Mostly Murder: Eighteen Stories by Fredric Brown

Author:Fredric Brown [Brown, Fredric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-09-09T00:00:00+00:00

Town Wanted

ON MY WAY IN, I looked into the back room. The boys were there.

Alderman Higgins had a pile of blue chips in front of him and was trying to keep his greasy little mug from looking sap-happy.

Lieutenant Grange was there too. He was half tight. He had beer spots on the front of his blue uniform shirt. His hand shook when he picked up the stem.

The alderman looked up and said, “Hi, Jimmy. How’s tricks?”

I gave him a grin and went on upstairs. I pushed on into the boss’s office without knocking.

He looked at me sort of queerly. “Everything go okay?”

“They’ll find him when the lake dries up,” I told him. “We won’t be around then.”

“You covered all the angles, Jimmy?”

“All what angles?” I asked him. “Nobody’s going to investigate. A guy won’t pay his protection, and Annie Doesn’t Live Here Any More. Now the rest of them will lay it on the line.”

He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his bald spot. You could see the guy was squeamish. That’s no way to handle things. It would be different, I figured, when I took over.

I sat down and lighted a cigarette. “Listen,” I said, “this town is worth twice the take we’re getting. Who do we move in on next?”

“We’re letting it ride a while, Jimmy. Things are hot.”

I got up and started for the door.

He said softly, “Sit down, Jimmy.”

I didn’t, but I went back and stood in front of him.

“Well?” I asked.

“About the boys you’ve lined up to buck me, Jimmy. When do you think you’re going to take over?”

I guess I’d underestimated him. You can’t run rackets and be a shlemiel.

I sat down. “I don’t get you, boss,” I stalled.

“Let’s settle this, Jimmy,” he said. There were beads of sweat on his bald spot again and he wiped them off. I kept my yap shut and looked at him. It was his move.

“You’re a good guy, Jimmy,” he went on. “You’ve been a big help to me.”

There wasn’t any malarkey in that. But he was just winding up and I sat back and waited to see what he was going to pitch.

“But six months ago I saw it couldn’t last, Jimmy. You got big ideas. This burg isn’t large enough for you to stay in second spot. Right?”

I waited for him to go on.

“You think you’ve bought four of the boys. You’ve got only two. The other two leveled with me. They’re set to gum your works.”

That was bad listening. He did know; four was right. And I didn’t know which two ratted. All right, I thought, this is showdown.

“Go on,” I said. “I’m listening.”

“You’re too ambitious for me, Jimmy. I was satisfied to run the slot machines and the joints. Maybe just a little on the protection societies. You want to run the town. You want to collect taxes. And your trigger finger’s too jittery, Jimmy. I don’t like killing, except when I have to.”

“Lay off the character reading,” I told him.

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