?”

“No offense meant, but what the hell made you so all-fired important?”

“She didn’t want to meet the guy herself. Not alone at a motel. An attractive girl like that. It’s perfectly understandable.”

“Sure, if it’s legit. But the odds are, she wasn’t bein’ blackmailed.”

“Why?”

“Because both parties are dead. Plus, she wasn’t the girl in the pictures. Which is a biggie. No, it works just fine the way I told you. It fits in with everything else.”

“Like what?”

“The way they played it. You’re told it’s a pickup and delivery and you aren’t to know what’s in the package. This is stressed. So what’s the first thing that happens? The guy rips the envelope open so you can see the money. Then what does he do? He rips the other one open and shoves the pictures in your face. To make sure you see there’s no negatives, so you’re all primed for the second buy. Plus he makes sure you get a good look at the woman. So once they set the hook and shake her down, you go along without thinkin’. ’Cause her bein’ the woman in the pictures is corroborating evidence, makes you think the story is true. Actually it isn’t, and the woman bein’ her doesn’t corroborate anything at all, but you’ll take it as such. Yes, she’s the woman bein’ blackmailed, and was all along. But that bein’ true doesn’t make the rest of it true. The rest of it is bullshit.”

“I see what you mean. I’m asking how you dope it out?”

“’Cause they’re dead. If they weren’t in it together, it makes no sense that they’re dead. If they’re in it together, the thing starts to play.”

“How?”

MacAullif looked at me. “You want an awful fuckin’ lot, considerin’ this ain’t my case.”

“No, but it’s your theory.”

“It’s my opinion.” He shrugged. “You can’t read a case file without havin’ an opinion.”

“That opinion must have a basis, whether you’ve actually thought it out or not.”

MacAullif began unwrapping a cigar. It was the best news I’d had since he’d produced the file. He inspected it gloomily, then drummed it on the desk.

“Everything points to the fact these two people were in it together. The main thing is that they’re dead. But the point is, nothing else contradicts it. If they were, it’s a sting operation. And what we’re dealing with is the result of a sting operation gone bad. If that’s the case, this shouldn’t be that hard to solve.”

“I’m glad to hear it. How do you figure?”

“In that case, there’s only two potential killers. One, a confederate who don’t want to split the loot. Or, two, a victim who don’t want to pay.

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