The Uncomplaining Corpses (2 page)

“But—
er
—can I trust you to keep what I say in strict confidence should you—
er
—decide against taking the case?”

Shayne straightened from his hunched position. In a cold voice he said, “If you don’t think you can trust me you’d better find another detective.”

“I do trust you.
If I can have your assurance that you will treat this—
er
—confidentially.”

Shayne said, “No,” angrily. “If you’re planning a murder you’d better not tell me about it.” He reached for his hat but the realtor stopped him with uplifted palm and a forced laugh.

“A murder?
Oh, no. Nothing quite so violent, I assure you. The—
er
—deception I propose will not be directed at any individual. I’m sure you will have no qualms about undertaking it when you hear me out.”

Shayne frowned,
then
dropped back into his chair. “I’m listening.”

“It’s a matter of business necessity,”
Thrip
explained haltingly. “What I require of your operative entails no danger whatsoever—no criminal act on his part, in fact. As I have explained, I merely wish him to force an entry, leaving distinct traces behind him. Once inside he will go upstairs to my wife’s room where he will discover her jewel case on the vanity dresser. I want him to carry the case away with him—and to create some commotion so the house will be aroused and his getaway observed by witnesses to testify to it. He will be in no danger, for I possess the only firearm in the house. Is that clear enough, Mr. Shayne?”

“It’s beginning to make sense,” Shayne admitted. “The jewel case will be empty, I suppose?”

“My wife’s maid will testify that all her jewels, which are conservatively appraised at two hundred thousand dollars, were in the case when she retired,” the broker told him blandly.

“Also insured for two hundred grand?”

“Why, yes. One naturally carries insurance on such costly articles.”

“Quite naturally,” Shayne murmured. “I gather you don’t plan to explain to the insurance company that you have removed the jewels before the empty case is stolen.”

“Not empty, Mr. Shayne. There will be a thousand-dollar bill in the bottom of the case.”

Shayne lit a fresh cigarette from the smoldering butt of his old one. In a conversational tone he said, “A lot of people don’t seem to think there’s anything crooked about cheating an insurance company—or a railroad company—or the government. That’s a peculiar side of human nature I’ve never quite been able to understand.”

“I think it’s natural, Mr. Shayne. It’s a sort of feeling of retaliation because we’ve been cheated by them. After paying exorbitant premiums to an insurance company for a number of years a man feels little compunction in endeavoring to collect dividends on his investment.”

Shayne nodded casually. He got up casually. “I won’t touch it,
Thrip
. I happen to be retained on a yearly contract as investigator for one of the large insurance companies to run down just such frauds as you’re planning, and I don’t bite the hand that feeds me. And I’m getting sick and tired of having men like you come to me with your crooked deals. It’s Painter’s fault, of course. I’m going to kick his rump up between his shoulder blades one of these days. Good afternoon.” He turned away, jamming his hat down hard on his head.

Chapter Two:
A JOB FOR JOE

A DOOR ON SHAYNE’S RIGHT, leading into
Thrip’s
office from the corridor, came open while the detective was stalking away from the desk. He stopped, facing a woman with the most remarkably tranquil eyes he had ever seen. She turned them full upon him, holding his gaze with a quiet inner serenity which kept him from going past her and out the door.

Her gaze was incurious, yet held a warm regard that was not wholly impersonal. Meeting it, Shayne had a feeling of recognition though he was positive he had never seen the woman before. She was forty or more; a small-boned woman with regular delicate features and a fresh youthful complexion. Placidity clung to her like a tight-fitting garment; every graying hair was neatly in place, and she wore a modish dark dress which seemed to have been selected for its quality of self-effacement.

While she held him with her eyes, Arnold
Thrip
rose from his desk and came forward. Behind the detective’s back he was saying, “Ah,
Leora
, I didn’t expect you in today. This is Mr. Shayne, my dear. Mrs.
Thrip
, Mr. Shayne. Mr. Shayne is a private detective,
Leora
.”

Mrs.
Leora
Thrip
nodded gently. A faint animation which lighted her whole face conveyed a message of cordial approval to the detective. “Mr. Shayne looks very competent, Arnold. It is a relief to know that the matter is being attended to.”

Shayne didn’t get it. He would have sworn that she was not the type to connive with her husband on an insurance fraud, yet there was real warmth and relief in her voice.

Arnold
Thrip’s
lower lip came forward again; his upper lip drew away from even white teeth. He brought them together to say, “That’s the difficulty, my dear. Mr. Shayne has refused to take the case.”

Mrs.
Thrip
looked quickly from her husband to the detective. Color came into her smooth cheeks. She spoke with grave impulsiveness:

“Oh, I do wish you’d reconsider, Mr. Shayne. I’ve had such a time persuading Arnold it was the thing to do. Perhaps he hasn’t fully explained all the circumstances to you.”

“But I have,
Leora
. Mr. Shayne understands fully. He seems to have—
er
—a peculiarly distorted sense of ethics.”

Mrs.
Thrip
was half turned away from her husband, again holding Shayne’s gaze, urgency replacing complacency. It seemed to him she was desperately trying to say something she did not want her husband to hear. With something of a shock Shayne realized that there was an inner tautness about this woman which gave the lie to her outward semblance of placidity.

He still didn’t get it. His coarse red brows came down in a frown. He shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, Mrs.
Thrip
.” Curiously, he realized that he meant exactly what he said. “It isn’t the sort of thing I go in for, public opinion to the contrary.” He bowed slightly and turned away from a flicker of hurt or of fear in her eyes.

Thrip
bustled to the door with him, and before he could open it said in a low, querulous voice, “If you change your mind, Shayne, send a man out to my house at five so that I can talk the matter over with him. We’re on the beach, you know. I’ll be there to make all necessary arrangements.”

Shayne went out without answering. He went through the reception room scowling, conscious of the guarded appeal in
Leora
Thrip’s
eyes, angry at himself for wishing that he had agreed to help her.

The scowl stayed on his face while he went down in the elevator and out into the bright afternoon sunlight on Flagler Street

He turned east with his long, loose-limbed stride, reflecting wryly that Phyllis was going to be disillusioned when he returned from the interview with less than a big retainer and a couple of murders to solve.

The other side of Northeast First Avenue, he fumbled in his shirt pocket for a cigarette and discovered his pack was empty. He turned in at the Cat’s Whiskers and stopped at the cigar counter at the end of a long bar.

The bartender finished drawing a glass of beer and lifted his hand in greeting, then came to wait on Shayne. “
How’s tricks
, Mike?” He had loose lips which scarcely moved when he spoke.

Shayne told him he needed some cigarettes and tossed change on the counter. The bartender handed him a pack and jerked his head toward the rear of the room where there was table service.

“Friend of yours back there. He asked for you when he came in.”

“That so?”
Shayne tore a corner off the pack of cigarettes. “Who is it, Fred?”

“Joe Darnell. He’s having it plenty rocky, Mike. Can’t you give him a hand? You know how it is when a kid’s been in stir and trying to play it straight.”

Shayne took a cigarette from the pack and pulled the counter lighter over to fire it. He let smoke trail from his nostrils and nodded. “Sure, I know. Joe’s trying, huh?”

“Honest to God. I don’t think he’s pulled a job since you had him do that work for you a couple months ago. He thinks you’re pretty near Almighty God and he says you told him it’s the smart thing to
lay
off.”

Shayne grinned, “Joe’s opinion is somewhat at variance with the popular idea. The
cops been
riding him?”

“You know how it is. Some parole officers think it’s up to them to ruin any chance a man has of holding an honest job. And Joe’s got his girl in a spot and they’re worried about that. She’s nothing but a
chippy
, but he’s nuts about her and they want to get married.”

Shayne nodded somberly, “Tough. Give me a drink and I’ll talk to him.”

The bartender reached under the counter and handed Shayne a bottle of cognac and a four-ounce glass. With the bottle dangling from his fingers, Shayne went toward the rear, nodding to a couple of men who called him by name. Joe Darnell was sitting at a spindly table with a girl in a floppy hat opposite him.

The kid had
a smooth, round face and guileless blue eyes
. He looked up gloomily,
then
brightened when he recognized Shayne. He jumped up and pulled another chair to the table, exclaiming, “Jeez, am I glad to see you, Mike. Maybe you got a job for me, huh?”

Shayne set his glass and bottle on the table beside two half-empty beer mugs. He flopped into the chair Joe pulled up and looked at the girl. A full-mouthed face was under the floppy hat. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying and she blinked them rapidly when Joe introduced her to Shayne as Dora with a determined note of pride in his voice that was, somehow, pathetic to Shayne.

Dora couldn’t have been more than eighteen. Her complexion had the swollen look of early pregnancy. Her chin was weak, and wobbled when she tried to speak, but she didn’t appear unhappy or ashamed when Joe explained:

“Dora’s
gonna
have a baby, see? An’ we
wanta
get hitched. But, Jeez, I’m
flatter’n
a sucker’s bankroll after they take him over the hurdles at Hialeah.”

Shayne nodded. He uncorked the cognac bottle and poured liquor into his glass. “Fred told me you’d been having it tough. Keeping your nose clean?”

Dejection settled over Joe Darnell’s youthful face again. “Sure am, Mike, an’ what’s it
gettin
’ me? I
ain’t
so sure it’s smart.”

“It
is
smart, Joe,” Dora said quickly. “Please don’t talk like that.”

Both men looked at the girl in some surprise when she spoke so vehemently. She sounded more mature than she looked.

Joe lifted his shoulders and eyebrows, spread out his hands, turning to Shayne. “That’s the way it is,
see
? Dora gets in a sweat if I mention pulling a job. But we’re flat. She
ain’t
gettin
’ the right things to eat. It
ain’t
fair, Mike. Me
tryin
’ to stay honest and can’t take care of my girl—an’ the town’s full of chiselers
ridin
’ in limousines an’
drinkin
’ champagne. Sometimes I wonder what the
law’s
for.”

Shayne nodded. His face was sour. “It doesn’t make sense.” He warmed his glass of cognac in his big hands, lifted it, and drank slowly. Irrationally, he caught himself wondering if Arnold
Thrip
had a limousine and drank champagne.

He placed the empty glass down gently. Dora put her hand on his arm and said low-voiced, “Joe’s told me lots about you, Mr. Shayne. He got a big kick out of helping you on that other case. Couldn’t you—find something for him—now?”

Shayne’s brooding eyes held the girl’s for a moment,
then
he nodded abruptly. “I think maybe I can, Dora.” He turned to Joe, pushing back his chair. “We’d better talk this over in private, Joe.”

Dora started to protest the desertion as Joe got up and Shayne silenced her by explaining, “A private detective’s business has to be private, Dora. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He and Joe strolled back to the men’s room, went in, and Shayne latched the door behind them.

“You really got
somethin
’,” Joe asked eagerly, “or you just
tryin
’ to cheer Dora up by
makin
’ her think so?”

“I’ve got something, Joe. I don’t know—” Shayne moved past a row of stalls to a frosted window which was lowered from the top for ventilation. He stared out thoughtfully at a refuse-littered back alley. “Still got your tools?” he asked without turning around.

“
Yeh
.
They’re right where I cached ’
em
before I went up to
Raiford
.”

“I know a guy,” Shayne explained carefully, “who’s figuring on pulling a fast one. He’s laying a grand on the line for a fake burglary. I’ve got no use for a bird like that and you need that grand worse than he does. He’ll leave it lying handy tonight if you want to go after it.”

Behind him, Joe Darnell’s face registered amazement, then disbelief. “You mean—you’re
puttin
’ me onto
pullin
’ a job?”

Shayne whirled on him savagely. His eyes were sultry.
“Why not?
The twerp had the nerve to ask me to do the job. He deserves to get his ears knocked down. And he’s expecting to get plenty for having it pulled. I wouldn’t lie
awake
nights worrying about it if that mistake cost him a grand. He’ll be waiting at five o’clock to explain the lay to you. Take him while he’s ripe for the pickings, Joe. There won’t be any danger. He and his wife are both in on it. He wants an empty jewel case snatched and a jimmied window to prove to the police it was an outside job.”

Shayne paused. His nostrils flared widely. “He’s going to leave a thousand-dollar bill in the jewel case. Why not cross him up by leaving the case behind and not leaving any marks on the window? He’s dumb enough to believe you’re going to do the job according to specifications. When you go out there this evening get him to leave a window unlatched. Explain to him that a jimmy won’t open a locked window.” Shayne paused. His eyes were hard, like gray marble. “By God, I’d like to see him hoist on his own petard. If he tries to stash the jewel case after you leave it behind,” he went on hurriedly, “and puts up a holler that his wife’s jewels are missing, it’ll look like nothing but a plant to the cops and he’ll have plenty of explaining to do. Do you get the angle?”

Joe’s eyes were very bright. He licked his lips all the way around. “I’ll say I do. That’s a hot one, Mike. He can’t squawk about it without
givin
’ the whole plant away.” Joe stared for a moment, dumbfounded, then doubled over with laughter. “That’s neat, Mike. Neat, I’ll say. And it
ain’t
like he didn’t ask for it.”

Shayne smiled grimly. “Better not tell Dora,” he cautioned. “Women have funny notions sometimes. The name is Arnold
Thrip
. He’s got a place on Miami Beach. Be there at five if you want to take a crack at it.” He unlatched the door and they went out.

At the table Dora welcomed their return with a hopeful smile. “Did you get something fixed, Joe?” she asked eagerly.

“And how!”
Joe was exultant. “We’ll get married tomorrow, honey. We’ll be in the money. Boy! What a setup!”

Dora jumped up and planted a moist kiss on Shayne’s cheek before he could back away. “I knew you’d help Joe. I kept telling him—”

“Sure, sure.”
Shayne paused uncertainly,
then
shrugged his big shoulders. Half to himself and half to Joe he muttered argumentatively, “Hell, it can’t hurt anything.” He slapped Joe on the shoulder and wished him good luck, lifted his hat to Dora, and hurried out.

It was a little after four o’clock when Michael Shayne sauntered back into the lobby of his hotel where he had kept his old bachelor apartment as an office when he moved up into the new apartment with his new wife.

At the desk the clerk said, “There was a lady in here looking for you a few minutes ago, Mr. Shayne, She looked like class so I used my own judgment and asked her to wait in your new apartment instead of the old one.”

Shayne thanked him and went up three floors in the elevator. Down the hall to his left he stopped in front of a door and turned the knob.

He took a step forward and stopped on the threshold. His eyes widened in surprise. Phyllis and Mrs.
Leora
Thrip
were sitting together at a coffee table chatting as though they had known each other for years.