Up For Grabs by Fair A. A

Author:Fair, A. A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1964-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Elsie Brand said, “I think that Breckinridge person is simply horrid. He doesn’t have the faintest sense of appreciation. He doesn’t realize that all you’ve been doing has been for the purpose of saving him money.”

I said, “Whoa, Elsie, back up. After all, the guy’s the manager of the insurance company. He’s the one who’s paying the agency for my services. He has the right to expect to have things done his way.”

“You feel Bruno is a malingerer, don’t you, Donald?”

I thought that one over, then I said slowly, “No, I can’t say that I am ready to go that far as yet. I feel that all these people have something phony about them. You get the feeling that they’re playing a game.

“I have a feeling that Bruno just may be one hell of a smart guy, that he may have known that two-week vacation business was a trap, and that this Melita Doon may have given him some X-ray pictures that he intends to use later on in the case. I also have a feeling that if Breckinridge had tried to settle earlier today, he just might have found he was running up against a little more of a snag than he had anticipated.

“We haven’t enough to go on as yet, but I’m going to see Melita’s boy friend, Marty Lassen, in the morning and see if I can get something from him.

“When you suspect a man of malingering and find he’s tied up in some way with a nurse, and they are having mysterious meetings, you don’t like to quit your investigation until you’ve ripped things apart.

“But my main feeling in this case is in connection with Chester. I won’t say that I’m for Chester because he’s the underdog in Sergeant Sellers’ doghouse, but because Sellers is inclined—Oh, I don’t know, he makes up his mind when the data is about half in. He gets some fellow who’s his particular choice suspect and then every bit of evidence that Sellers can get his hands on will point to that person’s guilt. He never considers the possibility of innocence.”

“Well, you have to admit the circumstantial evidence does look rather black against Chester.”

“That’s right,” I told her, “but we haven’t heard Chester’s side of the story. When Sellers starts building up a case against someone, every bit of circumstantial evidence he gets hold of has to point directly to the culprit Sellers has picked out, otherwise Sellers thinks it isn’t evidence.”

“But how can you account for the fact that it was the car driven by Chester which pushed her off the grade?”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “How do you know it was the car driven by Chester?” :

“Why, the piece from the headlight and the—”

“What you’re trying to say is that it may have been the car that was rented by Chester that pushed her off the grade, not the car that was driven by Chester.”

She thought that over for a moment, then said rather weakly, “Yes. When you come right down to it, I guess that’s what the evidence does show.

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