“I didn’t hear about it until this morning. I went down shortly after daylight. I found the charred body. The boat was owned by Sam Joyner. I hunted him up. I didn’t like his story, so I put him under arrest.
“Then he cracked. He saw Trenton fire the fatal shots. Now there’s no question about the time when Trenton left the boat, no question about the time the shots were fired in relation to the time of the fire on the houseboat.
“But we need a motive. If we can prove Trenton was smuggling dope and that Richmond was on his trail, we have a perfect motive. All you need to do is to dismiss the charges against Gentry.”
Colonel Stepney said, “There was a woman with Gentry at the time he went to dig up the dope.”
Sheriff Landes was quick with an explanation. “That was his girl friend. She was out with him for the ride. She had nothing to do with it and wasn’t anywheres around when the dope was being dug up. That’s why your man lost her. She was over by the car, and as soon as she knew there was trouble she beat it into the grove on the other side of the road and made her getaway. She’s out of the case and she’s going to stay out of it. There’s no good to be achieved by bringing her into it. And the minute you try to do that Gentry is going to dry up like a clam.”
Colonel Stepney arose from his chair and paced the office floor, giving the matter frowning consideration.
“Look,” Sheriff Landes said, “I’ve fixed it all up with everybody. The Narcotics Division is all ready to play ball because they’re anxious to get a case against the man who murdered Harvey Richmond. All you have to do is just play ball with us and we’ll be sitting pretty.”
“Does Gentry have a record?”
“No, he doesn’t. He’s completely in the clear. We co-operate with you boys all the time and I don’t see why you won’t co-operate with us.”
“How long was it after the boat was turned loose from the moorings that the fire broke out?”
“Just two or three minutes.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, I’m figuring the way it must have been from what the witnesses say. Judging about the time they began to notice the red spot in the sky and the reflection of burning on the water, it couldn’t have been over two or three minutes.”
“I don’t like it,” Colonel Stepney said.
Sheriff Landes’ face darkened. “You fellows are always asking us...”
“Now, wait a minute,” Colonel Stepney interrupted. “Don’t get off on the wrong track. I’m simply saying there are some aspects of the case I don’t like. As far as this man Gentry is concerned, we’ll play ball. If that’s the way you want it, that’s the way it’ll be.”
Sheriff Landes’ face broke into a broad smile. He crossed the office and shook hands with Colonel Stepney. “You aren’t going to regret this,” he said. “This is going to mean a big thing to me, personally. It’s going to mean a big thing to the prosecuting attorney.”
Chapter 22
Sam Joyner sat in conference with his lawyer.
The attorney counted the sheaf of hundred-dollar bills Joyner had given him. He nodded, pocketed the money.
“Don’t think you’re getting that for nothing,” Joyner said grimly. “That’s not for just being a mouthpiece. That’s for a spring.”
“Shut up,” the lawyer told him. “You know I can’t guarantee a case. But you do just exactly as I tell you and you’ll be okay nine chances out of ten. Now do you want to buy that or not?”
“I’ve bought it.”
“I just wanted to be sure you understood what you’d bought.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’ve rigged a deal for Gentry. They’ll give him immunity if he’ll sing.”
“If he sings? Why you dope, if he sings he’ll have both of us...”
The attorney interrupted. “Don’t be foolish. He’ll sing the tune I tell him to and I’m writing the words for the music.”
“What do I do?”
“You do just exactly as I tell you. First you talk to everyone. You tell them that you rented your boat to men who impressed you as being all right. When you began to realise there might be something fishy about it, you were afraid to accuse them of any wrongdoing because of laying yourself open to a suit for slander.
“So you decided to keep quiet but try to get some evidence that would enable you to take definite action. You got that straight?”
“That’s what I’ve told ’em,” Joyner said.
“Now get this. After you’ve told that story so that it gets well distributed, all of a sudden you clam up. I don’t want you to get where you have to answer questions about being seen with Trenton in the bus station until we can get a fix on that woman witness. You can say that you’re entirely innocent, but there’s a technical irregularity that’s worrying your attorney. Say your lawyer told you to refuse to answer any questions. Say, ‘I refuse to answer on the ground that anything I may say might incriminate me.’ Then you smile wistfully and say that it’s just a technicality, but nevertheless, when you have an attorney you have to do what he says. You say it seems a foolish precaution to you because the thing your attorney is afraid of is just a little irregularity in connection with an incidental matter. And then you squirm a bit and call me on the phone and tell me that you’re being questioned and you want to tell your story and plead with me to let you. I’ll tell you to sit tight, and you’ll get mad, but finally you’ll agree that you promised me you’d follow my advice.
“You hang up the phone, but you’re still mad. You want to talk the worst way, but you can’t. So you cuss me and make it look as if you’re sore as a boil... but you don’t talk. You don’t answer any question from anyone.
“You think you can do that all right?”
“I just refuse to say anything?”
“Yes. You read from a paper, ‘I refuse to answer this question on the advice of counsel and on the ground the answer might incriminate me.’”
A smile of relief spread over Joyner’s face. “That,” he said, “is the best legal advice I’ve ever had.”
The attorney nodded. “I’m glad you’re getting wise. They have a murder they’re going to have to clean up. They’ve elected Trenton as the one who did it. They want a conviction. They want a conviction right now. This is our chance to climb aboard for free. You get me?”
“I get you,” Joyner said, relief in his voice. “And,” he added, “I’m damn glad I got you.”
Chapter 23
Colonel Stepney walked into the laboratory where Dr. Herbert Dixon had his office.
“Hello, Herb.”
“How’s everything coming, Colonel? Have a chair.”
“What did you find out in that Richmond murder, Herb?”
Dr. Dixon said, “The coroner had his pet physician dig into the body to recover the bullets and determine the course of the bullet wounds. That had all been done before I got there. There wasn’t much left.”
“Did you see the bullets?”
“I saw the bullets, but not in the body. However, the physician knows where he found them and moreover he had the sense to take a series of X-rays showing the bullets in place.”
“Sheriff Landes tells me the shots would have caused instant death, either one of them.”
Dr. Dixon nodded. “I think he’s right on that, but I wish I’d been there when he cut the body open.”
“Why?”
“There are some things about it I don’t like.”