Lemons Never Lie Read Online Free PDF Page B

know where there's over a hundred grand, just waiting to be taken." His voice was improving a little with use, but his expression was still pained.
    Grofield glanced at Dan, but Dan was looking down at Myers in grim satisfaction. Grofield gave his attention back to Myers.
    Myers said, "Dankworth told me about it. He wanted me to go after it with him."
    Grofield said, "Dankworth?"
    Dan said, "The boy you let frisk you in Vegas."
    Grofield frowned. "The one Myers killed?"
    "It was him or me," Myers said. He sounded aggrieved, as though he'd been badly treated by someone he'd been kind to.
    "Tell me about that," Grofield said.
    Dan said, "Listen to the hundred grand."
    "In a minute," Grofield told him. "First I want to hear about the gunfight at the O.K. Corral." To Myers he said, "You and Dankworth were such buddies that he told you about this hundred thousand, and he wanted you to come do the caper with him, but then he turned around and tried to kill you?"
    "He lost confidence in me," Myers said, some of the grievance still showing in his voice. "After you people walked out."
    "The others left, too?"
    Dan said, "Right after us. All three of them."
    Grofield said, "Whose idea was it to hijack Dan and me?"
    "Mine," Myers said. "I was mad at you people, you were the first ones to go. Maybe if you didn't leave, the others-"
    "If they were pros," Dan said, a little irritated, "they'd have left."
    "Anyway," Grofield said. "You and whatsisname-"
    "Dankworth."
    "I didn't ask you. You and whatsisname came down after everybody left, and you saw Dan and me at the table, and you saw us winning."
    "We couldn't get too close," Myers said. "We thought you were the one with the money."
    "And you wanted to get even for us walking out on you."
    "That's right."
    "So then whatsisname-"
    "Dankworth."
    Dan stepped forward and kicked Myers on the right kneecap. "He didn't ask you!"
    Myers didn't make a noise, but he winced and closed his free hand around his knee.
    Grofield shook his head at Dan. "I don't like to see people being hurt," he said. To Myers he said, "Dankworth. After you got Dan's money and went back to the hotel room, he jumped you."
    "That's right."
    "And you had a fight, and you managed to win."
    "That's right."
    Grofield turned half away from Myers and said to Dan, "If he tells a dumb lie on that part, why should I believe his hundred thousand story?"
    Aggrieved again, Myers said, "What do you mean, a dumb lie?"
    Dan was frowning. He studied Myers, and then looked at Grofield. "You sound damn sure of yourself."
    "I am. Number one – there wasn't any mess in either room, no struggle of any kind. There was some bloodstain on the rug in front of one of the chairs, and that was it. Number two – the only way you can kill a man the way Dankworth was killed is to sneak up behind him when he's sitting down, reach around him, pull his head up by the chin with one hand and slit his throat with your knife in the other hand. You don't give a man that kind of cut from in front of him, and you don't give him that kind of cut if you're in a brawl with him."
    Myers said, "Why the hell would I want to kill him?"
    Grofield turned back to him. "Because Dan knocked him out, and you lost confidence in him. You needed him till you worked some sort of scam for ready money, but once you got Dan's thirteen thousand you were through with him. And you were mad at the world anyway, because all the rest of us walked out on you. And you wanted all of Dan's money for yourself."
    Myers blinked, his mouth working as he tried to think of something to say. No words came out.
    Dan, sounding dangerous, said, "You son of a bitch, is that the way it was?"
    Grofield said, "Don't start kicking him, Dan. I just wanted to get that part straight before I heard about the hundred thousand." He looked at Myers. "I'll listen now."
    Myers wanted to turn sullen, but was afraid to. He said, "This is for real. I don't have any reason to lie about this."
    "Just tell it," Grofield