They've Killed Anna by Marc Olden

Author:Marc Olden [Olden, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-6058-6
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

ROGER JULIAN ROARKE ASKED slyly, “What do you think of our wee Mr. Harvey McIver?”

“He’s five feet three inches of shit stacked on top of elevator shoes,” I said. “One of these days, a tall dog is going to come along and pee on his head. I’m not one of his fans.”

Roarke smiled. “Not many of us are. However, Mr. Starcher is, I must say. He doesn’t praise often, our Mr. S., but he’s let the word filter down that McIver is aces with him. I believe the feeling is that Mr. Harvey has ways of getting favorable stories into print, even if he has to use unorthodox means of doing it. With Mr. Starcher, the results matter first, last, and always.”

A nervous Harvey McIver was on the telephone, frantic and pawing the air with one hand. I was the cause of his anxiety. Harvey didn’t want me in the plant; Roarke did. Harvey was now on the telephone pleading his case before Mr. Starcher or someone close to him, while I stood in a drab gray hallway at the Dann-Starcher plant and waited. Roger Julian Roarke was beside me, amused by Harvey McIver’s increasing hypertension. Two uniformed security guards stood near enough to tackle me or shoot the wax out of my ears with .357 Magnums, should I decide to break into the Coke machine or indulge myself in anything else they thought was criminal.

We couldn’t hear Harvey. He was behind soundproof glass in an empty office, his face getting redder by the second, his Alan Ladd hairdo fading fast.

Roarke sighed, a man on a mountaintop looking down at lesser men. He was the product of an older civilization, one that believed that freaking out in public was inexcusable.

“He’s losing,” said Roarke with a little smile. “It’s taking him too long to make his point. When he’s finished, he’ll ask me inside, and I’ll speak to the old man, and you’ll be allowed to tour.”

“Hot diggity damn. If I make notes, will—?”

“Mr. Harker, please! You’re my guest. I felt it would be advantageous to us for you to see how safety-conscious this plant is. It reflects well on me. We have one hundred people on staff devoted full-time to safety.”

“Too bad one of them wasn’t with Anna Alexander when she started out to meet me. Maybe she’d have made it.”

“She’s dead, Harker. Why tie yourself to a dead woman?”

I touched the sore spot on my jaw. “Did you say that when your wife was killed?”

He looked at me for a long time, his tan, lined face studying mine carefully. Finally he looked down the long empty hall at a guard slowly making his rounds and trying doorknobs that remained locked. When he spoke, Roarke’s voice was soft, distant. “You may have noticed, Mr. Harker, how secure the plant grounds are. Barbed-wire fencing surrounding the entire complex, armed guards, guard dogs, closed-circuit television. Of course, you realize that I’m not telling you everything we’ve done. One must have secrets.”

I nodded.

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.