The Loves of Harry Dancer by Lawrence Sanders Read Free Book Online

Swigs Maalox, pops Turns, prays and asks forgiveness for hubris and errors. He is acutely aware of the importance of his duties. Indigestion, he acknowledges, is a small price to pay.
    A case in point is the latest communication from Norma Gravesend. Because of the leak in Corporation headquarters, the Chief has tightened security precautions. Leonard flies up to Washington. Hand-delivers Gravesend’s message to the Chief in clear. Bypassing radio—and the Corporation’s code clerks.
    The Chief reads the report three times. Several disquieting things there. One, that the Department is aware of the personnel of the Corporation’s Dancer team. Two, they have already learned of the hiring of Herman K. Tischman. And are moving to neutralize him.
    But the most urgent intelligence, the Chief feels, is the Department’s search for the leak in their organization. Suspicion has fallen upon Jeremy Blaine, the informant. A trap has been laid. If Blaine comes up clean, the search will continue. In time, Norma Gravesend may be compromised. The Chief cannot let that happen.
    He considers what he must do. Moral judgment. Sacrifice one of theirs to save one of ours. Does he have the right? It is an ethical choice. All his choices are.
    It doesn’t take long to decide. He knows the Corporation cannot abide inaction. Succeed or fail. But do something.
    He sends a coded message to Anthony Glitner: Sally Abaddon has heavy drugs in her residence. Inform local police anonymously.

14
    B riscoe. No one knows his first name. If he has one. Sullen man. Hunched and brutish. Glowering eyes. Hair trimmed like a Marine recruit. Absolute loyalty to the Department. Loyalty up, and loyalty down. He has never failed. He is compensated. But that is not important. His job is his life.
    He tells Shelby Yama how to handle Jeremy Blaine. Yama has lunch with Blaine. Hands over a small bonus for Blaine’s “remarkable work” in bringing Harry Dancer and Sally Abaddon together. Mentions casually that Sally has plenty of drugs in her motel suite. Hopes to hook Dancer. Jeremy nods brightly.
    Meanwhile, Briscoe cleans all the junk out of Sally’s place. Two days later the cops show up. They’re polite but insistent. No warrant, but Sally lets them in. A half-hour later they’re gone. Apologizing.
    “All right,” Briscoe says. “It’s got to be Blaine. He’s corrupted. You phone him, Yama, and tell him to expect a call from me. A new assignment.
    More money. I’ll take it from there.”
    Jeremy Blaine is eager. A new assignment? More money? Sounds good. Briscoe calls, then picks him up at his home. At midnight. Heads north on I-95. Driving a three-year-old Honda.
    “Best place to talk,” Briscoe says. “In a car. No chance of a tap if the car’s been swept.”
    “Yama said something about a new assignment.”
    “That’s right. A big job. We think you can handle it.”
    “Hey,” Blaine says, “you better believe it. I delivered Harry Dancer, didn’t I? The whole thing was my idea.”
    “That’s right,” Briscoe says. “The Department values your work highly.”
    He gets the Honda up to seventy. Watching for his chance. He sees it coming. A big tractor-trailer heading south, in the left-hand lane, making speed. Briscoe wrenches the wheel. Plunges across the medium. Jeremy Blaine has time to shout, “Hey!”
    Briscoe crashes the truck head-on. The Honda is crumpled. Then bursts into flame. Blaine is killed instantly. In the confusion, Briscoe walks away into the darkness. Unhurt.
    The Department takes care of its own.

15
    “Y ou remember him,” Harry Dancer says to Sally Abaddon. “The guy I was with when I met you at the Tipple Inn.”
    “Vaguely. Paunchy? With a wild tie?”
    “That’s the man. Well, no one can figure what he was doing driving north on I-95 after midnight. In a Honda. It wasn’t his car. He drove a Caddy.”
    “Maybe he was drunk.”
    “Maybe. But what was he doing there? In a Honda? The funeral was this