The Corpse Without a Country by Louis Trimble

you.”
    I said, “Come off it, Maslin.”
    He said, “You’ll be able to post bail tomorrow and get out.”
    I yelled, “Did you ask Jodi? She’ll tell you we didn’t wreck anything. And she’ll tell you Emily and Trillian were there.”
    He said, “Take that lipstick off your face and let’s go ask her.”
    I scrubbed it off and started after Maslin into the living room. I was so sore I forgot how I was dressed. Jodi was wheeling a tray of coffee and cookies in from the kitchen and she stopped when she saw me.
    “Peter, not again!”
    I bolted back into the bedroom. Jodi called out, “There’s a robe in the closet, Peter.” I could hear Maslin guffawing.
    I got the robe and put it on. I didn’t enjoy wearing it. The breast had the initials RF monogrammed on it.
    I joined Jodi and Maslin on the divan and helped myself to coffee. I needed it. I said, “What did Ghatt do to you?”
    “Nothing,” she said. “He didn’t even talk. Then when Ilona came out, she said, ‘Nothing there,’ and they went away.”
    “And I came,” Maslin said.
    I said, “Jodi, Willie told Maslin that Emily and Trillian weren’t at the Pad tonight.”
    She stared wide-eyed at me. “But that’s not true!” she insisted, and not even Maslin could have doubted her sincerity. “Why I threw Emily onto a table myself, Lieutenant. I can show you the pieces of it.”
    I said feebly, “That’s all we broke, Maslin. And anyway Emily attacked Jodi.
    “Why?” His voice was interested.
    I said, “Trillian was clobbering me and Jodi kicked him.”
    “You mean you let a poet maul you around, Durham?” He gurgled into his coffee. “It sounds as if Willie was half right at that.”
    I said, “She’d already made the charge when I called you. That’s why you were so glad to find out where I was. You figured you’d have a lever to use on me.”
    He nodded as if that kind of trickery was regular business. “I have too, haven’t I?” he asked. He sounded smug. “What’s more, I’m going to use that lever right now. I want to know what you forgot to tell me back there at the boat where you found Fenney’s body.”
    He was being very clear. If I talked, he’d forget the charge. If I didn’t, he’d toss me in a cell until someone went bail for me. It was all a great joke to Maslin.
    I couldn’t afford the time to play games. I said, “I told you everything.” His expression said that I wasn’t satisfying him. I sighed and got up and went into the bedroom for my wallet. I brought it back.
    “I lifted something from Fenney before you showed up tonight,” I admitted. I dug in the wallet. There was nothing in it but my own stuff. “That damned blonde!” I said.
    Maslin finished his coffee and got up. “Let’s go, Durham.”
    “Listen,” I said, “I did take something. It was a color slide, one of those big 2¼ square inch ones.”
    “A picture of what?”
    That was what I didn’t want to tell him, but I didn’t want to spend a night in the pokey either. I said, “Of Ilona, the blonde, on Boundary Island. On the beach in the west bay.”
    “So?”
    “So, don’t you see? That connects her and Fenney.”
    Maslin shook his head. “Not good enough, Durham. Let’s go.”
    I’d told him all … well,
almost
all that I could, and I was fed up. I said, “Okay, take me down and toss me in. And then see just how much co-operation you get from our company on the rest of this case. And if you think you can do without it, try and play ball with Arne Rasmussen by yourself.”
    I should have thought of that sooner. His expression told me that I had him whipped. For the time being, at least. He said, “All right, Durham. We’ll play it your way for now. But if you do get anything and don’t bring it to me, I’ll see you inside if it means letting Fenney’s murderer go free.” He nodded to Jodi. “Thanks for the coffee, Miss Rasmussen.” And then he stalked out.
    I yelled after him, “Don’t forget about that