Never Kill a Client by Brett Halliday

Author:Brett Halliday [Halliday, Brett]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: detective, mystery, murder, private eye, crime, suspense, hardboiled
Publisher: Dell
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“But what for?” She seemed utterly perplexed. “What right have you got to arrest me?”

“I’m a licensed private detective… authorized to make arrests just as any police officer.”

“What charge have you got against me?” They were moving slowly to the front of the plane behind other passengers and she spoke back to him over her shoulder.

“Material witness in a murder case will do for the time being,” he told her. “If you decide to come clean and tell Will Gentry a story he believes, and one that clears you of any complicity in a crime… then he’ll release you.” They were off the plane and going down the steps, and he took her firmly by the arm and led her forward, searching anxiously for someone he recognized among those waiting to greet the passengers from United Flight Seventeen.

He expected Timothy Rourke to be there, and desperately hoped to find Lucy Hamilton beside the reporter, but he saw neither of them as he pushed a way through the milling crowd. Then a stocky, pleasant-faced man confronted them and said, “Mr. Shayne. The chief sent me to pick you up.”

He was a sergeant of the homicide squad whom Shayne knew slightly, named Ed Corby. Shayne stopped and said, “Sergeant Corby, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. This is my partner, Jim Greene.” He indicated a tall, unsmiling young man, also in plain clothes, who had moved in close beside Elsa.

Shayne nodded and asked, “What gives, Ed? Have they turned up my secretary yet?”

“Not up to half an hour ago. This your witness, Mike?”

Shayne muttered, “Yeh. Miss Cornell, until she decides to tell us her real name. What is the story, Ed?”

“I think the chief is saving that to tell you himself, Mike. My orders are to bring you both straight from the airport to the morgue where Gentry’s waiting. You got luggage to pick up?”

Shayne nodded, “Three pieces.” He added formally, “I’m turning Miss Cornell over to you, Ed. She returned to Miami with me voluntarily, but I want her held as a material witness until this thing is straightened out.”

The sergeant nodded and said to his partner, “Bring her along, Jim, and we’ll pick up their bags.” The four of them moved into the terminal and went to the Incoming Baggage counter where Shayne claimed their bags a few minutes later. Corby took Elsa’s suitcase and hatbox and said gruffly, “We’ve got a car right outside, Mike. This way.”

“My car’s in the parking lot where I left it yesterday,” objected Shayne, lifting his briefcase and starting to turn away. “Take her along and I’ll meet you at the morgue.”

“I’m sorry, Mike.” Corby kept his voice pleasant, but he dropped the hatbox and caught Shayne by the arm to turn him back. “I’ve got orders to pick you two up and bring you to the morgue. You know how Gentry is about orders.”

“What the hell do you mean, Ed? I’ll follow you down.”

“I’m taking you, Mike. You can pick your car up later. What the

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