“She’s a client of mine. Why?”
“Have you heard from her recently?”
“Not for a couple of weeks. What’s going on?”
“Not much. Except she tried to commit suicide a few days ago. She was found pulled over on Mountainview Road with a hole in her head.”
“I didn’t know. I haven’t seen anything in the papers about her.”
He stopped himself cold, studying me. “You’ve been looking for it, though,” he said. “Haven’t you?”
“No, th-that’s not it at all. Look-” I could feel a hotness spreading through my throat, making me dizzy. “I’m getting sick of your attitude. First, you come into my home and accuse me of having something to do with Margo’s death, and now this.” I stood up, my hands balling into fists. “You got anything else to ask me?”
He chuckled, his eyes sparkling. “Take a deep breath and calm down. No one’s accusing you of anything. I’m just kidding around, ribbing you a little. You’ve got yourself a quick temper, don’t you?”
I sat back down, hoping the redness wouldn’t come. Afraid of what would happen if it did. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “She was a sweet kid. I-I can’t believe she’d do a thing like that. I guess it hit me pretty hard. You’re sure it was her?”
“Yeah. Why do you think she did it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Eddie. I can’t think of anything.” And I couldn’t. She should never have gotten involved with Jerry Bry. She should have known better. “She was a hell of a sweet kid.”
“You know something that keeps bothering me?” I didn’t say anything. He didn’t wait for me to.
“You were involved with both Margo Halloran and Mary Williams. I keep asking myself, what would be the odds of that? A woman is beaten to death and another is shot in the head. And Johnny Lane knows them both. I find that a damn funny coincidence.”
It wasn’t funny enough. Neither of us was laughing. I stared at him. He returned my stare, his eyes narrowing. I had to pull my eyes away from him.
“You want to say something, Johnny?”
“I guess so. I-I c-can’t lie about it anymore.”
“Yes, Johnny?”
“I guess the truth has to come out sometime. Oh, God.”
“It’s better to get it over with. You’ll feel better afterwards.”
“Maybe you’re right. Anyways, anything’s better than what I’m going through now.”
“Go on.”
“I had her hypnotized, and ordered her to shoot herself in the head. You see, I was stuck. I couldn’t figure out how to solve the case she’d hired me for and I didn’t want to have to return her money. I never had an unhappy client before, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
I broke out laughing. And, Lord, he just sat there with his mouth hung open, looking like the biggest sap since the first man walked on his own two feet and tripped right into a pile of prehistoric crap.
“I’m sorry,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. “But what the hell did you expect?”
“I was just kidding you,” he protested, his face growing beet red. “Anyway, you have to play out your hunches, right?”
“Only if they make some sort of sense,” I said, shaking my head sadly. “I got to tell you, Eddie, I’m embarrassed for you. I never knew you to act like this, flying off halfcocked on this type of nonsense. I just don’t know. Maybe you need some time off.”
“I told you I was just kidding around. If I believed any of it, you’d have read about it already in the Examiner.” He gave me a cold stare. “You have to admit, though, it’s an awful funny coincidence.”
“It’s a coincidence, alright,” I conceded. “But that’s all it is. That’s just the way this world of ours works. On your way out, watch your step. Be careful you don’t trip and break your neck.”
He glowered at me. “I was just having a little fun with you.”
“I know,” I said. “It was a barrel of laughs. I’ll be seeing you around.”
He pulled himself out of his chair, still glowering. When he got to the door, he turned back to me. “I’m sending out a reporter to Carson City to see if we can find out anything about Bertram Debbles. If you want to go with him, I’ll have the paper pick up your expenses.”
“I don’t know,” I answered slowly. “To be honest, I’m getting sick of your hunches. Anyway, if your man got a hangnail or something while I was with him, I’d hate to think what I’d be made to look like by your paper. Don’t slam the door too hard behind you.”
He chuckled softly. “I’ll be seeing you, Johnny.” I didn’t even hear him close the door.
I was puzzled by the way he acted. There was no reason for him to have those suspicions about me. Well, he’d been put in his place and made to see he was acting like a danged idji-damned idiot. Still, there was something behind it. And why did he say Mary “tried to commit suicide”? That was an awful funny way of putting it. She didn’t just try-I SAW THE HOLE IN HER HEAD, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!
Someone was banging on the office door. Eddie must have come up with another needle or two that he wanted to shove into me. Well, let him-a hell of a lot of good it was going to do him. I opened the door and saw Max Roth grinning from ear to ear.
“Sorry, Max,” I mumbled. “Nothing’s come up yet. I’ll call you as soon as something does.”
“That’s okay,” he said. He moved his body so it blocked the door. “Mind if I come in?”
“No, not at all,” I stepped aside and let him through. “How are things going for you?”
“I can’t complain.” He sat down, still grinning.
“I’m glad to hear it. How’s the wife?”
“Terrific.” He beamed. “She’s been feeling great lately. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier, and it’s really-”
“Yeah, well, I’m happy for you, Max. And how about your boys, they causing too many problems for you?”
“Not at all. I’m so proud of those boys, Johnny. Stevie just made his football team, and Ben is an awfully good kid. You ought to come over sometime and see them. The whole family would like it. Anytime you want, Johnny.”
“I’d sure like to, but-” But why the hell was he grinning? “But I just don’t have time right now. I appreciate the offer, though.”
“Why don’t we set a date? How’s next Friday?”
“We’ll see,” I muttered. A dull throbbing started in my temples. There was a reason he was grinning like that. What the hell was it? “What do you want to talk about?”
“One of my cases-”
“That’s good,” I nodded. “See what happens when you listen to me? You take a little responsibility for yourself, and everything works out fine. So you need some help on it?”
“Well, sort of.”
“ Be glad to help,” I said. “It’s good seeing you standing on your own two feet.”
“Thanks. It’s not exactly help I need. I just need some information.”
“Yeah?” I asked, puzzled.
“Mary Williams hired me to find her parents.”
The other shoe dropped. So that was why he was grinning like a bastard. A sneaky, underhanded bastard. He had gone behind my back and talked Mary into hiring him. She was going to fire me-why shouldn’t she if she already hired another detective? And . . . .
And if I was going to start looking for coincidences, I had an awful big one right under my nose. There was a reason Eddie was acting the way he was. There was a reason the two of them came to my office, one right after the other. Someone had shaken a hornet’s nest and tossed it down Eddie’s pants. And the son of a bitch was sitting across from me, grinning like there was no tomorrow.
“So that’s it, huh?” I asked.
“So that’s what?” he asked right back, playing dumb.
“You went behind my back and . . . .” And if he didn’t wipe that grin off his face I was going to do it for him!
“I still don’t understand what you’re talking about,” he said, still playing dumb, still grinning from ear to ear.
“I think you do. I’m disappointed in you, Max. I thought we were friends. I thought you appreciated all I’ve done for you, making you just about a partner and all. But, well, if you’re going to show it by sneaking behind my back, well, I’m just disappointed.”