Gagliano,Anthony - Straits of Fortune.wps Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    "She might get off. It's happened before, and you've got the money to make it happen." "I don't want to take that chance, and I don't want the pub- licity. I just want the whole thing gone as quickly as possible. A hundred thousand dollars, Jack." His eyes brightened, and his voice rose into a tone of false triumph, all for the ben- efit of my proletarian perspective. He made that much while brushing his teeth. "Why not get Williams to do it?" I asked. "He works a lot cheaper than that." "There's a slight chance that if you're careless, you'll be caught. If that were to happen to Williams, I'd be drawn into it. I can't risk that." That didn't sound quite right for some reason; then it hit me. When it came to moving quietly through the night, there wouldn't be too many people better at it than Williams. Compared to him, I would be an amateur. The Colonel would know that as well as anyone. It was early, but I poured myself an inch of scotch to cover my thinking time. I could almost feel him trying to read my mind. "Williams could've been out there and back a half dozen times by now," I said after taking a sip of my drink. "And you and I both know it." "I need Williams here," the Colonel said. "With me." "Why? Sure, he's cute, but you could spare him for a few hours, couldn't you?" "Matson had friends, and I have reason to believe that the house is being watched. Williams is almost psychic when it comes to things like that. He refuses to leave my side." "If that's true," I said, "then Matson's friends must also re- alize that something's wrong on that boat. It's been there long enough. Why haven't they gone out there to investigate?" "It may be that they already have, possibly at night. If that's so, they're probably waiting for my next move, see 29
    whether I'll call the police. They may be expecting me to send Williams out to take care of things, in which case I'd be here alone." "I'll tell you what," I said. "I'll stay here with you while big bad Williams goes out and does the dirty work. How's that sound?" "You're good, Jack, but you're not Williams." "Funny, but for some reason I take that as a compliment." "Are you afraid?" "Not yet." "Williams stays here. As I said, if Williams were to be caught, it would lead back to me. That's not something I can afford at this stage of my life." "And if I get caught? They'll think I killed him." "Your alibi is that I called you here to ask if you knew where my daughter was. I told you I thought she was on the boat. You went out there and found the body and decided to sink the boat and spare an old man the trouble of bringing the police into it. They'll dig the bullets out, but they won't match with any gun you own. We won't mention the film, of course. That would give you too much of a motive." "So who killed him, then? That's the kind of question the police tend to ask." "A man in Matson's business makes plenty of enemies. The Russian mob has moved into the smut business in a big way. Matson ran afoul of them. I know a lot of judges, and I'll get you a good Jewish lawyer. You have no record, and you used to be a cop. On top of that, I'll double your fee." "How do you know I can even drive a boat like that?" I asked. The Colonel smiled. "Let's not be obtuse, all right? You know damned well I had you checked out long before you showed up here. You used to work for Captain Tony, right? Taught you everything he knew about repossessing boats. 30
    You have a captain's license--expired, but I'll overlook that, considering the circumstances. You and he even got shot at a few times. Once, down in Veracruz, you even got locked up for a few days. It seems the Mexicans thought you two were thieves." "Coming from them, that was pretty hard to take." He was talking about the time Captain Tony and I had been asked to return a thirty-foot sailboat that belonged to a stockbroker whose numbers had gone bad. The broker had sailed down to Acapulco to get away from it all, but he hadn't gone far