A Shroud for Jesso by Peter Rabe Read Free Book Online Page B

Gluck.”
    “You’ve paid me. You’re dumping Jesso for me. Besides, you’ve found your man. He even kicked off for you from natural causes and you’re covered.”
    “That is the point, Mr. Gluck. As it turns out, the information I collected is incomplete. With Joseph Snell dead, I must delay departure in order to complete my mission by consulting other sources. You see, Snell’s death is really a complication, Mr. Gluck.”
    “Sorry,” Gluck said. “The ship leaves now.”
    “If I could stay behind, Mr. Gluck, our difficulties would not exist, but my presence is required in—in Europe. Without being familiar with the details of my business, Mr. Gluck, you must try to appreciate the importance—“
    “Sorry.”
    That was Gluck all over. When it came right down to it, Gluck never budged; he made everything simple that way. What in hell was Kator selling?
    “Twenty thousand, Mr. Gluck.”
    Gluck barely laughed.
    “Forty thousand.”
    Kator’s foot had stopped tapping.
    “Fifty thousand.”
    “Pretty important, huh, Kator?”
    “Fifty thousand, Mr. Gluck, for the privilege—”
    “Look, you got half an hour. Call up somebody you know, tell them what you need, explain what’s eating you, and don’t waste your time arguing with me.”
    This time Kator laughed. “You underestimate the complexity of my business with Joseph Snell.”
    “I didn’t ask you to tell me about it.”
    What didn’t concern Gluck he didn’t want to know. He was through with Kator and that’s where his interest ended. But Jesso’s interest was just picking up. He wasn’t through with Kator, he was just starting. Nothing was clear to him yet, but what he had heard meant one thing for sure. Jesso’s knuckles ached where he held the rim of the porthole with a hard, still grip, holding on as if the words from the pier were his salvation. One thing was sure: Kator hadn’t got all he wanted. Joe Snell was dead when they got to him and all he could give them was the thing under his toupé. A piece of paper, most likely, a piece of paper with part of a message, and the rest had died with him. Kator was strapped.
    Then Jesso’s hands relaxed on the metal rim and he moved his shoulders the way a boxer does, limbering up. Kator was strapped. And nobody had seen Joe Snell before he died—except Jesso.
    He wasn’t interested any more in what else went on up on the pier. Kator would jack up his price and Gluck wouldn’t take it. Gluck would have his way, which meant that the ship would go out with the tide. Jesso could hear the rumble of the engines somewhere nearby. He closed the porthole, stretched, and sat down where the bulkhead curved up. A nap might be good now. He leaned back, feeling the small, hard vibrations of the hull as the engines turned faster. The massage gave him a tickle around his nose and he squirmed his face to kill the itch. He smiled and settled against the steel. Once they’d cleared port and the tugs had cast off and the pilot had left, there’d be a clanking of feet and the door opening, because Kator would be ready to finish his business with him.
    And that’s when Jesso would be ready to start business with Kator.

Chapter Six
     
    They came earlier than he had expected. The door clanked, waking Jesso, and he struggled against his stiffness, trying to get up. Jesso remembered the tall one by the door from the time in Gluck’s office. He stayed by the door, holding a Luger in his hand, while the other one came into the compartment. Before Jesso was up, a heavy boot caught his ribs and he fell hard to the side. He stayed there, fighting for breath, while the tall one stood by with his Luger. The other one closed a solid cover that darkened the porthole. He clicked a lock on it. Then they both left and Jesso was alone in the dark.
    When the pain had simmered down, he got off the floor and tapped along the wall, trying to find the porthole. It was locked, all right. There wasn’t even a crack of light. If