Deep Without Pity | Page 7

the
lake. Once we went down to the beach by his house, it was late at night,
and we made love right there, in front of God and everybody,"
I'd had enough. I stood up and looked around for my coat.
"You can knock it off now, Ms. Desmond," I said. "You were no more
Jason King's mistress than I was. You don't know enough about him to
talk for a full minute without repeating yourself There's no beach by
King's house. There's a rocky ledge, but believe me lady, I wouldn't try
it. The reporter that bought your story should be kicked out on his ass."
She sat up, stunned. She looked as though I'd hit her. "Now look here,"
she said, her words a little slurred. "I don't want that kind of language
in this house."
"Did you come up with this little scheme on your own or did somebody
put you up to it?" I walked over to her, but not close enough to have to
smell the whiskey.
"I think you should get out," she snarled. "Mother!" Her voice got shrill
and I put my coat on.
"Call me if you change your mind," I said, and stalked out of the house.
Driving back to the office, I made a quick recap. If the Desmond
woman was out, that left me high and dry. I had two suspects left, the
kid who'd hired me and the woman I was supposed to clear. I'd scored
one point though, since Marion King's motive was pretty well shot.
Charlene Desmond's story couldn't have held water at the bottom of the
ocean, and I doubted that Mrs. King would have fallen for it.

I parked around the corner from my office and went into the GM
Steakhouse. After a $2.07 sirloin and a large milk I was in a better
mood. After all, I had a client and a hundred dollars. What could go
wrong?
The phone was ringing when I got back to the office. I caught it in time,
and heard Winslow's voice.
"Found out who our bathing beauty was," he said. "His name was Ernie
Singleton. He was a grunt in Korea, lost the leg there. Last residence
was Dayton, Ohio. No relatives, no friends, no nothin'."
"So why did he come here?" I asked.
"To drown, looks like."
"Ha ha, I got a hot one for you, now. The King sex scandal was a
put-up job."
"That's not too funny. You got proof?"
"I don't need it. The chick is as phoney as a three-dollar bill. She'd
never wash in court."
"Well maybe the wife believed her."
"Hey look," I said, "I've heard of blind justice, but don't you think
you're carrying this a bit too far? Don't you even want to check this
out?"
I listened to a long silence on the other end of the wire, then Winslow
said, "Uh, something's come up. I'll get back to you, okay?" and he was
gone.
I held the dead receiver in my hand for a minute, then hung up and
dialed the Austin American Statesman. "City desk, please."
I had time to tap my fingers on the desk a couple of times and scratch
my nose, then a voice said, "Hello?"

"Bennie? This is Dan."
"Let's see...Dan...Dan..."
"Don't rub it in, I'm sorry. I've just been out of circulation for a while."
"I'll say. Did you marry her?"
"No. I got out at the last minute. It was close, though. Listen, I may
have a story for you in a bit. I need some information first, though.
Like who would a County Commissioner have for an enemy?"
"A bad enough enemy to bump him off, you mean? I thought the wife
did it."
"Maybe not that bad. Maybe just bad enough to throw a little dirt on
him."
Bennie whistled. "That way, huh? Okay, I can give you a list. How
long you got?"
"Just hit the high points."
"A County Commissioner wears a lot of hats, friend. To start with, of
course, it could be somebody who lost an election to him, or thinks he
could take over the job. Or one of the other Commissioners. But what
you're after probably has to do with County contracts."
"Whoa. What sort of contracts?"
"Mainly roads, but all the contracts are let through Commissioner's
Court. That includes libraries, parks, hospitals, you name it."
"Good. What else?"
"Commissioners appoint county officials, run the welfare department,
handle the budget and all that. Each Commissioner is responsible for
the roads in his precinct, and since King used to be in construction,
you've got a tie in there. He could have brought along some old

enemies when he moved up. Let's see, there's a bond issue coming up,
but the contracts on that haven't