The Honest Dealer

Chapter Thirteen

The jailer came to Sam Cragg’s cell and said, “Okay, buddy.” He unlocked the door.

Sam stepped out. “I’m sprung?”

The jailer laughed humorlessly. “Are you kidding?”

He led the way to a door, opened it and stepped aside. Sam passed him and entered the Blue Room. It was a square room, with blue painted walls. It contained a long table and several plain wooden chairs.

Catch ’Em Alive Mulligan was sitting on the edge of the table. “Hello, Cragg,” he said calmly.

Sam grinned sheepishly. “Johnny get in touch with you?”

Mulligan ignored the question. “I made a little mistake this morning. I let you stay in Las Vegas.”

“Where’s Johnny?” Sam persisted.

“Outside,” said Mulligan, “and you’re inside. You know you’re in big trouble, don’t you?”

“It wasn’t me started it, Mulligan. Honest. That Langford bozo insulted Jane. He’s sore, because she’s divorcing him. Besides, he took a poke at Johnny this afternoon.”

“They say you picked him up and threw him twenty feet.”

“Aw,” said Sam modestly. “It wasn’t hardly ten feet.”

Mulligan cocked his head to one side. “You threw him... ten feet?”

“Yeah, but he hit me first. Didn’t they tell you about that?”

Mulligan nodded. “Langford weighs right around two hundred.”

“But he’s a half a head taller’n me. I wasn’t pickin’ on no baby.”

“Oh, I wasn’t complaining about that, Cragg. I’m a little sore that I didn’t see the fight, if it was anything like they say. As a matter of fact, I’m not complaining at all. It’s Elmer...”

“Who’s Elmer?”

“The man whose place you wrecked. He figures the crap table at five hundred dollars.”

“All right, we’ll pay it. Johnny’s got the money.”

“...And he claims a thousand dollars worth of checks were picked up by customers...”

Sam winced.

“...And he says he would have won a thousand dollars during the time it took to bring up the new table, that he was lucky enough to have in the basement. That’s a total of twenty-five hundred dollars.”

“You mean I gotta shell out twenty-five hundred to get outta here?”

“That’s Elmer’s asking price.”

“And if we don’t pay it?”

Mulligan smiled. “I think you’ll pay it.”

“Well, get Johnny here...”

Mulligan looked down at his fingernails. “It’ll take that much money to keep Elmer from pressing charges against you. But it seems there are a couple of other charges against you, Cragg. Such as starting a riot, assault and battery, resisting arrest and assaulting two police officers.”

Sam groaned. “You mean... I’m in the clink?”

“I’d say you were good for about six months. Maybe ninety days, if Judge Megan has a fight with his wife before coming down tomorrow morning.”

Sam reeled to one of the chairs and dropped down on it. “Ninety days...!” He moaned. “I couldn’t stand it. I’d go nuts sitting around ninety days without doing anything...”

“Oh, you’ll be doing something, all right, so don’t worry about that. I’d say they’d put you to work on the road gang. They’re a little short of help, anyway...”

“Get Johnny,” Sam pleaded. “Get him, will you, Mulligan?”

“He’s already been here,” said Mulligan. “He’s been and gone.”

Sam gasped. “You mean they wouldn’t even gimme bail?”

Mulligan shrugged. “We don’t like to give bail here, not when the parties involved are transients and the state line is only forty miles away...”

“But Johnny’ll put up the dough — whatever they ask. He wouldn’t let down his pal. We been together for years and he never let me down yet.”

“I’m afraid he hasn’t got anything to say about it this time. However...”

Mulligan got up and walked to the door. He opened it and called out, “Jenkins!”

One of the two policemen who had arrested Sam Cragg came into the room. “Jenkins,” Mulligan said, “how do you feel about Cragg?”

Jenkins scowled. “Not so good, Mulligan. He gave me quite a shoving around.”

“And Casper? What does he say?”

“He’s plenty sore.”

Mulligan nodded thoughtfully. “Then I don’t suppose you and Casper would be willing to withdraw the charge of resisting arrest and assaulting a policeman?”

Jenkins pursed up his lips. “Well, I dunno...”

Sam sprang to his feet. “Would a hun’erd bucks apiece square it?” he asked eagerly.

Mulligan inhaled sharply. “That’s attempted bribery, Cragg!”

“Jeez!” cried Sam. “I on’y t’ought...” He suddenly clamped his mouth shut and went back to his chair.

Mulligan shook his head sadly. “Now we’ve got to add a bribery charge...”

“Get Johnny Fletcher,” Sam howled. “He got me into this and he’s gotta get me out...”

Mulligan signaled to Jenkins. “That’s all, Jenkins...”

Jenkins hesitated. “I won’t say anything about this if you don’t want me to, Mulligan.”

“We’ll see; if Cragg’ll play ball with us, maybe we’ll play ball with him. It’s up to him...”

Jenkins went out of the room, closing the door behind him. Cragg looked at Mulligan in agony. “Jeez, Mulligan, you seemed like a nice guy this morning. Why don’t you give me a break?”

“Maybe I will, Cragg. It depends on you. If you’ll tell me a few things I’d like to know, I may be able to do you some good. I’ll drop the bribery thing at least, and maybe... maybe I can do something with Jenkins and Casper. They owe me a couple of favors...”

“You can square them?”

“I don’t know. I’ll try.”

“Johnny’ll make it up to you, Mulligan. I know he will.”

“Well, we’ll see. Now, I’d like you to tell me everything that happened out in Death Valley last night.”

“Death Valley? What’s that got to do with... uh... Las Vegas?”

Mulligan looked sharply at Cragg. “Didn’t Fletcher tell you... about what he found in his room this evening?”

For a moment Sam looked blankly at the detective, then his eyes widened. “You mean, after he left the dinner table...?”

“Yes.”

Sam suddenly looked as if he had swallowed a live lizard. “I on’y talked to him a second when he came back, but...” He swallowed hard. “You mean he wasn’t... kidding?”

“About what?”

“About... well, a... a stiff...?”

“So he did tell you!”

Sam groaned. “Somebody got... knocked off...?”

“Well, there was a bullet through his chest. I guess you might say he was knocked off. Fletcher tell you who he was?”

Sam shook his head. “We was at the crap table when he came back and the redhead was with me... we was kiddin’ and then Honsinger or somebody called him away... I ain’t seen him since then...”

“Tell me about Death Valley — the man you found there.”

Sam rubbed his face with the back of his hand. “Jeez, Mulligan, we didn’t do it. Honest. We was ridin’ along and then all of a sudden we seen this guy staggerin’ along beside the road. We on’y wanted to help so we stopped the car. And then he croaked.”

“He’d already been shot before you met him?”

“Oh, sure. We was goin’ to take him back to Baker with us, but he said he couldn’t make it. And then he...” Sam gulped. “Uh, what’d Johnny tell you about it?”

“Just what you’ve told. But he also said you searched the man after he died... and took some things from his pockets...”

“Only the cards and the purple check... an’ some matches. He didn’t have nothin’ else on him.”

“Well, that matches Johnny’s story. Matches, a purple check... and cards. Now tell me what he said before he died...”

“He wanted us to send the stuff to Nick, here in Las Vegas...”

“Nick; that’s right. What was the last name?”

“He didn’t say. He died before he could bring it out. He just said Nick and then — bingo! He was a goner.”

“What’d you do then?”

“Nothing. There wasn’t anything we could do. It was so goddam hot and the wind was blowin’ so hard. We wouldda buried him, probably, but we couldn’t dig a grave with our hands, could we? So we just left him there and then we drove back to Baker. We had a helluva time makin’ it too, with hardly any water in our radiator...” Sam shivered at the memory of it. “I never wanna go into Death Valley again!”

Mulligan walked to the door and opened it. “Jenkins!” he called.

Jenkins came to the door and looked inquiringly at Mulligan. Mulligan gestured. “Send in that Fletcher fellow...”

“Jeez!” cried Sam. “Johnny’s here?”

Johnny Fletcher entered the room. There was an angry glint in his eyes.

“So that’s why you’ve kept me waiting, Mulligan. You were pumping Sam.”

“Johnny!” exclaimed Sam. “Have you still got that money?”

“Of course I have — why?”

“They want twenty-five hun’erd to square the beef.”

“Who wants twenty-five hundred?”

“A guy named Elmer.”

“I’ll give him fifty bucks; if he wants more he can sue.”

Catch ’Em Alive Mulligan scowled heavily. “Sit down, Fletcher!”

“I can talk standing.”

“All right, then stand. But you’ll talk. Where’re those cards Harry Bloss gave you?”

Johnny looked reproachfully at Sam Cragg. “He made like he already knew, Johnny,” Sam said defensively.

“It’s all right, it doesn’t matter, Sam.” Johnny turned to Mulligan. “I guess a man named Carl’s got them. Tall, thin, about thirty... looks like a gigolo...”

Mulligan’s eyes slitted. “Carl Shinn!”

“You know him?”

Catch ’Em Alive nodded. “A two-bit con man; I was figuring on running him out of town the next time he got smart.”

“I think you’ve got the wrong man, Mulligan. Shinn’s the lad who followed Bloss into Death Valley. No two-bit con man would do that...”

“Carl Shinn wouldn’t; I’m sure of that... how do you know he’s the one who gave it to Bloss?”

“He said so.” Johnny pursed up his lips. “Although come to think of it, it didn’t sound very convincing to me at the time he told it. He had the details right, but he may have gotten them from someone else...”

“Give it to me in order, Fletcher. What details?”

“He said Bloss had been four hours dying — well, I wouldn’t know about that; but he claimed he was hiding in a dry wash when I stopped my car, got out, climbed in and turned around...”

“Is that what you did?”

“Yes. He also knew what Bloss had said to me before he died.”

“Ah,” said Mulligan, “that’s a little item you forgot to tell me about.”

“No, I didn’t. I told you he said for me to take the check — and the cards — to Nick in Las Vegas. Rather, he said ‘send’, not ‘take’...”

“But Nick’s full name?”

“I didn’t get it, so help me, Mulligan. And Sam couldn’t have told you any name...”

“I didn’t,” Sam cut in, “I told him just what the guy said. ‘Nick,’ that’s all...” His forehead creased in thought. “I don’t even know how you figured out the guy’s name was Bloss...”

“Oh,” said Johnny, “Mulligan identified him... when he saw the body in our room, a few hours ago...”

Sam gasped. “The stiff! But...” His face grew bewildered. “How’d he get in our room? We left him in Death Valley...!”

“Somebody brought him here.”

“Who?”

“The man who killed him? This Carl Shinn...”

“I can’t see Carl Shinn bringing a corpse all the way from Death Valley,” said Mulligan.

“Well, if you know Shinn, you shouldn’t have any trouble checking up on him. And if you find him, hold him for me. I’ve a little private business to settle with him.”

Mulligan looked inquiringly at Johnny and the latter related his own adventures of that evening. Mulligan grunted when Johnny finished. “That was Shinn, all right, and the other lad is Bill Temple. Jake, I don’t know. The shack’s out of my jurisdiction, but I think I’ll have the sheriff’s office look into it.”

“The whole business is screwy,” Johnny declared. “There wasn’t anything in those cards for anyone to get excited about.”

“How do you know there wasn’t?”

“I looked at them. They were just regular Wasp playing cards. And I doubt if they were marked — if that had anything to do with it.” Johnny looked sharply at Mulligan. “Have you got any idea what this is all about?”

“Not the slightest,” said Mulligan. But Johnny wondered. There was just a shade too much assurance in Catch ’Em Alive’s tone.

Johnny yawned. “It’s two o’clock in the a.m. and I’ve got to get up early...”

“Why?”

“So I can get the rest of the fifty grand I’ve got my mind on... Are you through with Sam?”

Mulligan hesitated. “Langford hasn’t made any complaint, but Elmer Dade’s awfully sore...”

“Sam isn’t going to skip town.”

“All right,” Mulligan conceded. “Leave fifty bucks at the desk — just for the record, then you can go.” He regarded Sam speculatively. “I still don’t believe you threw him ten feet.”

Sam grinned.