Private Dick Casefile 01 - Lily White Rose Red

his face, but maybe he enjoyed that Lieutenant Steele obviously didn’t like me, either.
    I stood there looking between them, wondering at the contrast.
    Lieutenant Steele was older, in his forties, with a seamed, ugly face that looked like a bulldog. Short and stocky, wearing a tweed sport coat and dark gray trousers, he stood ramrod straight, like an ex-Marine, which is what he was. He was your basic dedicated, honest cop. You can find them by the score all across the country, trying to make a dent in crime.
    “I’ll get rid of him, sir,” Steele grunted.
    “The public is always welcome here,” Captain Woods rebuked him in a deep voice. I was starting to wonder if he was thinking of running for something. He flashed me a vote-winning grin without meeting my eyes. “As long as they follow my rules. We have nothing to hide.”
    Maybe it’s just me, but as soon as I hear someone say that, I want to throw them up against the wall and frisk them. Especially when they say it in such a friendly tone. I could see the face of his sidekick, Sgt.
    Bert Guthrie, peering around Woods’s shoulder, nodding and agreeing.
    On the other hand, maybe it’s just my knee-jerk reaction to higher authority, left over from being in the service.

    48

    CATT FORD

    Captain Woods had to duck a little to make it out of the doorway without bashing his head, but he did it automatically, like it was habit.
    Guthrie gave me a sharp glance out of his weasel eyes before bringing up the rear, trotting after the captain to keep up.
    The lieutenant came to parade rest before he remembered I was there to enjoy it. He slammed the door shut as soon as soon as Captain Woods was out of sight and circled his desk, leaning both hands on it to snarl at me. “What the fuck are you doing here, shamus?” I could tell he didn’t like being put on the spot like that with me there to witness it, and I didn’t blame him. To put him at ease, I decided to irritate him.
    “I’m a member of the great public you serve, Lieutenant,” I said in a wounded tone. “I just came down to drink in the atmosphere of the corridors of power and admire the efforts of you brave men in blue.”
    “Whatever damn reason you had for coming here, it wasn’t that.
    If I find you’re here to hijack one of our cases, you might just find yourself spending a night in the gray-bar motel, courtesy of the city of Las Vegas.”
    “Me?” I put my hand on my chest. “I would never—”
    “Yeah? Like you didn’t on the Fitch case?”
    “You got me all wrong, Lieutenant. I just came down to pick up some of your crimestopper tips. So I can be as good as you one day.
    You’re my hero.”
    “Nuts!” He sat down and glared at me. “I suppose you came to see your pal Harding.” He picked up the phone and barked into it.
    “Thomas, send Harding to my office on the double. I don’t care if it’s his mother’s birthday, get him down here.” He slammed the phone down and growled, “He’d better hope I don’t find out he invited you for a coffee klatsch.”
    “Well, I’ll just be getting on with the tour, seeing as I’m welcome here.”
    “Sit.” The lieutenant pointed at a chair.

    Lily White, Rose Red: Grey Randall, Private Dick Casefile #1
    49

    I sat, to help increase the lieutenant’s feeling of effectiveness, even though I undermined it somewhat by slouching to the side of the chair.
    There was a knock at the door, and Reggie poked his head around it. “Sergeant Thomas said you wanted me….” His voice died away when he saw me sitting there. “Sir.”
    “Attention!” Steele barked.
    Training. It gets the better of the best of us. I leaped out of that chair and snapped to attention next to Reggie as fast as I ever had in the service. Lieutenant Steele’s mouth twitched, and I could tell he wanted to grin. He’d got his revenge awfully fast. To spoil it for him, I flopped down in the chair again and swung one leg over the arm.
    “So, Harding, in the interests of public relations, you invited your pal private dick Randall downtown for a little tour of the facilities, or so I hear.”
    “Where did you hear that, sir?”
    “Where do you think, nitwit?”
    “I never mentioned your name, Reg,” I muttered.
    “Shut up! You two know each other from the service?”
    “Yes, sir,” Reggie answered promptly.
    Lieutenant Steele clasped both hands behind his back and started to pace in front of the window. “You’re heroes, both of you. I mean that. G.I.s,