A Charm of Powerful Trouble (A Harry Reese Mystery Book 4) by Robert Bruce Stewart

Author:Robert Bruce Stewart [Stewart, Robert Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Street Car Mysteries
Published: 2014-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

15

I found Tibbitts waiting with Jimmy Yuan at the Steinway car stop.

“Hello, Jimmy. How’s business?” I asked.

“They still won’t let me reopen, Mr. Reese. The police can be very disagreeable.” Then he remembered Tibbitts standing beside him. “Excuse me for mentioning it, Sergeant.”

“That’s okay. We want it to be disagreeable.”

“Yes, but need it be so expensive?”

Tibbitts just smiled.

“Have you learned anything, Mr. Reese?”

“Well, I’m more fully informed about the intricacies of the canal system upstate. But not much else.”

“Then I don’t think I can afford your services any longer.”

“Did you really have any intention of paying us?”

“Oh, I assure you my intentions are always honorable.”

“Yes, no doubt. How’s the follow-through?”

“One must be realistic. Only so much blood can come from one turnip.”

“And the police are squeezing your turnips pretty thoroughly?”

“Frankly, yes.”

“Well, let’s not say anything to my wife. She’s enjoying herself, and this way I have some idea what she’s up to.”

“She won’t be disappointed to learn there’s no recompense?”

“Not horribly. What will disappoint her is if she can’t solve the murder.”

“But I hired you to prove it was an accident!”

“Hired, but with little likelihood of paying.”

“It probably doesn’t matter anyhow. The tongs seem ready to settle their lawsuits. The tours of Chinatown will begin again, and my opportunity will have been lost.”

On arriving in Steinway, we walked up the hill to the farm. Emmie greeted us.

“I’ve looked about for Lou Ling,” she told us. “But he doesn’t seem to be here.”

“Why don’t you go ask around?” Tibbitts said to Jimmy.

He went off, with Emmie tailing along.

“What’s she up to?” Tibbitts asked me.

“Trying to determine what Emmie’s up to at any given moment is a mug’s game. Sometimes I wonder if she can keep track.”

“Let’s look around for the gun,” Tibbitts suggested. “We can skip the shack. I’ve been through it twice. I wonder if he just tossed it someplace.”

“Probably the East River, or out in the bay there.”

“If he had any sense. But nine times out of ten they don’t. Especially amateurs. If they don’t drop it right away, they forget they have it. Then when they see it, they panic.”

We went about checking the big pots they used to store things, then probed the water barrels. I knew, of course, there was little chance of his finding it. First, because the number of places you could hide something on a farm was close to infinite. Second, because Emmie had obviously arrived in time to warn Lou Ling to take the gun off and hide it somewhere else. But I had made the mistake of thinking I was privy to Emmie’s plans.

She and Jimmy approached us.

“They still insist they haven’t seen Lou Ling since the shooting, Sergeant,” he said. “I don’t think there was much point in our coming out here.”

“No, probably not.” Tibbitts was looking squarely at Emmie.

Though we didn’t know Sergeant Tibbitts particularly well, his acquaintance with Emmie was sufficient to provide him some idea about how her mind worked.

“There’s probably not much chance we’ll find the gun either, is there?” he asked her.

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