Free Infamous by Ace Atkins

liking.
     
    “This would’ve never happened in Europe,” Kirkpatrick said. “They are too civilized. Did you know that in England it’s a crime for a family to pay a ransom?”
     
    “Is that what you think Mrs. Urschel should do? Not pay?”
     
    Jones laid his Stetson crown down onto the table. He rolled his sleeves to the elbow and leaned in.
     
    “We can’t let people like Charlie just be ripe for the picking. How’s an honest man supposed to live his life? Is a rich, successful man fair game for the masses? Does a man have to be surrounded by guards to take a nighttime stroll or go on an impromptu fishing trip?”
     
    “I can’t tell the family what to do,” Jones said.
     
    “But what would you do?”
     
    “You mean if Mr. Urschel was my family?”
     
    “Or if it were you?”
     
    “If it were me, my wife wouldn’t give these people a plug nickel,” Jones said, smiling. “But that’s based on personal appraisal.”
     
    “What if Charlie was your brother?”
     
    “You think Mr. Urschel would pay?”
     
    “I don’t think money is of concern to Mr. Urschel,” Kirkpatrick said. “Only the principle.”
     
    “I believe a grown man being kidnapped is different than a child.”
     
    “How do you figure?”
     
    “The person who kidnapped Lindbergh’s child is a weakling suffering from some kind of illness. I’ve always believed that. That whole caper was sloppy. But the ones at work here are different animals; to them this is just a business transaction. Mr. Urschel is nothing more than a flesh-and-blood investment.”
     
    “Like a prize steer?”
     
    “Yep.”
     
    “You helped out plenty when Mr. Slick had some trouble.”
     
    “A man’s business should be a man’s business. Not ammunition.”
     
    “Mr. Slick was much obliged.”
     
    “How ’bout we read that letter again?”
     
    The house was as still and quiet as Jones had known it since his arrival, a vacuum devoid of sound that he couldn’t quite place. There were police on the premises and agents in the kitchen and stationed in the salon. But the work had subsided, many of the men just drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes and keeping watch on the Urschel family while they all waited for some kind of legitimate contact from the kidnappers. Kirkpatrick coughed and picked up the typed sheets that had been telegrammed to the mansion.
     
    “ ‘Mr. F. Urschel is fairing well but don’t sleep, a trifel nervose . ’ Whoever this is could use a remedial course in spelling and grammar. They spelled ‘trifle’ wrong, and ‘nervous,’ too, and ‘location’ in the next sentence. Are all criminals this stupid?”
     
    “Keep going,” Jones said, drawing on his pipe. Somehow sitting in Urschel’s seat gave him some kind of perspective and feel for how it would unfold, or at least some kind of feel for the man. He wanted to know if Charles F. Urschel was the kind of man to take it or fight it. Or somewhere in between.
     
    “ ‘Locashun of myself will be revealed in the next notice after I see your deci-shun in the newspaper . ’ ‘ Decision’ spelled the same way,” Kirkpatrick said. “ ‘Mr. Urschel’s release can be secured at small cost and without BLOODSHED . ’ They typed ‘bloodshed’ in capital letters. ‘If you follow my instructions, map I will enclose to you at once after I see your ad . ’ ”
     
    “Read the part about the ad again,” Jones said, taking another puff. “From the beginning.”
     
    “ ‘Note you are the go between for the family of Chas. F. Urschel. If so, I can tell you where they are holding him. I will reveal the facts to you if you wish or either reveal them to the detective department.’ Good Lord, nobody can be this stupid on purpose.”
     
    Jones listened and smoked some more, watching the smoke kind of hang there in the dull night heat. It had been more than a hundred that afternoon, and the heat didn’t seem to want to leave. This was the fourth letter they’d received that day. All of ’em just as phony, but you didn’t dismiss a single one. You take