Trail of a Tramp [Jake Barrow 02] by Marvin H Albert

Author:Marvin H Albert [Albert, Marvin H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fawcett
Published: 2014-04-09T23:00:00+00:00

***

The next morning, I was having breakfast from the diner in my kitchenette when the phone rang. It was a little after half-past ten.

I strode into the sitting room and picked up the phone and said hello in my morning voice.

The voice at the other end asked: "Mr. Barrow?"

My client, the so-called Fred Hiller.

"Yeah," I told him. "It's me. Where've you been, Mr. Hiller?"

"Outside the city, on business. I've just returned. You weren't at your office, so I looked up your home number in the phone book and took the liberty of calling you here."

"Perfectly all right," I assured him, and waited.

He waited, too, for a few seconds. I heard him clear his throat. "Ah… Mr. Barrow? Have you located my daughter?"

"Come on over. I'll be waiting for you." I told him my address, in case he didn't already know.

"But Mr. Barrow," he objected, "can't you give me the answer over the phone? Have you or haven't-"

"I'll wait for you here," I told him, and hung up.

I wolfed the last of my rolls and coffee, had a quick shave and shower, and got dressed. Before slipping into my jacket this time, I strapped on a shoulder harness and stuck the Magnum into its holster.

It was turning into that kind of case.

Hiller showed up a few minutes later, looking as spare and energetic and dignified as the first time we'd met, wearing the same brown topcoat and hat. Everything about him was the same, but he didn't look the same to me.

I asked him, as soon as I let him in, "Why'd you follow me from my office the morning you hired me, Hiller?"

He stiffened and got a sick look on his face for a second. His eyes slid away from mine, to the windows. When they came back to me, his face had tightened up again. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I suppose I shouldn't have done that. I apologize. I didn't follow you very long, at any rate."

"I know," I snapped. "I didn't ask for an apology. I asked you why."

"Well, after all…" he mumbled. He wet his lips. His shoulders sagged. "I did it," he confessed manfully, "because I've heard some nasty things about private detectives."

"Like which?"

"Apparently some of you… I'm not saying you, I don't know… But some of you try to line your pockets-even stoop to blackmail."

"Uh-huh."

"I tried to follow you, to make sure you wouldn't try anything like contacting my daughter and then holding out for more money. Or something like that. Perhaps I was wrong to do it. If I am, I can only apologize again. If I am wrong, you can prove it by telling me where to find my daughter Julia."

"When you were trying to tall me that morning," I said, watching him, "there was another guy, tailing yon. Know about that?"

He didn't know. His mouth fell open. When he closed it, his teeth clicked. "A man following me? Why?"

"I thought maybe you'd have some ideas about that."

"Well, I don't. Why…"

"This man who was following you, Mr.

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