Read 1949 - You're Lonely When You Dead for Free Online

asked. ‘You get on well with him. He might be prepared to keep Cerf under cover.’
    ‘Not a hope. He would have to report to Brandon, and you know how Brandon loves us. No. We can’t tell the police anything. They’d want to interview Mrs. Cerf. That’s something Cerf wouldn’t stand for. If he says he’ll swear he didn’t call us in, that’s what he’ll do. We have no proof that he did call us in. He hasn’t paid our fee yet, and by the look of it, he won’t. His first contact with us was by phone. All we’d get from him would be a libel suit that’d break our backs.’
    ‘I don’t like it, Vic. If the police find the killer and he talks we’re going to be chopped.’
    ‘Yeah, but I don’t see how they will find him. They have nothing to work on. We hold all the clues and that’s why we’ve got to clear up the mess. And besides we have a personal interest in this killing. No one’s going to shoot one of my operators and get away with it.’
    ‘What’s the first move then?’
    ‘I’m going to talk to Mrs. Cerf right away.’
    Paula shook her head.
    ‘It’s not going to be that easy. She’s skipped.’
    I stared at her, the flame of my lighter hovering before my cigarette.
    ‘She has?’
    ‘I asked to see her, but Cerf refused. He said he was arranging for her to leave town right away. She’s gone by now.’
    ‘We’ll have to find her. She knows the killer.’
    ‘That’s what I told Cerf. He said she knew nothing, and if we interfered with her or tried to find her we’d be answerable to him.’
    ‘We’ll find her all right,’ I said quietly.
    ‘Don’t be too sure the blackmailer is the killer, Vic,’ Paula said. ‘We have only Cerf’s word for it there is a blackmailer. She may be helping a lover.’
    ‘I’ll have a word with the daughter. She hasn’t any time for Anita and might be glad to talk.’
    ‘That’s an idea. Who else is there to work on?’
    ‘There’s the guy who found the handbag: Owen Leadbetter. I don’t know whether to let the police milk him and get the information from Mifflin or have a go at him myself. If Mifflin finds out we’re making inquiries he might smell a rat. Leadbetter might give us away.’
    ‘You’ll probably stop his mouth if you pay him,’ Paula said. To her way of thinking money could do anything.
    ‘Yeah. Well, I’ll try him. Then there’s this guy Barclay, been around with Anita, and according to Dana’s report they were acting like lovers. I’ll dig into his background. He may be our man for all I know.’
    ‘If there is a blackmailer at the bottom of this,’ Paula said, ‘I’d pick Bannister. He’s touched everything crooked since he’s been here. Why did Mrs. Cerf call on him the night before last, and what was her urgent business? If we could find that out we might get places.’
    ‘I’ll turn Benny on to Bannister and Kerman on to Anita,’ I said, lighting another cigarette. ‘I’ll get Kerman to dig into Anita’s background. We may turn something up to help us. I’ll go along and have a talk with Natalie Cerf.’
    ‘You’ll have to work fast, Vic,’ Paula said. She was quiet and calm. It took a lot to rattle her. ‘If the police find the killer before we do...’ She pulled a face.
    The front-door bell rang sharply, making us both jump.
    ‘That’s probably the cops,’ I said, getting to my feet.
    ‘More likely Benny,’ Paula returned. ‘I told him to come here as soon as he was through looking Dana’s apartment over.’
    She went to the front door and returned a moment later with Benny, whose usual humorous face was hard and set.
    ‘Can you beat it, Vic?’ he said, closing the door. ‘We’ve got to find the lug who killed her. It’s knocked me. One of the nicest kids I’ve ever worked with.’
    ‘Did you find anything to hook Cerf up with the killing?’ I broke in sharply.
    Benny controlled his feelings.
    ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I found her report book and the duplicates of her last report.