Heads You Lose Read Online Free Page A

the police car and rested his elbows on the door. “Got yourself a new job, Gary?”
    “Yeh. Damned nursemaid,” he grumped. He spat with disgust through the opposite door. “Chief says I’m to ride herd on this guy. Ain’t supposed to let him out of my sight. Does that mean I have to sleep with him?”
    Shayne grinned. “Maybe his wife’s good-looking and you can sleep between them,” he offered.
    “Fat chance. Even if I get that break he’ll probably turn out to be a light sleeper. You figure they’ll try to get him, Mike? Account of he saw them two torpedoes.”
    “I doubt it. Not if they can get me first. I wouldn’t worry too much.”
    Shayne went over to Carlton, who had taken the jack from under the wheel and was stowing it in his luggage compartment. “It looks as if you’ll be adequately protected, Mr. Carlton.”
    Carlton nodded, brushing the knees of his trousers. “I don’t like to seem unduly worried, but I confess the protection of an officer will be welcome. It does seem to me,” he went on severely, “that no useful purpose was served by publishing my willingness to identify the murderers. I may have been overly enthusiastic listening to you and Chief Gentry speaking of patriotism. Those men had their hats pulled down low on their foreheads, and they looked very tough. What if I slipped up trying to do my duty?”
    “Don’t worry,” Shayne said soothingly. “It’ll give them more reason to bump me off before I can show them to you for identification. I doubt whether they’ll bother you at all if they can get me out of the way. After all, I’m the only one who actually knows where to look for them. You’re not a danger to them unless they’re arrested and put into the lineup. If they are, I’ll see that they wear hats pulled low over their foreheads.”
    “That’s some consolation,” Carlton agreed in a relieved voice. He came close to Shayne and asked, “Just between us, how much do you know, Mr. Shayne? I’ll admit I became confused listening to you and Chief Gentry arguing, but it seems to me if the filling station man told you anything definite, you’d be out after them right now.”
    Shayne laughed lightly and cheerfully. “It isn’t that simple. I’ve got to do some checking. This is a big thing, and there are a lot of loose ends to be tied together to verify what Clem told me.”
    “Oh, I see,” Carlton murmured. “I know nothing of such things, of course.”
    Shayne put a hand on Carlton’s shoulder and said firmly, “I promise you it won’t be long, and I want you to know I appreciate what you’re doing. It would have been easy for you to have denied seeing the men. If more citizens would do their duty courageously we’d have less racketeering.”
    Carlton squared his shoulders and his eyes were grateful, but his tone was deprecative when he said, “I’m afraid it wasn’t courage that prompted me. Frankly, I’m frightened. I’m a family man, Mr. Shayne, and have to consider others besides myself. But the evasion of rationing is, as you said, a vicious evil, and must be stamped out.”
    “You’ve done a brave thing,” Shayne told him cheerfully, “whatever your motives were. But don’t worry. Gary will keep tabs on you,” he called on his way back to his car.
    Shayne slid the gears in and rolled away.
    Mrs. Wilson put a timid hand on his arm and asked, “How much did Clem tell you tonight, Mr. Shayne? Before he got shot?”
    “Enough,” Shayne assured her, “to make certain his murderers won’t get away with it.”
    Her hand trembled and tightened on his arm. “Was it… was it gas racketeers like you told the police?”
    Shayne glanced at her wrinkled face. “I didn’t exactly tell the police that, but it all adds up… what you heard and the way Clem acted as soon as the car drove away.”
    “You’re not… not keeping anything from me, are you, Mr. Shayne?” she asked in a faint voice. Her hand had slid back into her lap and her