Line of Fire by Donald Hamilton

Author:Donald Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: murder, suspense
Publisher: Gold Medal
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

chapter fifteen

WENDOVER HILLS was far enough from town to give me time for some thinking on the way back. My thinking revolved mainly about two girls, one of whom I had last seen on a slab in the morgue. It seemed very likely that the other was heading the same way, despite the reassuring note upon which I had parted from Carl. Even if he had been sincere, which was doubtful, he would change his mind; or Brooks would change it for him. Brooks was a great boy for direct action.

I was rolling along at an easy thirty-five when a police car pulled up alongside and signaled me to the curb. The cops were quite polite.

“Mr. Nyquist? Mr. Paul Nyquist?”

“That’s right,” I said.

“Lieutenant Fleet would like to see you, sir.”

“Where?”

“Down at Headquarters.”

One advantage of having an official escort was that I had no trouble parking—although I didn’t put it past them to have a ticket on the car when I came out. Fleet’s office was on the third floor. He got up and shook hands and moved a chair an inch or so and asked me to sit down. I sat down. I refused a cigarette and loaded my pipe. He was ready with a match, sitting on the edge of the desk above me. He grinned abruptly, cracking the impassive layers of his face.

“This is a pretty good treatment, eh?” he said. “Makes people nervous as hell to have cops be nice to them.”

I said, “I’m looking for the gimmick.”

“Had a reporter in here,” he said. “Fellow from the Courier.”

“Williams.”

“That’s right. Jack Williams. He’s a fast boy with a theory. He’s got it all figured out. About that girl that was killed last night. About Governor Maney being shot.”

“I know,” I said. “He told me. While I was sitting in front of him with a loaded rifle. Some people don’t care where they die.”

“Where were you Saturday?”

“What time Saturday?”

“All day.”

“Apartment until about nine A.M.,” I said. “Did some work in the shop until ten-thirty. Got in the car and picked up the kid at her place. I wanted to start earlier but she liked to sleep late.”

“She’s sleeping late now,” Fleet said.

I said, “Yes. We got started about eleven, I think. Had lunch at some joint on the way down—”

“Remember the place?”

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t worth remembering. They had those prefabricated hamburgers made out of old rubber boots. Wait a minute. It was called Chick’s Drive-in. We got down to the Island around two-thirty, I’d say. Checked in at the Rainbow Court. The kid was in a bad mood. Didn’t want to do anything. Had a hangover. The cabin had air conditioning, so we just loafed around and sampled the bottle. Didn’t get out to eat until after nine. Got back some time after midnight. Do you want Sunday, too?” With a little practice I might get to be a pretty good liar.

“No,” he said. “That’s enough. What about the other guy?”

“What other guy?” I grinned. “Oh, you mean Williams’s brainwave? My double? Why, Lieutenant, if you find him you can have him.

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