Murder at the Mardi Gras by Elisabet M. Stone

Author:Elisabet M. Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781590774199
Publisher: M. Evans & Company

12. Bait for Trouble

* * *

I HAD slowed for a traffic light. I looked at him sharply.

“What are you trying to do? Bait me for trouble? Well, I’m not having any, thank you.”

“That’s fine. Then you must have decided he did kill her. If you hadn’t, you’d be planning your crusade to clear his memory of the stigma of murder.”

“Why should I crusade for a guy I never even knew?”

“Because you’re the type of idealist who goes in for that sort of thing.”

I said nothing to that crack.

“You know,” he went on half musingly, “it’s almost a sure shot he did kill her—but, if he didn’t and some one could prove it—say you—wouldn’t Beton catch hell from Elison and the D.A. for grabbing the easy solution? It’s his idea. He suggested it to Tommy before he mentioned it to anyone else. Tommy went along with him. Boy! What a riding they’d both get!”

“I’m not looking to get Tommy a riding,” I said shortly.

“Oh, I know that and, of course, Beton will get the credit for solving the case. Tommy’s fair as hell about things like that. It would be a shame if the guy hadn’t killed her and then had to get the blame while Les got the glory for being smart enough to figure it out the wrong way.”

That did it. “How much will you bet and what odds will you give me? Mind you, I’m not betting I can find the murderer. I’m only putting up dough that I can prove the husband didn’t do it.”

He grinned all over his face. “I’ll give you two to one. Ten bucks to your five.”

“Taken. Who’ll hold the stakes?”

“How about Nick?”

“He’s okay by me.”

“Good. We’ll stop in there now and get a beer at the same time. I’ll buy and charge it to the cab I didn’t take.”

“You can buy me a coke. It’s too early for beer. How much time do I get before I forfeit my fine?”

“Well, today’s Friday—how about four weeks from now? That should give you enough time.”

“Cripes, you’re generous!”

“All right—make it six weeks.”

“That’s better. And if I lose this five, I’ll promise you one thing: I’ll never play detective again. It’s too damn expensive and I have a strong hunch this is not going to make me popular with the police.”

He laughed and I joined him, a bit ruefully. It had been a neat job of baiting me and I had a neat job cut out for me to win that bet. I pulled the car to a stop in front of Nick’s, a little joint just like thousands of other little joints that are always to be found near buildings such as police headquarters and newspaper offices. We went in, ordered and headed for the phone booths in the rear. I was still talking to Dennis when I saw Morrow leave his booth and go sit down at one of the tables. I sighed and wished I worked for an editor who didn’t insist on hearing all the long, dreary details of a story.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.