The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald Read Free Book Online
Authors: John D. MacDonald
that. I don't think she can take one more little bit of any kind of trouble."
"I don't plan to give her any."
Page 22
"She looks pretty good now. All slim as a girl." She sighed. The, I seem to keep right on widening out."
Cathy came rattling down the stairs with a crushed white box fastened with rubber bands. "They were down in the bottom," she said. 'And there was this picture." She showed it to Christine and then brought it over to me.
it was a snapshot. A powerful man sat grinning on the top step of the porch of the old house.
A placid pretty woman in a print dress sat beside him. The man had his arm around a squinting, towheaded girl of about five. She was leaning against him. A younger girl was in her mother's lap, her fingers in her mouth.
"Old times,' Cathy said wistfully. 'Suppose somebody came to us that day and told all of us how things would be. You wonder, would it have changed a thing?"
"I wish that somebody would come along right now,' Christine said. 'I could use the information.
We're due for good luck, Sis. The both of us."
I stood up. 'I'll go along and do my errand and stop back for you, Cathy."
"Shall we wait lunch?" Christine asked.
"Better not. I don't know how long I'll be."
The town of Candle Key was a wide place on a fast road. The key was narrow at that point.
The town was near the southwest bridge off the key. It had taken a good scouring in 1960 and had a fresh new look, modern gas stations, waterfront motels, restaurants, gift shops, marine supplies, boat yards, Post office.
I stopped at the big Esso station and found the station manager at the desk marking an inventory sheet. He was a hunched, seamed, cadaverous man with dusty-looking black hair and his name was Rollo Urthis. He greeted me with the wary regard salesmen grow accustomed to.
"Mr. Urthis, my name is McGee. I'm trying to get a line on the present whereabouts of one Ambrose Allen. Our records show that he worked for you for several months."
"Junior Allen. Sure. He worked here. What's it all about?"
"Just routine." I took a piece of paper from my wallet, looked at it and put it back. 'There's an unpaid hotel bill of two hundred and twelve dollars and twenty cents. At the Bayway Hotel in Miami, back in March. They put it in the hands of the agency I work for, and he registered there as coming from Candle Key."
His grin exposed a very bad set of teeth.
"Now that must be just one of them little details that Mister Junior Allen overlooked. When you run across him, he'll probably just pay you off out of the spare change he carries in his pocket and give you a big tip for your trouble, Mister!
Page 23
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Mr. Urthis."
"He quit me in February and got rich all of a sudden."
"Did he inherit money?"
"I don't know as that is just the right word.
People got different ideas where he got it. He was away for nearly a month and came back on a big cruiser he bought himself, new clothes and a gold wristwatch no thicker than a silver dollar.
I'd say he made a woman give it to him. He's the kind can make women do things they might not want to do if he gave them time to think about it. He came here and moved right in with the Berry girls, big as life.
Their ma was still alive then, last year. They had hard luck, both of them. Cathy is as nice a little woman as you'd want to know, but he got next to her pretty quick. When he got the money he dropped her and moved in on Mrs. Atkinson. She was a customer a long time, and I could have swore she wouldn't stand for anything like that. But she did. Lost me a customer too. God knows where he's at now. But maybe Mrs. Atkinson would know, if you could get her to talk to you about it. I hear she's touchy on the subject. Nobody around here has seen Junior Allen in better than a month I'd say."
"Was he a satisfactory employee, Mr. Urthis?"
"if he wasn't I wouldn't have kept him. Sure, he was all right. A quick-moving man, real good when we had a rush, and good at
"I don't plan to give her any."
Page 22
"She looks pretty good now. All slim as a girl." She sighed. The, I seem to keep right on widening out."
Cathy came rattling down the stairs with a crushed white box fastened with rubber bands. "They were down in the bottom," she said. 'And there was this picture." She showed it to Christine and then brought it over to me.
it was a snapshot. A powerful man sat grinning on the top step of the porch of the old house.
A placid pretty woman in a print dress sat beside him. The man had his arm around a squinting, towheaded girl of about five. She was leaning against him. A younger girl was in her mother's lap, her fingers in her mouth.
"Old times,' Cathy said wistfully. 'Suppose somebody came to us that day and told all of us how things would be. You wonder, would it have changed a thing?"
"I wish that somebody would come along right now,' Christine said. 'I could use the information.
We're due for good luck, Sis. The both of us."
I stood up. 'I'll go along and do my errand and stop back for you, Cathy."
"Shall we wait lunch?" Christine asked.
"Better not. I don't know how long I'll be."
The town of Candle Key was a wide place on a fast road. The key was narrow at that point.
The town was near the southwest bridge off the key. It had taken a good scouring in 1960 and had a fresh new look, modern gas stations, waterfront motels, restaurants, gift shops, marine supplies, boat yards, Post office.
I stopped at the big Esso station and found the station manager at the desk marking an inventory sheet. He was a hunched, seamed, cadaverous man with dusty-looking black hair and his name was Rollo Urthis. He greeted me with the wary regard salesmen grow accustomed to.
"Mr. Urthis, my name is McGee. I'm trying to get a line on the present whereabouts of one Ambrose Allen. Our records show that he worked for you for several months."
"Junior Allen. Sure. He worked here. What's it all about?"
"Just routine." I took a piece of paper from my wallet, looked at it and put it back. 'There's an unpaid hotel bill of two hundred and twelve dollars and twenty cents. At the Bayway Hotel in Miami, back in March. They put it in the hands of the agency I work for, and he registered there as coming from Candle Key."
His grin exposed a very bad set of teeth.
"Now that must be just one of them little details that Mister Junior Allen overlooked. When you run across him, he'll probably just pay you off out of the spare change he carries in his pocket and give you a big tip for your trouble, Mister!
Page 23
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Mr. Urthis."
"He quit me in February and got rich all of a sudden."
"Did he inherit money?"
"I don't know as that is just the right word.
People got different ideas where he got it. He was away for nearly a month and came back on a big cruiser he bought himself, new clothes and a gold wristwatch no thicker than a silver dollar.
I'd say he made a woman give it to him. He's the kind can make women do things they might not want to do if he gave them time to think about it. He came here and moved right in with the Berry girls, big as life.
Their ma was still alive then, last year. They had hard luck, both of them. Cathy is as nice a little woman as you'd want to know, but he got next to her pretty quick. When he got the money he dropped her and moved in on Mrs. Atkinson. She was a customer a long time, and I could have swore she wouldn't stand for anything like that. But she did. Lost me a customer too. God knows where he's at now. But maybe Mrs. Atkinson would know, if you could get her to talk to you about it. I hear she's touchy on the subject. Nobody around here has seen Junior Allen in better than a month I'd say."
"Was he a satisfactory employee, Mr. Urthis?"
"if he wasn't I wouldn't have kept him. Sure, he was all right. A quick-moving man, real good when we had a rush, and good at
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