[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
prescription for those nitro pills, with the places Reagan had been
and the names he d used the past two months.
Lay off, I said. It still scares me. Have they found out yet who
Slidell is?
He lighted a cigarette and gestured toward the paper. Big-shot
hoodlum from Los Angeles. Several arrests for extortion and a
couple for murder, but no convictions. The bonds came from three
or four big bank robberies in Texas and Oklahoma. They re not
sure yet whether Slidell actually took part, or just planned them.
Ran with the cafe-society set quite a bit, or what passes for it in
Southern California, and owned a home in Phoenix. Funny part is
he came from about the same kind of family background Reagan
did, and was well educated, even a couple of years in medical
school. Bonner was his bodyguard and hunker and general muscle
man. The FBI was able to talk to the Stafford woman last night,
The Sailcloth Shroud 120
and they got the suitcase out of the warehouse in New York, but
they re still buttoned up as to how much it was. They re pretty
sure she didn t know anything about where it had come from, or
that her boy friend s real name was Clifford Reagan. When he
closed the book, pal, he closed it.
I looked out the window. What about Bonner? Nobody s said
anything yet.
Justifiable homicide, what else? They took her statement this
morning. Were you supposed to stand there and watch him kill
her?
I didn t say anything. In the movies and on television, I thought,
you point the gun and everybody obeys, but maybe they didn t run
into Bonners very often. There hadn t been any choice. But it
would be a long time before I forgot the horror of that moment
when he kicked out with his legs and nudged his head against me
in the reddening water. If I ever forgot it.
I was waiting impatiently when Patricia Reagan finally came to
see me that afternoon. She d gone back to close the house and get
her things. She was fully recovered, and looked lovely except for a
little puffiness on one side of her face. I wanted to pay for the
damage to the furnishings and having the phone reinstalled. We
argued amicably about it and finally decided we d share the
responsibility. We talked for a while, sticking pretty closely to
boats and sailing, the things we both knew and loved, but it trailed
off and she left.
She came back again, the following afternoon, and it was the
same thing. I was waiting eagerly for her, she seemed prettier
each time, and apparently was glad to see me, she smiled, we
talked happily about the Bahamas and about her future in photo
journalism, and how we d go out to the Islands where she could
shoot some really terrific pictures, and then it began to trail off
and we grew polite and formal with each other.
Just before she left, Bill and Lorraine showed up. Bill had already
met her, but I introduced her to Lorraine.
After she d gone, Lorraine looked at me with that old
matchmaker s gleam in her eye. There s a really stunning girl,
Rogers, old boy. What s between you two?
Her father, I said.
I had a card from her after she d gone back to Santa Barbara,
but I never saw her again.
The Sailcloth Shroud 121 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
prescription for those nitro pills, with the places Reagan had been
and the names he d used the past two months.
Lay off, I said. It still scares me. Have they found out yet who
Slidell is?
He lighted a cigarette and gestured toward the paper. Big-shot
hoodlum from Los Angeles. Several arrests for extortion and a
couple for murder, but no convictions. The bonds came from three
or four big bank robberies in Texas and Oklahoma. They re not
sure yet whether Slidell actually took part, or just planned them.
Ran with the cafe-society set quite a bit, or what passes for it in
Southern California, and owned a home in Phoenix. Funny part is
he came from about the same kind of family background Reagan
did, and was well educated, even a couple of years in medical
school. Bonner was his bodyguard and hunker and general muscle
man. The FBI was able to talk to the Stafford woman last night,
The Sailcloth Shroud 120
and they got the suitcase out of the warehouse in New York, but
they re still buttoned up as to how much it was. They re pretty
sure she didn t know anything about where it had come from, or
that her boy friend s real name was Clifford Reagan. When he
closed the book, pal, he closed it.
I looked out the window. What about Bonner? Nobody s said
anything yet.
Justifiable homicide, what else? They took her statement this
morning. Were you supposed to stand there and watch him kill
her?
I didn t say anything. In the movies and on television, I thought,
you point the gun and everybody obeys, but maybe they didn t run
into Bonners very often. There hadn t been any choice. But it
would be a long time before I forgot the horror of that moment
when he kicked out with his legs and nudged his head against me
in the reddening water. If I ever forgot it.
I was waiting impatiently when Patricia Reagan finally came to
see me that afternoon. She d gone back to close the house and get
her things. She was fully recovered, and looked lovely except for a
little puffiness on one side of her face. I wanted to pay for the
damage to the furnishings and having the phone reinstalled. We
argued amicably about it and finally decided we d share the
responsibility. We talked for a while, sticking pretty closely to
boats and sailing, the things we both knew and loved, but it trailed
off and she left.
She came back again, the following afternoon, and it was the
same thing. I was waiting eagerly for her, she seemed prettier
each time, and apparently was glad to see me, she smiled, we
talked happily about the Bahamas and about her future in photo
journalism, and how we d go out to the Islands where she could
shoot some really terrific pictures, and then it began to trail off
and we grew polite and formal with each other.
Just before she left, Bill and Lorraine showed up. Bill had already
met her, but I introduced her to Lorraine.
After she d gone, Lorraine looked at me with that old
matchmaker s gleam in her eye. There s a really stunning girl,
Rogers, old boy. What s between you two?
Her father, I said.
I had a card from her after she d gone back to Santa Barbara,
but I never saw her again.
The Sailcloth Shroud 121 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]