The Corpse Without a Country by Louis Trimble Read Free Book Online Page B

ideas beginning to stir and I didn’t want Maslin’s well-meaning interference to get in their way.
    Maslin scowled as two men came in with the basket and began to load the body. This meant the doctor was through, and in a moment he came up and took Maslin aside and spoke briefly to him. Maslin nodded and turned to Arne.
    “You seem to be the last man associated with him. Maybe you can tell us why someone should break his neck.”
    Arne just shrugged his big shoulders. I knew the symptoms. He had talked all he was going to and, for the time being at least, he had withdrawn to think matters through carefully before he said or did anything more. Part of Arne’s phenomenal success was the careful, Scandinavian way he had of thinking important things through before acting.
    I had wanted a private talk with him, but I knew from his attitude that I would get no further than Maslin had. I said, “Since Reese says this is his boat, maybe he should answer that.”
    Maslin wasn’t interested in helping me with my feud with Reese Fuller. He turned his scowl on me. “If I remember right, you came here to pick up a report you’d stowed on board. Maybe you should answer it.”
    Fuller grinned with pure pleasure. “Durham will blame it on a mysterious blonde; that’s his answer for everything.”
    Maslin’s eyebrows went up. He jerked his thumb toward the deck.
    I went with him. He said, “Let’s have it about this blonde.”
    We were pretty good friends, and we’d remain good friends as long as I knew when not to hold out on him. I told him the whole story. His expression didn’t tell me how much of it he was buying.
    He said, “What was in that report of Harbin’s?”
    “Everyone says that there was nothing in it. But Tom’s in the hospital and I’ve been shot at. Add it up.”
    “Are you trying to tie Harbin’s being in the hospital with Fenney’s broken neck?”
    I said, “I just don’t know, Maslin. After all, Fenney was well known on Skidroad. If he showed down there dressed like he was and with a wad of bills, one of those winos could have tailed him here.”
    “He had only two dollars in his wallet,” Maslin murmured. Then he said, “But how many of those Skidroad characters know how to break a man’s neck with a jujitsu trick?”
    “Is that the way it happened?”
    “The doc says so.” Maslin started for the pilot house again. He stopped and looked back at me. “Anything more to tell me?”
    I spread my hands. “You know as much as I do.”
    He said flatly, “When you do have something more, remember my phone number.”
    The way he said it left no room for argument. I just nodded.

VIII
    I HAD TO WAIT TO GET my car off the pier. The police sedans were still blocking the way. When Maslin left me. I just climbed in the heap and sat.
    After a few minutes, Jodi joined me. We sat together in the darkness. I could smell her perfume and I could feel the warmth of her nearness. Bushed as I was, my goosebumps began coming out again.
    I lit a
cigarette
and Jodi took it away from me. I lit another. She said, “Is it true that Arne hired Mike Fenney to work for him?”
    I said, “He’d be a fool to make up a story like that now.”
    “Peter, Arne’s been acting strangely ever since I came home in the spring.”
    “Maybe business is bad,” I suggested.
    “Hardly. I helped him set up the schedule for his boats this year: when they’d start fishing and where each one would go and when they’d come home. Business, from what I saw, has been good.”
    The police cars started leaving. I got my motor going. Jodi said, “Can I ride as far as my car? It’s outside the fence.”
    I said, “Sure,” and started backing. Reese Fuller stopped me.
    “Let’s go have a drink,” he said to Jodi. He wasn’t including me.
    “Not tonight, Reese. I’m awfully tired.”
    “Okay,” he said. “See you tomorrow.” He walked away.
    For an engaged couple, they sounded about as affectionate as two rival fishermen.