Heads You Lose Read Online Free Page B

fingers intertwined.
    “What makes you think I am keeping something from you, Mrs. Wilson?”
    Her body trembled against him. “Oh, I don’t know. Oh, God! I don’t know.” She began to sob silently.
    Shayne waited a while, then asked gently, “You’re not holding anything back from me, are you?”
    “You mean… about tonight?” she asked between sobs.
    “About tonight,” Shayne said. “You’re positive you didn’t see anyone or recognize the voices arguing with Clem? Didn’t he say anything to indicate who they were when he came in to ask my telephone number?”
    She shivered. The night air was growing chilly. Shayne said, “You’re cold. Roll up your window and I’ll close mine part way.”
    She fumbled for the handle and rolled her window up tight. “What… makes you think… I mighta recognized their voices?” she asked through chattering teeth.
    “Are you sure you didn’t?” Shayne’s tone was suddenly firm.
    “Yes… I’m certain sure.” She stopped sobbing and a nervousness twitched her emaciated body. “I’ll swear it… on my Bible. But… I wish you’d tell me who you think it was. Seems to me like… I’ve got the right to know… who killed Clem.”
    “It’s very important for me not to tell what Clem told me,” Shayne said. “I couldn’t even tell Chief Gentry for fear he might bungle things trying to do his duty.”
    “Why are you so dead set on keeping it to yourself?” she asked after a brief silence. “If anything happens to you there’d be nobody else could do much.”
    “You’ll have to trust me.”
    “You’ve been a good friend to us, Mr. Shayne. Clem was always that proud of the way you’d set and talk with ’im, and you were mighty good that time when Bob got in trouble. Oh, I do trust you.” Her voice shook with sincerity.
    “Then let me handle this my own way. I’ve got the others to fight, and I know what I’m doing.”
    Mrs. Wilson suddenly relaxed and her slight weight leaned against Shayne as though she sought warmth and strength from his body. “Tell me one thing,” she whispered. “You’re not keeping nothin’ back on account of friendship for Clem and me? Swear you’re not.”
    Shayne felt her tense again and grow rigid against him. He frowned and said slowly, “I don’t believe I understand exactly what you mean, Mrs. Wilson.”
    “Maybe you don’t, but I want to tell you this. Clem was a mighty good man. I reckon just about the best man any woman ever had to do for her. I don’t care who killed him. Do you hear me? I don’t care who done it… you’re not to protect ’im. I want he should pay for it.” Her voice rose to a hysterical note and she moved away from him, crouching against the opposite car door.
    Shayne said soothingly, “Of course they will pay. I’ll see to that.”
    His answer appeared to satisfy her. She sighed deeply and made herself comfortable against the cushions, drying her eyes with a man’s cotton handkerchief.
    Shayne turned to the right off Tamiami Trail. He said, “How about Bob, Mrs. Wilson?”
    “Bob? What… about Bob?” She stiffened to an upright position and her voice had a sharp ring.
    “I mean about notifying him of his father’s death. If you’ll give me his address I’ll take care of it for you. Maybe he could get a furlough and come home.”
    “I… I don’t know his address.” Her voice trembled and she continued to sit stiffly, her body bent slightly forward with her hands tightly clasped. “Bob was due to be shipped out to God knows where. That’s what he said in his last letter.”
    “Yeh. I know. Clem told me a couple of weeks ago. But you have some address where he could be reached.”
    “There’s a letter and some figures after his name,” she mumbled vaguely. “Care of the postmaster in New York, I think ’twas. But there’s no use tryin’ to let Bob know. He’s… most likely on the ocean right now.”
    “He may not have been shipped yet,” Shayne said