Private Dick Casefile 01 - Lily White Rose Red

himself. Or maybe this was their regular M.O.: can’t find the crook who did it, return to find evidence “overlooked” the first time and pin it on some guy who deserved to go away anyway.
    I inched my head above the parapet and looked down. Big Billy’s car was still there. Nothing outdoors was moving. I wondered how long it would take them and how hard they would look. My guess was they had to make it look good for the boss, because it was over an hour later before they emerged and drove away. And still Big Billy sat in his car waiting.
    My stomach was beginning to think my throat had been cut, but better I should starve to death than fill up on bullets from Big Billy’s gun. He was still down there. I was betting that when the report came back to him that the cops had come up empty, he would go back inside Marguerite’s place and check it out for himself to see why they missed it.
    If only I’d put money down on a wager with myself, I could have cleaned up big time. He waited another hour and then went back inside.
    I enjoyed picturing Captain Woods cursing while he searched the joint for something he was never going to find while my heart rate slowed down to normal. I have to get my simple pleasures where I can. Ten minutes later he came out and drove off. I could tell by the way he strode to his car that he was angry, but I didn’t have time to gloat.
    This was my chance to get off the roof and take it on the lam. So I hoofed it down all four flights and out onto the street, walking fast around the corner to my car. The meter had lapsed a long time ago, and there was a ticket on the windshield. Normally I just tore them up, but I Lily White, Rose Red: Grey Randall, Private Dick Casefile #1
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    was going to pay that one and fast. The wheels of bureaucracy may grind exceedingly slowly, but I didn’t need some eager beaver sending up a report that my car had been in the vicinity on that fateful day.
    Someday I was gonna meet that meter maid and give her what for.

    I WENT back to my office to ditch my coveralls and mull everything over.
    Only three people knew about my plans to search Marguerite’s place: Lily, who’d given me the key, Celestine, her maid, and Mr. Max Hamilton.
    One thing I believed about Lily; she wanted her daughter’s killer found, so I couldn’t see her confiding in Captain Woods, not if she didn’t think the cops were making an effort. If Celestine was in Big Billy’s pocket because she had a secret, desperate crush on him, I should just turn in my detective’s license now and look for another line of work.
    That left Mr. Max Hamilton. I had evidence that he knew the Captain; I’d seen Big Billy coming out of Mr. Hamilton’s office. It didn’t have to mean that Mr. Hamilton was trying to stop me; maybe Big Billy called back and asked what I was doing there.
    I bounced up out of my chair all of a sudden. Told you it helped me think. One the things sitting in the chair revealed to me was that I didn’t have time to sit in it pondering the subtleties of how Big Billy knew I was searching Marguerite’s apartment. If he planted something, confidently expecting either me or his bully-boys to find it, he wasn’t just going to shrug off his disappointment and call it a day.
    He had a plan for that necklace, and he had to get it back into his possession, which meant he was going to make me cough it up if he could. He might be on the way over here right now, and there I was, sitting at my desk playing with it like an idiot.
    I thought of hightailing it out of there and parking the necklace with Lily, but I didn’t want to set Captain Woods on her tail. She had 122

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    enough trouble. There was no one else I could think of that I would wish this on either.
    I heard the slam of car doors down on the street and peeked through the blinds. I was right, the cops were here, and I was sure they were on their way up to my office. I slipped the pendant off the chain, redid the clasp, and put the necklace back on over my head. I could hear them on the stairs.
    I went to my file cabinet: M for Marguerite or R for Rose Red? I opted for Marguerite and slid the pendant behind the card labeled “L
    through O” that sat in the metal slot on the front of the cabinet, hoping it wouldn’t be obvious. Hoping no one was going to look that hard. On second thought, I jammed the disc with the Lambda symbol in as well.
    No point taking unnecessary chances that someone might recognize