Pay-Off in Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

do you two want here?” He stopped on the grass in front of them, squaring his shoulders belligerently.
    Rourke said, “I’m after the story, Chief. I called Mike as soon as I got the flash from my paper.”
    “Why?” demanded Painter, rocking back on his heels. “Why did you call Shayne?”
    “Because he thought you might be able to use some help,” Shayne told him harshly. “If you don’t need any information… if you’ve got the case all solved and wrapped up tight… that’s just fine with me. I’ll go back to bed where I belong.”
    He started to turn away, but Painter said stridently, “Wait, Shayne! If you’ve got any relevant information, I demand that you give it to me. You can’t just walk away…”
    “The hell I can’t,” grated Shayne through set teeth. “I jump out of bed and break the speed limits to get over here like any good citizen to help you out, and, by God.… ”
    “Wait a minute, Mike,” groaned Timothy Rourke . “I called him because I knew he saw Doctor Ambrose earlier this evening,” he told Painter.
    “How did you know that?” demanded Painter suspiciously.
    “Because I sent the doctor to see him. I don’t know whether that has anything to do with what happened here, but I thought you ought to know about it.”
    “What did happen here?” asked Shayne quietly.
    “When did you see Ambrose?”
    “He came to my apartment about eight-thirty. Damn it, Petey ,” Shayne went on impatiently, “I’m willing to cooperate, but I want some idea of what I’m walking into. When was he killed?”
    “A few minutes after ten o’clock, the best we can place it.” Painter thumb-nailed his mustache and peered up at Shayne’s rugged face suspiciously. “ That mean anything to you?”
    Shayne looked at his watch. It was shortly after eleven o’clock. He said truthfully, “It could mean a lot… if the time is right. Any witnesses to swear to it?”
    “The next door neighbor noticed his car turn into the driveway a few minutes after ten. He didn’t think anything of it until about half an hour later when he took his dog for a walk and noticed the car still standing here in front of the closed garage, headlights still on and engine running. He also noticed the overhead light on inside the car, indicating that a door had been left open. He came over to investigate. Dr. Ambrose was lying beside the open left-hand door, shot once through the heart. Now, what does that mean to you?”
    Shayne said, “He was being blackmailed. He had an appointment to make a twenty grand pay-off at the Seacliff Restaurant in Miami at nine-thirty. If he kept that appointment, it looks as though he drove straight here without any stops along the way.” He paused briefly and then said, “At my place he showed me a thick white envelope which he said contained twenty thousand dollars. Did you find it on him?”
    Painter shook his head. “Nothing like that at all.”
    Shayne said quietly, “Then he must have kept the appointment at nine-thirty and got rid of it.”
    “Now wait a minute, Shayne. Why did he come to you in the first place?”
    “Tim sent him. He had a crazy idea of hiring me to go along as a sort of bodyguard while he made the blackmail pay-off.”
    “It wasn’t crazy at all,” retorted Rourke . “Sounded like a lot of sense to me. Nobody was likely to start anything with you backing his play. Damn it, Mike! Didn’t you go with him as I asked you to?”
    Shayne looked at his old friend expressionlessly. “You know how I feel about blackmail and paying them off,” he growled.
    “But I asked you as a personal favor…”
    “Let me get this straight,” Chief Peter Painter broke in importantly. “You claim you refused to help him, Shayne?”
    “I told him, goddamit , that I could lose my license by aiding and abetting blackmail. I told him I considered it immoral and unethical,” Shayne added truthfully and righteously. “I also warned him that it never worked. That no