Read Badge of Evil for Free Online Page B

gave me the pitch on the phone about not being a cop but you’ve got the same thoughts they have about me.” Shayon, with a confident swagger, went to the coffee table. A bottle of bourbon, partially empty, stood there. “Well, sit down and we’ll go over it all again. How I blew Linneker to smithereens. That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it?”
    “Only if it’s the truth,” said Holt, sitting down gingerly in a canvas campaign chair. Shayon’s apartment, although small, was expensively furnished, in modern styling. All of the furniture was new.
    “What’s the truth to you people?” Shayon asked with a slight sneer. He held up the bottle. “Don’t suppose you’d care for a drink, being on duty.”
    “Why not?” replied Holt, not because he wanted a drink particularly but for the sake of upsetting Shayon’s cocksureness. “Straight, if you don’t mind.”
    “Well, well,” murmured Shayon, and had to go into the tiny kitchen to get another glass. He poured generous amounts and held up his drink in a challenging toast. “Here’s to crime. Now then, where shall we begin, Holt? Do you want to make a direct accusation or shall we play around with some nasty questions first? Like, how does just a shoe clerk manage to own such expensive furniture? The answer is that Tara bought it.”
    Holt said, “Tell me, Mr. Shayon, are you unpleasant to everybody or is it just me?”
    “Was I being unpleasant? Terribly sorry, old man.” Shayon’s smile was bitter. “I’ve been told I have a very winning personality. The best shoe clerk the store ever had and sales to prove it. That’s the way I met Tara, you know, and I’ve been at her feet ever since. You might call it my most profitable sale, two million bucks’ worth. The only trouble was that her father objected to having a shoe clerk for a son-in-law and so, naturally, he had to be put out of the way. And, naturally, I blew him up with dynamite because that’s my cruel and vicious nature.” He paused, studying Holt. “Come on now, Holt, you’re making me do all the work. You might at least have the decency to ask the questions.”
    Despite Shayon’s posture of deliberate antagonism, Holt was strangely not offended. There was something rather pathetic about the younger man, striking out so determinedly before he was hurt. And from the way he kept referring to himself as “just a shoe clerk,” it was obvious that he resented his status, particularly at this moment. Holt said calmly, “Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, suppose we talk sensibly about this situation.”
    Shayon looked down at his highball for a while. He murmured, “I guess I was blowing off steam at that. But I’ve had cops up to here.”
    “I wish I could say that you weren’t going to have any more. But I can’t.”
    “Oh, I know. You’ve got me measured as the fall guy. The fortune hunter who latched on to the rich girl and hypnotized her into murdering her dad for the sake of the money.” Shayon laughed. “Boy, if I had that kind of power I wouldn’t be where I am today, believe me.”
    “Then you don’t care about Tara’s money?”
    “Don’t be a sap,” said Shayon, looking him in the eye. “You’re darn tooting I care about the money. I wouldn’t have given Tara a tumble in the first place, otherwise. I’ve been poor and I don’t like it one bit. I told her that right in the beginning. But she still wanted — ” He stopped and shrugged. “Why bother? You wouldn’t believe it, anyway.”
    “Try me,” Holt suggested. “I’m a good listener.”
    “Well, just suppose it was the other way around. Instead of the man chasing the girl, it was the girl’s idea. Suppose she came back to the store day after day, practically begging for him to notice her and be nice to her. And suppose he finally did, just to see how the other half lives, just for laughs. And then he finds out that she’s a nice, sweet kid even though she’s a couple of years