Copp In The Dark, A Joe Copp Thriller (Joe Copp Private Eye Series) by Don Pendleton Read Free Book Online

it."
           "You're saying that you married the guy without knowing anything at all about him?"
           "Well let's not talk about that, but yes I did. Leave it at that, please. Just find out who is behind all these attempts on his life, or at least try to keep him safe until we leave this area."
           I said, "Do you know how nuts this all sounds? Have you been to the police?"
           "No."
           "Why not?"
           "Craig would have come unglued. He told us about each of these incidents in the strictest confidence. We assumed that the police already knew about it. After all, I mean, he's a cop himself."
           "Have you seen the damage to his car?"
           "Yes."
           "Bullet holes and all?"
           "Yes."
           "Any reason to wonder, at any time, if maybe Craig was just... you know, being dramatic?"
           "Well yes, I already told you that I never knew whether to believe him or not, until just the past few days. He was always so mysterious and ... well, sure, I wondered about it."
           "So why, suddenly, are you buying everything?"
           "Well... we saw you get shot at."
           "You did?"
           "We saw the bullet holes. And the pictures in the paper."
           "What did Craig say about it?"
           "It scared him bad. He thought they'd actually been after him—mistook you for him, I mean."
           "So you told him the truth about me then."
           "No. Not until today. He'd already made up his mind about the show. He'd decided to bow out. I think he'd made up his mind to just leave town very quietly. We didn't think it would serve any purpose to tell him about you, not until we saw you this afternoon before the matinee."
           "Why did that change anything?"
           "We had to tell him. He thought you were a hit man and he was going to run right then. So we told him. We thought he'd be mad about it, but he wasn't. He went out and checked on you. He has access to the police files, you see. And that reassured him very much. So much that he had a complete change of heart. When he came in tonight to dress for the show, he told me that he'd decided to stay and fight back. He wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way. Then thirty minutes later he walked out. So I don't know what. . . nobody knows, we're totally mystified."
           "Did you see him walk out?"
           "Sure, we all saw him."
           "So he went under his own steam."
           "I guess so. The other guys went after him. Nobody came back and it was curtain time. So ..."
           So, yeah.
           We'd been sitting outside her apartment during the final half of that conversation.
           We went inside then, and Elaine turned on the lights.
           Craig Maan was there, seated on the couch.
           Waiting for us in the dark, you might say—still made up for the stage but now totally naked and tighdy bound hand and foot—but I guess he hadn't minded any of that for long.
           His throat had been slashed from ear to ear, and he'd been dead for quite awhile.
           I silently apologized for my alternate scenario, and for all the uncomplimentary things I'd been thinking about the
    guy-
           A dream had ended there, yeah . . . and maybe a nightmare or two.

CHAPTER NINE
     
    Since the crime scene was located in an unincorporated area of San Bernardino county, the police response was by the sheriff's department—and I happened to have a nodding acquaintance with the detective in charge of the initial investigation, guy named Art Lahey .
    I took him aside and told him the circumstances as I understood them but cleaned up a bit for the sake of credibility, and suggested that he notify the FBI. I pointedly named special agents Shenks and Osterman , and Lahey took it all down.
    Elaine was in a mild state of shock. She went that way at the first