Kept Women Can’t Quit

“A man doesn’t put a false bottom in a trunk unless he intends to conceal something in it, so we’re pretty certain something was concealed in Downer’s trunk. And knowing what we’re after, we know what it was — fifty grand in hot money. So since we know that Downer had your trunk we’re pretty certain that you had Downer’s trunk. These cards and things are probably in Downer’s handwriting. We’ve got the best handwriting expert on the Coast working on that stuff right now. If that turns out to be in Downer’s handwriting it ties you right in with Downer and the missing trunk, and that ties you in with the missing fifty grand, and that ties you in with murder.

“Now I don’t think you were intending to go south with the fifty grand. I think probably you were planning on making a deal with the insurance company so you could get a reward. I told you to lay off. I warned you this was something I was going to handle myself, but you wouldn’t listen to me. You had to go ahead on your own. Now then, you’re tied up to your neck in a murder case.

“Personally, I don’t think you murdered Downer. I don’t think you’re the type. Frankly, I don’t think you have the guts.

“I’m going to give you just one break — one more chance. You start talking and come clean, tell the whole thing so it makes sense, and if I figure it’s on the up and up we’ll sit tight for a little while before we throw the murder rap at you. I still think that murder was committed by someone else, but I’d bet ten to one that you got the fifty grand.”

Inspector Hobart hadn’t said a word. He was sitting there sizing me up, watching my every motion.

I said, “Suppose you quit using me for a punching bag for a while and let’s talk a little sense.”

“No one’s used you for a punching bag,” Sellers said. And then after a significant pause, added, “Yet.”

I ignored the comment and said, “You solved an armored car theft of a hundred grand. You came up with fifty grand. The thief says you got a hundred. That leaves you on the spot. What you want is to prove this guy is a liar and that you never had but fifty grand.

“About the only way you can do that is to find out who did have the extra fifty grand and come up with it. Then you can make Baxley eat his words.”

“Keep talking,” Sellers said. “I always like to hear you talk. Every time I listen I get stung, but I like to listen just the same. It’s like taking tranquilizers.”

“The hell you get stung,” I said. “Every time you’ve listened to me so far you’ve come out on top of the heap.”

Sellers said, “You always used me to get something you wanted.”

“And always gave you something you wanted,” I said.

“Keep talking,” Sellers said. “I’ve got other things to do besides argue with you.”

I said, “If what you say is right, Herbert Baxley and Standley Downer arranged to hoist a hundred grand out of that armored truck. That right?”

“Right.”

“All right, how did they know what to look for? How did they know which truck had the dough and how did they know there was a hundred grand in thousand-dollar bills?”

“They could have had a tip-off. They could have been on a blind.”

“The only way you can save your skin,” I told Sellers, “is by proving that Standley Downer was the other partner. Even if you should show up with fifty grand now and say that you had recovered it from Downer or from me, they’d laugh at you. They’d think that you had stashed it away someplace and had dreamed up a good story to help you out of a tight corner when the situation got too hot for you.”

“You think about saving your skin,” Sellers said. “I’ll worry about saving mine.”

I said, “If your hunch is correct, Baxley and Downer had the money long enough to make a two-way split. Therefore, Downer knew you’d corralled Baxley and felt Baxley would talk, and so he took his fifty grand and got out in a hurry.”

“You haven’t said anything so far,” Sellers said.

“Now, once more assuming that what you’re deducing is correct,” I went on, “I come back to the fact — how did they know that hundred grand was going to be on that particular truck, and how did they know it would be where they could get at it?”

“Your needle’s stuck,” Sellers said. “You’ve been all over that once before.”

“No, I haven’t. You say you found a secret compartment had been built in Downer’s trunk. Therefore, Downer got the trunk first and it wasn’t until later that he planned to get what he was going to put in it — fifty nice new thousand-dollar bills that would lie flat on the floor of the hidden compartment. He had the whole thing planned long before that armored truck ever picked up the money.”

Sellers frowned, then flashed a quick glance to Inspector Hobart.

Hobart, without taking his eyes off of me, said, “He’s got something there, Sellers.”

“All right,” Sellers said to me, “go on, Pint Size. Talk your fool head off. I’ll listen. When you get done you’d better have something that amounts to fifty grand, otherwise you’re going to be out of circulation for a long, long time.”