Judge Me Not by John D. MacDonald Read Free Book Online Page B

the cane-bottomed chair, straddling it.
    Seward took a long pull at his drink. “How is the battle going in the Hall?” he asked.
    Teed shrugged. “We’re nibbling at them. I don’t know how worried Raval is, though.”
    “A guy like Raval,” Seward said, staring down into his drink, “you’ve got to remember where he came from, how he climbed his little ladder. He drew two years in reform school and that made him smart. He’s never even been booked since. He’s proud of that, Teed. Like those famous television stars, Costello and Adonis, he wants to look and act legitimate.”
    “What are you trying to say?”
    “Just this. A pocketbook pinch doesn’t hurt that rascal half as much as public condemnation as a crook. He bought his way into the Sandoval Golf Club. Goes to Miami every winter. Keeps his twin daughters in a plush private school. Now Raval knows and I know and you know, Teed, that all you can do to him is cut him down a little. Like a weed in the garden. He’ll grow back. You can force him out of power in city government, and he’ll still have a fine fat take off fifty other things. And when you and Dennison get tired or move on, Raval will climb up into the saddle again. I’m being practical, not cynical. So why won’t he stand still for it? You can’t hurt him badly.”
    “Won’t he stand still for it?”
    “Of course not. He’s got delusions of decency, Teed, and he’ll become very indecent before he’ll stand still for a public smear. I’ve been watching him a long time. We had a guy in town, Jaimey Bell. Jaimey Bell owned a tavern with a back room full of slots and a crap table upstairs. Nothing fancy. He told a reporter from the Times that he was going to testify before the grand jury and that he was going to name a certain big shot in town. Now everybody knew who he was going to name as the guy he had to split with. It wouldn’t have hurt Lonnie a bit. The money went through too many hands before it got to Lonnie’s. But it would have meant a certain notoriety.
    “Jaimey was sitting at his kitchen table at midnight drinking a glass of milk and somebody shoved a shotgunthrough the kitchen screen and blew half his head off.”
    Teed forced a smile. “A warning, I take it?”
    “With you and Dennison, Lonnie can’t be that crude. But he can be very ingenious. You know why I came fifty miles on an anonymous tip?”
    “Why?”
    “I thought some of Lonnie’s people had set you up to be knocked over. Maybe a morals rap. Something like that. If so, I was going to try to do my best to cover you, because the future of our fair city is damn important to me and you’re Dennison’s right hand. I’m glad I was wrong. So I’m saying this, Teed. Watch yourself. Please watch yourself. Don’t give them an opening. Any kind of an opening. Don’t even get a parking ticket if you can help it. That station house is full of people who would like to bounce you off the walls until you confess you started the Chicago fire.”
    “I’ll … be careful,” Teed said. For a moment he was tempted to tell what had happened. But that was something Ritchie Seward couldn’t cover up, and Teed couldn’t explain adequately enough to convince even the most sympathetic cop.
    “Bottoms up, Carl,” Seward said, setting his empty glass aside. He stood up. “Thanks for the drink, Teed.”
    Teed stood up too. “Would you do me a favor, Ritchie?”
    “Sure thing.”
    “I think I’ll stay out here tonight. That will make me a little late getting in in the morning. I’ll go to an appointment I have at the courthouse instead of direct to the Hall. Would you please phone Dennison in the morning and let him know?”
    “Glad to.”
    Teed stood on the porch as they swung around and drove out, heading back toward the city. He waved, and when they were out of sight, he sat down on the porch steps and buried his face in his hands. He took deep, shuddering breaths. Only luck had kept them from arriving much