AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you think he is?”
“Yes,” Rick said.
The detective studied him, but Rick didn’t give much away. If he needed to, he could catch the man’s eye and talk him into letting Rick go. It would certainly come to that if he was still here close to dawn.
Finally, the detective said, “You’re right. He’s the primary suspect in a murder case. You have anything else about him you want to share?”
This gave Rick an idea. “I might know someone who can help you.”
“If I let you go—I know how that works.”
“I’m the bartender at Murray’s—I won’t disappear on you.”
“And how good is this information of yours?”
“Worth the wait, I think.”
“You know what? You’re a little too cagey for a bartender. Is that all you do?”
Rick chuckled. “Right now it is.”
“I need evidence to lay on Blake if we’re going to keep him locked up—and keep him away from your girlfriend. Can you help me out?”
“Stop by Murray’s tomorrow night and I’ll have an answer.”
The detective let him go.
Rick knew he’d be followed—for a time, at least. He returned to Arturo’s by a roundabout route and managed to vanish, at least from his tail’s point of view.
Helen was waiting for him in the parlor, sitting with Arturo on a burgundy velvet settee. Rick calmed himself a moment and didn’t instantly leap forward to put himself between them. She was smiling, and Arturo wasn’t doing anything but talking.
“Ricardo! I was hoping you wouldn’t return, and that you’d left Helen here with us.”
Helen giggled—she held an empty tumbler. They’d probably been at this for hours.
“Thanks for entertaining her for me,” Rick said.
“My pleasure. Really.”
“Helen, we need to talk,” Rick said, gesturing to the doorway.
“Your friend’s a charmer, Rick,” she said.
“Yes, he is. Let’s go.”
She pushed herself from the seat. Glancing over her shoulder, she waved fingers at him, and Arturo answered with an indulgent smile. Rick put an arm over her shoulder and guided her into the safe room.
“Don’t be angry,” she said. “I needed to ask him if there was a phone.”
“Who did you need to call?”
“The police,” she said, and ducked her gaze. “I didn’t want you to get hurt, so I called the police and told them there might be trouble at Murray’s.”
And there was trouble, and the police had shown up.
“I’d almost taken care of Blake when the police arrived,” he said. He didn’t say, You should have trusted me.
She paled. “What happened?”
