Assignment — Angelina by Edward S. Aarons Page B

you have to know?"
    "Well, you swing a lot of weight, that's all."
    "You haven't uncovered any rocks where Fleming and his crowd might be hiding?"
    "We're
working the highways, motels, tourist homes — that sort of thing. The delta is a big territory. Happy vacation paradise for one and all. So is New Orleans. They could be in town. They could in Mobile. They could be on the moon."
    "They're here," Durell said.
    "Maybe the locals could help."
    "No local cops on this," Durell said. "Just keep looking. What about the photostats I gave you?"
    "We got a lab report back on it from Washington." MacCreedy looked at the bartender, who was wiping the bar nearby, and ordered another bourbon. When the fat man slid his glass toward him, MacCreedy waited until he went farther away. "It's part of a chemical formula for an anesthetic gas, they think. Sort of a nerve gas, an ether derivative. Nothing sensational. No real military application, anyway."
    "Then why do they want it so badly?"
    "Who?"
    "The lad who did the art work with the knife. And his friends."
    MacCreedy drank his bourbon. "Search me. Washington isn't excited. At least, my office isn't. They're not sure, mind you, because the whole formula isn't there. It will take some lab research to work it out. Maybe we'll hear more about it by tomorrow." MacCreedy paused. "Meanwhile, what do I do with the body on icer"
    "Can you hold it for another twenty-four hours?"
    "Sure. But the sheriff will be sore as hell for holding out a murder on him. And the newspapers will jump on the mutilation angle."
    "See that they don't get it. It's important. The people I'm after have to keep thinking Labouisse died in the swamp and hasn't been found."
    MacCreedy shook his head. "I don't understand, but you're the boss, Sam. Washington says to give you anything you ask for."
    "Ill have another bourbon," Durell said.
* * *
    For two days he had worked with MacCreedy and come up with nothing, no sign of Erich Cortin or his wife, or Mark Fleming and Slago. He was sure Slago was with the group now. Washington had not been able to turn up a trace of the man anywhere in the country, and a memo from Wittington via MacCreedy had advised him that a connection had been made between Fleming and Slago in New York, over three months ago, prior to Slago's subsequent disappearance. Slago had been in a trucking racket, which made him all of a piece with Fleming's background. Thinking about this accomplished little for Durell. He still had no idea where to find them, nor could he guess what they would do next.
    He left the FBI man a few minutes later. The noonday heat on the street was intense. He wondered if he ought to return to Washington, and then he walked down to the corner and a headline caught his eye and he stopped.
    The Bayou Peche Rouge National Bank had been robbed.
    Mysterious circumstances were hinted. Nobody had seen the robbers. A strange gas apparently had been introduced into the ducts of the air-conditioning system, stunning the occupants for some ten minutes while the robbers helped themselves to the ready cash. Apparently the robbers had used an antidote that rendered them immune to the gas.
    Over seventeen thousand dollars had been taken.
* * *
    Durell drove south from the city to Peche Rouge. It was one o'clock when he parked on the landing beside his grandfather's steamboat. The hulk looked calm and placid in the sunlight that laved the dark bayou. As he got out, his elbow touched the horn ring of the Chevy, and the sharp blast momentarily disrupted the misty beauty of the scene. Herons and pelicans flapped away into the dark gloom of the cypress groves on the opposite shore. Jonathan came out on deck and called to him.
    "You heard about the robbery, Samuel?"
    "I heard. I'm looking for Angelina. Have you seen her?"
    The white-haired old man stood erect and alert. "You look upset, Samuel. Has the bank business anything to do with your business?"
    "I think so. Have you seen Angelina?"
    "Them people