Free The Long Lavender Look by John D. MacDonald

able to nail somebody sooner than otherwise."
    "He is going to frown on meddling. I will be right back inside his hotel if I try that."
    "If you're clumsy, sure. But I have a lot of confidence in your discretion, and if you do slip, I'll be right back to pry you out again. Sibelius never sleeps. Think of it this way. You've agreed to help me out on the pretrial investigation."
    "I don't have a license. I don't want a license. I'm tired of Cypress County already."
    "Why should you have a license? For what? You've gone on my staff payroll as a researcher."
    I took the folded money out of my pants pocket and counted it. "Nine hundred and forty?"
    "Let me know when you need more, pal." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Think of it this way.
    Without Sibelius, you'd still be inside. And so would Meyer. You called and I came over. Am I charging you? Would I charge a friend for a little bit of a favor? What do you think I am? Greedy or something? All you have to do is stir around, talk about Frank Baither, buy a drink here and there, and tell people the truth about me. Don't overdo it. Just tell them I'm the greatest criminal lawyer around. Is that so hard?"
    "You are something else, Sibelius. By the way, how did you get Arnstead to change his story?"
    Lennie shrugged. "He had to be lying. If he wasn't, you were. Last night I came across the interesting information that Lew Arnstead is the number one stud in Cypress County. It's more obsession than hobby. I straightened out the timetable. You were at the gas station when Storey opened up at twenty to seven. At about seven-thirty you and Meyer left with Hyzer and Cable.
    Because you stopped while your car was being pulled out, you didn't get to the jail until about eight-fifteen. Arnstead was turning out to have a very long shift. At eight-thirty he went into the Baither place and used the phone to call in and ask if he was going to be relieved. Hyzer told the communications clerk to tell Lew Arnstead to stay right there and that he would be at the Baither place about eleven o'clock and after it was checked over, he could go off duty. Ask the logical questions, McGee."
    "Let me see now. He was expecting Hyzer earlier. Then Hyzer changed his schedule by coming to take a look at us, and take us in. So he had something lined up, and he wanted to be relieved so he could take care of it. But he found out he had another two hours to wait, plus the time it would take for the daylight search. And he had the use of the phone. Sorry, honey, I can't make it, so why don't you come on over here?"
    "Inside Baither's house?"
    "I ... I wouldn't think so. Not with Hyzer due to prowl the place."
    "How about a narrow old mattress on the slab floor of the pump house about thirty feet from the back porch?"
    "Handy."
    "So Hyzer took my suggestion and had Lew Arnstead brought in, and asked him to explain why he was in the pump house with a woman at nine o'clock Friday morning instead of keeping an eye on the house as ordered. Arnstead tried a lot of footwork but Hyzer pushed until he broke through. Arnstead got very virtuous about refusing to name the woman. He said he was with her about ten minutes, and he could see the entrance road from the pump house. She arrived and left by car. She was an old friend. So while you are churning around, see if you can come up with an I.D. on the Iady, pal. She could have been sent in as a distraction while somebody planted the envelope. A cub scout could unlock that house with a kitchen match."
    "While I'm churning around. Anything for a friend."
    A redheaded boy in greasy khakis came out and brought the gas ticket for Lennie to sign, then untied the aircraft and pulled the chocks away. I handed Meyer's and Lennie's duffle up. Lennie Page 27

    cranked it up and trundled off to the end of the marl strip. He warmed it up there, and the boy and I stood and watched him make his run and pluck it off and climb over the cabbage palms and live oaks, heading east over the swamps