Recoil (1992) by Jim Thompson

Author:Jim Thompson [Thompson, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-03-14T23:14:55.468000+00:00

Chapter 16

The sign on the pebble-glassed door read:E.A. Eggleston

Investigations

The office was in an old five-story building down near the public market.

He couldn't be too good, I'd thought, being in that location. He didn't have to be good, to know what I wanted to, and I didn't want anyone that would be really sharp, that would get ideas and follow them up.

He was tall, and thin-faced and drowsy looking. His scuffed crepe-soled shoes were up on his desk when I went in, and his big bony hands were folded across his stomach. A crumpled gray hat was pulled low on his forehead.

He didn't shift the hat or his position during the half hour or so that I was there.

"Cosgrove," he said in a soft, deep voice. "What do you do, Cosgrove?"

"Do you have to know that?" I said.

"Got to know whether you're worth killing. Whether you're in a business, say, which would suffer from your permanent absence."

"I'm not."

"Heavy on the cuff to anyone? Anyone out real dough if you kick off?"

"No."

"No dependent nor close relatives? No wife?"

"No."

"But you think you may have been insured without your knowledge?"

"I-yes."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't actually think that I am," I said. "I just thought that I might be."

He didn't say anything for a minute or more. Finally, when I was beginning to think he'd dozed off, he spoke:

"Went to a dentist one time to get a tooth pulled. Knew the one that needed pulling would hurt like hell, so I pointed out another one to him. Looks like you're about as smart as I was."

I laughed. "I'm not deliberately lying to you, Eggleston. There are people who would be hurt pretty badly if they knew I'd made an inquiry like this. I can't let them know that I have."

"So?"

"About a month ago a certain party did me a very expensive favor. Since then I've received several others. I'd never met this party before, and I can't think of any way I could provide a return on the investment. Unless I've been insured."

"Ask this party why he or she had done said favors?"

"Not a straight question. The implication was that they were pure philanthropy. That doesn't fit in with what I know about this party."

He sat motionless, silent, staring down at his hands.

"I thought there might be some sort of underwriters' bureau that could give you the information," I said. "Without, of course, letting this party know that I'd asked."

"Um," he said. "It'll cost you twenty dollars, Mr. Cosgrove."

"That's reasonable," I said, and I took out a twenty and laid it on the desk.

He lifted a foot slightly and dragged the bill under his heel.

"You're not insured, Mr. Cosgrove. Anything else?"

"Now, look," I said. "I paid for certain information-"

"Which you received, on very good authority. I've done a great deal of insurance work. No one has taken out a policy on you- providing you've told me the truth."

"I've told it, but-"

"For one party to insure another, he must have what is known as an insurable interest. He

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