“I am Katharine Brady,” she agreed. “Who are you?”
Teddy burst out, “Damn it, Shayne, if you knew she was Mrs. Brady, why wrestle me for a loaded.38?”
“This can’t be the well-known Mike Shayne,” Mrs. Brady said. “Why are you pointing a gun at him? I didn’t hire you to make a disturbance. Just the opposite. You assured me you could handle this with discretion.”
Teddy said weakly, “I have, Mrs. Brady. He’s working for the other side. I had to make him hold still.”
Her eyes slid over Shayne’s powerful bare torso. “You had a fight for a gun and Mike Shayne lost?”
“It was two against one,” Shayne said with a half grin.
Her mouth moved slightly. “And were you really trying?”
Teddy lowered the.38 slowly until it pointed at the floor. “I had to evaluate the situation according to the facts as I knew them. I thought the best thing to do-”
“You did the right thing, actually,” she said, still looking at Shayne. “I’m sorry I spoke so sharply. Have you taped anything yet?”
“Nobody’s doing any talking,” Jack said. “Just listening to records.”
She came further into the room. “There’s no point in standing around glaring. I brought some vodka. Why don’t we make some drinks?”
“With Shayne in the room,” Teddy said, “I don’t think we ought to exactly relax.”
“I don’t intend to relax. Keep your gun out if it makes you feel better. At least let’s all sit down. Is there a refrigerator on the boat?”
“Up ahead,” Teddy said with a movement of his head.
She went out. Shayne gave Teddy an appreciative look.
“You’ve got a better looking client than I have. I like women who don’t wear sunglasses after sunset.”
“Mike, don’t do anything too cute,” Teddy pleaded. “This could be the turning point for me. I’ve always wanted to get some divorce business, and here it is, the classic case. I don’t want to make any mistakes. You don’t have to win every time, do you?”
Mrs. Brady, coming back with a tray of ice cubes, heard that.
“That’s his reputation,” she said. “Isn’t that how he commands those fantastic fees?”
“All I meant was that if he had any consideration,” Teddy said, “he might make an exception just once. It wouldn’t kill him.”
“You’ve got everything well in hand,” Shayne remarked.
“For the time being. I’ve got my equipment in, and everything seems to be working according to the catalog description. But experience tells me that the roof’s going to fall in in a minute. That’s what experience tells me.”
“If you’re that worried,” Mrs. Brady said, “why not tie him up?”
“Tie up Mike Shayne?”
“Why not? You were willing to shoot him a minute ago.”
“Yeah, but that’s more-well, he wouldn’t hold it against me.”
Shayne laughed. “Teddy, you’re a credit to the profession.”
Teddy beamed. “Am I?”
Mrs. Brady snapped, “I’ve laid out a certain amount of money here, and I make a habit of getting value for my money. You seem to consider Shayne a threat. Tie him up.”
Teddy glanced uneasily at an open leather kit on the floor.
“There’s a length of cord in there, Jack. Tie him up. How about some of that vodka, Mrs. Brady?”
Jack took a coil of waxed cord out of the kit and cut off two three-foot lengths. “Tell you what, Teddy. I’ll hold the.38. You tie him.”
Mrs. Brady shook her head. “I can see how this is going to end. I’ll do it.”
Teddy made an exclamation of annoyance and handed the gun to his assistant. He knelt beside Shayne and bound his ankles.
“This is not of my own volition, Mike,” he said. “You heard her. Hands behind you.”
Shayne put his wrists behind his back and Teddy tied them together. Having made up his mind to it, he did a complete job.
“If you start losing circulation,” he said, “tell me so I can laugh. I can be as mean as the next guy when I have to be.”
Mrs. Brady handed around paper cups full of ice and vodka. Teddy drank gratefully, wiping his streaming forehead.
“Nothing for me?” Shayne said.
“How would you hold it?” Mrs. Brady said. “Well, here, if you don’t mind drinking from the bottle.”
She uncapped the bottle and held it to his mouth. Some of it went down.
“Now explain to me how this apparatus works,” she said, turning.
“Simple as one, two, three,” Teddy said. “Of course it could be more automatic, but then you’d have those delicate components to go out of order. Here we’ve got a pickup, an ordinary electrical connection and earphones. With radio, you’re going to run into some ham operator, and he’s going to monitor you and notify the cops.”
“The tape recorder isn’t working.”
“No, we start that manually. You don’t want to waste tape when nobody’s talking.”
“But this won’t do. It won’t do at all. You mean you intend to listen to what you tape?”
“Well, yes,” Teddy said, surprised. “You can’t do away with the human element altogether.”
“Turn it on. I’m not interested in economizing in tapes. How many did you bring?”
“Only three or four. I thought that would be ample.”
He looked nervously at Shayne. Again Shayne had a sense that he was watching a screen on which everything was out of focus and improperly centered, and all the roles were slightly miscast.
“I suppose I’ll have to take the earphones,” Mrs. Brady said.
Jack handed them over. She sat in the place he vacated, and Teddy showed her what button to press to switch on the tape recorder.
“Still and all,” Teddy said, more and more worried. “You don’t want to think you can rely on a tape. They’re too easy to fake. Some judges won’t admit them at all. What you’ve got to do, you’ve got to listen to the conversation as it develops, and then when you’ve got them in bed and everything’s underway, you barge in and take your pictures. That way you’re sure. The thing about the bug, it gives you your timing. Then you don’t show up too early or too late, after it’s over. You’re only going to get one chance, remember. If you blow it, good-bye, see you later.”
“Help yourself to more vodka,” she said.
“I don’t like to give less than satisfaction, Mrs. Brady. Mike will bear me out. Isn’t that the standard procedure for proving adultery, Mike, as I’ve outlined it?”
“Sure. But Mrs. Brady doesn’t want you to hear what’s going on over there.”
Teddy cried, “I’m her witness! I’ve got to stand up in front of a judge and testify!”
“There’s more than one way of getting a divorce,” Shayne said.
She smiled at him. Suddenly she put one hand to her ear and listened intently. She signaled to Teddy and he started the recorder.
She adjusted the headset, covering both ears with the earphones. Shayne watched her closely. The room was silent except for a faint hum coming from the machine. Teddy, not liking the way this was going, kept rearranging himself and working away at the vodka. Her face was less attractive now that it was not in motion. It was all concentration and intelligence. Her movements, picking up a cigarette or drinking, were quick and graceful. Her eyes stopped now and then on Shayne, but he knew she didn’t see him.
At last she stopped the recorder and took off the earphones. She patted her hair with a satisfied smile.
“I’ve got the flash camera,” Teddy said hopefully. “You’re going to want a couple of action shots, to be on the safe side.”
“I don’t think so, Teddy. Thanks.”
He clapped his hands against his legs. “Just don’t blame me if they throw you out of court.”
“Teddy, you’ve been a doll, and if I hear of anybody else who needs this service I’ll give you a strong recommendation. Now pull in your wire.”
Teddy shrugged helplessly, and told Jack to put on his rig and get the bug.
“Experience just doesn’t seem to mean anything. There’s a right way and a wrong way, and this is the wrong way.” He unplugged the tape recorder, put the tape in its cardboard box and gave it to her. She was looking at Shayne again. This time he was sure she saw him.
“I wonder what I’m going to do with you.”
“Untie me, to begin with.”
“No, not yet. First I have to come to some conclusion about what you’re up to.”
“I’ll be glad to tell you as soon as Teddy’s out of the room,” Shayne said. “This whole thing is very weird. Everybody’s faking and pretending except me. I’m not concealing a thing. And I wish somebody would give me a cigarette.”
They exchanged a direct look. “And when I say everybody,” Shayne said, “naturally that includes you. You can fool Teddy because he wants to be fooled. He’s so short of capital he can’t afford to think about the story you gave him.”
“Do I pretend to be rich?” Teddy said.
“But don’t go by appearances,” Shayne went on. “He’s no mental defective. His mind will start working after your check clears.”
“No, it won’t,” Teddy promised.
Mrs. Brady shook a cigarette out of a pack, walked across to Shayne and put it between his lips. Her lighter flared.
“Teddy, you can go now. Pay no attention to what Mike says. You’ve done a first-rate job.”
They heard Jack clatter aboard with the equipment. Teddy considered the situation, from which he was being rapidly excluded.
“I wouldn’t trust him if I was you.”
“Who said anything about trusting him? As I said before, thanks.”
Teddy packed up his kit and started out, shaking his head.
“Oh, Teddy, for heaven’s sake,” Mrs. Brady said. “Sometimes there’s no point in having an audience. I intend to keep my wits about me, don’t worry.”
She went on deck with him and Shayne heard them talking in low tones. She came back with more ice.
“I’d like to untie you, Mike,” she said, “and maybe in a little while I will. I see you’re uncomfortable. First will you explain something?”
“Sure. What do you want to know?”
She replenished her own drink and made one for Shayne. “I hope you don’t mind if I feed you.”
She sat on the edge of the bunk, took the cigarette out of his mouth with one hand and held the cup to his lips with the other. It was awkward, but Shayne managed to swallow a mouthful.
There was a faint aftertaste to the vodka. Whiskey would have killed it. His nostrils flared. There was no longer any feeling in his hands and feet, but his brain was still getting all the blood it needed. Was it possible that this handsome, well-stacked woman was trying to feed him a Mickey? He was looking into her eyes. She had something in mind, and she didn’t want anyone dogging her. Teddy had romantic ideas about the things every self-respecting private detective should carry. A little vial of chloral hydrate would be one of the standard items in his kit.
“You didn’t get much of that,” she said. “Let’s try it again.”
This time Shayne held the mouthful until she leaned down to put the cup on the floor, and then let it run down his chin.
She ran a finger down his upper arm. “Mike, you’re a beautiful man. You have marvelous shoulders.”
“So do you,” he said. “Now that we can talk freely, what kind of stuff did you get on the tape?”
“Chatter,” she said carelessly. “Some of it pretty significant chatter. I should have explained things to Teddy before we went this far. Obviously I never had any intention of letting a fat detective with the inevitable cigar walk in and take pictures of my husband in bed with Dotty De Rham. She may be a little nutty but she also happens to be a fairly good friend of mine, as friends go in New York. Teddy wouldn’t understand. It’s something I couldn’t possibly do. Talk about status-there are restaurants in New York I couldn’t set foot into again, and they’re the only ones that serve food worth eating. People in my position simply don’t do things in such a crude way.”
“How well do you know her?”
She removed his cigarette and gave him another drink. This time, by shifting position as she put the cup down, he got rid of the mouthful in the bunk.
“We grew up together. We both went to Dalton. I met Paul at her wedding. It was a marvelous wedding, and they came to ours two months later. We had a couple of lovely weeks, Paul and I, and then it started going bad.”
“And now he doesn’t want to give you a divorce.”
“He’s quite willing to give me a divorce,” she said bitterly. “But he has unrealistic ideas about how much money I’ll hand over in return for that little piece of paper. He fooled me completely. He’s an excellent writer, Mike. He really is, very sensitive and talented, and I assumed that when we were married and he had no immediate financial worries he’d settle down and accomplish something. And he hasn’t written one line since we announced our engagement. Not a line. He says he’s looking for a subject! I want out, Mike, but I’m not giving him a penny.”
“How rich are you?”
She smiled. “I’m comfortably off, to use an old-fashioned expression. In spite of everything the accountants can do, and they’re gifted people, I end up paying an enormous income tax every year. I could afford to give him a pension, I suppose, but I’m not going to! He married me for my money, in cold blood, he’s as much as admitted it, and I’m damned if I’m going to let him get away with it.”
She gave him another drink. Again he managed not to swallow much of it.
“I’ve been planning to wait him out. I’m in no hurry.” She patted the tape. “Now I won’t have to. There’s some sexy conversation here. Really quite ribald, you’d be surprised. He was always very good at that part, much better than at what came afterward.”
“You think he’s planning to marry Mrs. De Rham?”
“That’s in the back of his mind, I think. Dotty and Henry are breaking up, or perhaps they’ve broken up already, and Paul must know by now that we’re through. Dotty has money. The mills paid a dividend this year, the first in ages, and the stock is booming. She needs a husband, and I think she’s likely to say yes. But she has a phobia about publicity.”
She was playing with the hair on Shayne’s chest. “Don’t think I’m too much of a bitch. This is the best way to do it. I expected Paul back two weeks ago, and when he stayed here I thought I’d better come down and see what was happening. And sure enough! I think Teddy overcharged me, but it was definitely worth it. It’s all going to be so simple now. I’ll play the tape for Paul. He knows if I use it as a basis for divorce proceedings Dotty’ll be perfectly livid, and Paul can consider himself scratched. So he’ll sign all the places where the lawyers tell him to sign, there won’t be any trouble or notoriety, it won’t cost me anything but the legal fees, and Paul will still have a chance to recoup with Dotty. You see?”
“Is she giving him money right now?”
“I hope not. She was thinking of buying into a company he’s trying to get a job with, but she may have more sense.”
“She’s closed out her New York savings accounts and transferred them here. She’s selling real estate.”
There was an interesting play of expression on her face. “The damn fool.”
“What kind of a blackmailer do you think he’d make?”
“Paul as a blackmailer? I think he’d be terrible. I don’t think he’s tough enough. If it came to a crunch, she’s ten times as tough as he is. What would he blackmail her with?”
“As I keep telling people, I only talked to the lady for about five minutes, and she was pretty stoned. Were you around when the Massachusetts plant burned down?”
She looked startled. “Mike, if you’re implying that Dotty-” She stopped. “I think we were all in Cambridge together that night, but I don’t know why the idea seems so preposterous. I guess because she’s so hopeless about machinery. Cars and appliances. You couldn’t walk up to a factory and throw a burning newspaper over the wall and set it on fire. No, there must be some other explanation.”
“Put out my cigarette for me.”
She took it out of his mouth and stubbed it on the floor. “Mike, I think it’s time for you to start reciprocating. Who hired you? How did you happen to be on this boat wearing only a towel?”
“Give me a drink,” Shayne said, running the words together.
She held the cup for him. He stopped the vodka with his tongue but made his throat work as though he was drinking. He blew out his breath explosively when she took the cup away.
“That’s pretty powerful stuff. Mrs. De Rham’s lawyer hired me, Joshua Loring.”
“I know him. A sweet man.”
“He’s worried about the money. He thinks Henry’s getting it, but Paul’s more my-”
He let it drift off.
When he didn’t finish she said, “We’re both being so solemn. I can’t get too worked up about what Dotty chooses to do with her money.” She brought her hands together. “In fact, I don’t want to talk about Dotty any more. One more drink and then I’ll untie you.”
“Great.”
She moved closer to him. “Mike, darling.” She put her face against his and bit the lobe of his ear. “I think we’re going to end up making love, don’t you?”
“Probably.”
She kissed him competently, using her lips, her tongue and her teeth. She still had the loaded drink in her hand, and was careful not to spill it.
“Here, sweetheart. One drink. Then I’ll keep my promise.”
She lifted his head and held the vodka to his mouth. His face touched her breast. He turned and bit her, paying her back for the bite on the ear. This wasn’t a playful nip, but a real bite. She shuddered.
“Darling, wait. I’m going to take something off.”
She pulled back and put the cup on the floor, a good distance from her own, so she wouldn’t confuse them. He turned his head, his eyelids heavy, and watched her come pouring out of her clothes. She was even better looking naked. He wasn’t responding too well. He had swallowed less than a quarter of the Mickey, but it had done some damage. His eyes were actually closing.
She reached down and pulled off the towel.
“Mike-lover-”
She came down against him. He managed to make room on the narrow bunk. After a long kiss she shivered away, came back and said huskily, “My God, Mike, you’re incredibly exciting. I’ve got to have one last drink.”
He was closer to the edge all the time, and when she held the cup for him he actually drank quite a bit of it, which had the effect of shocking him awake.
“Mike, you can’t imagine how it makes me feel when you’re tied up this way. Do you think I’m some kind of freak? Stay like that. I want to-”
“Untie me. I’ll cooperate. Co-op-er-ate.”
Her excitement carried her down against him again, so violently that he felt himself going under. He heaved upward, and in what he felt might be his last effort of the night, rolled her off the bunk. He landed on her with his full weight.
“Mike, darling, move.”
“Can’t.”
She freed herself after a struggle. He lay as she left him, face down in a helpless sprawl. He felt something working at his ankles, and then heard the little snick of nail scissors.
Soon she was at his wrists. His hands fell apart.
“Darling, put your arms around me. Mike, now. I’m so ready for you. See for yourself. Touch me.”
She worked at him for a moment in silence. “Don’t disappoint me. Don’t go to sleep. You didn’t have that much to drink. I thought I’d finally found a real man.”
He moved one arm but it flopped back to the floor. He lay still.
“Mike?” she whispered.
She tried kissing him, but his mouth was inert. Then she bit him again, very hard this time. He didn’t move. When she withdrew, he began to snore.
She made a small disappointed sound and said in a different voice, “Too bad, Mike. I’m sorry. I think it would have been terrific.”